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Rock and roll
Norfolk Tug’s George Holland was southbound on the North River on Friday morning, passing the Galaxy Towers of Guttenberg NJ. George had a cargo of crushed stone from the Clinton Point quarry loaded aboard the company’s barge Ellie heading for a materials company yard on the Arthur Kill in Perth Amboy. George has been making regular runs to the quarry, distributing stone to construction material depots around New York Harbor and Long Island Sound. As of Tuesday morning, the tug is back up at Clinton Point, picking up another cargo.
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Linda Sue comes back
Hays Tug Linda Sue was back on the North River with Double Skin 55 last week, the second time we have seen her this year. She was returning from a products run up to Maine and, similar to last time we saw her in August, she took anchorage off Spuyten Duyvil with the light barge where she remains on Monday morning. I believe Linda is normally based in Philly, though she was in Norfolk in September following her August visit to New York Harbor.
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New York makes, the navy takes
NY State Marine Highway’s Sarah D took a break from her usual stone cargos to move a special tow down the North River on Saturday. Hopper barge 78 held a 100 ton condenser manufactured in western New York State and headed for a naval manufacturing site in Rhode Island, I believe to be installed on a submarine. The cargo was loaded on barge in Albion, NY, and then moved down the Erie Canal to Waterford and Troy with a canal sized tug where it was picked up by Sarah. As of Sunday morning, the tow is just off Point Judith and approaching its destination
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Six Pack
Marine Highway’s Sarah D brought a six pack of hopper barges loaded with stone down the North River on Thursday. According to the company’s socials, Sarah picked up about 8,700 tons of stone, the equivalent of 435 loaded semi-trucks, from the Colarusso quarry dock in Hudson, NY a day earlier to bring down to NY Harbor. Sarah brought the tow to the Bay Ridge Flats. She then headed back up to her base in Troy and by Saturday morning she is already on her way south again, presumably with another cargo of stone.
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When you gotta go
Fresh off Tuesday’s appearance in a supporting role on the NCIS New York season premiere, Henry Marine’s Henry Girls was back at work on the North River on Thursday. Her assignment was perhaps less glamorous than TV work but probably more important as she appeared to be picking up a barge that was swapping out portable toilets at the Gateway Tunnel cofferdam work site. Henry Girls is 43 years old and packs 1,800 HP.
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Heading back home
Thursday morning found a tug and livery I have not seen before transiting down the North River. Construction company Mohawk Northeast’s 2,400 HP tug Bridgeport was returning light from the Rondout Creek in Kingston with a bone in her teeth heading back to the company’s base in Groton, CT. Along the way, she passed the Eva Leigh Cutler barge which has been at anchor off Guttenburg for the past few days with the tug Kristin Polling. Bridgeport likely left a barge at the Feeney Shipyard in Kingston for service, though I did not see her on the way so I can’t say for sure.
The shipyard gets vessels from up and down the coast in for work and provides some additional variety to the boats we see on the North River.
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Job complete
Maintenance channel dredging operations up in Haverstraw Bay appear to be wrapping up, a few weeks before the October 31 environmental conservation deadline. On Tuesday, Curtin Maritime’s Kimberly C had the derrick barge Avalon on the wire heading out to sea and on to Morehead City, North Carolina. We have seen Kimberly coming through daily over the past few weeks towing mud scows out to the dump site off Atlantic Highlands, about 60 miles from Haverstraw Bay. According to Curtin, the 250-foot DB Avalon is the highest capacity clamshell dredge in North America.
The dredge has a hybrid power source with four banks of batteries allowing for 30% smaller diesel generators relative to conventionally powered dredges. Curtin primarily operates on the West Coast but also does dredging and other operations out here and was the lead contractor for this Army Corps of Engineers project to return the channel to a depth of 32 feet at mean low water in Haverstraw Bay. By Wednesday, the tow is off Cape May heading south.
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Pink October
Dann Marine tugs are moving cement barges on the North River this week, heading to and coming from the cement plant in Ravenna. On Monday afternoon, Sapphire Coast came through with a cement cargo heading for the materials terminal on Gowanus Bay in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The next morning, Coral Coast was northbound with a light cement barge after delivering cargo at the terminal on Flushing Bay in Queens. Both tugs have their “Ds” painted pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month, something the company does every October going back at least five years.
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Refueling New England
Vane’s Castine / DS 550 ATB, the former Jordan Rose / RTC 250, stopped in briefly on the North River on Monday upon return from a run up to Portsmouth before heading for the Buckeye Port Reading terminal presumably to load up a new cargo for another trip. While up here, Castine passed Poling & Cutler’s 5,000 HP tug Kristin Poling who has been at anchor off Guttenberg with the company’s 80,000 barrel barge Eval Leigh Cutler for the past few days.
Both units have been fueling New England this week, with Castine having visited Providence, Portsmouth and Portland while Kristin has been back and forth to New Haven.
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Lucy
The Lucy Reinauer/RTC 60 ATB unit, a 53-year old but significantly upgraded 4,300 HP tug paired with a 60,000 barrel barge, came up the North River in the rain on Sunday afternoon, passing the Gateway Tunnel worksite with a New York Harbor products cargo. They were headed for a terminal in Newburgh or Albany.
Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.
