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Working the dam
Brinn Courtney, a Stasinos 1,800 HP tug built in 1966, was on the North River this past week maneuvering barges at the Gateway Tunnel cofferdam off Pier 66, more formally known as the Hudson River Ground Stabilization Project. The floor of the river is being reinforced with concrete slurry at this point so that tunnel boring machines will be able to dig through. Sunday morning finds Brinn tied up at a pier in Bayonne.
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Staff meeting
The Janice Ann Reinauer / RTC 103 was Albany-bound on the North River with a New York Harbor products cargo Thursday afternoon. They passed the Haggerty Girls / RTC 107 which had anchored off Guttenberg for a few hours on the way back from a delivery in Newburgh. The barges are the same size (108,000 barrels, 411 feet long) but the 107 appears bigger because it is light and mostly above the waterline. As of Saturday morning, Janice Ann remains docked at the Global Terminal in Albany, with her AIS signal indicating she will call on Newburgh on the way back to the harbor. The Girls are Providence-bound on the outside route, running along the south shore of Long Island in calm seas (2 floor wave heights at the harbor entrance).
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Cement to Cementon
The bulk ship Artax, 583 feet long and Portugal flagged, came up the North River Monday morning with a cargo of Turkish cement. Artax had first called on Providence, RI to partly unload and was now heading for Cementon in the Town of Catskill NY where an import terminal sits on the site of a decommissioned cement manufacturing plant. As of Friday morning, Artax remains tied up at the terminal.
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Just visiting
The 90-year old research vessel R/V Robert Gray is visiting New York City and tied up at North River Pier 25 for the winter. The 125-foot Gray began life in 1936 as an Army Corps of Engineers survey ship, served as an Army tug in the Aleutians in World War II and later was transferred to the USGS in 1970 before entering private ownership. She maintains many of her historical fittings. The Gray was acquired in 2024 by The Voyagers Club and is available for charter by research groups.
The crew is running hourly tours this month and will show all parts of the ship and give a detailed overview of the ships technical specifications and history. Information on signing up is on the Hudson River Park’s website. Pier 25 is the only spot on the North RIver and one of the few places in New York Harbor where historical ships can dock and be accessible to the public. Further in on Pier 25 and visible in the photo above is retired Coast Guard buoy tender Lilac, a permanent resident.
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Another black hull
The morning after the Coast Guard’s Penobscot Bay passed up the North River heading for ice breaking duty upriver, another black-hulled cutter came through. The buoy tender Katherine Walker, Keeper of the Harbor, headed north, perhaps to join ice breaking operations or to restore navigational marks knocked off station by ice flows, or both (or neither). Kate stopped at Lighted Buoy number 40 south of Constitution Island near Cold Spring and then continued on to reach Poughkeepsie by sundown. Wednesday morning finds her on the move again, heading north and passing Hyde Park. Meanwhile, Penobscot Bay is heading south towards her after spending Tuesday on ice patrol around Kingston and traveling nearly as far north as Hudson NY. Still no ice to be seen further south on the North River where warm temperatures brought pea soup fog on Wednesday morning.
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Ready to break the ice
Ice has not reached the North River in New York City yet this year, but further north on the Hudson some icebreaking operations have already begun. On Monday, Penobscot Bay, one of two 140–foot ice breakers based in Bayonne was heading upriver, still wearing her Christmas wreath below the wheelhouse and holly strung along the railing, to join the smaller 65-foot cutter Hawser to be ready to keep the channel open to Albany. By evening Penobscot Bay had reached Poughkeepsie while Hawser was docked in Albany. The other 140-footer, Sturgeon Bay, and the other local 65-footer Wire are both at the Bayonne base.
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Up with the sun
Reinauer’s Kristy Ann ATB, an 8-year old 4,400 HP tug paired with the 86,000 barrel 347-foot RTC 80 barge, was northbound on the North River Sunday morning, passing the Lincoln Tunnel vents with a New York Harbor products cargo bound for Albany. After anchoring overnight off Hyde Park, the unit continued on her way at sunrise Monday.
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Pushing rock
New York State Marine Highway’s 1977 vintage 1,200 HP tug Nathan G brought a set of hoppers loaded with stone down the North River on Saturday, passing the Bull Ferry condos in Guttenberg NJ. They were headed for the Bay Ridge flats where hoppers can be left at moorings and interchanged for onward delivery. As of Sunday morning, Nathan was at the Weeks Marine pier in Bayonne.
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Sunset cruise
The Kirby Cape Hatteras / DBL 81 ATB left anchorage north of the GWB at sundown on Friday and headed for the Upper Bay where I believe she is currently alongside the oil products tanker Ipanema Street which arrived from Spain overnight, perhaps lightering a cargo(?). This is the first time I have photographed Hatteras since summer 2024 but this unit has been running up the Hudson and anchoring on the North River between trips periodically this fall and winter.
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Making waves in the new year
Boston Marine Transport’s 4,200 HP tug Pinuccia came down the North River Friday with the light New York 30 tank barge, returning to the harbor from a New Year’s Day run up to Newburgh to deliver their first products cargo of 2026 up there. The brisk southwest wind was running against the tail end of the ebb tide and kicking up a a bit of swell in front of the barge.
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 