This 296×37.6m (971.13×123.36ft) Container/Ro-Ro (or ConRo) ship was built in 2016 by Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group in China for Atlantic Container Line (ACL). She was the second of the G4 ships to be built, the others being the Atlantic Star (seen April 1st, 2019, Atlantic Sea, Atlantic Sky, and Atlantic Sun, the latter of which I saw come to Baltimore October 13, 2018. They can each carry 3,800 TEUs and 1,300 cars. ACL Cargo has provided a data sheet on this class of ship which can be seen here. Passenger service is available aboard this ship between the USA and Europe. Information on this can be viewed here.
In the video below pilot boat Vedette can be seen coming to deliver a pilot. Tugboat Brooklyn McAllister spends a lot of screentime helping this big ship to dock. This video is one of my longest single ship videos because I saw her turn towards the Port Dundalk Marine Terminal. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
ACL ConRo Atlantic Sail Comes to Baltimore, Maryland November 12, 2018
I also saw the general cargo ship Spuigracht departing on this day. The photo below showing her under the cranes at Seagirt Marine Terminal is from March 11, 2019 and is therefore from a more recent visit.
ACL ConRo Atlantic Sail at Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland March 11, 2019
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This 296×37.6m (971.13×123.36ft) Container/Ro-Ro (or ConRo) ship was built in 2015 by Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group in China for Atlantic Container Line (ACL). She was christened right here in Baltimore on September 21, 2018. She was the first of the G4 ships to be built, the others being the Atlantic Sail (seen November 12, 2018), Atlantic Sea, Atlantic Sky, and Atlantic Sun, the latter of which I saw come to Baltimore October 13, 2018. They can each carry 3,800 TEUs and 1,300 cars. ACL Cargo has provided a data sheet on this class of ship which can be seen here. A 2015 article by Motorship has a lot of detailed information on this ship. Passenger service is available aboard this ship between the USA and Europe. Information on this can be viewed here.
In the video below she can be seen greeted by the pilot boat Maryland then passing the outbound Gunde Maersk, herself a giant ship. Finally the tugboat Timothy McAllister can be seen waiting for her. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
Video of ACL Atlantic Star Comes to Baltimore, Maryland April 1, 2019
On this day the spliethoff ship Scheldegracht was also seen arriving.
ACL Atlantic Star arriving in Baltimore, Maryland with escort by Timothy McAllister April 1, 2019
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This 366.89×42.8m (1203.7×140.4ft) was built in 2008 by Odense Steel Shipyard which closed in 2012. She is owned by Maersk. I first saw her October 21, 2018 and at that time she was the largest container ship to arrive in Baltimore, Maryland. You can read about her arrival and also watch a video of it here. Since then several more Maersk ships of the same dimensions have come and gone.
In the video below she can be seen turning to depart Baltimore with the assistance of two tugboats. After passing under the Key bridge she can be seen passing the inbound Containter/Ro-Ro ship Atlantic Star. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
Video of Container Ship Gunde Maersk Departing Baltimore, Maryland April 1, 2019
In addition to the Atlantic Star I also saw the general cargo ship Scheldegracht come to town on this day.
Container Ship Gunde Maersk Being Helped by a Pair of Tugboats
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This 172x25m (564.3×82.02ft) general cargo ship was built in was built in 2000 by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa SP Z OO in Szczecin, Poland (bankrupt as of 2011). She is owned by spliethoff and is one of their S-Type ships. You can view a data sheet on her here. She is the fifth spliethoff ship I have seen to date, a listing of the others is included on the blog posting for the fourth, the Sluisgracht. A 2018 article from The Telegram has a slideshow with her being loaded with rolls of newsprint. The Telegram’s website doesn’t mention the location in the article or their service area on their front page so I am not immediately able to tell where this took place. Perhaps they’re ashamed.
In the below video she can be seen passing the outbound general cargo ship BBC Greenland. The Big Stone Pride makes the first of two appearances then the pilot boat Maryland comes alongside. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
Towards the end of March on their Facebook page the Cruiser Olympia, part of the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, posted a behind-the-scenes hard hat tour for $30. At the time I thought the price was a bit on the steep side but decided to jump at it. I made my first trip to this ship at the end of December 2018 and remember wishing I could go see what was below the publicly accessible decks.
Cruiser Olympia
I arrived early on a slightly foggy morning and took a stroll around to the other side of the ship to take the above photo. By the time I returned to the other side the two tour guides were ready to receive the tour participants. After the 11 or 12 participants signed a waiver we were each given a helmet which fit quite comfortably and did not interfere with my photography as much as I feared it would.
Pullies
The tour guides (whose names I did not get and will update this blog entry if I am able to get them) did an excellent job of setting expectations on what conditions were like on the areas of the ship we would be going to as well as some areas that are physically demanding to access and the ability to individually opt out of those locations. Being partially deaf I appreciated that they spoke clearly and made sure everyone understood these points.
Door
The tour was about three hours long and started from the bow and snaked up and down tight and steep stairs throughout the lower parts of the ship towards the stern and then went forward from there to the engine room and boiler room. My initial thought that the fee was a bit steep was proven completely unfounded. The tour guides, who clearly care a great deal about this ship, explained what we were looking at and answered questions at each stop.
Passageway
There was a 10 foot vertical ladder which proved to be one of the two most physically challenging things for me. This was an optional thing but I correctly figured I would be kicking myself if I didn’t at least try. With the patient help of the tour guides and the other tour members I made it down and back. Regrettably it did not occur to me to get a photo of it.
The Hatch to the Coal Bunker I Barely Fit Through!
