Winter Light 2023

If it seems I have a dirty lens, I don’t, but this winter has been a season of the good light and my schedule not coinciding.  No matter . . . the subject just looks grayer than I’d like much of the time.

When this ULCV arrived the other day with Mary Turecamo as one of the assists, I was reminded of how high the deck is on these ships, and they’re getting ultra-larger and higher.  In this post, Mary’s upper house was way above deck level on the tanker. 

Will this nose be superseded by Marco‘s style of nose?

Janet D was sharp, but note how hazy the distant shore is.

HMS Liberty is appreciably closer than Barney Turecamo, and therefore is sharper, until 

Barney gets closer. 

Enjoy these others:  Jillian Irene, 

Horizon’s Edge (a newby in the boro?) and Regulus, 

Schuylkill, 

another shot of Liberty, 

Crystal Cutler and Patricia E. Poling, 

and finally Margaret. 

All photos, WVD.

Random Ships 102

Seen yesterday by Donald Edwards . . . whose photos previously appeared here. The story behind the paint job follows. 

Today’s post features exactly what the title says . . . a random set of recent visitors to the sixth boro, like the 2015 Hafnia Raven, here escorted in by Margaret Moran. 

Bass is a 2021 build. 

Britta Oldendorff dates from 2020. 

ONE Wren is a 2018 vessel. 

Proteus Bohemia is a 2022 LNG-capable tanker. 

with externals to prove it.  And for all I know, she’s using LNG for fuel.

Captain Paris has come and departed the port, and as a 2014 crude tanker, is the oldster of this set.

Leikanger is a 2016 build, with its fuel touted on the side, as was the case with Grouse Sun, a few months back.  For a comparison of LNG and methanol, click here. 

Here’s more on CMA CGM Kimberley:  this livery marks CMA CGM’s splash into new cleaner fuels.  This begs the question:  among the innovations passing through the sixth boro, LNG fuel and methanol capability is one that’s touted on the ships themselves.  When will LNG bunkering be available in port of NYNJ?  How about methanol bunkering?  It’s happening elsewhere. 

Many thanks to Don for sharing the CMA CGM Kimberley photo he caught while she was inbound passing Caddells.  All others, WVD. 

 

Non-Random Tugs 18 B

Sarah D is here because before wearing the attractive NYS Marine Highway colors, she wore Moran colors for about 20 years, as seen here. 

What I thought remarkable about that afternoon is that all the photos here were taken in the space of half an hour the other day.  An outatowner watching traffic on the sixth boro would have concluded that all tugboats in the boro have an M on the stack.  What was happening in fact was that three ships were moving and this was a surge to assist these ships.  

If you follow this blog, you’ve seen them all before, but you may not have seen a Moran wave before quite like this.

 

 

As you can tell, I maintained mostly the same vantage point while taking all these shots.

 

 

All photos, WVD. 

Pairs in Fall

I’ve seen lots of pairs in winter, some in spring, but never until now in fall, at least not acknowledged until this post.

Two sets of pairs appear below, one Centerline and another Moran, the latter escorting in CSCL South China Sea.

Ellen and Patrice here are going to different jobs.

Mary Turecamo and James D Moran here work on the CSCL box ship.

Lots are boats here;  clockwise from the farthest, Haggerty Girls (I think), James D, Margaret, Marjorie B, and James William.

Around 0900, a brace of migratory birds headed north . . .  F-18s maybe.

B. Franklin got an assist from Matthew Tibbetts.

Two old ferries ply their trade:  Barberi with the highest flagpoles and Marchi.

Two top of the line sixth boro McAllister tugs joins forces.

Two old style boats:  Manhattan II and Wanderer, the latter from the Sippican River.

And finally, this juxtaposition passed and allows a comparison of the lines of the 2015 6000 hp Kirby Moran with the 2008 5100 hp Laura K.

All photos in the past week, WVD.

Random Sixth Boro 12

It’s hard to beat morning light for drama, as is the case here with QM2 getting assisted by James D. and

Doris Moran into her berth in Red Hook, as I shoot into that light.

Taken only a few minutes later, this photo of FV Eastern Welder dragging the bottom in front of the Weeks yard had me shooting with the rising sun behind me.

Bayonne dry dock is full of business.  Note the formerly Bouchard tug Jordan Rose and Cape Wraith off its bow.  I’m not sure which Miller’s Launch OSV that is.  To the left, that’s Soderman.

Hyundai Speed and Glovis Sirius shift cargo.

More shooting into the light here toward Bay Ridge, where lots is happening.

Torm Louise‘s color just looks cold.

Afrodite has been around the world several times each year since the hoopla of her moving Bakken crude from Albany has subsided.  Note the unidentified formerly Bouchard tugboat to the extreme left.

 

And with the drama of morning light, wild clouds form the backdrop to three tugboats seeing CMA CGM Pegasus out the door on a windy day.

All photos earlier this week, WVD, who feels fortunate to live in a place like this where my drama exists only in photos.

Random Tugs 364

Thanks for following me down memory lane the past few days, or should I say up recollections river.  My plan for the next bit is to alternate current sixth boro activity with photos from archives of the Canal Society of New York.

I love winter light, when it’s light, as it illuminates parts of NCC Reem and Captain Dann with the bunker barge.

The hot exhaust/cold air differential makes for more shimmering light this time of year.

Images are clear, but fata morgana distortions are more pronounced;  Ellen and Doris here are less than two miles away.

Here the Moran 6000 in MSC Vittoria’s shade is silhouetted, whereas the one following catches the light on its superstructure facets.

At 2 to 3 miles, it’s shimmered again, as two of the Moran 6000s sail Monaco Bridge.

Margaret returns from sailing Conti Cortesia.

