Sunday, February 22, 2015

On the Frozen River

Three barges heading downriver, said to be empty fuel oil barges, got stuck in the ice today, right at Hudson's front door.

The Gossips source who provided this picture reported that the tugboat pushing the lead barge would back up and repeatedly ram the ice pack. After about forty-five minutes of this, the barges started to move forward again.
COPYRIGHT 2015 CAROLE OSTERINK
Posted by at

8 comments:

  1. unheimlichFebruary 22, 2015 at 5:51 PM

    Mixed visions of Shackleton's ice-crushed "Endurance" with the thought of Bakken oil being transported down the Hudson River ...

    Too sensational? Think again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Judy S.February 22, 2015 at 6:48 PM

    Which way does the oil flow? Why would EMPTY barges be going down river?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carole OsterinkFebruary 22, 2015 at 6:58 PM

      Bakken oil, if it were traveling on barges, would be going down the river to refineries in New Jersey and other points south, but barges carrying fuel oil go up the river to Albany full and empty back down again.

      Delete
    2. unheimlichFebruary 22, 2015 at 7:37 PM

      Fuel oil is very light, but it's still lethal when it gets loose in the environment.

      In one of those cold winters in the late 1970s, I helped a bird rescue effort following a barge mishap that spilled massive amounts of fuel oil into the Long Island Sound.

      The petroleum mats the feathers of seabirds which leads to hypothermia. When the fuel is light enough, you can wash the birds in dishwashing detergent. It's labor-intensive, but even the birds that get the worst of it actually have a chance to survive. The spill meanwhile, when it's uncontained, pretty quickly disperses into the background funky mix.

      When the oil is heavy, however, there's little chance of saving oiled birds or anything else.

      A good rule of thumb on the Hudson: light travels up while heavy travels down.

      Delete
  3. willFebruary 23, 2015 at 5:20 PM

    carole-- this is a great photo. would you know the names of the tug/barge units in the photo? Judy--tugs push barges north to Albany mostly with heating oil, quite important this time of year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carole OsterinkFebruary 23, 2015 at 6:00 PM

      Sorry, Will. I don't know the names of the vessels. The photo was contributed by a reader.

      Delete
  4. UnknownFebruary 24, 2015 at 11:13 AM

    The tugboat names are Fells Point, Sassafras, and Pocomoke. I do not know the barge names offhand.

    ReplyDelete
  5. unheimlichFebruary 24, 2015 at 1:57 PM

    Thank you Mr. Anzevino!

    - T. O'Connor (the previously anonymous photographer).

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)