East River Traffic 5

If you’re unfamiliar with NYC, most of the photos in this series are from Roosevelt Island, likely off most visitors’ list of places to see.  That’s too bad, since it offers a lot, including great views of Manhattan and the strait (East “river”) in between.  If you’ve not seen the Nelly Bly memorial at the north end, you’re in for a treat.

 Here are previous posts in this series. Let’s start with the NYS-built Ava Jude, a 600 hp boat not seen on this blog in a while. 

It’s also been a while since Shannon Dann was last on the blog, but that’s because she has had her 2400 hp engines working elsewhere.

Ava Jude‘s 1200 hp fleet mate, William Brewster, has been working on the bulkhead project under the 79th Street bridge for some time. 

This Brooklyn, a Vane boat now but formerly Labrador Sea , also brings 2400 hp to the task, and like Brewster, is Blount built. 

I notice King’s Point‘s training vessel too late to get a side profile shot, but her “name” 142, is a number of great significance at the USMMA.  If you click on no other link in this post, do click on that one. 

Coastline’s Kodi is another New England (Gladding Hearn) built small tugboat, the perfect boat for certain jobs. 

See more Gladding Hearn boats here, although that’s not a complete list, since I notice that Benjamin Elliot and others are missing in that link. 

Michael L. Daigle has appeared on this blog only about once before.  She’s a 4200 hp boat that once wore Kirby colors on the west coast as Mount Bona, named for a major North American peak in Alaska. 

 

All photos and any errors, WVD. 

Old Hulls, Old and New Names 2

I can’t say if more than unusual number of changes are in fact happening these days, or if my radars are set to detect change.  In either case, I privilege novelty on this blog, so here we go, the first of the series.

April 2016 this was Ellen S. Bouchard alongside Bouchard Boys.

Also in 2016,  Ellen S. was in a crowded channel meeting another fleetmate, Evening Light.

From yesterday coming through Hell Gate I saw this. Name the tugboat pushing B. No. 282?

wearing a Centerline livery and now

carrying a new new.

It’s Jeffrey S,

here slowed down because of the work over near Blount-built William Brewster and the Manhattan side 79th Street bridge.

She’ll round the bend at the Battery and head up to Albany.

All photos, Halloween, WVD.

Happy November 2022.

 

Sixth Boro Pilot Beer Run

Yesterday morning some pallets got lifted from a terminal in Hunt’s Point in The Bronx by a Hudson River-based liftboat

to a Brooklyn-based ex-BUSL.  

Meanwhile, a Brooklyn-based crane ship on the hull of a repurposed lube tanker took   

position on the East Side of Pier 17.  

The lift boat Legs III is operated by Maritime Projects LLC, Helen A … by Brooklyn Marine Services, and  Louis C … by Lehigh Maritime.

For what’s going on here, I quote from “Beer Delivery Returns to NYC Waterways After 100 Year Absence“,  a press release from Oak Point Property LLC and Manhattan Beer Distributors,   “Hunts Point community leaders, local businesses, maritime advocates, and public officials today cheered the first maritime delivery of beer on NYC’s waterways in over a century. The pilot project, planned and executed by Oak Point Property LLC, Manhattan Beer Distributors (MBD), The Howard Hughes Corporation, Maritime Projects LLC, and Barretto Bay Strategies, with ongoing support from the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the Greater Hunts Point EDC, delivered MBD’s six pallets of beer and Brooklyn-born Q Mixers from Oak Point terminal to Pier 17 at the Seaport.

With pallets loaded on its stern, Helen A., a New York harbor workboat, departed the Oak Point shoreline at 10:38 AM EST and reached Pier 17 at 11:38 AM. The Seaport’s operator The Howard Hughes Corporation received the shipment and distributed it to three businesses on the pier, including The Rooftop at Pier 17, NYC’s premier open-air venue hosting over 60 concerts this season.

The pilot is a crucial test of the viability of inter-borough shipping, tidal-assist propulsion, and congestion mitigation through waterborne problem-solving. One of the region’s busiest trucking hubs, the Hunts Point peninsula is criss-crossed by over 15,000 truck trips each workday.”   

“Inter-borough shipping” is a subset of short sea shipping, and in this case, short sea shipping confined to the sixth boro, recognizing that the sixth boro IS the underutilized link between the other five. Too bad “inter-borough shipping, tidal-assist propulsion, and congestion mitigation through waterborne problem-solving” doesn’t easily lend itself to a clever acronym.  IBSTAPCMWPS is quite unpronounceable. Any pronounceable suggestions?

Helen A‘s arrival was in fact timed to ride the tidal current, saving on fuel as well as mitigating the issues of delivery trucks making the approximately 12-mile run. 

Again, this was a pilot, a proof of concept, so a smaller scale cargo vessel is used, understood that you can’t scale up delivery trucks in nearly as many ways as you can a delivery vessel. 

In minutes, Helen A was fast alongside Louis C. 

The lift began almost immediately, and 

within 10 minutes of docking alongside with the cargo, 

Louis C crew 

lifted the first pallet

and swung it

safely ashore, where hand trucks 

awaited to move the cargo into the coolers. 

What’s next?  “The pilot will gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of waterborne solutions to middle-mile challenges while improving air quality and addressing environmental justice challenges in Hunts Point and other outer borough communities like it. To track outcomes, CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering will collect data from the pilot run and conduct a comparative analysis with truck-based delivery.”  I look forward to reading their report.

