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Sorry for the delay in updates!
Thursday May 14, 2009 at 10:54 PM by Rod
I was on travel as well as had system failure. I have rebuilt the system so updates should be coming by the weekend.

Thanks for your understanding.:-)


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Happy Birthday
Wednesday April 15, 2009 at 9:30 PM by Rod
Narragansettbayshipping.com begins it's second year of opperation as of today. My deepest thanks and appreciation go to all those who have contributed to the site to make it what it is today, and to all the visitors who continue to visit the site and get see what shipping goes on in beautiful Narragansett Bay.
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Emma Foss leaves a trail of good news in her wake
Wednesday April 1, 2009 at 9:21 PM by Rod
So I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph Seattle based tug Emma Foss and her well publicized barge containing the first of 12 modules for an oil refinary in Texas. The Modules are being constructed by Cianbro Corporation of Pittsfield Maine and barged 2400 nmiles to Port Arthur Texas. Emma Foss left Maine on 3\26 amid much fanfare and began her journey. To my suprise, she showed up at the mouth of Narragansett Bay on Saturday 3\28 and proceeded to dock at Davisville Rhode island to wait out the bad weather off shore. This presented a great oppurtunity to photograph something quite extraordinary as I was familiar with the move and was excited to capture her stop over in Narragansett Bay. 2 days later she left in almost perfect weather to continue her trip. latest reports have her some 300 nmiles south of Maine and forging on. Cianbro contacted me regarding my pictures and I subsequently sent them some and they provided a nice write up on their site http://www.cianbro.com/News/tabid/101/EntryID/203/Default.aspx as well as a link back to the rest of my pictures of Emma Foss . All in all, a wonderful 3 days!
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LAPIS ARROW (IMO# 9361809 ) Strange visitor from
Tuesday March 3, 2009 at 6:25 PM by Rod
On the way to work today, I noticed that not only was Marina Ace docked at Davisville, but also a second ship. My first thought was that with the economy the way it is, where are all the cars these ships bring going? I would guess out via rail and truck. Anyway once i was able to, I looked on my system to find what the second ship was. It was uniquely called LAPIS ARROW built in 2006. Definitely a name I have not heard of before and definitely one i have not seen ply these waters before. My research revealed that she is owned by LAPIS MARITIME based out of the Isle of Man but managed by STAMCO SHIP MANAGEMENT based in Greece. There were several things I noticed about her later as I shot pictures of her leaving. A) She looked good.. Nice lines... etc.. B) She had a wonderful color scheme on her hull in as much as she had a royal blue hull with a darker green stripe approximately 10 meters wide at the top of her hull just below her top deck going around the entire boat. It was an unusual color scheme as well as pleasing as it was vastly different from what we are used to see here in Narragansett bay. C) Final thing I noticed is a red stack with a large white K on it. This to me indicated that she is a K-Line ship but I could find no data to verify that. if she is a K-Line ship is it possible that she could be a replacement for the former sisters (Sirius and Coral Highway) that were such frequent visitors? Maybe, Maybe not... Time will tell.. But it does make me wonder... Picturees of the ship will be forth coming...
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TORM Gertrud (IMO# 9240885) good timing
Monday March 2, 2009 at 10:45 PM by Rod
Danish owned TORM Gertrud (IMO# 9240885), inbound from Cristóbal, arrived in Narragansett bay on March 2nd 2009 bound for Providence during a storm with heavy winds and drifting snow. Great pictures albeit somewhat dark.. Pictures should be up in a day or so...
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MARINA ACE waits out the storm
Monday March 2, 2009 at 6:08 PM by Rod
MARINA ACE (IMO# 8610526) was originally intended to depart the Brenton Reef anchorage at 0400 on March 2nd bound for Davisville. She never did. Most probably it was a weather related delay made up of either a)there was no place to put the cars due to the heavy snow or b) for whatever reason (i.e. heavy wind driven snow much like the recent issue with inbound Cepheus Leader) the pilot made the decision to delay the ship or maybe it was a combination of both. Hopefully tommorrow will give better weather and she can dock..
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M.V. Umiavut ( IMO# 8801591) arrives in the snow..
Monday March 2, 2009 at 6:01 PM by Rod
A previously unseen SPLIETHOFF managed ship, The Umiavut (IMO# 8801591), arrived in Narragansett bay this evening (in the middle of a snowstorm) bound for Melville.

