Commodities 3

Any guesses?  A clue . .  if the vessel stays on schedule, it’ll be back in the sixth boro in about a month.

Safety Comes First.  Commodities come promptly.  Which ones?

Here’s another clue then . . . the vessel hull-down here is Antwerp-bound and then recrosses the pond to approach the Panama Canal two and a half weeks from now.  Another clue . . . it reminds me of what in my boyhood was the sixth foto here:  my neighbor used a farm truck just like this to get the tomatoes, pickles, cabbage . . .  to market . ..  in that case the local canneries.

Answer:  the vessel disappearing over the horizon yesterday afternoon is Albermarle Island (1993).  Click here and scroll down to see her ports history.    The foto below I took in June 2011, one I didn’t use in this post–Commodities 2– from around that date.   Click here to see the schedule of all the Ecuadorian Line boats that bring us mostly–I presume–Ecuadorian bananas.  Here are more Ecuadorian exports to the US.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.   If you’re good at getting your head around numbers, here’s a set from the Office of Trade Representative.

Outs and Ins

There are ports and bottlenecks, and the sixth boro is surely a port, not that within it bottlenecks do not exist.  Yesterday afternoon I caught Charles Island headed for sea, and ultimately Ecuador . . . so it’ll pass through that bottleneck called Panama, which has so frequently preoccupied me these days.

Zim Luanda also departed yesterday, bound for Savannah.

Meanwhile, an equal number of vessels enter port, the sixth boro, our enormous honey pot.  Like this one, huge but fairly empty.  This foto of CSAV Rio de Janiero –and the two after that–come compliments of John Watson.   CSAV Rio de Janiero leaves here (probably tomorrow) for the Mediterranean.

Also, new in town and caught by John’s eye, it’s USNS Grasp T-ARS-51.  Possibly in town for maintenance?  And while I’m on the subject of sharp eyes and unusual craft, check out Mage’s report from San Diego, featuring USS Peleliu LHA-5, Navy dolphins, and an unusual vessel that defies my ability to identify it.  Any help?  Ooops . . . here’s Mage’s link.

And finally, arriving this morning, Polish-built Ice Pearl, vintage 1980.

To a casual observer of the harbor, a lot of vessels come in, park, and then leave.  They all do, but some areas of the sixth boro ARE designated anchorages.  This explains vessels like Pacific Quartz (recently arrived here from the Arabian Sea) and Avonden.  Tug Mary Gellatly (1978, ex-Capt. Jentry, North Star, North Service) leaves her dock and heads north.

Thanks to John Watson for the three fotos in the middle;  all others by Will Van Dorp, who’s happy to find others too could while the time away doing the Otis Redding thing on a bay, any bay any day.  Just think, what if Otis had started waterfotoblogging!!!

Congestion

It’s Friday afternoon, and the Upper Bay seems congested . . .  Yano is being spun in the distance as McAllister Responder and McAllister Girls head east and Amy Moran enters the KVK.

Around the same time, here’s a shot of work in the sixth boro bookending the Yano move between my favorite cutterhead and construction at 1 WTC.

Cold, gusty Saturday the same basic area sees Taurus and Davis Sea jointly leveraging DBL 25 into a berth, and  . . .

Duncan Island heads for sea from out behind a dredge spoils scow holding station with Captain D.  Ever wonder why a reefer vessel of the Ecuadorian Line is called Duncan Island?  It’s Duncan Island aka Isla Pinzon, said to be named for the Pinzon brothers who captained the Nina and Pinta of the Columbus fleet.  Here’s a statue of the brothers, quite unknown in North America.

Most congestion as these two Moran groups cross:  left to right, Jean Turecamo, Catherine Turecamo, Scott Turecamo pushing New Hampshire, and Linda Moran pushing Houston.  Minerva Vaso lies at the dock in the distance.

At the end of this post is a video that really shows congestion, but as background, consider these two AIS screen captures, each showing about 2000 square miles.  The one below displays regularly about 100 vessels, whereas

this one .  . .  about 500 vessels.

Now enjoy as much of this 15-minute video as you have time for:  heavy traffic on Nieuwe Waterweg connecting Rotterdam with the North Sea.  Included are at least two container ships–MSC Alexandria and Maersk Edmonton— with three times the capacity of any vessels currently serving the sixth boro aka Port of New York and New Jersey.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.