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A green and white Thursday
Three of the five tugs that currently wear the distinctive Poling & Cutler green and white livery passed up the North River on Thursday pushing three of the company’s four barges. In the morning, Evelyn Cutler, 3,800 HP, passed by returning from a delivery in Albany with the Noelle Cutler barge. In the afternoon, Kimberly Poling (3,000 HP) came through with the Edwin A Poling barge, also returning from up north. And in the early evening, the company’s largest tug Kristin Poling (5,000 HP) came up the river with the higher capacity Eva Leigh Cutler barge, I believe returning from a run up to New England and heading for anchorage. A few days later, on Sunday morning, we see Evelyn on the upper Hudson returning from another Albany run and about to pass Kimberly heading north with a new cargo near Saugerties, NY. Kristin is taking a break at the Caddell yard on Kill van Kull.
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Have that removed
Coast Guard Cutter Katherine Walker, the Keeper of NY Harbor, came down the North River Thursday, returning to her Bayonne base with Hudson River lighted buoys 3, 11, and 13 on deck. A Coast Guard notice says the three buoys, one of which normally marks the west side of the main channel off Riverdale and the other two just south of Ossining, have been “temporarily disestablished.” I’m not sure why, but this may have something to do with the construction of the CHPE power cable which will be running through here later this year, or perhaps there is another explanation.
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Coming and going
Activity continues in stops and starts at the 69th Street Transfer Bridge restoration project. On Monday, Jessica Francis, a small 25-foot tug came down from Verplanck to remove a small spud barge. Three days later, the much bigger Toula C arrived with the Hughes 280 barge loaded with a crane and other equipment. The construction company’s power boat provided about 500 HP of assistance in placing the barge before it spudded down. Toula C is not local and appears to have come in from Providence or Boston for the job—by Friday morning she was on her way back out of town.
Jessica Frances leaves with a small barge Monday 
Toula C got in position to deliver the Hughes 280 barge Thursday as Carnival Venezia was leaving about a mile to the south 
The barge was nosed into place 
A construction boat helped counter the flood tide and push the barge alongside the structure 
Spuds were dropped 
As the tug crew watched 
Delivery complete, Toula spent the night on a pier in Bayonne and then headed back out of town Friday morning -
A little more sugar
Dann Marine’s Topaz Coast had the dry bulk barge Montville on the wire heading for sea Tuesday evening after discharging sugar at the Yonkers refinery. This cargo appears to have come up from the Gulf coast rather than Florida and the tow was heading back there now. Dann Ocean’s Captain Dann ran light up to the plant ahead of time to assist with sailing the barge.
The 130-year-old Yonkers sugar refinery remains open but will close by the end of this year, with raw sugar cargos instead heading for Baltimore where modifications have been made to allow for 24-hour operation and increased storage. A new industrial occupant seems unlikely in Yonkers, which will mean an end to the working water front in that city, other than the Hudson River pilot station nearby.
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Special delivery
Norfolk Tug’s George Holland came down the North River Monday morning with da cargo of crushed stone from the Clinton Point quarry near Poughkeepsie loaded on one of the company’s barges. Daily stone shipments from Clinton Point are usually brought by Buchanan Marine to moorings off Jersey City, but George brought this shipment straight through to the Arthur Kill and apparently delivered directly to North American Aggregates in Perth Amboy.@
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Apres le deluge
The North River was mirror flat in light northeast wind Tuesday morning and still flowing to sea just after low tide after Monday night’s massive thunderstorms and flooding. Alexandros P, a 656-foot Liberia-flagged bulk ship, came through heading for the Port of Coeymans. Alexandros originated in Garrucha, Spain, which makes gypsum a likely cargo, perhaps an ingredient for the Amrize cement plant next door to the port.
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Tag team
Reinauer Transportation ATBs were moving petroleum products up the North River Monday morning en route to Albany. Ruth M/RTC 102 came through early, seemingly originating at the Bayonne IMTT, followed an hour later by Janice Ann/RTC 103 who seems to have set out from the dock at Kinder Morgan on the Arthur Kill in Perth Amboy.
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Delivery or pickup
The cargo ship Bertha A. Desgagnes passed to the west of the Gateway coffer dam and to the east of Steven’s Institute of Technology Tuesday evening, heading for sea after calling in Albany. Bertha was likely delivering a project cargo or picking up some large cargo up there in Albany for export. As of Sunday morning, she is entering the Gulf, passing it the north of Cuba.
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Back in fashion
Harbour Fashion, a compact 475-foot 17,000 deadweight ton products tanker came up the North River Wednesday afternoon, arriving from Montreal and heading for the Buckeye terminal in Albany. We have seen this vessel on this route moving between Canada and Albany before and she may be collecting ethanol for export back to Canada or else delivering a Canadian refined product for customers up there. By Saturday morning, Fashion is on her way back down river and signaling Halifax.
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Spreading the work
Work on the Gateway project coffer dam off Pier 66 gets spread out across a range of local towing companies. On Monday evening, Carver’s Erin Elizabeth was on site making up to a barge. The next morning, one of project manager Weeks Marine’s own tugs was there along with Henry Marine’s Henry Girls. In the past, we have also seen tugs from Brewster Marine’s, Haughland Group, NY State Marine Highway, and Stasinos working here among others moving barges.
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 