It's way to early for the usual migration of boats (from the south to the north) to begin, so I expect that it's a unique situation. Most probably a boat is leaving Melville for points elsewhere but it may also be that something special has arrived to be offloaded at Melville. Hopefully if the weather clears, I can get up to Melville tommorrow and get some pictures. Time will tell.

Here is an interesting link to the ship talking about where the ship runs usually....

http://www.neas.ca/pdf/sailing_schedule.pdf

IMO number : 8801591

Name of ship : UMIAVUT

Call Sign : PFQE

Gross tonnage : 6037

Type of ship : General Cargo Ship

Year of build : 1988

Flag : Netherlands


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AIS
Sunday March 1, 2009 at 10:09 PM by Rod
AIS is what we all know and love.. It really hampers one's abilities when the system is not working. That being said, I have had to improvise by using my vhf and frequent trips around the south end of Jamestown. In other words... Improvise!! Ooh-rah!
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SIRIUS HIGHWAY and CORAL HIGHWAY
Sunday March 1, 2009 at 10:05 PM by Rod
The SIRIUS HIGHWAY and CORAL HIGHWAY are frequent visitors to Narragansett bay and Davisville Rhode Island. I was informed after reading the link below that BOTH ships are making their final runs and then will be beached in Singapore and cut up... i.e. Scrapped. I have no confirmation on this other then a link. That being said, I can say that neither of the 2 ships mentioned were ever in their most "pristine" condition when they arrived here ( as evidenced by going to the search feature on this site and searching K-Line ships) with maybe one exception. In any event, I can't help but wonder if they are indeed being scrapped because of their age (just over 20 years) or if they are being scrapped because of the current state of economic affairs in the auto industry. I also must admit that I will be saddened because of their loss not only as ships but as frequent regular visitors to narragansett bay. Despite the fact they were rarely painted and it showed, they both made for many wonderful photo shoots. I especially loved catching the pilot coming off the ships as they leave the bay. I will go back through my files and attempt to get all the series I have of the 2 sisters uploaded into a nice presentation. Time will tell if the Sea Venus (sister ship to the Sirius and Coral) will also meet the same fate...

Lets hope not yet at least..