The first two photos are credited to Oak Point Property LLC and Manhattan Beer distributors;  all others and any errors, WVD.  

Some previous posts on similar projects include Black Seal , Ceres, and Grain de Sail.

 

 

East River Traffic 4

Here’s a new name on this blog:  Posillico, operator of Breakwater Marine and tugboat Deborah Quinn, the 1962 one.  Does anyone know the intended outcome of this work on the Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge?

As it turns out, there’s another tugboat that once carried the Deborah Quinn name.

This Quinn is a large boat:  92′ x 27′.

Sea Lion is a regular on the East River, here heading into Newtown Creek. 

At 65′ x 27′, Lion dates from 1980.

 

Brinn Courtney is fairly new in the sixth boro, and

appears to be keeping quite busy.

The first time I saw her she still had some red livery on her here.

 

 

All photos, WVD, whose previous iterations of this title can be seen here.

 

 

TS Empire State VI Departs 2022

What’s happening at this bridge?

Approaching on what appears to be a wooded river is an antiquated cargo vessel.

Know this sylvan location?

Might this be a not-so-obscure location referred to as the UES, 

the Upper East Side of Manhattan?  That certainly appears to be a section of the river campus of Rockefeller University . . .  

Of course, this is the non-river but a tidal strait referred to as the East River, where the first  pre-fabricated portions of the new campus were lifted in place only six years ago here. 

And of course this is Empire State VI, launched as a cargo ship in 1961, converted on the Great Lakes to be a training ship, and serving as such for SUNY Maritime for over 30 years now, and departing on her last summer sea term for that school. See here.  

Old as this training ship is, she turned heads along the East River as she headed out for sea.  Many past departures and returns and shifts have been the basis of posts on this blog in recent years.  I’d love to see photos of her transiting the Welland Canal and Saint Lawrence back 30+ years ago after conversion to training ship. 

Happy, safe, and instructive cruise, cadets.  As of posting today, she’s off the east end of Long Island with next port of call–if my info is current–Philly.  I wonder if there will be a sail-past of the new NSMV at the Shipyard there . . . .  It would make a great photo op, with the old and the new. 

All photos, any errors, WVD.

 

East River Catch Up 7

Pete Ludlow’s photos have shown a variety of vessel traffic near Hell Gate.  Here’s a whimsical set, not really work boats for a day I’m having a hard time working or even thinking about working.

Who knew the variety of traffic here?!!

There has to be a story here, and

photos are said to be worth a thousands of words . . . 

I wish I knew the story, or even just the name and itinerary of a boat like this….

Many thanks, Pete.

 

East River Catch Up 6

Let’s get back to some Pete Ludlow photos.  Co Morgan has such a long history of names going back to 1951 1965, I’m just going to paste it in here.  

A high vantage point helps convey appreciation for the train of three Mister Jim tows through Hell Gate. 

Ditto Navigator.  From this perspective, her smart color scheme is clear. 

Meghan Marie heads into Hell Gate with a destination somewhere along the Sound or farther. 

All photos by Pete Ludlow.  Thanks, Pete. 

East River Catch Up 5

For what might be considered an exotic among exotics, let’s go back to Pete Ludlow’s photos,  meet Windserve Odyssey.  

As an all-purpose offshore wind farm support vessel, it is just one vessel type that will be more common in the years to come.  The blog alluded to this particular vessel and a possible transit through the sixth boro back last September.   Pete’s photo here confirms that it did transit back on the first day of 2022.  

Hat tip and thanks, Pete, for catching this. 

Tugster is still gallivanting far away from the sixth boro, will be for the better part of a week yet, leaving the robots in charge.  We test the perimeter, push the parameters, but in our own robotic ways, support the mission.

 

 

East River Catch Up 3

More photos here thanks to Pete Ludlow.

The Amigo is an asphalt tanker.  That means she moves her cargo around at almost 300 degrees F.

 

She was eastbound with assist by James D Moran.

 

What do you suppose Vinik No. 6 had in tow?

 

Nicholas and Liz assisted as well.

But of course, it was the venerable training ship . . .

from the shipyard on its way back to Fort Schuyler.

Again, many thanks to Pete for sharing these scenes not previously seen on tugster.

Unrelated:  Since we robots monitor harbor events and share news, here’s a surprise that will astonish tugster upon his return:  The Brown tugs have been sold to Seward Marine of Chesapeake VA.

 

East River Traffic 3

Here are previous iterations of this title.  Sometimes it’s energizing to return to places you’ve not visited in a while. We followed North River for a bit and then turned into

the Brooklyn Navy yard, a quite busy place.  Sugar Express was there along with Carolina Coast.  The barge shuttles less-refined sugar from Florida to Yonkers, where the sugar is further refined at a riverside facility.

 

Atlantic Salvor was in one of the graving docks.

Once under way again, we followed Genesis Eagle heading for the Sound.

North River was docked at DEP Ward’s Island Central (actually WPCP) by the time we passed by.

NYC Department of Correction Vernon C. Bain Maritime Facility was still where I last saw it, the only traffic being who goes in and out. 

Ditto this wreck, which deserves a name or a series of ex-names, where the only traffic is the ingress and egress of tidal current water.

All photos this week, WVD.