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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.

  • A glimpse into a possible future for the Manhattan Cruise Terminal

    The piers of the Manhattan cruise terminal could extend significantly further into the Hudson River some day. Preliminary plans for an upgraded facility call for a 650-foot extension, adding about 60% to the length of the current 1,000 foot piers.

    Slide shared by NYC EDC with Community Board 4

    The new preliminary proposal was presented by New York City’s Economic Development Corporation to Manhattan Community Board Four’s Waterfront, Parks, and Environment Committee last Thursday night. The EDC is seeking community support for the project which must first go through a congressional legislative process to allow for the extended piers to impinge on the river’s federal navigation channel.

    Rendering’s shared by the EDC with the committee show Piers 88 and 92 extending further into the river. The extensions are partly comprised of longer pier structures and partly of connected dolphins with anchoring points. Using the dolphins will reduce the amount of additional water coverage the project will create, which could make eventual environmental approval easier.

    The plan also appears to eliminate pier 90, which would further offset river coverage increases caused by the lengthening of Piers 88 and 92.  In addition to maintaining three berths for cruise ships, the plans show accommodation for smaller vessels and “blue highway” uses on the north side of Pier 92, which is currently structurally unstable and in need of restoration.

    The EDC says that extending the piers will allow for increasing the marginal waterfront area to allow for better traffic circulation and infrastructure improvements, including shore power machinery. It will also allow the facility to accommodate some of the longer cruise ships now being developed. 

    The plans are preliminary and this is not yet the full fledged 30-year blueprint for the cruise terminal that the city has promised to deliver this year. The need for outreach at this early stage stems from the timetable of the Water Resources Development Act, a bi-annual congressional process that requires action by local electeds in the coming weeks to ensure that permission to alienate part of the navigation channel is included in legislation that will be passed in late 2026. Missing this window would mean the city would have to wait until 2028 to begin planning.

    The EDC is now working to gather community support and consulting with recreational and commercial boating/shipping groups. A navigation safety study is also in process under supervision of the Coast Guard.

    If approval to extend into the channel is included in the 2026 WRDA legislation, the plans will still have to move through a standard environmental planning process, including approval of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. That process would begin after the WRDA legislation passes.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive

  • The Cable Guy

    Work continues off Spuyten Duyvil on the Champlain Hudson Power Express cable which will soon bring hydro generated power from Quebec down to New York City. The cable makes a turn off the Hudson at this spot, running down the Harlem River to its terminus in Astoria. Last week HOS Mystique was working at the same spot where we have previously seen the Ariadne and Argo. By this morning, Mystique is upriver again, currently at Verplanck. Argo is further north still, approaching Catskill. Ariadne is currently at sea, heading back to Europe with her work here perhaps completed.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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  • Ave Maria

    The bulk ship Maria came up the North River Friday, heading for the Port of Coeymans though she would spend some time at Hyde Park anchorage before arriving there. Iskenderun, Turkey was her previous foreign port of call and this ship may be coming to load scrap metal for export back to Turkey or possibly bringing some bulk cargo imported for delivery to customers up north. As of Tuesday morning, she remains moored at the port.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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  • Navy above

    A Navy MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter made several loops up the North River last week on what was presumably a training flight originating somewhere in South Jersey. The MH-60S is a multi-mission navy helicopter based on the same platform as the Army’s Black Hawk. Monday is the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive

  • Get out of the weather

    The Reinauer Twins/RTC 104 ATB arrived early Saturday and got a good parking space in the anchorage area north of the GW Bridge ahead of the nor’ easter which arrived in the harbor Sunday morning. By morning, there were 11 ATBs and tug/barge combinations anchored between the bridge and Yonkers, with an additional four units south of the bridge, always a good indicator of bad conditions coming offshore. The Manhattan Cruise Terminal is also loaded up, with all three active berths occupied as schedules get delayed, and the NOAA ship Henry Bigelow docked at the end of Pier 86. A NWS Storm Warning is in effect through 6 p.m. Monday.