http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&topic_id=6404&forum=2


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M.V. Sea Wave IMO# 8014227 safe at last...
Sunday March 1, 2009 at 9:43 PM by Rod
The M.V. Sea Wave's (IMO# 8014227) troubles seem to have diminished and she arrived in Providence on the evening of February 27th and promptly began loading cars. She departed around 20:00 hrs on Saturday bound for Wilmington Deleware to "top off" before departing across the Atlantic. Is this the last time Sea Wave will visit Narragansett bay? I would say no. Is this the last time Sea Wave will have similar mechanical issues and tardiness of bill paying? I would say DEFINATELY not!
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M.V. Sea Wave IMO# 8014227 the continuing saga...
Friday February 27, 2009 at 6:15 PM by Rod
As I write this, the M.V. Sea Wave (IMO# 8014227) is inbound Narragansett bay having just passed the Brenton Reef #2 bound for Providence. I can only hope that this is good news. That she has paid those who need to be paid and that she is inbound to Providence to pick up a load. I photographed her on Febriary 25th 2009 (anchored in the Brenton Reef anchorage) from Beavertail Lighthouse and she was very high in the water. I am at a loss other then to think she has emptied her ballast tanks for some reason. I hope to have those pictures posted in the next 24 hours. You will notice the difference. Its quite striking. So with any luck, M.V. Sea Wave IMO# 8014227 will load up and depart for sea . The other option? Continuing repairs performed at dockside... Promet? Only time will tell...
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So many cars.. where do I put them all...
Tuesday February 24, 2009 at 9:59 PM by Rod
As I sat on the south end of Jamestown this afternoon, watching the Triton Highway depart in the setting sun (and getting some pretty good shot I might add which will be posted), I thought that once the Cosmos Venture departs later in the evening back to Germany, I wonder if the car ships will diminish or keep coming because of teh economy. I personally love when the car ships arive mostly because sometimes they are just so unusual looking and even their boxiness varies from ship to shilp and company to company. On one hand i hope they continue to come here weekly or better (as indicated by getting 3 last week) but thw reality is that due to the economy they may indeed come here left often. I can't help but think about the Cepheus Leader having so much trouble getting to the dock last week. personally, I can not think of anything I would not want to dock in bad wind other then a car ship. Nothing like a bog sail helping you when you don't want it to...I just saw that Cepheus Leader is now on her way to the mid atlantic states. I would love to see what their schedule is from the time they leave germany with a full load till the time they return empty. One can only wonder...
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Wind, cars ships and the M.V. Sea Wave...
Monday February 23, 2009 at 10:12 PM by Rod
It blew hard and steady all day from what seems to be mostly from the west but I was not keeping an eye on it so it may have swung around some... I wonder if it was as rough getting Cepheus Leader off the dock today as it was trying to land her last friday. I was able to get to Beavertail and get some nice distance shots of Triton Highway anchored near the M.V.Seawave and Energy Enterprise as well as shots of the departing Cepheus Leader as she headed out this afternoon. With Triton Highway, that makes 3 car ships within the span of 1 week. I am sure that these ships were ordered(for lack of a better term) many months ago, but I can't help but wonder if they are they dropping their regular full load or smaller loads, or are they they just continuing to get sent and the port has no choice but to make room for the cars anyway they can. I would like to think the economy is improving well enough that they have been able to to get the cars out of there but I am not holding my breath. if anyone has any thoughts that they can share about the questions I just posed, I would be very interested in hearing what they have to say... As for the Sea Wave. It is sad to see her there day after day as she just bides her time. I am told that she needs more repairs done but also that her current repair bill has yet to be paid hence the reason why she remains anchored at the Brenton Reef anchorage. I hope this will not turn into some long protracted "battle"(for lack of a better term) and as a result, the crew ends up suffering the most. Time will tell and i will be watching...
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Craig and Ruth Reinauer
Saturday February 21, 2009 at 11:17 PM by Rod
Both Craig and Ruth Reinauer now show up on AIS! Must mean Craig's refit is almost finished and Ruth must be getting put in service soon.
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M.V. Sea Wave IMO# 8014227
Saturday February 21, 2009 at 10:23 PM by Rod
This poor ship has been anchored in the Brenton Reef anchorage since February 14th 2009 and has been in the port of Providence for at least 1 month before that. It is unclear as to why she remains off shore in the Brenton's Reef anchorage. I am told that the repairs that kept her in Providence are complete. She departed the area under hew own power on February 12th but returned 2 days later. Hopefully some information will surface as to the reason(s) she remains off the Rhode island coast. In the meantime, I will keep tracking her days here...
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Cepheus Leader What a journey...
Saturday February 21, 2009 at 10:19 PM by Rod
