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Simon and Garfunkel … original release date 1966 . . . now paraphrased, “Slow down, we move too fast. We got to cut the greenhouse gas. Just kicking down the rpms. We’re steamin’ slow and feelin’ green, we.”
OK, here’s a visual/auditory aid, and alas . . . I have no future as a lyricist, but can I convince you to scan this Elisabeth Rosenthal article from the 2/16 NY Times about Ebba Maersk, taking a week longer now than it did two years ago on the run to Guangdong from Bremerhaven, a week more at sea deliberately . . . as a means to increase efficiency and thereby reduce carbon emissions.
Some statistics: “halving the top cruising speed reduces fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 30%.”
Interesting, but it makes me wonder whether crew compensation would decrease on a per-day basis? The article says Maersk saved more than enough on fuel to pay the crew.
“Driving on the highway at 55 instead of 65 miles per hour cuts carbon dioxide emissions of American cars by about 20 percent.”
But it might get you rear-ended quickly as well. And I’ll be honest, I speed whenever I forget that the journey trumps the arrival.
“Transport emissions have soared in the past three decades as global trade has grown by leaps and bounds, especially long-haul shipments of goods from Asia. The container ship trade grew eightfold between 1985 and 2007.”
“Today more than 220 vessels [worldwide] are practicing ‘slow steaming’ — cruising at 20 knots on open water instead of the standard 24 or 25 — or, like Maersk’s vessels, ‘super slow steaming’ (12 knots)”
I’m no expert on this complex topic, but
“slow steaming” seems to make sense.
Ships shown from the top:
Turkon Line Kasif Kalkavan (I had fotos with surprises of another Turkon boat here –second half of post)
MSC Carla, NOT the one built in 1972.
NYK Daedalus
By the way, NYK Daedalus left New York on 9 February for Taiwan. Will leave Taiwan on 16 March for arrival back in New York on 9 April. I don’t think that’s slow-steaming.
For thoughts on sailing (v. petro-powering) from very different blogs (though locked in delightful squabble) see ODocker and Tillerman.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
“feelin’ green, we.” I hope you like my nod to cajun english dialect, there, you.
Related: from today’s NYTimes, “Clearing the Air at American Ports.”
Back when Alice Oldendorff occupied a large part of my . .. well, nautical heart, I did a post examining her parts, discovering –of course– her magic created a presence much greater than their sum, a fact I cherish in all those I love.
Some recent fotos suggested I revisit this title. Of course, parts often bear no resemblance to or hint of the whole. Like the foto below. Judging by the arc of numbers near the right side of the foto, the left-to-right expanse of the structure might be about 30 feet. A rocky bank lies not far beyond this curved underside of the hull. And the rest of the story? Is the ship aground?
It’s MSC Carla, all nearly 800′ of her.
Half a dozen crew gather around the hook of a crane. On this foggy day their vessel seems to be in contact with a red #30 buoy.
It’s Katherine Walker doing buoy maintenance.
And . . . yes, I rubbed my eyes too when I saw this, vowing to visit the eye doctor soon.
But when I looked here,
my fear of blindness dissipated. I could even recognize the unmistakeable profile of Ellen McAllister, winner of the 2009 tugboat race, shown in the video here.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
Speaking of hulls, phototiura has some of the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen.
Late December featured the second post on dredging and more; here’s the latest installment. At first glance, Baltic Dawn seems about to lose its stern to an oversize bucket (or at least get a machine’s version of a butt pinch), but
–no–it was just an illusion.
All progressed well with this project not far from mid-channel in the KVK in front of Atlantic Salt until
MSC Carla approached from the west and Peter F. Gellatly approached from the east. Whether the sudden plume of black exhaust resulted from reversing the ship’s engine full or not, I
can’t say, but the dredging continued, as did the journeys of container ship and tug with barge on hip. This MSC Carla (ex-HanJin Long Beach) dates from 1986; a former MSC Carla, built in 1972, cracked in half in 1997.
Meanwhile , trailing suction hopper Padre Island crisscrossed the water in front of Stapleton. There’s lots going on beneath the dredger, but very
very little to see from the surface, except hoses running into the water, port, starboard, and possibly trailing from the stern. I imagine it like a vacuum cleaner transiting a carpet.
I’d love to hear from someone working on Padre Island and willing to explain more of the working below this vessel.
Dredges … mechanical bottom feeders, bringing up dirt, literally. They’re time traveling too, uncovering silt of many past events. Be they adventures or misadventures, the act disturbs the memory of the watershed, you could argue; in exchange, they make way for a modified future.
All fotos taken today by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
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