Merchant Ships: Bulk Carriers & Container Ships
Clyde
Bulk Carriers 2012
*Page under construction*
With hundreds of bulk carrier shots taken over the years, this page shows only a small number of examples from my collection. As of last year, I intend to cover individual vessels with their own entries as they appear. Meantime, here are some of the bulkers which visited the Clyde in 2012, the most recent first...
Solitaire
This is Solitaire, at 300 metres (984ft) long (plus pipe laying gantries) and a weight of 96,000 tonnes, she is the world`s largest pipe-laying ship. The huge vessel arrived in the Firth of Clyde on 11 March 2012 and is seen here well offshore, having dropped anchor closer to Bute than the mainland. She was built at Hiroshima, Japan in 1972 and operated as the bulk carrier Trentwood for almost 25 years before being converted at Swan Hunter on Tyneside for her current role. Now registered in Panama, Solitaire carries a crew of 420 when fully operational. She will shortly head north to begin laying a new pipeline for Total, linking into the St Fergus pipeline from the east side of Shetland.
Santa Katarina
February 8 2012: Earlier today Panamanian-flagged Santa Katarina made her way upriver to Shieldhall with a cargo of animal feed from Dublin. The daily Emirates flight from Dubai touched down just as the big bulk-carrier rounded the sharp bend in the river at Dalmuir. The aircraft, pictured here passing behind the Titan Crane, is a Boeing 777-31H(ER) A6-EBF. The 185 metre-long bulker was escorted by a trio of tugs, namely Svitzer Milford, Ayton Cross and Anglegarth. Conditions were a bit nippy and the crew on deck looked as if they were more used to warmer climes.
Konstantinos
The Greek-registered bulk carrier Konstantinos arrived on January 26th. She is pictured here at Shieldhall the following morning. Unfortunately I just missed the Algerian Tug El Moundjid sailing upriver to the adjacent King George V Dock after she spent almost three weeks at HMNB Faslane. The newly built Emergency Tow Vessel (ETV) is expected to remain at the KGV for a couple of weeks so hopefully I`ll manage to catch her on the way out. Meanwhile Glasgow City Council`s Water Witch workboat St Mungo was clearing a few large tree trunks and branches from the river. These photos were all taken from the walkway next to the Braehead Shopping Centre.
Taio Frontier
Around 09:00 hrs on 6 January, the Panamanian registered bulk carrier Taio Frontier finally made her way to Shieldhall after spending several days anchored in the relatively sheltered waters of Brodick Bay, riding out the recent storms. I took these shots from Park Quay at Erskine. This Little Grebe (bottom right) looked as if it was attempting to `out-paddle` the first tug, Svitzer Milford. Ayton Cross and Angelgarth were also on hand to assist the 198 metre-long, 35,663grt vessel into the quayside to unload her cargo of animal feed from Argentina. Someone else with a camera!