Colombian Tugs 2

Thanks to one of my two peripatetic sisters, I have a treat . . . photos from Cartagena, a major Caribbean container port.

Assisting Athens Glory into the dock is the Turkish-built  2009 tug Capdahl.

Similar size .  . at the dock it’s the Chinese-built 2012 GPC Rosario.

RM Marlin IV dates from 2011, from another Chinese shipyard. 

 

RM Odin, 2007, was built in the Netherlands.

 

 

And finally . . .  RM Scirocco . . .  any guesses where it was built?  Date?

 

And the answer is China, 2008.

If the US rescinded the Jones Act, where do you think tugboats used in the US would be built?

Many thanks to my sister for sending along these photos.

 

More Cargoes 25

Usually the cargo is invisible, but that’s not always true.  I hadn’t even noticed the cargo when I took this photo of Kimberly Turecamo leaning into the rust streaked Maersk container ship.

But above and then below, you too see the cargo.  No attempt even half-hearted has been made to cover that cargo, as was the case here. 

We’ve seen military vehicles before as cargo, here, here,  and here.

We’ve even seen aircraft as in here and here.

And given that military vehicles make up part of the load, I was not surprised when I saw it was Norfolk registered, i.e., US-flagged but not Jones Act . . . given that it was built in Korea and previously sailed under a British flag.

All photos, WVD.  Keep your eyes peeled because you never know what you’ll see.   By the way, Kinloss arrived yesterday and has already departed;  I don’t know if the military vehicles were discharged in our port.

I know this won’t display on FB blanks out enlargeable photos, so count on coming directly to the tugster wordpress site.

American Phoenix

I suspected something was unusual about this tanker.

It was about the name.

 

 

And here it is . . . when have you ever seen “Austin Texas” as port of registry?  Jones Act tankers, yes, there are a few.  You can read the whole story–how it was almost never completed–here.

All photos, WVD.

East River Mystery 5

Here are the previous installments.

Rare as it is to see a chemical tanker traverse the East River, there’s no mystery about this vessel’s identity…  Ginga Lion.  For outatowners, the bridge goes by Koch Bridge, 59th Street Bridge, or Queensboro Bridge.

These photos were taken last Wednesday–October 21–by Jonathan Steinman, frequent contributor of photos from along that tidal strait, which is not really a river.

So here’s the mystery . . . or at least the question.  Given the Jones Act, how can this vessel make the stops it does.  On this run, it was traveling from Bayonne to Port Jeff, and as of this writing, she’s on her way to New Orleans. Prior ports of call and dates are as follows:  10/8 Gibraltar, 9/10 Pasir Gudang Malaysia, 9/4 Kuala Tanjung Indonesia, 8/18 Nantong China, 8/17 Zhangiagang China, 6/22 Houston.

Ginga Lion is clearly a foreign flagged chemical tanker.

I suspect the answer is that she’s not transferring cargo from one US port to another, just loading or offloading at a series of US stops, which I understand would be permissible.   Anyone clarify?

Many thanks to Jonathan for keeping eyes on the East River and sending along the question and photos.

 

Trader

Although quite common for tugboats and other smaller craft, New York is a rare place of registry in large vessels today.  Horizon Trader belongs to the same aging Jones Act fleet as Producer, Navigator, Challenger, . . . Crusader now scrapped.

I’m way out of my depth in bringing up the Jones Act, a set of statutes regulating maritime commerce dating from 1920 sponsored by Senator Wesley Livsey Jones.  But here is a fact:  35 years old is the average fleet age of Horizon’s container vessels . . . a large if not the largest Jones Act carrier.  That compares with 12 years  . . . for the international container vessel fleet.  Source for these ages is here.

As an untrained observer of the industry, I can state that Horizon Trader looks all of her 40 years, and again . .  as a fervent but unconnected news consumer, I’ve heard/read nothing that blemishes their safety record.

And here’s the newest development . . . Horizon will cease their commerce through New York, substituting Philly instead.

Technically Trader is a Type C6-S-85a designed for Farrell Lines by George G. Sharp, a firm with a stellar list of vessels to its name.

Enjoy the 40-year-old details.   I’d love to hear from someone who’d been onboard.

She looks small beside Laura K. Moran.  All fotos by Will Van Dorp.