Keeping the steam up

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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.

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 The GCS 230 barge which is usually moored there has been replaced by Centerline’s HMS 2605 barge at some point this winter, and the plant might be burning some oil during this period of high natural gas demand.