This weekend past, I took a couple of strolls on some familiar grounds that will in coming months grow more familiar. I'm kind of obsessed with Port Richmond's Conrail Yards . . . it's got to be the biggest park in the city, maybe even the United States, that isn't a
park at all. It's an archaeological trove, just sitting there with a number of relics of industry past still standing. (Just mind the dudes with the paintball
guns.)
Sunday afternoon was perfect for sitting with one's feet over the edge of the coal dumper pier, soaking up the Rays with a smoke while watching boats go by. I was
with the Sexcop, talking about his forthcoming album and World Café Live show. (More on each of
these next week.) As we were talking about the two converted Navy ships docked at the Tioga Terminal -- USNS Shughart and USNS Yano -- we noticed a third vessel
backing out of port and into the channel. Even if watching ships on the water isn't your thing, seeing one as long as the Blue Cross Tower is tall back out,
turn, and sail downriver for the ocean is impressive.
This particular ship, the 30,000 ton Rickmers Seoul, has a story all its own. Last month, when Hurricane Ike ran ashore through Galveston, Texas, the Seoul was
docked at the Port of Houston. When Ike brought 100+ mph wind in the wee hours of the morning, the Seoul broke loose, moving into the channel toward a number of oil
barges and the Sidney Sherman Bridge, which carries I-610 across the shipping channel. Against an enormous storm surge and crashing waves, a small fleet of tugboats
braved the hurricane and were able to guide the vessel back to safety, protecting the bridge from certain catastrophe and the basin, which eventually leads to the
Gulf of Mexico, from an environmental disaster. The Houston Chronicle has a riveting account of it HERE.
There was no such drama on the high seas Delaware River on Sunday, just an empty freighter (it had made a delivery from South America to the Tioga
Terminal late last week) heading out for its next delivery. The Rickmers Seoul was built in Shanghai, is serviced in Germany, and is operated by a company from
Cyprus. Learn more about it HERE. For more about the Tioga Terminal, visit the
Philadelphia Regional Port Authority's web site HERE.
For a mini-essay of photos of the Rickmers Seoul on the Delaware (21 total), please click
HERE.
–B Love
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