77 Days Between

 . . . signing onto the 6200-teu Maersk Detroit and stepping off at the end of a hitch, this post is inspired by a sixth boro mariner on a milk run.  Many thanks to Mike Weiss** for most of the photos.  It took him 77 days to get from Port Elizabeth back to Port Elizabeth.  Day 1 was back in early November. 

Yesterday I caught a few photos in the KVK of the vessel on the last few miles of a voyage mostly halfway around the world and back.

Mike, an AB, texted me their ETA into the KVK and  

in cold overcast morning I wore my conspicuous vest and waited

to see people on the aft mooring deck.

Welcome home, Mike. This is a timeless way to go so sea:  depart from your home and return to it. 

The following are some photos Mike took along the way, as in the Strait of Gibraltar just before calling at the port of Algeciras, 

Port Said at the aft mooring deck thousands of sea miles ago, 

entering the Suez Canal and heading under the Al-Salam Bridge (I think), and 

about to exit the Suez following . . . Ever Given [yes, really!!], 

getting an assist at Port Qasim, 

port of Salalah, 

and then homeward across the Atlantic to 

port of Houston, 

and port of Charleston, with many other sights that only Mike can tell about along the way. 

Many thanks to Mike Weiss for sharing these photos and his experiences.  If you didn’t click on the ** link in the first paragraph, you’ll be happy to do it here for some of Mike’s sea resume. 

Maersk Detroit is part of the US-flagged Maersk fleet. 

Ever Given has a big sister now here. 

 

 

More Cargoes 29

A list of odd cargoes over the years would include an uncovered cigarette boat, other boats, military materiel, never-to-be-used wheel pedestals, port supplies, a Mirage F-1,  . . .  I could go on. At this point, I’d not yet noticed the cargo atop the India-bound Maersk Detroit.

Brendan Turecamo retrieved the docking pilot.

But that’s when I noticed it.  And in a very branded color.  Know it?  Evidence follows.

Wonder what Hillco Sidehill S670 means?  Click here.

It ain’t no snow blower!

 

See it?

It’s certainly a Deere, probably along these lines.   It makes me wonder what fields this will harvest.  See a leveling-combine in operation here.

This screening seems made-to-measure for passage through pirate waters.

Maersk Detroit is one of about 20 US-flagged cargo ships serving the oceans.

All photos, WVD.

 

Flags of Convenience 6

aka “that you can choose your registry is something I’ve never fully understood.”  I suppose some folks prefer the term “open registry.”  Check all these different registries, FoCs, all taken in the past 30 days!  Here are previous installments.

Let’s start with Maersk, the largest overseas cargo transport company in the world, based in Copenhagen, although with many overseas subsidiaries.    Hvide Sande is a fishing, shipbuilding, windfarm supply port and tourist destination in the dunes of western Denmark.

Ringkøbing is a Danish town near Hvide Sande with history back to the 13th century.

Skovshoved is a fishing town just north of Copenhagen.

Kalundsborg is a Danish town with a natural harbor, also on the western coast.

Kleven is a port in southern Norway, southwest of Oslo.   Monrovia is the 1822-settled capital of Liberia, about 5000 miles southwest of Copenhagen.  A drive there would be quite the odyssey through a dozen or so countries.  Of course, it’s also the name attached to a US-operated vessel registry established in 1948.  It’s the world’s second largest registry, after Panama.

Singapore ranks 5th.

And then there’s the US-flagged Maersk vessels.   For its first five years, this 2008-built vessel was called Safmarine Kariba.

For a lengthy but clear discussion on FoCs, including how the choice of flag relates to “end of [ship’s] life” issues, click here, but only if you’ve a half hour or so to devote.

Of course, Maersk is not the only company that flags foreign.  In fact, most do.  Here’s a CMA CGM ULCV named for a US president and flagged in Malta.

Another US president, and another port of registry.  T. Roosevelt is also a London-registered CMA CGM ULCV.

Marseille is what you’d expect, since they are headquartered there.  The US headquarters are in the great port of  . . . Atlanta.  I’d love to see CMA CGM ships on the Chattahoochee.

Madeira is a tiny archipelago where this ship will never call.

Jeju sounds like a lovely island, although this RORO will never be seen there.

Oleander is THE supply vessel for Bermuda.  It surprises me greatly that this vessel would be named for a Pacific atoll.

I’m wondering if the Hong Kong registry will be shedding vessels, given the changes in the special administrative region of the larger country.

A Turkish ship with a Turkish registry . . . now that I’d expect.

All photos, comments, and misunderstanding . . . all credited and/or blamed on WVD.

Speaking of ships, do you recognize the name Rhosus, a 1986 Moldova-flagged general cargo ship?  You should . . . you’ve certainly heard what happened to its cargo this past week . . . .  Moldova-flagged . . .  I’ll bet that falls under the category of grey flags or worse.

 

 

What Raced the Storm

Left to right at the Narrows ahead of this front are Maersk Detroit, SSV Corwith Cramer, Oleander, and CMA CGM Utrillo.

SSV Corwith Cramer is a brigantine.

Also, racing in ahead of the storm was this unidentified sloop,

Wooley Bully,

Hindu, 

and Joan Turecamo with Nomadic Hjellestad.

And look at that rain.

All fotos this morning by Will Van Dorp.