Four’s a crowd

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Daily 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 by Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. Twitter @dannykatman

Four’s a crowd

Friday morning saw an unusually large gathering of anchored tugs in the North River, with Cape Henry, Ellen Bouchard, Jacksonville, and Genesis Glory all swinging on their chains. There was no obvious reason for this glut of tanker capacity, though perhaps strong winds overnight were a factor(?) In any event, by the end of the day, only Cape Henry and Ellen remained, though they were also joined by the Coast Guard cutter Sturgeon Bay, which resumed its UN week security post off 96th Street after a day tied up by the Intrepid.

Cape Henry at anchor Friday morning

Ellen Bouchard, Jacksonville and Genesis Glory lined up south of the bridge

A crowded river Friday morning. Source: MarineTraffic

MHT’s Nathan G came south in the morning with a deck cargo from Albany which looked by its shape to perhaps be a large air conditioning unit

Meanwhile, a trip to Brooklyn’s Fulton Landing ferry dock offered a good chance for ship watching. The Nathan G passed by there as well, coming back from Newtown Creek with an empty hopper barge.

Nathan G with an empty hopper barge on the East River

Norfolk’s Pathfinder and Paula Atwell were bringing empty Covanta municipal waste containers back to the Flushing Bay marine transfer station. These Norfolk tugs do not visit the North River regularly but rather shuttle full containers from Flushing and the Upper East Side transfer facility to the Staten Island container terminal where they are put on trains and shipped to the Covanta waste-to-energy plant near Buffalo. Covanta also has a plant in Newark, but trash travels there by truck according to a recent article in New York Magazine’s Curbed.