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Back to base
Lucy Reinauer, a 4,300 HP tug paired with the 300-foot long RTC 42 barge, left anchorage on the North River Friday morning after a windy Thursday night as Hurricane Erin passed by well offshore. The unit headed for the Erie Basin barge port.
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Rough seas ahead
The Vane Brothers tug Red Hook had a bunkering barge alongside Carnival Venezia at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on Tuesday morning. Venezia departed later that day and managed to skirt along the west side of Hurricane Erin, arriving in the Bahamas Friday morning.
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Champlain Hudson Power Express arrives at the North River
The cable-laying vessel Ariadne arrived off Spuyten Duyvil at the top end of the North River this week to work on some of the final sections of the Champlain Hudson Power Express. The cable, which will bring hydro-generated electricity from Canada to New York City beginning next year, makes a turn at this point, entering the Harlem River after running under the Hudson from Rockland County to here. It will pass under the Harlem River, along the north shore of Randalls Island and then cross the East River to its landing point in Astoria.
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On the move
Genesis Vigilant came down the North River after leaving anchor off Yonkers Tuesday morning with the GM 8001 barge on the hip, heading for the Upper Bay. After a visit to Caddells on the KvK, Vigilant brought the barge back upriver to Yonkers where she remains Wednesday morning.
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Taking bunkers
The small local bunkering tanker Chandra B had a fuel delivery on Monday morning for the 187-foot yacht Elis et Mar which has been anchored on the North River off West New York for an extended period this summer. Further south and later in the day, Vane Brothers tug Elk River had a larger client at Pier 88 in the Manhattan Cruise Terminal as Norwegian Aqua took on fuel.
Aqua, a new ship this year, arrived from Florida early Monday as seen in the last photo and was set to kick off a series of round trips from NYC to Bermuda in August and September, but this week’s trip has been rerouted to Canada to avoid Hurricane Erin according to Cruise Industry News. Aqua departed later Monday.
Aqua arriving early Monday -
The Two Towers
We have seen a lot of Polling & Cutler’s Evelyn Cutler on the North River this summer. The 52-year-old 3,800 HP tug, one of five in the P&C fleet, passed Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters Thursday evening with the Noelle Cutler barge loaded up with a fuel cargo for delivery in Rensselaer. Saturday morning she passed us again by Port Imperial in Weehawken, returning to the harbor with the barge light. By Sunday evening, she was back up north again on the opposite side of the river at a terminal in Albany with more fuel to unload. As of Monday morning, she is passing Annandale on the way back to the harbor and should hit the North River by sundown.
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Beating the storm
Baltic Mantis, a 655-foot Marshall Islands-flagged bulk ship, came down the North River and headed for sea and her next port of call in Texas on Thursday afternoon after departing the Port of Coeymans. Her last foreign port prior to Coeymans was in Egypt, and she may have brought road salt with her or loaded scrap in Coeymans for export, though other bulk cargos are possible too. By Sunday morning Mantis is approaching the Bahamas and aiming for the Gulf, no doubt keeping an eye on the hurricane currently moving west just north of Puerto Rico.
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Army excursion
The US Army logistics vessel CW3 Harold C. Clinger passed Spuyten Duyvil heading south Friday afternoon. The 273-foot long RoRo had come up the North River from Norfolk earlier in the day, traveling up the Hudson to Bear Mountain Bridge before turning around and heading back to sea and Virginia. Clinger is based near Norfolk now and, I believe, has a reserve training role. She made a similar excursion in May of 2024, though only going as far up as Yonkers then, and presumably these trips are for training purposes. The ship is designed to move army cargo, vehicles or tanks long distances and can discharge on beaches as well.
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Leaving so soon?
After a quick turn at the Buckeye Terminal in Albany, MH Future was back on the North River Thursday evening, passing the Spuyten Duyvil rail bridge and heading for sea less than sixty hours after she passed in the other direction Tuesday morning. She was heading for Halifax and looked to be drawing a bit more than when she arrived, so perhaps she loaded ethanol for export back to Canada up there, though that is just guess.
Passing the Spuyten Duyvil rail bridge 
Draft heading north… 
Draft heading south -
Cement from three places
SSI Magnificent, a 580-foot Marshall Islands-flagged bulk ship, came up the North River Wednesday carrying a cargo of cement from Turkey and heading for Catskill, NY after first partially discharging at terminals in Providence and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Cement, the dry primary ingredient in concrete which is typically mixed closer to where it will be used, is often manufactured near a source of limestone and close to water transportation. The import terminal in Cementon/Catskill is located at the site of a former cement manufacturing facility which closed years ago. Cement is still manufactured on the Hudson, a bit further north in the Town of Coeymans, but heavy demand in the region is also met by imports from Turkey and Canada.
Coral Coast returning a light cement transporter barge to Coeymans for more product. In addition to Magnificent, this week also saw a cement transporter barge on the North River being brought back to Coeymans for more product, and, over on the East River in the South Bronx, the Portuguese flag cement carrier NACC New Yorker unloading a cargo from the Gaspee Peninsula in Quebec at the McInnis Hunts Point terminal.
NACC New Yorker discharges cement in Hunts Point on the East River. 
Coral Coast returning a light cement transporter barge to Coeymans for more product.
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 