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Following summer
The tractor tug Johnathan C. Moran was working at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on Tuesday, assisting the relatively small 465-foot cruise ship Le Boreal leaving the piers. Le Boreal called in New York after cruising in Arctic and Canadian waters and is now en route to its southern hemisphere cruising season running trips from Argentina to Antarctica. Thursday morning sees Johnathan C back at work in the harbor, currently escorting a 1,000 foot container ship through the Lower Bay as it heads back to sea. In the photo, the historic 142-year-old Weehawken Water Tower is visible to the left of Le Boreal’s stacks on top of the Bergen Hill.
©2024 Daniel Katzive Uncategorized -
Vane in train
Vane Brothers tug/barge combinations have been busy on the North River this past week, either heading for Albany with cargo, returning light, or just enjoying sheltered anchorage amid heavy wind conditions. On Tuesday just after sunrise, Pocomoke had light tank barge DS-56 on the hip returning from Albany and heading for the Vane base in Gowanus Bay amid still elevated but diminishing winds. Later the same morning, colleagues on Choptank were in the notch behind another Vane Barge loaded up and headed for the Buckeye terminal in Albany. The final photo shows Vane tugs Patuxent and Philadelphia with barges and the Charleston ATB all at anchor off Riverdale Sunday afternoon ahead of gale warnings went into effect later in the evening.
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Salt goes up, stone comes down
Carver Companies’ Daisy Mae headed north on Friday, exiting the north end of the North River with hoppers loaded with what I believe was salt lightered off a bulker in from Egypt anchored in the Upper Bay. On her return trip two days later, she brought back a stone cargo, heading for the Bay Ridge Flats. The fall colors were more notable just two days later.
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More bulk
Continuing what has already been a heavy month of foreign flag ship traffic up the North River, the Amis Queen, a 650-foot Panama flag bulker, passed Washington Heights, the Cloisters, and Spuyten Duyvil en route to the Port of Coeymans. The ship was arriving from Italy and cargo is unknown, though another salt delivery or perhaps a scrap metal pick up are among the possibilities.
©2024 Daniel Katzive Uncategorized -
Port Jeff Commuter
The Vane Brothers Charleston/DS 506 ATB, a 4,200 HP tug paired with a 363 foot tank barge, came up the North River on Wednesday of last week after a run out to Port Jefferson on Long Island Sound, heading for anchorage. After, I believe, loading up and making another run to Port Jeff later in the week, the unit is back at anchor off Riverdale Sunday morning.
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Cooking with gas
It has been busy month for foreign flag cargo vessels on the North River, as already noted in yesterday’s post. These tankers and bulk ships can bring imports from overseas or collect material in Coeymans or Albany for export, but can not move cargo between U.S. ports. On Tuesday, the small Swedish flag products tanker Ramanda arrived, headed for the Buckeye terminal in Albany.
The 18,000 deadweight ton tanker is notable in that it is a dual fuel vessel, capable of running on natural gas or conventional fuels, something we don’t see all that often on the Hudson, with the LNG tanks clearly visible on deck.
The tanker was arriving from refinery ports near Montreal, and was either bringing in a Canadian refined products cargo or, perhaps, loading ethanol for export. By this weekend, Ramanda is back at sea heading for Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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Export/Import
Trade wars may be raging but it has been a busy two weeks for foreign-flagged cargo ships coming up the North River bringing imports or collecting exports up north. On Friday afternoon, Diamond Sky, a 625-foot Malta-flagged bulk ship passed the towers of Fort Lee and the Englewood Cliffs where leaves are just starting to turn. They were heading for the Sims Metal dock in Albany where they are probably loading scrap for export, though they may have arrived in New York with salt as the ship originated in Chile.
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A glimpse into a possible future for the Manhattan Cruise Terminal
The piers of the Manhattan cruise terminal could extend significantly further into the Hudson River some day. Preliminary plans for an upgraded facility call for a 650-foot extension, adding about 60% to the length of the current 1,000 foot piers.
Slide shared by NYC EDC with Community Board 4 The new preliminary proposal was presented by New York City’s Economic Development Corporation to Manhattan Community Board Four’s Waterfront, Parks, and Environment Committee last Thursday night. The EDC is seeking community support for the project which must first go through a congressional legislative process to allow for the extended piers to impinge on the river’s federal navigation channel.
Rendering’s shared by the EDC with the committee show Piers 88 and 92 extending further into the river. The extensions are partly comprised of longer pier structures and partly of connected dolphins with anchoring points. Using the dolphins will reduce the amount of additional water coverage the project will create, which could make eventual environmental approval easier.
The plan also appears to eliminate pier 90, which would further offset river coverage increases caused by the lengthening of Piers 88 and 92. In addition to maintaining three berths for cruise ships, the plans show accommodation for smaller vessels and “blue highway” uses on the north side of Pier 92, which is currently structurally unstable and in need of restoration.
The EDC says that extending the piers will allow for increasing the marginal waterfront area to allow for better traffic circulation and infrastructure improvements, including shore power machinery. It will also allow the facility to accommodate some of the longer cruise ships now being developed.
The plans are preliminary and this is not yet the full fledged 30-year blueprint for the cruise terminal that the city has promised to deliver this year. The need for outreach at this early stage stems from the timetable of the Water Resources Development Act, a bi-annual congressional process that requires action by local electeds in the coming weeks to ensure that permission to alienate part of the navigation channel is included in legislation that will be passed in late 2026. Missing this window would mean the city would have to wait until 2028 to begin planning.
The EDC is now working to gather community support and consulting with recreational and commercial boating/shipping groups. A navigation safety study is also in process under supervision of the Coast Guard.
If approval to extend into the channel is included in the 2026 WRDA legislation, the plans will still have to move through a standard environmental planning process, including approval of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. That process would begin after the WRDA legislation passes.
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The Cable Guy
Work continues off Spuyten Duyvil on the Champlain Hudson Power Express cable which will soon bring hydro generated power from Quebec down to New York City. The cable makes a turn off the Hudson at this spot, running down the Harlem River to its terminus in Astoria. Last week HOS Mystique was working at the same spot where we have previously seen the Ariadne and Argo. By this morning, Mystique is upriver again, currently at Verplanck. Argo is further north still, approaching Catskill. Ariadne is currently at sea, heading back to Europe with her work here perhaps completed.
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Ave Maria
The bulk ship Maria came up the North River Friday, heading for the Port of Coeymans though she would spend some time at Hyde Park anchorage before arriving there. Iskenderun, Turkey was her previous foreign port of call and this ship may be coming to load scrap metal for export back to Turkey or possibly bringing some bulk cargo imported for delivery to customers up north. As of Tuesday morning, she remains moored at the port.
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 