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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 -
Have rock, will travel
The subsea rock laying vessel Acadia came down the North River laden with stone as weather conditions deteriorated Tuesday afternoon. It was little over a week after I caught the brand-new ship making her debut voyage north. In the interim she had loaded something like 20,000 tons of stone at the Port of Coeymans, visible in the two open hoppers midship, and she was now headed to the Empire Wind worksite to deposit her cargo.
The change in displacement between her upbound and downbound voyages was visibly evident and her AIS reported displacement increased by about 10 feet after loading. By Wednesday morning, Acadia is at the Empire work site, in close proximity with the project’s ECO Liberty vessel, another new-build Jones Act compliant ship recently delivered for the project. When eventually complete, the Empire Wind project will deliver much-needed electricity directly to New York City’s grid.
We can expect to see Acadia regularly on the North River going forward as she travels north to collect more rock for the project and then heads back offshore.
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At work and at rest
A week ago Monday found Dace Reinauer, 1968-vintage but much modified and updated over the years, Albany- and Newburgh-bound on the North River with a New York Harbor products cargo loaded on RTC 62. Along the way, she passed the Reinauer Twins/RTC 104 ATB at anchor off North Bergen after returning from a run up to Providence.
The Twins, built in 2011, has about 40% more horsepower than Dace and her barge has nearly 70% more capacity. A bit over a week later finds Dace tucked in at Erie Basin as thunderstorms move into the harbor while the Twins are at a terminal pier in Carteret on the Arthur Kill as the barge presumably loads a new cargo.
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Under new management
When a tug comes up the North River with a barge on the wire, it usually means they are arriving in New York Harbor from offhshore. That was the case on Friday when Vane tug Anacostia passed through with the RCM 260 tank barge on a short leash. Anacostia was coming up from the Gulf, though she may have picked up the barge at intermediate stops in Savannah or Norfolk.
The RCM 260 barge was one of two non-ATB barges acquired by Rose Cay Maritime from the bankrupt Bouchard fleet some years ago and, with the folding of RCM last year, it appears to be among assets now acquired by Vane as the barge deckhouse now wears the distinctive V and green stripe of the company. Anacostia brought the barge up to the Sunoco terminal south of Rensselaer where presumably some cargo was delivered though the barge appeared pretty high in the water as it came up the river. As for the tug, this is the first time I have seen Anacostia on the North River.
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ATBs heading north
ATB units were moving oil products north with the flood tide on the North River on Friday afternoon, with the Curtis Reinauer/RTC 82 coming through first followed by Kirby’s Cape Hatteras paired I believe with DBL 81. Both units were Albany-bound and seen passing the Hudson Yards towers in the photos.
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Empire Builders
Heavy lift ship BBC Fuji came down the North River Thursday evening, heading for sea and signaling Saudi Arabia as her next port of call after leaving Albany early in the morning. Her destination and the fact that AIS reported draft increased a bit while moored in Albany suggests she may have loaded electrical generating equipment manufactured by GE Vernova in Schenectady for export.
A March report from Albany’s Center for Economic growth indicates that Saudi Arabia was the lead destination for high-tech equipment exports from the port in 2025 and that high-tech machinery exports reached a 7-year high that year. This followed significant investment by GE Vernova in new capacity and a deal to sell gas turbines to Saudi Arabia which, the report notes, are commonly paired with hydrogen-cooled generators made in Schenectady. The Hudson River marine highway helps manufacturers based upstate access international markets without having to transport larger loads through the congested Port of NY/NJ.
©2024 Daniel Katzive Uncategorized -
An evening at the dam
An evening cocktail at the Yacht Club bar atop the old Starret Lehigh freight terminal provides a great vantage point for watching activity at the Gateway Tunnel coffer dam. As noted in the past, the project seems to spread work across all the non-petroleum hauler tow companies working in the harbor.
Late afternoon on Wednesday, New York State Marine Highway’s Maddie K headed for Bayonne after a day of moving barges around the work site. A bit later, @donjonmarine’s Brian Nicholas stopped by after leaving a DSNY scow at Pier 99 and picked up a hopper barge loaded with what looked like some dredge spoils and headed for Newark.
The coffer dam is in place to allow workers to stabilize the riverbed below with a cement mixture in order to allow tunneling for the new Gateway Tunnel that will pass underneath. The dam is now shifting closer to the New York shoreline and away from the center of the channel as work progresses. As of Thursday morning, Maddie is back at the coffer dam while Brian is at Port Newark.
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Up from the South River
The Vane Brothers tug Potomac, who I last saw almost exactly a year ago bunkering a container ship in Port Newark, came up the North River on Tuesday with a loaded-looking Double Skin 507, arriving from Philadelphia. After killing some time off North Bergen, she headed for IMTT Bayonne, perhaps to deliver the cargo. In the photo, she passes the anchored super yacht Constance, owned, at least at one time, by an American tech billionaire according to a 2018 article, and the Palisades Medical Center.
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 