And finally, with Coho in the background, it’s Eastern Dawn pushing an almost color matching fuel barge, in Balico colors.

All photos less than a week old, WVD.

Newest Hull in the Sixth Boro 12

How about a new day, a new month, a new year, and a new hull in the sixth boro!  Can you recognize the profiles sans color?

As it passes Norton Point inbound, you begin to make out the color.

Once well inside Gravesend Bay–that’s the west end of Coney Island in the background–the colors increase in their vividness.

Here is the moment when the new ferry,

Sandy Ground, actually enters the Upper Bay portion of the boro, where she will work, if ferry JFK is her model, until the year 2078!!  That’s 56 years from now, and I’ve no clue what the sixth boro will look like–or what vessels will traffic it– 56 years from now.  Here‘s more context on Sandy Ground, Staten Island.

Once she was inside the VZ Bridge, I ran from South Beach, where I got the photos above, to Fort Wadsworth, and caught Margaret Moran sidling up to Sarah Dann.

I first thought the final portion of the tow would be Margaret‘s, but I was wrong; 

while Susan Miller provided a close-up platform, Margaret then delivered

crew to the new ferry, and

lines came across from Doris Moran, the tailboat for the last several miles to Caddell‘s , where the protective gear will be removed and the ferry prepped for service. 

 

By this hour, the fog had cleared just enough that the iconic skyline of Brooklyn and Manhattan was blotted out, giving the illusion that the tow is still at sea. 

All photos December 31 morning by WVD, who likes illusions and unreality sometimes.

Healthy, harmonious, hard-working, hearty 2022 from all of us at tugster tower.

And if you’re not going on a First Hike today, check out Trevor’s Seapixonline from New Zealand and beyond.  Tell him tugster suggested it.

For some other high profile tows done by Sarah Dann recently, click here.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 44 A

Ten years ago, the lower Manhattan skyline looked quite different.  A vessel bringing orange juice from the southern hemisphere was also a smaller one;  the 1985 Orange Blossom last sailed into Alang six and a half years ago, and if you don’t know what that means, click on the Alang link.  As it turns out, I may have caught photos of her last voyage inbound  Port Newark here.     Orange Blossom 2 completes her most recent voyage today, arriving in Santos BR–read this link for some superlatives–after departing the sixth boro on November 13. 

I’d thought 1976 Barents Sea was a goner, a reef candidate, when I caught this photo of her running after a long hiatus, but she was thoroughly rehabbed and lives on as Atlantic Enterprise.

The 1970 Evening Tide below was nearly 40 years into her career with Bouchard;  she’s now a Stasinos boat but her superstructure still painted in this brilliant red.

Laura K Moran–launched 2008– was among the top horsepower assist tugs in the harbor then.  She currently works in Savannah.

The 1981 McKinley Sea is currently laid up, carrying Kirby livery.

Ice Base and I had a misunderstanding;  upon first seeing her and lacking at that time a smart phone with AIS, I read her name as something different that I can no longer un-see. She’s currently in the port of Quintero CL, 50 miles north of Valparaiso, with the less ambiguous name of Cabo San Vicente.

Back in those days I often took advantage of the walkway along the west side of the Bayonne Bridge, something I’ve not done with the new walkway.  Note the absolutely ship-shape Gramma Lee T Moran as seen from above assisting 

NYK Romulus with Margaret Moran standing by.   Margaret is still in our fair boro, Gramma Lee is in Baltimore, and NYK Romulus is currently in Southampton UK.

The 1973 Amy Moran has been sold out of the fleet, and was last in the Jacksonville FL area wearing Stasinos tan and green as John Joseph.

And tomorrow I’ll post a part B of December 2011 retrospective, building on the odd orange vessel shown below.

All photos from December 2011, WVD, who’s astonished by the amount of change in a decade.

 

 

Dense Traffic 6

I’m surprised I’ve not used this title in almost a year, since the thought often comes my way that some very busy waterways exist in the sixth boro.  Like below with the four Moran tugs and one tanker.  Since three are headed to the left, you might be wondering why.  Easy . . .  those three–JRT, Kimberly, Margaret— are assisting an incoming ship, the single tug, Jonathan C,  in the foreground heading to the right will soon assist another ship coming in.  Polar Cod–a great name–is transferring petroleum product.

Here’s that incoming ship, exciting the birds as the ship and maybe stirring up the menhaden and their predators below.  We’ll get back to this.

Here’s a closer up of that fish/bird stirring ship, a torrent called Torrente.   Portside the ship is Mary Turecamo, and starboard, it’s the Belford-based Osprey. 

And here’s the most dense photo, eight tugboats from four different companies, two loaded container ships, and one tanker, all in less than two miles of waterway.

Getting back to all those birds and fish in the Con Hook Range . . .  a lot of people in small boats are putting their baited hooks in the water there.

Unrelated:  An unconfirmed report with this photo below says the 1912 Argo sank in Long Island Sound off Wading River NY on November 1.  Can anyone confirm that this happened?  I looked for a report but couldn’t find one anywhere.  To see a photo I took of it underway in the sixth boro just over 10 years ago, click here. And here, taken in June 2011.

The photo below was posted by Steve Adkins and said to be taken by USCG responding to the distress.

All photos except the last one, WVD.

CMA CGM Chile

I happened onto a very busy sunrise this morning, five ships of which two were ULCVs and a half dozen of so tugboats can be seen.

The first ULCV was CMA CGM Chile,

and the light, as last night’s Hunter’s Moon settled in the west, was perfect.

Marie J Turecamo and Margaret Moran assisted,

Here were Mexico and Brazil.

The sixth boro terminals are doing something right, because no backups as in southern California and Savannah are happening here.

All photos, WVD.