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A little more sugar please
The small Panama flagged bulk ship Century Royal came up the North River Thursday afternoon with a cargo of Mexican sugar loaded in Veracruz and heading for the Domino refinery in Yonkers. On the way up, the ship passed the anchored Vane tug Pocomoke with a loaded looking barge, seemingly killing some time before heading for a destination out on the Sound.
Passing the anchored tug Pocomoke with a heavy barge Ellen McAllister came up from her usual territory in the harbor and preceded the 450-foot bulker upriver to provide assistance with docking (4th photo).
Ellen McAllister heading up for docking assistance The Yonkers sugar plant more often receives domestic sugar cargos by barge, but also takes periodic imported shipments from by foreign flag ship. The 100+ year-old refinery is set to close before the end of the is year which means this could be one of the last such ships we see heading for Yonkers.
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At the cofferdam
New York State Marine Highway Transportation’s tug Nathan G was among several vessels working at the Gateway Tunnel cofferdam site on Tuesday morning. A day later, the Federal government announced it was withholding billions of dollars in funding for this project as well as the Second Avenue Subway tunnel. The news create uncertainty for the entire project but work continues with tugs on site Thursday morning as usual and how this ultimately plays out is of course anybody’s guess.
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Up from the Gulf Coast
The big Barbara Carol Ann Moran/Louisiana ATB, a 5,100 HP tug paired with a 468-foot barge, made rare trip up the North River Tuesday evening, heading for a terminal in Rensselaer. Similar to the last time we saw her in May of this year, her voyage appears based on what I can see on AIS trackers to have originated in New Orleans. On this week’s trip, she stopped first in Providence and then at the Sprague terminal in Port Morris, The Bronx before continuing on to Rensselaer, presumably unloading refined fuel products from the Gulf Coast at each stop. Most refined product cargos we see heading up the Hudson are loaded in New York Harbor but fuel can sometimes come up directly from the Gulf as appears to be the case here, though all the usual caveats apply about making educated guesses based solely on port calls.
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Fill ‘er up
The Vane Brothers tug Fells Point arrived on the North River on Tuesday with a fuel barge for delivery alongside the cruise ship Allura. Space on the water is compressed by the camera lens, so the sail boat and barge in the third photo are much further apart than they appear in the third photo, and the bridge is about 8 miles to the north. Allura will be running a few cruises up to Canada from here before heading for Miami.
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Horse of a different color
The cargo ship BBC Rhine came up the North River Sunday at midday, heading for the Port of Albany. The ship’s hull does not have the usual blue coat of paint we normally see on the BBC Chartering fleet, but the stern is more familiar looking blue. This ship also has a large structure built into the foredeck which looks like it might be designed to protect deck cargo from rough seas. When we see these BBC ships they are usually heading for Albany to deliver some heavy project cargo from overseas or to load equipment manufactured by GE in Schenectady for export overseas.
On the way up, Rhine overtook the Army Corps of Engineers boat Hayward on two whistles and simultaneously passed the Gracie M Reinauer/RTC 109 ATB on one whistle, briefly creating a 3-lane marine highway off North Bergen NJ.
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Adding salt
The Carver Companies tug Helen passed up the North River Friday afternoon, headed for her home port of Coeymans with a high-sided hopper barge loaded with prodigious amounts of what I believe was probably salt lightered off the bulk ship Astro Sanistra, in from Egypt and anchored in the Upper Bay off Bay Ridge. Erin Elizabeth followed the next morning with more of the same, seen passing under the GW Bridge in the photo, and in the afternoon the 650-foot Marshall Islands flagged bulker herself came through, seen passing the old convent atop the Englewood Cliffs, also headed for Coeymans and presumably considerably “lighter” than she was when she arrived in New York Harbor a few days ago. As of Sunday morning, Astro is passing Hudson, NY after having anchored overnight off Hyde Park.
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Teamwork at the terminal
The Dann Marine Towing tug Gulf Coast was on hand at North River Pier 90 at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on Friday to help Vane Brothers tug Red Hook deliver a fuel barge alongside the Viking Mars. We have seen the 2,400 HP Gulf Coast occasionally this year, usually moving fuel to one of the smaller products terminals on the East side of the Hudson River in Peekskill and New Hamburg.
Red Hook has been seen more frequently on bunkering jobs at the cruise terminal of late—the final photo shows her a few days earlier, waiting at the unused Pier 92 while another cruise ship draws fuel. She is back there again Saturday morning with a barge for the Norwegian Aqua which arrived earlier.
Red Hook on Friday 
Red Hook on Tuesday Viking Mars has been running trips to Montreal in September but, after leaving on a last visit there later today, will then head to winter cruising grounds in Fort Lauderdale.
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There and back
The Reinauer Twins/RTC 104 ATB entered the North River Tuesday morning with an oil products cargo bound for Albany as J80 sailboats sailing upwind tacked to stay out of her path.
After unloading at the Global terminal up there, the unit came back down the North River Friday afternoon with the barge light and high in the water.
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Local Patrol
Numerous Coast Guard and NYPD vessels were enforcing a full closure of the East River as world leaders gathered Tuesday at the UN, including local response boats, some of Bayonne’s black-hulled cutters, and the 154-foot fast response cutter William Chadwick down from Boston. Things were quieter on the North River, but the Sandy Hook patrol boat Bonito did make a trip up as far as the GW Bridge before turning around to anchor overnight in Gravesend Bay. The 89-foot Bonito is the only white-hulled cutter based in New York Harbor. As of Thursday morning, Bonito is closer to home, currently in Sandy Hook Bay.
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Returning from a visit
Vane Brothers tug Patuxent ran light down the North River Tuesday afternoon, returning to the Vane base in Red Hook after traveling upriver to visit the Vane tug Philadelphia anchored with a barge off Spuyten Duyvil. They were perhaps delivering crew and/or equipment up there. On the left edge of the photo, the Mexican tall ship Cuauhtémoc is visible moored at the end of Pier 86.
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 