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Adding salt
CMT’s Erin Elizabeth came up the North River Tuesday, heading for Coeymans with what I believe was probably a cargo of Egyptian salt lightered off a bulk ship in the Upper Bay. They passed the Reinauer Twins/RTC 104 ATB at anchor off North Bergen, NJ. As of Saturday morning, Erin is back in NY Harbor and the Twins appear to be picking up a new cargo at on the Arthur Kill in Port Reading.
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Summer time blues
Summer is a busy time for the FDNY’s Marine Battalion. On Wednesday evening, Marine 1 worked to secure a wrecked jet ski to a floating dock at Pier 83. The Marine Battalion chief’s boat came up from Brooklyn as well and is visible in the background in the photo below. The jet ski had struck a submerged piling while traveling inside the pier line south of Pier 76. The riders were on the dock speaking with NYPD at this point and did not appear to be injured. Saturday brings the annual “jet ski invasion” to the East and North Rivers, with up to 800 riders expected—perhaps a lot of fun if you are on a jet ski but pretty annoying for everyone else on the river.
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Project work
Stasinos tug Charles James ran light up the North River Wednesday morning heading for Haverstraw Bay. The tug spent some time at the spot where the Champlain Hudson Power Express cable will re-enter the Hudson off Congers after running on shore through Rockland County so perhaps Charles’s voyage related to that project. CHPE has been in the headlines this week as temperatures soar and the grid comes under pressure. When completed next year the cable will bring much needed hydro generated power to the city.
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Working on the dam
Maddie K., a 47-year old, 2,000 HP tug operated by New York State Marine Highway Transportation, was on the North River Thursday, maneuvering barges at the Gateway Tunnel project’s large coffer dam off Pier 66. Work is underway here to reinforce the riverbed in preparation for digging the new rail tunnel below. The dam currently divides the river into two channels but is expected to move towards the Manhattan shoreline later this year.
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Staying cool
The Vane Brothers tug Patuxent was southbound on the North River with the light barge DS 601 on a very hot Tuesday morning. They were heading for the Vane base on Gowanus Bay after leaving anchorage off Riverdale.
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After delivery
The cargo ship BBC Ukraine was on the North River passing the Galaxy Apartments in Guttenberg, NJ on a very hot Monday evening. She was heading for sea and her next port of call Portsmouth, NH after unloading a pair of transformers which I believe originated in Asia at the Port of Albany. The big cable spool on the deck was already on board before she arrived in Albany so that cargo must be headed for Portsmouth or was perhaps loaded at a previous US port of call in the Gulf for export to a foreign destination.
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Navigational perch
A double crested cormorant sat atop Hudson River lighted buoy number 3 off Riverdale on Wednesday evening. This buoy marks the western edge of 35’+ deep channel here. Towards the Jersey shoreline from here low tide depths taper from the 20’s to the teens on charts.
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Farewell Domino
A Panama-flagged bulk ship passed the Dyckman Street Marina on Wednesday evening, heading for sea after discharging a cargo of Dominican sugar in Yonkers. This week brought sad news that the 100-year old plant would shut down by the end of this year, ending the tenure of one of the few remaining marine highway users in Westchester (the wallboard plant in Buchanan and a small oil products terminal in Peekskill are the others). The plant employs more than 300 people and receives about 40 deliveries per year, mostly barges from Florida but also some foreign-flagged bulk ships like this one.
For more on this story, see the article on News12
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Convoy
A pair of venerable tugs, Dace Reinauer and Pearl Coast, came up the North River in close succession on Wednesday evening and passed Spuyten Duyvil heading north. Dace was paired with RTC 62, low in the water and loaded with a fuel delivery for North Albany terminal, while Pearl was returning to the Ravenna cement plant with light cement transporter barge. Dace is vintage 1968, though upgraded, and Pearl dates back to 1978.
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Transfer bridge restoration underway
Work is finally getting underway on the project to restore the old New York Central transfer bridge at West 69th Street. A pair of barges were delivered Wednesday and workers were setting up on Thursday morning. For more on the project, see my article in West Side Rag
from October 2024 (see article).
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 