Something You Don't See Everyday

 As I was getting ready to leave after catching the Sykes, I checked Marine Traffic to make sure there wasn't nothing else close.  I looked and I saw a pair of tugboats.  They were in a position that made me think it was a scrap tow.  I didn't hear about any scrap tows, but I was curious.

The lead tug is the Meredith Ashton.  She is owned by Andrie out of Muskegon.

The barge is known as the Progress and was built by Fincantieri Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

I had no idea was this was, so I decided to look it up online.

Turns out that it is a Liquid Nitrogen Gas bunker barge and is heading to Savannah, Georgia, I believe.

Or she is registered there.  She will be largest Jones Act compliant barge of this type.

She will carry 12,000 cubic meters of gas.

She will be used to fuel LNG capable ships all along the east coast.

She will be owned by Shell Oil and chartered to Crowley Marine.

She is 415 feet long.

This tug has her destination listed as Port Colborne.  I think that means she will be transferring the barge to another tug.

At any rate, the sky looked pretty cool.

I'll have to say this barge looks pretty cool too.

Does not look like it is articulated though.

She is being pushed by the Wyatt C which is owned by McKeil Marine.

It's a pretty nice looking tug.

And I got my drone out.

The Meredith Ashton.

Another shot of her.

The barge.  I should have went a little higher.

the pusher tug.

She is a nice looking tug too.

The pair pass by.

And one more shot.

Always Happy to See the Sykes

 It wasn't long for the ship I wanted to see appear.  Although it took her roughly two days to get this point.

The Sykes was coming in from Burns Harbor and I think she was carrying iron fines.

She was heading to Cleveland but I'm not sure where in Cleveland she was heading.

At any rate, I was happy to see her.  She is probably becoming my favorite ships on the Lakes.

I love her color scheme.

You rarely see rust or wharf scrapes on her, so it seems like she is taken care of.

I'm not sure what her design is, but she is definitely a classic laker.

She even had a hand in the Edmund Fitzgerald night.

While it she's not as well known as the Anderson, she still has a part in that night.

Namely, her captain at the time was the last one to actually see the Fitzgerald.

He has a pretty good book about that night but he is a little on the arrogant side.

Anyway, she's a nice looking ship.

After a threat of rain, it kind of went away and I had a nice sunny day.

But that also made it a hot day.

I was able to get my drone out.

I like this shot.

She gets a little closer.

Trying to get a beam shot.

She passes.

One more in Port Huron.

Because I saw something else in Port Huron, I wasn't quite able to chase her but I did pick her up again in Marine City.

I think I was getting a little heat haze here.

But I love the blue of the river.

The sky looks pretty cool.

A clean shot.

And I got my drone out here too.

The water looks really blue from the air.

One more shot with my drone here.

And then I headed down to Algonac to catch her one more time.

It was little sunnier here.

But a little less windy.

She's a nice ship.

A couple more with my regular camera.

A relatively clean shot again.

One more with my regular camera.

And then I took to the air.

I really like the blue water here.

she passes by.

The beam shot.

Passing.

And as I type this post, she is almost to Cleveland.  Meaning it is about 12 hours from this point to Cleveland.