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Sweet
A bargeload of sugar arrived from Florida Saturday morning, heading for the Yonkers Domino plant with Dann Marine pushing and a second tug following to help docking. Sugar for the Yonkers plant originating in US ports is transported by US-flagged tugs and barges, whereas sugar coming from Mexico, Central America and Caribbean ports arrives in bulk carrier ships.
Dann Marine pushes a load of sugar towards Yonkers Ruth Reinauer weighed anchor and headed down to Erie Basin in Brooklyn with its barge.
Ruth Reinauer leaving the river A tug came through pushing a float of barges with gravel or aggregate from an upstate quarry, fighting a flood tie.
Quarry output moves south 
Kayakers and paddle borders took to the river despite cold temps 
Red Hook was servicing the North River plant, running to Hunts Point Away from the North River, a trip to Randall’s Island caught a Dann Marine tug pushing a cement barge through Hell Gate heading towards the Holcim cement terminal at College Point Queens after a stop at a Lafarge facility in Brooklyn.
Cement barge moving through Hell Gate -
Friday arrives
Kristy Ann and Ruth Reinauer end the week at the anchorages in the North River, with the Dean Reinauer also sitting north of the bridge. But the Coast Guard icebreaker Sturgeon Bay, which anchored Thursday night off 72nd Street, got underway at daybreak, travelled up the river to the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, and now has returned to its base in Bayonne. Its sister ship, the Penobscot Bay, its upriver, near Castleton-on-Hudson.
Sturgeon Bay gets underway after anchoring overnight Donjon Marine kept up with the flow of municipal paper waste, hauling another load from Pier 99 to the Pratt Industries recycling mill in Staten Island.
Donjon Marine pushing paper Buchanan 5 came through pulling a string of hopper barges and barely making headway against the ebb tide. Buchanan services the massive Tilcon Clinton Point quarry, hauling barges full of crushed stone south for the construction industry.
Buchanan 5 heads back to Clinton Point fighting an ebb tide 
The Clinton Point quarry from above, Source: Google Maps Late in the day, a pair of Marine Cobra/Viper attack helicopters flew up the river at a few hundred feet altitude. They were too low to get picked up by FlightRadar24 but McGuire Air Force Base in Lakehurst NJ hosts a Marine Reserve Helicopter Light Attack Squadron and this could be a training mission from there.
Marine Cobra/Viper attack helicopters flying low up the river -
Keeping busy
There was a lot of Reinauer activity this morning, with Kristy Ann and Curtis dropping anchor with empty barges after completing runs up to Boston and Bridgeport and Ruth arriving later in the morning. By end of day, Curtis had already headed back to the Arthur Kill to pick up a new cargo.
Kristy Ann arrives in the North River from Boston 
Curtis Reinauer AT/B arrives from Bridgeport 
Ruth Reinauer makes it a hat trick Donjon Marine was providing its usual service at Pier 99, hauling residential paper waste for recycling into cardboard boxes at Pratt Industries in Staten Island.
Donjon Marine takes out the recycling The DEP’s Red Hook tanker was servicing the North River sewage plants, loading residual solid waste to be dewatered at the Hunts Point plant.
DEP’s Red Hook heads for Hunts Point with a load of sludge Late in the day, Coast Guard icebreaking tug Sturgeon Bay anchored near 72nd Street, the first time in a while that we have seen a cutter anchor in the river.
Coast Guard icebreaker anchored in the North River A military Chinook helicopter flew down the river just before sundown. FlightRadar24 shows it originating north of Peekskill and continuing out through the narrows and then running along the south shore of Long Island.
Chinook over the river -
Heavy lift
Donjon Marine tugs came down the river this morning heading for Port of Elizabeth with an interesting cargo—a massive crane on a barge, lashed to another barge with a large generator, with one tug pulling and another pushing the combination. According to the Port of Albany’s Twitter feed ( https://twitter.com/portofalbany/status/1498696319648546821?s=21 ), the 785,000 pound GE generator was loaded on the barge in Albany and will be transferred to a container vessel for shipping overseas. US exports in action.
Donjon Marine heads for the port with a huge crane and GE generator Later, Dann Marine brought an empty cement barge up the river, likely heading for the big Lafarge Cement plant on the Hudson in Ravenna New York.
Dann Marine with an empty cement barge heading for Ravenna NY The tug Schuylkill came up the river with an empty-looking oil barge lashed “to the hip”. The combination headed up to Yonkers and looks to have anchored up there.
Schuylkill with a barge on the hip prepares to pass the ever-present Teresa A Coast Guard MH22 Dolphin made a loop up the river at just about 200 feet off the deck, with its wheels still down.
Coast Guard Dolphin helicopter making a low run up the river -
Coming in like a…lamb
March came in quietly, both in terms of mild weather and light activity on the river. We did see one kayaker venturing out in the afternoon.