So as I was leaving for work in Newport yesterday, I noticed the Cepheus Leader was inbvound bound for davisville R.I. at approx 0720 hrs. no problem, I got sopme shots of her before and after she went under the newport Bridge bound for Davisville. And that was that. if history is any guide, she would depart less then 12 hours later and would be bound for Boston via the Cape Cod Canal. Well imagine my supprise when, while I was at work, at approx 1100 - 1130 hrs the Cepheus Leader is outbound Narragansett bay passing Gould Island. Imagine the bigger supprise when she anchored in the Jamestown Anchorage. Well aside from getting many good shots as never (in my lifetime)do I remember a car ship anchoring in the Jamestown Anchorage. Normally, they arive a day or 2 early, anchor in the Brenton Reef anchorage and then proceed north to Davisville on the scheduled day usually between 0400 and 0800 and are generally gone within 12 hours. The only thing I can speculate is one of several scenerios has played out. A) The pilot brought the ship in as scheduled and for some reason or another either the dock\dock workers were not ready to receive the ship. B) There was no room on the lots for the cars and they needed a bit of extra time to make room. C) Maybe the ship was for whatever reason not fit to land at that time and the pilot brought her back to the Jamestown anchorage to make the nessecary corrections. Hopefully, I will find out in time. My guess is A) Regardless, it made for some great first time pictures (not to mention close ups) of the first car ship anchored in the Jamestown Anchorage.
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M.V. Sea Wave
Thursday February 12, 2009 at 12:16 AM by Rod
M.V. Sea Wave finally departed Narragansett bay recently only to anchor in the Brenton Reef anchorage for a few days before heading out to sea. The only information I received was that her ramp had been badly damaged both at a location prior to her arival in Providence and also damaged here in Providence. It was ultimately repaired to some extent by Promet in Providence at least well enough for her to leave port.
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On a sad note...
Thursday February 12, 2009 at 12:13 AM by Rod
I am hearing various reports that Tug Southern Cross has\is or will be cut up for scrap in the Providence river after her latest "incident" of sinking in the river. Although I am always saddened when a ship is cut up, given teh amount of "incidents" Southern Cross has had in recent years it may not be such a bad thing to end it now before lives get lost during her next "incident". If anyone has pictures of her being cut up or other info that they would liek to post, please email me @info@narragansettbayshipping.com and we will work something out.
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A slow down (Temporarily)
Thursday February 12, 2009 at 12:10 AM by Rod
Its been a busy few months since my last entry so as a New years resolution, I will try to get back to a regular posting on the blog. So along with everything else that is "slowing down", merchant traffic in or out of Narragansett bay has slowed somewhat also. We are still getting a few tugs a week, at least 1 or 2 coal ships and the occasional car ship but otherwise we are smack in the middle of the winter slow down. Additionally, my Canon 1D Mark III decided that January was a good time to have a software problem that required it to be sent back to Canon for repair. Thank goodness for warranties. Timing being what it is, it will allow me to finish uploading my images for 2008 and then start on 2007. Additionally, there are hopefully going to be some improvements to the site coming in the next few months which I think visitors will enjoy. We are little by little getting linked with other similar sites which has steadily increased incomming traffic from around the globe. Thanks to everyone who visits the site. I am pleased that you have found us and hope that you will come back and visit often. Please feel free to drop me a line at info@narragansettbayshipping.com if you have any questions or if you would like a log in id to post on the site.
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Eurodam Visits Newport.
Saturday September 20, 2008 at 12:35 AM by Rod
Not to often do we get such a new ship (cruise or otherwise) in the bay. Eurodam (Launched in July 2008) arrived in the bay for a port call to Newport today. It was impressive looking to say the least and in a way, it was one of the few cruise ships (of the many that come here each year) that actually looked more like an ocean liner then a cruise ship! Pictures of Eurodam's visit are fortcoming...
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Farewell the Queen!
Wednesday September 17, 2008 at 10:21 PM by Rod
The yearly and alas final visit of the the glorious Queen Elizabeth 2 has come and gone today. And alas, I did not get a chance to get pictures of her. It was a beautiful sight as she sailed greacefully out of Narragansett Bay enroute to her next stop in Boston. Rather then race to Beavertail Point to try and get a picture of her heading off to the horizan, I am content to savor the views I have in my mind as I saw her sail out of the bay from the top of the Newport Bridge. All Hail the Queen!
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An amazing story of a car ship that got into troub
Monday September 8, 2008 at 10:55 PM by Rod
was rescued by a salvage team.. http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/mazda/
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USS Whidbey Island LSD 41
Monday September 1, 2008 at 7:37 AM by Rod
To honor and celebrate the occasion of the visit of the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) to upper Narragansett Bay July 3rd to July 6th 2008.

