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Keeping the steam up
The Liz Vinik, a 3,000 HP Vinik Marine tug built in 1962 for Esso, was brought in to break up the ice around Con Ed’s North River Pier 98 fuel dock on Monday. Deckhands tied the tug’s bow up to the pier and the tug pivoted back and forth, churning up the ice with her twin screws until the back half of the space between Pier 97 and 98 was clear of ice. Liz had visited the Ravenswood power plant on the East River earlier in the day, probably for the same purpose, and after attending to Pier 98 she headed for Atlantic Highlands in Sandy Hook Bay.
Pier 98, in addition to hosting a heat exchange mechanism for cooling a nearby substation, is used by Con Ed to moor barges holding backup fuel oil for the 59th Street Steam Plant, which mostly burns natural gas but can also use number 4 oil. The GCS 230 barge which is usually moored there has been replaced by Centerline’s HMS 2605 barge at some point this winter, and the plant might be burning some oil during this period of high natural gas demand.
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Breaking ice on the North River
The Coast Guard cutter Hawser was breaking ice between North River Pier 99 and Pier i early Monday morning as temperatures hovered around 11 farenheit. This section of the estuary generally remains navigable without human intervention, with the steady barge traffic and ebb and flow of the tide sufficient to keep the channel clear, but this is an exceptional winter. The 65-foot small harbor tug is the only Coast Guard icebreaker working New York Harbor this morning I believe, with both of the local 140-footers busy up north (Penobscot Bay is working north from Poughkeepsie and Sturgeon Bay is off Newburgh) and the other 65-footers Wire and Line and the buoy keeper Katherine Walker not showing up on AIS. After making a loop as far north as West 72nd Street, Hawser spent some time around the Manhattan Cruise Terminal where Norwegian Breakaway arrived this morning and then headed for the Upper Bay.
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Interstate commerce
Returning to New York City from warmer climes finds the harbor beset by the heaviest icing conditions seen in decades and new ways of operating on the North River already becoming routine. NY Waterway has contracted with Stasinos Marine to help keep their trans-Hudson routes operating and Sunday morning finds the 71-year-old tug Joanne Marie, who is normally based in Fall River, Mass, escorting the ferry Garden Sate between Pier 79 and Port Imperial. Built in 1954 for the U.S. Army, Joanne Marie was acquired by Stasinos in 2022 and is I believe now the oldest tug doing regular commercial work in New York Harbor. Long may you run!
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Big Barney Stops By
Moran’s Barney Turecamo/Georgia ATB, a 5,100 HP tug paired with a 425-foot 118,000 barrel barge, is not often on the North River, but the unit paid a short visit on Thursday, traveling up river as far as 72nd Street before making a tight turn and heading back to the harbor. As of Saturday morning she is at a pier in Bayonne’s IMTT terminal.
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One foot out the door
A crewman had one foot out the door as a Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter flew up the North River about 200 feet over the water. The helo was flying up from its Atlantic City base, turned right over Spuyten Duyvil and flew back down to AC passing over Manhattan. They made a loop around the Statue on the way up and back. The 247 mile round trip was accomplished in a little over 2 hours and used a bit more than half of the 65’s listed range. The short-range MH-65s in Atlantic City are the closest Coast Guard aviation assets to New York Harbor, though the medium range MH-60s based in Cape Cod are also not far.
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Making a turn
The NYC DEP sludge tanker Port Richmond made a hard turn into the flood tide on Monday morning in order to dock port side to the North River water treatment plant. The tanker loaded a cargo of sludge and brought it to the Passaic Valley Water Commission plant in Newark for dewatering. The PVWC processes a portion of NYC’s residual solid waste, with the balance going to centrifuges at the Wards Island plant and a few other locations.
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Evelyn back and forth
Poling & Cutler’s 52-year old 3,800 HP tug Evelyn Cutler was moving in both directions on the North River this week with the 30,000 barrel Noelle Cutler tank barge in tow. On Tuesday morning she was returning to the harbor from Albany with the barge light and the next morning they were on their way back north after loading a new cargo. By Thursday morning, Evelyn and Noelle are approaching Rhinecliff after anchoring overnight off Hyde Park.
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Business trip
Coast Guard cutter Katherine Walker, the Keeper of the Harbor, was northbound on the North River Tuesday morning, with a red buoy on deck. Katherine travelled up to Hudson River Shoal Lighted Buoy A just south of Poughkeepsie which was reported extinguished in an LNM earlier this month. She spent a little over an hour there, presumably servicing the buoy, before heading back south. The crew spent a cold night at anchor just north of the GW Bridge before heading towards the Bayonne base just after sunrise. There red buoy was still on deck. If you want to see the opposite view, check out U.S. Coast Guard Northeast ‘s Facebook story this morning which has a view from the deck.
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A flag and frosting for MLK Jr.
The George Washington Bridge had the Stars and Stripes flying from the west tower in commemoration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday with the surrounding Palisades perfectly frosted.
©2024 Daniel Katzive Uncategorized -
Tow in the snow
Boston Marine Transport’s 4,200 HP tug Pinuccia was Albany-bound in the snow on the North River on Saturday with a New York Harbor products cargo loaded on the New York 30 barge. After unloading, she departed Albany’s Global terminal just before midnight on Sunday and by sunrise on Monday she was passing Poughkeepsie on the way back to the harbor.
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 