    Source: MarineTraffic

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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  • Lisa Lisa

    The tug Vinik No. 6 came down the North River Friday afternoon with the sludge barge Lisa in tow, heading for Newark Bay. New York City’s DEP continues to employ the privately owned barge to make occasional pick ups at the North River water treatment plant as well as the Owl’s Head plant in Bay Ridge for de-watering at the Passaic Valley Sewage Commission plant in Newark, which handles some of NYC’s sludge under contract.

    The appearance of the Lisa this year has coincided with a number of the DEP’s own sludge tankers being out of service: the tanker Hunts Point is at Caddell’s dry dock now after spending month’s tied up at Wards Island after a fatal explosion while loading at the North River plant in May, while the old North River tanker has been out of service all year. Use of the Lisa might also have something to do with draft conditions at the Passaic Valley plant, as the DEP’s Red Hook, Rockaway and Port Richmond tankers all seem to be moving sludge to the DEP’s own centrifuges in Hunts Point and Wards Island.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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  • To and from the old quarry

    Norfolk Tug’s George Holland came up the North River Wednesday with a light hopper barge heading for the Clinton Point quarry near Poughkeepsie. George passed Buchanan12 on one whistle off North Bergen, coming down from the same quarry with her daily float of loaded stone hoppers. B12 leaves her loaded hoppers at moorings off Jersey City for onward distribution by others and then goes back up with empties, but looking at AIS, I believe George brought the stone she collected up there all the way around the Battery on Friday and through the Gate to the Tilcon dock in Hempstead Bay.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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  • Smaller doses

    Heating oil season was kicking in Wednesday, with temperatures poised to drop, brisk winds, and a recently full moon elevating tidal currents. For whatever reason, tanker barge traffic was dominated by some of the smallest units we see on the Hudson. The Matthew Tibbetts, one of Reinauer’s smallest tugs and one we have not seen on a Hudson River run in over two years, came through early with the RTC 28 barge which has about 1/3rd the capacity one of Reinauer’s typical ATB barges.

    Balico Marine’s Navigator followed later in the day with her Balico 100 barge, which I believe is smaller than the RTC 28.

    Just at sundown, Boston Marine Transportation’s Quenames came through with one of that company’s barges. Quenames and Matt Tibbetts were both heading for the Global terminal in Newburgh. Navigator seems to have dropped off AIS before her destination but may have been going to the Heritage terminal in Kingston. By Thursday morning, all three units are on their way back to New York Harbor after unloading overnight.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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  • Hello Number Five

    UPDATE: I’m told the barge is borrowed while one P&C’s other barges is out of service, not a permanent addition to the fleet despite the name.

    Poling & Cutler’s Marylin George and her blue and white painted tanker barge “Number Five”, first seen heading upriver a few days ago, spent a few hours anchored off West New York on the way back from Albany on Tuesday. They were there right through the midday high tide slack providing a good look as she swung at anchor before the tug and barge headed for Bayway to load a new cargo. While at anchor, they were passed by the Kirby Cape Henry/DBL 103 ATB, seen by NRN for the first time since January, heading for anchor off Yonkers.

    I don’t know the ownership of the Number Five barge, but if this is to be a permanent addition to the P&C fleet it would be the company’s fifth barge (along with Edmund, Noelle, Patricia, and Eva Leigh) so the name would be appropriate and perhaps we will see her in green and white some day.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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  • At the watering hole

    The Gateway Tunnel cofferdam work site off Hoboken is for marine photography a bit like what I imagine the watering hole is on a wildlife safari. An…er…diverse assortment of tugs are out there on any given day, representing most of the local and locally active towing lines, other than those dedicated to moving petroleum or ship assist. After we saw tugs from Stasinos and NY State Marine highway two weeks ago, last week Dann Ocean Towing’s Charles A., recently down from Narragansett Bay, and Brewster Marine’s William Brewster were moving barges at the site. Charles A subsequently went upriver moving stone hoppers to and from the quarry dock in Hudson New York and is now heading up the East River with an AIS destination off New Rochelle.
    There is a cloud of uncertainty over the funding for this critical infrastructure project and really all infrastructure projects in the northeast due to recent rulings from the Federal government, but work continues though there are no tugs out there this morning yet.

    ©2024 Daniel Katzive
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