OJ Gets Juiced in Newark

January 24th, 2008 · Comments - by John -

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Photo by Johnny_kgc

Gothanmist brings us news of… no not another Simpson story but rather the collision of a Orange Juice tanker and a dredge. They tell us;

Shortly before 2 this afternoon, three ships collided in Newark Bay, closing the bay to marine traffic. The ~~three~~-way collision was between two dredging vessels, the 117-foot ~~Melvin Lemmerhirt~~ and the New York, and the 669-Foot Liberian tanker Orange Sun. The Orange Sun is reported to be carrying orange juice as its cargo. Reports also say the New York is taking on water, that there is a fluid leaking from one of the ships (presumably, not orange juice), and there’s hydraulic fluid leaving a sheen on the waters nearby. The juice-filled Orange Sun is being brought back to harbor via tugboat.

Newark Bay is about six miles long and one mile wide and is a tidal back bay of New York Harbor. It’s bound by the shores of Newark and Elizabeth on the west, Jersey City on the east and Staten Island on its south. Port Newark-Elizabeth, which is in Newark Bay, is the main port of entry for the New York area.

Stay Tuned for more on this story and many thanks to Telstar Logistics for the tip.

UPDATE:

TBessinger sent us a link to the video. Thanks!

Orange Jucie Ship Colission [1:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

About The Author

Captain John Konrad is co-founder of Unofficial Networks and Editor In Chief of this blog. He is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage and, since graduating from SUNY Maritime College, has sailed a variety of ships from ports around the world. He currently lives in Morro Bay, California with his wife and two children.
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S. Rip 8 months ago 1 point
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Something strange about this incident:
at least two out of the three vessels, the Orange Sun and the Melvin, are equipped with AIS; I found them on www.mmsispace.com. (which is a really cool site, BTW. Under utilized I think, under promoted perhaps.)

But, even though their last positions recorded by that site are well within the range of the current live coverage, no signals are presently being detected from them.

I wonder why not? Did they turn them off? I suppose it is possible that they are out of range, but current coverage of the Newark Bay area suggests otherwise.

It seems to me that the proper use of AIS could have been a major prevention tool in this incident - it's unfortunate that even though such technology exists, and is even compulsory for such large ships, it's not being utilized to it's potential.

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http://deuniu.com

John 8 months ago 1 point
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hmm... good questions

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http://gcaptain.com

Fred Fry 8 months ago 1 point
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There is another issue here.

Did you know that concentrated orange juice is being portrayed as kinda-sorta hazardous? It is not classified as hazardous cargo, but it is not, not classified either. It is currently in some sort of classification black hole that the carriers are trying to figure out, because nobody bothered to classify it before.

So whatever happens, keep the OJ out of the water, because the operators might just wish it were oil before it's all over.

I am by far no expert on the OJ issue. I just know that it exists. Just remember to wear the proper safety equipment the next time your in your local supermarket in the frozen juice isle!

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crafty 8 months ago 1 point
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ME Lemmerhirt was not there at the time and not involved in the incident. It was actually moving away from the entire incident at the time.

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crafty 8 months ago 1 point
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ME Lemmerhirt was not there at the time and not involved in the incident. It was actually moving away from the entire incident at the time. It was the Dredge New York involved

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TBessinger 8 months ago 1 point
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here's a video from a USCG fixed camera of the event.

http://www.uscgnewyork.com/go/doc/802/189882/

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S. Rip 8 months ago 1 point
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Curious, has anyone heard any updates regarding this investigation?

Further research has verified that the New York is also compulsory equipped with AIS, and both the Melvin (not involved*) and NY are subject to even greater than usual position reporting requirements due to their extended presence in the Newark Bay...

I'm interested to hear what has been determined to be the cause of the collision. All articles I've found still just refer to the collision itself and not to who hit whom. It stands to logic that the moving Orange Sun hit the stationary New York, but I'd love to verify that somewhere.

(*Chalk up another point for media sensationalism - a collision involving three vessels, even if it didn't happen that way, must be more exciting to report than one involving only two.)

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John 8 months ago 1 point
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No I sure haven't heard more...yet but let us know if you come across something good!

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S. Rip 8 months ago 1 point
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Here is the press release posted today by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp.
http://www.pr-inside.com/great-lakes-dredging-v...

It does verify that the Orange Sun hit the NY, but not why. At least it gives a time-line to more details - 10 days or so.

I'll be keeping my eyes peeled... no pun intended. ;) OK, so the pun was intended.

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S. Rip 8 months ago 1 point
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Here's the interesting part:

"The Orange Sun is owned by Arctic Reefer Corporation of Monrovia, Liberia. The Orange Sun had a local pilot on board at the time of the incident and a local tug on its port side. Visibility in the channel was more than one mile and the weather was partly sunny."

So we can assume that visibility was not an issue, language barriers were not an issue, and familiarity with the bay was not an issue...

Of course I hesitate to assume anything; we all know what assuming does.

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