The other was a small hole above 3 vertical rungs inside a coal bunker that leads to the deck above. This was so challenging that it took three of the other tour members to pull me through! I am sure I made a loud popping sound! Fortunately this was not a required part of the tour – I could have accompanied one of the two tour guide back the way we came. There was a brief pause in the tour as we were encouraged to wash our hands as we had been crawling on the floor.
Steering Equipment Room
We continued through several more areas, stopping along the way for the guides to describe what we are looking at and to allow for photos. More climbing down stair cases and being careful of our footing we reached the steering equipment room. Every spot of this ship is utterly fascinating at this room is no different.
A Small Part of the Engine Room
Turning around and moving forward again we made our way to the amazing engine room which is a place of beauty for those who love machinery, especially antique machinery! Steampunk fans will hardly know which way to turn their head with so many amazing things to see in here!
Gauges in the Engine Room
The final stop before the conclusion of the tour is the boiler room just ahead of the engine room. It would be difficult to imagine spending a 4 hour shift shoveling coal into the fireboxes! Between the size of the boiler rooms and the engine rooms it is easy to see how this ship could reach its guaranteed speed of 21 knots. She had been known to go even faster!
Boiler Room
The tour concluded back where we started with a well deserved round of applause for the excellent guides! We were all dirtier for having crawled around this beautiful ship and at least I was sore and tired (and still am as of this writing the next day!) but it was clear that $30 was but a pittance to pay for such a wonderful experience!
This 227.9×32.26m (747.7×105.84ft) PCTC (Pure Car Truck Carrier) was built in 1999 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in Korea. She was elongated in 2005 by 28 meters (91.86ft). The operator of this ship, Wallenius Wilhemlsen, has provided a handy data sheet on this ship which indicates it is owned by Singapore based SSC Pisces Pte Ltd. She can carry 7,200 cars or a combination of 3,700 cars and 600 trucks. A similarly named cruise ship, La Boheme, cruises the Rhine River.
In the video below you can see the pilot boat Maryland next to her, then being passed by the outbound Wallenius Wilhelmsen vehicles carrier Toscana, then passed by the Big Stone Pride, then greeted by tugs Rowan M. McAllister and Timothy McAllister. Briefly in the last scene the MSC Oriane can be seen heading to dock. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
I first saw this ship come to Baltimore, Maryland on August 25 which you can see in this unsteady video.
Wallenius Wilhelmsen vehicles carrier Boheme with pilot boat Maryland heading towards Baltimore, Maryland on March 26, 2019
This 199x32m (562.89×104.99ft) vehicles carrier was built in 2009 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe, Japan according to Baltic Shipping. She is one of Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier) ships and can carry up to 6,354 cars. While looking for information on this ship I found another ship had also carried this name, a 1924 built Lloyd Triesto Line passenger liner. I also found an interesting tidbit about how Wallenius Wilhelmsen names their ships though it is a bit out of date since it doesn’t talk about some of the other ships I have seen plus their newer paint scheme.
In the below video you can see her passing the inbound Wallenius Wilhemsen vehicles carrier Boheme as she heads out of Baltimore, Maryland in nice evening lighting. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
In addition to the Boheme briefly seen above I also saw the container ship MSC Oriane come to Baltimore on this day.
This 277.3x40m (909.78×101.23ft) container ship was built in 2008 by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea according to Containership-Info.com. She is owned by MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) and has space for 5762 TEUs (20 foot containers) and can accommodate up to 632 reefer containers.
This is my second time seeing this ship. I first saw her on October 3, 2018 while watching for Fleet Week arrivals. Please click here to read about her arrival as well as watch the video.
In the video below you’ll see she arrived on a day of busy shipping activity. She passes an outbound bulk freighter and the Gerd Maersk and is followed in by the Wallenius Wilhelmsen vehicles carrier Boheme. The pilot boat Maryland can be seen approaching her. Next come the tugs. First Lynne Moran then Bridget Moran who gets the most screen time in this video. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
I also saw the Wallenius Wilhelmsen vehicles carriers Boheme and Toscana on this day.
Container ship MSC Oriane and tug Bridget McAllister head toward Baltimore, Maryland March 23, 2019
This 227.9×32.26m (747.7×105.84ft) PCTC (Pure Car Truck Carrier) was built in 1997 by Daewoo Heavy Industry in Okpo, Korea. In 2007 she was elongated Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard in Vietnam. I haven’t found anything that indicates how much she was elongated by but her sister ship, Don Carlos that I saw comes to Baltimore, Maryland in December 2018, was elongated by 28m. She is owned by Wallenius Wilhemsen and can carry up to 7,194 cars or 3,700 cars and 600 trucks. Click this link to read a data sheet provided by Wallenius Lines which provides a lot of great information on this ship.
In the video below pilot boat Maryland can be seen heading to the ship. Tugboat MS Janet can be seen twice. Tugs Lynne Moran and Harriet Moran can be seen helping this ship in, the latter doing an unusual rear facing approach to the ship. Check out her orange cap! For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
This 199x32m (562.89×104.99ft) vehicles carrier was built in 2004 by Imabari Shipbuilding in Marugame, Japan. She is owned by NYK Line and can carry 5,415 cars. I have previously seen two other NYK Line ships in Baltimore, Maryland: The Taurus Leader and the Atlas Leader.
In the video below she arrived on a windy but sunny day. She was greeted first by the pilot boat Maryland, then the tugboat Rowan W McAllister, then the tugboat Bridget McAllister. In the final scene some dredging activity can be seen. For best results watch in FULL SCREEN. You may need to watch for 20+ seconds before full resolution kicks in.
On this day I also saw the Coast Guard Barque Eagle making a return to Baltimore as well as the Wallenius Wilhelmsen vehicles carrier Don Pasquale arriving.
NYK Line vehicles carrier Capricornus Leader arriving in Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore Shipspotting 