Marco’s New Nose

I’d never gotten a photo of CMA CGM Marco Polo, although I know she looked very much like CMA CGM Alexander von Humboldt, seen below and here in a photo from about a year ago. 

I was intrigued when I learned that Marco had gotten a nose job, had a “windshield” added to streamline the vessel and thereby reduce fuel consumption.   That intrigue was boosted when I saw the speed she was making between Halifax and the sixth boro this past weekend.   I even checked my friend Mac MacKay’s site, which sometimes features vessels either before or after they appear in the our watery boro. No nothing.  

Behold, westbound on the ConHook Range . . .  CMA CGM Marco Polo, 2.0.  I had thought maybe a modern iteration of a whaleback like here. 

This was all of that, but with wings as well.  I’m thinking of inspiration from a winged snow plow, the real utilitarian deal or the Mark di Suvero glorification.

The curved metal work had hints of Richard Serra or Alexander Calder. 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems the concept here really is the same as an air dam incorporated into semi-truck design.  I recall how odd I thought this looked when they were first introduced.   Now they are standard for long haul trucks. 

 

It will be interesting to see if and how this design change takes hold.

Marco is over a decade at work, in case you’re wondering, and even if the “windshield” (or maybe “air plow” might be a better name) provides a 2% fuel cost savings, in the course of a year sailing, that would be a big sum.  Anyone know average daily fuel consumption of a vessel this size under way?

All photos, WVD. 

 

Truckster! 27

“Vintage CJ” has to come to mind when you see this photo, and time has modified this folding windshield jeep to give it an “articulating” frame. The lake middle left side is Canandaigua. 

This is a photo from a month ago; by now along this road, snow lies on the grass at the foot of bare trees.

Certainly a seasonal photo of a truckload of Christmas trees coming out of the Adirondacks.

This is the first UPS EV I’ve ever seen, taken recently in lower Manhattan.  Here’s more on UPS’ embrace of new power vehicles. 

Here the second Rivian delivery van I’ve seen in Amazon colors.  It was one of a batch crossing the VZ bridge.  I saw the first one (and batch) leaving a facility about a month ago in Connecticut.   Unless I’m researching this too quickly, Normal IL is the launch point for all these Rivian vehicles.  How far back do electric vehicles go?  Answer at end of this post.

I’ve read references to a food truck revolution.  I had planned to use Buenos Nachos Amigos in a Halloween post, but the time came and went too quickly.  

Here’s an unusual drink truck I saw at a wedding recently . .  a 1933 Ford, just a month ago in a place where snow and sleet are swirling right now.  Maybe working at a food or drink truck truck would be a fun part-time job. 

Hummers certainly attract attention even when they’re painted a sedate color, as this one is not. 

I had to get this photo on a northbound highway.  Is this a Kenworth towing a Hinckley?

It was still summer when I saw this approximately 60-year-old Willys pickup looking like it had just been manufactured.  All restored, it has every bit as much vintage as the lead photo.

All photos in the past few months, WVD, whose truckster! posts represent a lot of fun for me and go back to my demon wanting to make mischief back on April 1, 2015.

Click here for a timeline of EVs.

Drive safe, sober, and clean. 

Might it be fun to do a truck calendar . . . best of truckster! . . . this year . . .    Have you seen an extraordinary vintage truck on your local roads, trails, and highways?  Send me a snap?

Whatzit 31

or “whatz dem”?

I really am clueless here.  At first I thought fendering, but the location makes no sense.

Help?

I know I’ve read Guy de Maupassant, but I can’t remember anything of that either.  I guess I’m a mess today.  Even the time evaded me.

All photos I do recall taking, though.