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Park view
The tug Liz Vinik was back at the North River water treatment plant with the sludge barge Maria alongside on Wednesday. Maria was loading residual solids (sludge) for dewatering at the Passaic Valley water treatment plant on Newark Bay. The North River plant is most often serviced by the city’s own fleet of tankers but we have seen this privately owned barge calling here periodically over the past year, perhaps because two of the city’s tankers are currently out of service. The photos were taken from Riverbank State Park, which sits above the sewage facility.
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Wall Street on the North River
The Prospect Park/MAM 80 ATB, a 5,000 HP tug paired with a 400’ /80,000 barrel barge,has been on the North River this week, moving between anchorage off Yonkers and the Upper Bay with the barge looking light.
This is the first time I have seen this unit which I believe normally operates in the Gulf out of Florida but came up to New York Harbor in July and has made at least one trip down to Wilmington since then.
The ATB carries no branding or logos but publicly available documents filed in connection with a recent legal dispute with a charterer indicate it is owned and chartered out by investment company Marathon Asset Management, consistent with the MAM name of the barge, and is operated by a division of Vane.
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A rose by any other name
A rose by any other name…Tuesday finds the ATB formerly known as Jordan Rose at anchor in the North River, now wearing @vanebrotherscompany livery and apparently renamed Castine and with the barge called Double Skin 550 rather than RCM 252. Vane acquired the Jordan Rose and Susan Rose ATB units this year from the owners of the Rose Cay Maritime fleet which ceased operations in 2025. The acquisition brings the number of ATBs in the Vane fleet to eight according to the company’s web site, and Jordan/Castine and Susan join the Charleston and Jacksonville ATB units also based in New York Harbor along with many conventional tugs.
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Norfolk Tug’s George Holland has continued to run stone cargos from the Clinton Point quarry down the North River this month with the company’s barge Ellie. On Wednesday morning, George passed the Lincoln Tunnel helix, I believe heading for the aggregate pier at Brooklyn Navy Yard. By Thursday morning, George is on the way north again, passing up the North River on the way back to the quarry.
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Working the river
Kristin Poling came down the North River on the ebb Tuesday evening with the light Edwin A. Poling barge, having left anchorage off Yonkers where she spent a few days after completing a run up to a terminal in Rensselaer.
The 5,000 HP Kristin is the biggest of Poling & Cutler’s five tugs and we more often see her paired with the company’s larger Eva Leigh Cutler barge coming back from runs out on the Sound but lately she has been running upriver with the Edwin A, perhaps because the Marilyn George tug is out of service. Kristin brought the barge to the Bayonne IMTT where she reloaded overnight and was already heading back upriver again Wednesday morning with a new cargo.
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Homeport refueling
Vane Brothers tug Cape Fear was on bunkering duty at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal again on Thursday. She had a refueling barge alongside the Carnival Venezia on the north side of North River Pier 88. Venezia is home ported in New York for the summer, running round trips to Bermuda and a couple to the eastern Caribbean as well. Cape Fear is New York Harbor based, built in 2018 with 3,000 HP available, according to tugboatinformation.
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Working the dam
Work at the Gateway Tunnel North River cofferdam continues to employ a wide range of towing companies. On Thursday, New York State Marine Highway’s Sarah D, a 50 year old 2,000 HP tug, was moving barges at the site.
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Welcome back big guy
The Christian Reinauer/RTC 145, one of the biggest ATBs operating from New York Harbor, came up the North River under threatening skies Thursday as thunderstorms passed by to the north. The unit was returning from a trip down to a terminal in Cape Canaveral, Florida with the 150,000 barrel barge now looking light and headed for anchorage off Yonkers. After resting there overnight, Christian headed for the Bay Ridge Flats and then Bayway where she remains Saturday morning.
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Sirius work
The bulk ship Sirius, 590-feet long and Marshall Islands flagged, was northbound on the North River last Friday, arriving from the Caribbean. She was heading for the Sims Metals dock at the Port of Albany where she likely loaded scrap for export, with her AIS reported draft increasing by about 5 feet while moored there. Friday morning a week later finds her back in New York Harbor at anchor in the Upper Bay, perhaps waiting to refuel or maybe to load more scrap in Newark.
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Help is on the way
If you see a pair of Moran tugs come up the North River past the cruise terminal, it usually means there is assist work to be done at the wallboard plant in Buchanan. This was the case on Wednesday evening with Margaret and Laura K. Moran heading for the factory to help dock a bulker. The bulk ship ES Leader followed about an hour later, laden with a regular delivery of gypsum loaded in Garrucha, Spain, the principal ingredient in drywall.
Margaret Moran, launched in 1979, is a New York Harbor stalwart and also my personal favorite as she is the first tugboat I ever photographed, back in the mid-1980s at North River Pier 86. Laura K is a more modern and powerful tractor tug delivered in 2008.
Margaret Moran assisting the QE2 leaving Pier 88 in the mid-1980s ©2024 Daniel Katzive Uncategorized
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.
North River Notes 