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Up from the depths
DonJon’s Delaware Bay dredge prepared to dump a load of mud from the bottom of the North River by Pier 88 into a scow on Thursday. Seasonal dredging at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal is underway to maintain 38 feet of depth at mean low water.
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On the cement trail
Dann Marine tug Coral Coast (56-years-old, 3,000 HP) came down the North River just before sunset on Thursday, passing Hoboken’s Stevens Institute and Jersey City with a loaded cement transporter barge from the plant in Ravenna, NY. Coral brought the tow to the distribution terminal on Flushing Bay in Queens, where they remain Friday morning.
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Thursday morning haze
Reinauer’s Josephine/RTC 83 ATB, a 4400 HP tug pinned to a 85,000 barrel barge, was Albany-bound on the North River in the Thursday morning haze after loading a New York Habor cargo overnight at Tremley Point on the Arthur Kill.
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Long may you run
The Army Corps of Engineers Drift Collection Vessel Driftmaster was on the North River in mid-April, on patrol for hazards to navigation brought down by the spring melt to be cleared with her big crane. Driftmaster was launched in the 1940s making it probably the oldest vessel regularly working in New York Harbor. We don’t see this vessel all too often on the North River and she spends more time around the Upper Bay but she did come upriver again last week.
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The Season of the Dredge
Returning to the North River this week finds twice-yearly seasonal dredging operations underway at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. DonJon Marine crews are scooping up mud to maintain the 38-feet mean low-water depth between the piers in order to accommodate cruise ships and the naval vessels that will visit for then 250th Independence Day celebrations.
On Tuesday the crews were working on the area north of Pier 90 even though the pier structure itself has been closed due to structural concerns. I believe the berth might still be usable for smaller non-passenger vessels as Canadian navy patrol boats did tie up there last month.
In the photos, DonJon tugs Mary Alice and the powerful Atlantic Salvor were maneuvering dump scows which Salvor will haul out to the Federal remediation area off Atlantic Highlands, NJ.
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Comparative bulk
NOT THE NORTH RIVER: A visit to another inland waterway this weekend found the Liberian flagged bulk ship Ocean Lorry departing New Orleans after loading a cargo at the Cargill terminal, I think probably some kind of grain. Lorry passed under the Crescent City Connection bridge and rounded Algiers Point heading for the Gulf of Mexico and then on to Singapore, her next port of call.
At 738 feet in length, Ocean Lorry is considerably bigger than the bulk ships we see on the North River, and also lacks the cranes we see on ships that use our local marine highway, instead relying exclusively on shore side equipment for unloading.
As for the cargo, it has been about 8 years since grain exports last moved through the historic elevator in the Port of Albany and down the North River to overseas markets, with Cargill having concentrated exports via the Gulf and Pacific ports. But the Albany terminal has since been converted to receive imports, and bulk ships from Europe will sometimes bring grain to the mill now located there.
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The Vision thing
Genesis Energy’s Vision with the barge GM 6508 left North River anchorage on Monday and headed for the Kills. We saw Genesis units on the river quite a bit last summer, but less often so far this year. Vision left town by the middle the week and headed for the Delaware River where she remains as of Sunday morning, anchored near Philly.
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From the archives: passing Lackawanna
FROM THE ARCHIVES: On this day last year, Dann Marine tug Sapphire Coast ran light down the North River, passing Hoboken’s Lackawanna Terminal. Sapphire had been up in Yonkers, assisting with sailing a dry bulk barge at the sugar refinery there and was returning to the harbor. The sugar plant had operated in Yonkers for over 100 years but closed permanently at the end of 2025. We continue to see Sapphire on the river though occasionally moving cement barges to and from the cement plant further north in Ravenna, NY, but a year later finds her docked at a cement terminal in Boston with a cargo brought up from Baltimore. The Lackawanna terminal is one of two rail/ferry terminals still standing on the Hudson River and the only one still operating as a transportation facility. It was built as the terminus of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad and later served the same role for Erie Lackawanna after the merger and then for the nationalized Conrail and now NJ Transit. Ferry service ended in the 1960s but resumed under NY Waterway in the 1980s. The historic looking tower is actually a replacement built about 20 years ago as the original was removed in the 1940s.
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Coming south with cargo
Janice Ann Reinauer/RTC 103 ATB was southbound on the North River Monday, passing Weehawken’s Port Imperial with a cargo loaded up north, perhaps ethanol. The unit made a stop on the Arthur Kill before heading for New England. As of Friday morning, she is docked in New Haven.
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Great fluency
The bulk ship Great Fluency, Hong Kong flag and 650-feet in length, was on the North River heading for sea on Sunday after calling at the Port of Coeymans, delivering an unknown cargo. By Thursday, she is approaching her next port of call, the coal docks of Norfolk, VA.
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 