A kayaker passes Pier I Dean Reinauer came through with a barge loaded in Cateret, with AIS indicating a destination of Newburgh. The anchorages are empty with the usual exception of Teresa, who continues to linger.
Dean Reinauer heads for Newburgh with a loaded barge -
Goodbye February
On the last morning of February, Norwegian Gem made an early arrival at Pier 88, returning from the Dominican Republic just a day after Norwegian Breakaway was here. Norwegian seems to be the only cruise line operating out of the Manhattan terminal this winter. They keep their ships moving though—Gem was already heading south for Puerto Rico by Monday afternoon. In the photo below, Gem steers itself into the pier while Cape Fear stands by with a fuel barge for bunkering and Captain Dann stands by to assist. NY Waterway ferries move back and forth in the background between midtown and Port Imperial.
Norwegian Gem arrives as Dann Marine boats standby for bunkering The DEP’s North River tanker was servicing the North River sewage plant, hauling away residual solids (sludge) for dewatering at the Wards Island plant. The NY Waterway Edgewater ferry passes heading south. NY Waterway runs rush hour weekday to Edgewater Landing. A similar service used to run from an area just south of there to a dock at 125th Street until the 1960s.
DEP’s North River passes the Edgewater ferry It would be great to see a real osprey flying above the Hudson some day, but for now we have to settle for the mechanical version, as a Marine VS22 passed over. FlightRadar24 shows the plane took off from Naval Air Station Patuxent River on the Chesapeake, flew up the river to make a loop around West Point and returned. This was likely a training mission.
A VS22 flies up the Hudson The Edenborg came down the river in the afternoon, leaving Albany after discharging a cargo of wood pulp from Sweden destined for paper mills earlier this week.
Edenborg leaves town after unloading wood pulp in Albany -
Breezy Sunday
The day opened with Curtis Reinauer and the Teresa still at anchor, but the Curtis weighed anchor and headed for Cateret for a new cargo. She was replaced by the Cape Canaveral which returned to the anchorage it left a few days ago. Cruise ship Nordic Getaway arrived early, returning from its Bahamas cruise, but was already on its way back south by the end of the day.
Curtis Reinauer and Teresa sit perpendicular to river at morning slack tide 
Curtis Reinauer heads down to pick up a new cargo, passing Mr. Jim heading back upstate with a gondola barge 
Norwegian Getaway looms over Pier 88 
A tug sits alongside a fuel barge at ConEd’s Pier 98 servicing the 59th Street steam plant 
Corps of Engineers boat heads for its Bayonne base -
Swinging with the tide
Light traffic on the river on Saturday, with two tug and barge combinations sitting at anchor: the Teresa, which has been here at least 3 weeks now, and the Curtis Reinauer which sits about a mile further north. In the photo below, the ebb tide is slacking in the afternoon and the anchored vessels are swinging to perpendicular with the river ahead of the flood.
Teresa and Curtis Reinauer sit at anchor as the tide slackens Saturday The warmer weather brought to a kayaker, though temperatures remained below 40.
A kayaker passes the old transfer pier Coast Guard Cutter Sturgeon Bay, one of two ice breaking tugs based in Bayonne (the other is Penobscot Bay) headed south towards its base after operating further up the river for a while.
Sturgeon Bay heads for Coast Guard Station Bayonne -
Clearing skies
Friday opened with icy rain and fog, not great for shipping and definitely not great for photographing shipping. Cape Canaveral weighed anchor after dark on Thursday, collected a cargo in Lindin, and then anchored off Staten Island. She was replaced by Curtis Reinauer which anchored up by 125th Street, about a mile north of the Teresa, now nearly 3 weeks into her residency.
As skies cleared in the afternoon, Kristin Poling came through with a cargo from Cateret, heading upriver with no destination indicated on AIS.
Kristin Poling pushes north under clearing skies Mister Jim headed back towards its home port of Coeymans pushing construction equipment.
Mister Jim pushes construction equipment upriver -
Another storm coming
With another winter storm set to strike, Thursday saw a handful of cargos moving upriver. The Vane Brothers Philadelphia came through with a loaded barge, as did the Evelyn Cutler.
The tug Philadelphia pushes a loaded barge upriver The Teresa, now in its third week at anchor here, got some company as the Cape Canaveral arrived overnight after a delivery in Providence and dropped anchor. The two tugs are similar looking and once served the same company before the Teresa, which is an older boat, was sold.
Cape Canaveral has anchored about half a mile south of Teresa Mister Jim came through pushing a hopper with what looks like gravel or aggregate down from its home port of Coeymans, just 2 days after pushing a load of asphalt millings upriver.
Mister Jim with a hopper full of gravel or aggregate Coast Guard Cutter Katherine Walker, a buoy tender, headed back to base in Bayonne after spending a few days up near Kingston.
Katherine Walker passes Cape Canaveral heading back to Bayonne 
A military transport turboprop passed overhead in the afternoon
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 