Shipping News, No. 2 New York Harbor Region Tuesday, January 4, 2000

See also: Shipping News; Shipping News: Update

To continue my observations of post-rollover shipping in the New York Harbor region, it is first noted that on this day of occasional gale-force winds, one container ship has been sighted inbound to the haven of Newark Bay, home to Ports Elizabeth and Newark, and three ships have been sighted outbound for sea -- two container ships and one car carrier. This continues to represent extremely light daily cargo traffic for these, the busiest of ports on the Eastern Seaboard.

Obviously, loading and offloading of containers is indeed occurring at the ports (demonstrating the functioning of the mechanical dockside cranes and, likely, the computerized traffic logs and cargo accounting systems of the ports); nevertheless, an observation of the piers demonstrates many empty berths, and containers "racked, packed, and stacked" dockside.

As discussed previously, a negative event(s) resulting in this light post-rollover cargo traffic may not exist, and is not known nor deduced. Simple observations of inbound and outbound traffic over the next days will give general insight into the current status of the shipping sector, and, hence, the robustness of the linked regional rail and truck sectors.

Of related interest, it is observed that the Coastal fueling depot in the immediate vicinity of New York Harbor is out of fuel, and tugboats are currently being sent to other depots for fueling. This situation does not appear to be causing consternation amongst mariners, and it is mentioned in relation to the recent news information regarding problems at Coastal's Gulf facility, along with problems at other Gulf refineries.

Of local interest, a small oil spill occurred today in the inland waterways south of the Goethals Bridge, the result of a mechanical failure when an oil boom broke off from its barge during fueling. The authorities were notified and a clean-up crew dispatched.

Of similar local interest, three cargo containers were blown off the docks of Port Newark during a gale-force wind gust; the Captain of the Port sought the aid of local tugboat captains in this unusual event, which captains responded quickly to keep the containers near the bulkhead and, thus, clear from the channel, while longshoremen moved to secure lines to the containers.

Finally, the U.S. Coast Guard continues a "vessel exclusion zone" in the waters 50 nautical miles south of Nantucket Island (previously erroneously noted by me as at a location 15 nautical miles south of the island).

As an aside: the fire alarm activated this morning in a friend's express bus to Manhattan; passengers and driver disembarked, found no smoke nor fire; the alarm was continuing 15 minutes later when the next scheduled bus picked up the waiting passengers.

"You all are not experiencing a Y2K failure."

"We are not experiencing a Y2K failure."

"This isn't the bus you all wanted to ride, anyway."

"This isn't the bus we wanted to ride, anyway."

"You can board the next bus."

"We can board the next bus."

"Move along."

"Move along."

:-/

-- Harbor Guy (HarborGuy@OnThe.Waterfront), January 04, 2000

Answers

LOL Harbor Guy, TPTB must have passed out those little red flashie thingies used in "Men In Black" to edit memory, heh.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 04, 2000.

Harbor Guy, Thanks for these posts from a most interesting viewpoint. I'm curious about the ports of origin for shipping (inbound) in your area and transit times.

Is most of the shipping from Atlantic origin? I assume that all ships coming in now sailed before rollover. What's your sense on how long it will be before foreign goods manufactured after rollover will begin steaming in? Two weeks? Longer?

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), January 04, 2000.

Thank you very much for the updates. Greedy guy that I am - please keep 'em coming!

Best wishes, Happy New Year and thanks again!

-- Me (me@me.me), January 04, 2000.

Harbor Guy, Thank you for your clear, informative, and very well written posts. They are very helpful and I am looking out for them.

-- Swissrose (cellier@azstarnet.com), January 04, 2000.

I'm pleased to be able to provide some worthwhile information for you all (as well as the light jest). From my vantage, I truly enjoy watching the world, and a significant portion of its economy, pass by.

Deus ex machina.

-- Harbor Guy (HarborGuy@OnThe.Waterfront), January 04, 2000.

Puddintame, I'll have to check that out, thanks for the thought.

-- Harbor Guy (HarborGuy@OnThe.Waterfront), January 04, 2000.

Harbor Guy: what's that naval exclusion zone about, do you know?

-- Dzog (dzog@plasticine.com), January 04, 2000.

Many thanks Harbor Guy.

Another "observation" to make, over time, is which countries ships dock, and if there is a difference with those who don't, per usual.

Looking for the "deltas."

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 04, 2000.

Good thought, Diane, we'll look for the "delta S" as in "entropy."

-- Harbor Guy (HarborGuy@OnThe.Waterfront), January 04, 2000.

Dzog, no vessel may sail in the specified waters without first receiving approval from the USCG.

-- Harbor Guy (HarborGuy@OnThe.Waterfront), January 04, 2000.

Harbor Guy,

Thank you, and may the force be with you. :-)

In this thread you mentioned that the Coastal fueling depot is out of fuel. In my ignorance, I would like to submit what may be an apples and oranges inquiry. There is a pipeline company named Colonial, which is said to have a pair of major, as in very large volume, petroleum product pipelines between Texas and "NY harbor". However, I do not know where, in, at, or near, "NY harbor" these pipelines terminate. If you are able to discern whether, or not, these are within you purview, and, if so, whether, or not, they seem to be delivering as usual, it would be a matter of great interest.

In any case, thank you again, and my compliments to your poignant perspective on events.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), January 05, 2000.

Jerry: I don't know where the Colonial pipeline terminates, although I suppose it could terminate in branches to different facilites.

-- Harbor Guy (HarborGuy@OnThe.Waterfront), January 05, 2000.

Harbor Guy,

Thanks for the quick response.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), January 05, 2000.