The Whidbey Island (under the command of CDR Michael Junge) arived in upper Narragansett Bay on a goodwill mission to take part in the anual Bristol Rhode Island 4th of July festivities that are the oldest continuous celebration of its kind in the US, established in 1785.

The USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) is the lead ship of the Whidbey Island class of dock landing ships of the United States Navy. She was commissioned in February 1985 and has been in active service ever since. She has had multiple deployments over that span of time to many parts of the globe and has always returned home safely. She is home ported at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek Virginia. Details of her deployments can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Whidbey_Island_(LSD-41).

Her most recent deployment commenced in October 2007 with her joining the U.S. fifth fleet and taking part Maritime Security Operations. http://www.whidbey-island.navy.mil/Site%20Pages/history.aspx

I had the honor of visiting this fine ship twice during the time she was anchored in upper Narragansett Bay. I had the good fortune to speak with her Commanding Officer as well as many of her crew in the span of my 2 visits. I am humbled by the experience and have a renewed sense of patriotism as a result. This picture and the ones that follow, I hope, will portray what I feel is the essence of the USS Whidbey Island. You will see pictures of the ship as well as the fine crew that work on her. One can not exist with out the other. I hope that as you view the following pictures, that you will pause and take a minute to thank someone you know who is either active or retired military for their service to their country. Their sacrifices are the reason that you are able to view websites such as this.

Happy 4th of July!

http://www.whidbey-island.navy.mil/default.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Whidbey_Island_(LSD-41)


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July 4th 2008 visit of the USS Whidbey Island LSD-
Wednesday August 27, 2008 at 10:59 PM by Rod

To honor and celebrate the occasion of the visit of the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) to upper Narragansett Bay July 3rd to July 6th 2008.

The Whidbey Island (under the command of CDR Michael Junge) arived in upper Narragansett Bay on a goodwill mission to take part in the anual Bristol Rhode Island 4th of July festivities that are the oldest continuous celebration of its kind in the US, established in 1785.

The USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) is the lead ship of the Whidbey Island class of dock landing ships of the United States Navy. She was commissioned in February 1985 and has been in active service ever since. She has had multiple deployments over that span of time to many parts of the globe and has always returned home safely. She is home ported at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek Virginia. Details of her deployments can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Whidbey_Island_(LSD-41).

Her most recent deployment commenced in October 2007 with her joining the U.S. fifth fleet and taking part Maritime Security Operations. http://www.whidbey-island.navy.mil/Site%20Pages/history.aspx

I had the honor of visiting this fine ship twice during the time she was anchored in upper Narragansett Bay. I had the good fortune to speak with her Commanding Officer as well as many of her crew in the span of my 2 visits. I am humbled by the experience and have a renewed sense of patriotism as a result. The pictures that follow, I hope, will portray what I feel is the essence of the USS Whidbey Island. You will see pictures of the ship as well as the fine crew that work on her. One can not exist with out the other. I hope that as you view the following pictures, that you will pause and take a minute to thank someone you know who is either active or retired military for their service to their country. Their sacrifices are the reason that you are able to view websites such as this.

Happy 4th of July!

http://www.whidbey-island.navy.mil/default.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Whidbey_Island_(LSD-41)


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Ships that I have missed 8\10\2008
Sunday August 10, 2008 at 10:43 PM by Rod
Thalassa Desgagnes departed Narragansett Bay on August 10th 2008 bound for sea.

Gotland Sofia departed Narragansett Bay on August 10th 2008 bound for AMUAY BAY Venezuela.

Orion Highway arrived in Narragansett Bay on August 10th 2008 bound for Davisville.


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Ships that I have missed
Sunday August 10, 2008 at 10:42 PM by Rod
One of the reasons for this blog is to address that ships entering and leaving Narragansett Bay that,for whatever reason (came in at night, I was working, out of the area), I was not able to get pictures of them. In most cases, I will know via AIS what I miss and will note it on this blog. The main reason for this is that between picture taking and the blog, better then 95% of all comercial as well as military ships entering and leaving Narragansett Bay will be accounted for on this website.
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A Test
Sunday August 10, 2008 at 10:35 PM by Rod
This is a test of the new blog added by my very cool web guy(aka the guy that made this site).
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