Merchant Ships
Clyde
2015
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Bulk Carriers 2012
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Bulk Carriers 2011
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With hundreds of bulk carrier shots taken over the years, this page shows only a small number of examples from my collection but my Blog Clydesideimages.com is updated regularly. As of 2017, I intend to cover individual vessels with their own entries as they are photographed. Meantime, I`ll work back and add a few images from the archives when time permits. Here are some of the bulk carriers that visited the Clyde in 2015, the most recent first...
Maccoa
Late evening on 22 November, the Panamanian-flagged Bulk Carrier Key Opus left Shieldhall which allowed Maccoa, which had been waiting in Brodick Bay for the berth, to make her way upriver on the following morning`s tide. Built in 2009, the 180 metre-long green-hulled vessel sails under the flag of Cyprus and is seen here passing the Riverside Walkway at Erskine under a drizzly, overcast sky. Built in China by the Avic Weihai Shipyard, she is owned and managed by Navarone Marine Enterprise which has its HQ in Athens.
Key Opus
Key Opus is a shiny new vessel having been completed earlier this year. She is pictured making her way upriver to Glasgow between heavy, blustery afternoon showers on November 16. She sails under a Panamanian flag and is 229 metres-long with a gross tonnage of 42,999 (Dwt: 81,600). The purpose of her visit to the Clyde was to deliver animal feed from San Lorenzo, Argentina. As is often the case with these ships, she had already called in at Belfast to deposit a substantial portion of her cargo there.
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Strathdon (left) has visited the Clyde numerous times in the past for various tasks, most under her previous name Kaverne. She now appears to be based here, at least temporarily. The Japanese-built tug was previously managed by Caledonian Towage at Invergordon but may have had a change of ownership since moving south. Key Opus had been sheltering in Brodick Bay on the east side of Arran`s mountain ridges until another bulker, Yeoman Bank had discharged aggregates at Shieldhall and vacated her berth. Ayton Cross was behind Strathdon, just ahead of the bulker, with Anglegarth bringing up the rear. |
The procession was making very slow progress upriver and surprisingly not a single crew member of Key Opus was visible on deck. A faint rainbow appeared above Old Kilpatrick just as the huge vessel passed under the Erskine Bridge. Another `Key` bulk carrier, Key Discovery, sailed into Hunterston with a load of coal from the Latvian port of Riga later the same day.
Golden Endurer
Friday 28 August: Hong Kong-registered Golden Endurer made her way upriver this morning escorted by tugs Svitzer Milford, Anglegarth and Ayton Cross. Built in 2011, the 229 metre-long bulk carrier is a product of Jinhai Heavy Industry, Zhoushan, China, and has a gross tonnage of 43,498t (79,457dwt). She`s currently owned and managed by Singapore-based Thome Shipmanagement.
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The coaster Norderau, arriving light from Londonderry, was also Glasgow bound and overtook Golden Endurer around Bowling. I snapped both vessels from the Park Quay at Erskine. Golden Endurer met the Waverley coming in the opposite direction at Newshot Island which resulted in a prolonged exchange of loud whistle-blasts, probably more for the benefit of the day trippers on board the paddle-steamer.
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Golden Eclipse
On the afternoon of 23 July, this recently fledged Cuckoo chick sat on a fence post at the edge of Newshot Island and watched the Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier Golden Eclipse sail past. The 229 metre-long vessel had been at Shieldhall for over a week, discharging the last of her cargo of animal feed from San Lorenzo in Argentina. She had partly unloaded at Belfast before making her way to the Clyde. Tugs Ayton Cross and Anglegarth assisted the `Eclipse downriver on the first stage of her journey en route to her next port of call in Colombia.
Yuan Hui Hai
On 13 May, in the early evening sunshine, Yuan Hui Hai sailed downriver from the docks at Shieldhall, having been at Glasgow since Sunday 10 May. The vessel was built in 2006 in Shanghai, China, by the Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group and sails under the Chinese national flag. She is 225 metres-long with a gross tonnage of 40,473 tons (74,259 tons Dwt) but despite the huge dimensions, only two crewmen were visible on deck.
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Managed and owned by Cosco Bulk Carriers, Tianjin, China, Yuan Hui Hai had brought animal feed from San Lorenzo in Argentina, calling at Cork and Dublin before discharging the remainder of her cargo at Glasgow. Falmouth was her next port of call.
This young lad and his father had been doing a spot of birdwatching along the Erskine shore and stopped to watch the vessel pass by before checking out the woodland of the Newshot Island Nature Reserve.
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Panorea
Greenock`s tugs were kept busy on 8 March, with two moves upriver around lunchtime. Svitzer Milford, Anglegarth, and Ayton Cross escorted bulk carrier Panorea from the Tail of the Bank to Shieldhall while Bruiser and Battler assisted Furenas into her berth at the Clydebank Oil Terminal. The Faroe Islands-registered tanker had been scheduled to arrive the previous evening but missed the high tide.
Dating from 2013, Panorea is a product of SPP Shipbuilding of Tongyoung, South Korea, and is currently owned and managed by Eastern Mediterranean Maritime which is based in Athens, Greece. At 229 metres-long with a gross tonnage of 44,619 tons (81,425dwt) she`s among the largest vessels to transit the Upper Clyde nowadays.
As is often the case with bulkers bringing animal fodder to Glasgow, her journey had originated in San Lorenzo, Argentina. She had called in at Tenerife, Dublin and Belfast before reaching Scotland. My first vantage point was at the mouth of Erskine Harbour, just east of the old ferry slipway. Ships of this size always attract attention and another photographer and his son were already in position at the same spot. With the Panorea moving so slowly, there was plenty of time for me to catch up with her again from the Riverside Walkway at Braehead.
Work to demolish one of the huge sheds at BAE`s Scotstoun shipyard was nearing completion. The coaster Alegretto was collecting scrap from the old Lobnitz site at Renfrew while Arklow Flair was already tied up at the Shieldhall quayside. The small passenger ferry Rover was alongside the Braehead jetty.
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Later, on an ebbing tide, Soerdyroey, a Norwegian-registered Live fish Carrier, also made her way upriver to the KGV. With the Royal Navy Frigate HMS Argyll (F231) already in situ for her goodwill visit to the city, the docks here were far busier than they had been for a while.
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Archigetis
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January 6: The sun was out earlier today when Archigetis left the Shieldhall Docks, so I made my way onto the Erskine Bridge for a couple of snaps. Typically, however, just before she sailed into shot the sky darkened and it started to rain. Svitzer Tugs Ayton Cross and Anglegarth provided escort, the latter tied on at the stern.
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This 229 metre-long bulk carrier is a fairly new vessel having been built in 2011. She currently sails under a Cypriot flag and had arrived at Glasgow on Hogmanay after stopping at Belfast to deliver part of her cargo of animal feed from Argentina. Archigetis is calling in at Dublin next before continuing on to her next port of call which I presume is somewhere back across the Atlantic.
The skies brightened soon after Archigetis passed under the bridge and the mild temperatures, sunny spells and showers made it seem more like a day in April rather than early January. Heading in the opposite direction to the bulk carrier was Bit Oktania, a regular visitor to Clydebank.