The MTM Kobe headed back to sea before sunset on Sunday, three days after passing us heading north to the Buckeye Terminal in Albany where she was docked until Saturday. Foreign flagged tankers like Kobe can carry foreign cargos to Albany or pickup export cargos there for shipment overseas. Moving product between U.S. ports restricted to the U.S. flagged barges we see more often.

Leaving us, the Kobe appeared to be drawing deeper than when she arrived, and the vessel is signaling Montreal as a destination. What cargo could be moving from Albany to Quebec? Crude exports from Albany stopped a few years ago but Buckeye does handle ethanol and it is plausible this was what was loaded up there and now en route to Quebec. Of course only the shippers and the Kobe’s mariners know for sure, but demand for U.S. ethanol has been expected to increase in Quebec due to passage of new environmental regulations there according to the U.S. Grains Council. The first two months of the year saw record U.S. ethanol exports to Canada according to the EIA.

Meanwhile, Monday brought more normal temperatures after the weekend swelter and winds came out of the north. The day opened with Jennifer Turecamo and the Kristin Poling still at anchor off Riverside Park. Kristin headed down to the Arthur Kill for more cargo in the afternoon but Jennifer remained into the evening hours.