Love this idea!
1 Like
I’m not sure what to make of that. Where, pray tell, do you keep your ice? More importantly, WHERE IS SIDEWAYS BOY?
I like the idea of a rendezvous. It appeals to my warped sense of humor. For the boats I delivery Barnegat is unlikely - the two or three humps–depending on recent storms–between the inlet and Barnegat Bay are too shallow for the boats I move. Manasquan is possible. Atlantic City is easy. I prefer Kassermans to Fowley. Cape May is just not okay. Atlantic Highlands is possible. Liberty Landing in Jersey City would be great. I can be creative and usually schmooze facilities. Usually. I will keep the idea in mind.
2 Likes
hugs.
1 Like
Don’t threaten me with a good time!!! lol If you don’t mind could post or PM me a link to an example of a ship you deliver? Just curious, I would be lying if I didn’t say a life on the open sea would be a dream come true of mine. I’ve been a pleasure boater most of my life.
(I"m addicted to the show Below Deck)
Here are links to recent boats. The links are not to the specific boat - just the makes and models.
https://www.sailmagazine.com/boats/hallberg-rassy-43
https://www.yachtworld.com/boats-for-sale/make-beneteau/model-oceanis-473/
https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1977/nautor-swan-47-mk-2-3559797/
I love getting on a boat for delivery. That means the hardest part (usually) of the job is done. There is a lot of time in front of a computer doing research (fuel docks, marinas, ground transportation, provisioning, crew recruitment and training, more) and working the phones building relationships. For the latter some phone calls can take three days prep to get off the dock and turn that time into just a few hours. Lots of customer relationship also. Weather forecasting of course. Sailing is the easy part until something or someone breaks. Even then the logistics getting ready and wrapping up are the big work.
Below Deck is not real. Both versions demonstrate poor seamanship and bad personnel management. Don’t mean to disappoint you. Most superyachts and megayachts have little to no drama and much better skippers. I binge watched both for a couple of days hoping for some sense of reality before I gave up.
3 Likes
We have one on the Intracoastal/Galveston Bay. We’re heading down this weekend for blackened oysters, of course we’ll dine in the car,
Man I miss eating in restaurants.
2 Likes
Ah. The OTHER ICW. grin There are two-and-a-half ICWs. The one best known is the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Norfolk VA to Key West FL. The Gulf Coast ICW runs from FL to TX. The “half” is the NJ ICW which has been abandoned by commercial operators and isn’t well maintained anymore. Many places with water depths as low as 3’.
1 Like
The Texas ICW is heavily used by barges from the oil and gas industry. I’ve fished most of the bays up and down the Texas coast and can attest to this.
My favorite fishery is East Matagorda Bay. It’s a premier redfish and speckled trout fishery.
2 Likes
Yes. Let’s review. Transportation cost for bulk goods is lowest by water, followed by rail, distantly followed by road, with air very expensive.
Lots of offshore petroleum exploitation in the Gulf of Mexico so as you say lots of oil and gas on barges towed or pushed by tugs. Some oil and gas on the Atlantic ICW but mostly sand, gravel, cement, coal, grain, and some finished goods.
2 Likes
The city of Dallas was hell bent on using the Trinity River for a deep water port from the Gulf of Mexico a la the Port of Houston, one of the first or second busiest in the country. A big cost correct me if I’m wrong is break in bulk, loading unloading.
The Dallas pipe dream from the 60’s and 70’s will never happen with Federal Wetlands laws among other things.
I’m in!!!
Too much of my time is taken up with worrying about tides and bridges. Until a few of years ago, the main road I need to get anywhere would flood when there was a full moon and an east wind. They crowned the road itself but many of the cross streets still flood so I often have to take a circuitous route to get any where. We pick our cars by ground clearance. If I could afford it, a Range Rover, with a 30 plus inch wading capability, would be my vehicle of choice.
I usually go over that drawbridge several times a day (currently only once or twice a week). From September to May it is raised on demand which can be a real pain as it can go up and down every couple of minutes. During the summer it is on an every half hour schedule so you have to time when you leave the house. Except when the bridge tender decides he wants to open it 5 minutes early. Then I have to go the long way around.
4 Likes
On behalf of water denizens everywhere my apologies. Depending on where you are (I forget in your case) boats and ships communicate with bridges on marine VHF channel 13 or 9. In my case I pay attention to all the calls. If there is a boat not far behind me for an on-demand bridge I’ll speak to them directly and we’ll negotiate speed so we can get through on a single lift. I think of it as gaining karma points. The bridge tenders seem to appreciate it.
2 Likes
No worries. We are water people too. I live in one of the houses on the circle above and to the right of the bridge and we keep our bought in the marina down and on the right. The kayaks and paddle boards are under the house.
3 Likes
Number seven: https://www.icontainers.com/us/2017/05/16/top-10-us-ports/
The cost of loading and unloading and theft of break bulk is what led to the innovation of containerized shipping. There are some things that just aren’t amenable to containers.
There is a whole chunk of industrial engineering associated with the sizes of things and their packaging so they fit evenly in containers. Efficiency. White Westinghouse doesn’t want to make a dishwasher that in the box ends up 1/2" too wide to fill a standard container from side to side.
2 Likes
I was in international sales for many years. I spent a considerable amount of time learning to pack containers…and how to wrap pallets to minimize damage.
I ended up being damned good at it, but boy that was a steep curve.
2 Likes
What!?!?!?!?! Don’t ruin my dreams man!!! Better Skippers? What’s wrong with Capt. Lee!?!!?! I’d like to hang with him!!! The Captain on the Mega-Yacht-Sailboat seems a little squirrely to me though. I know it’s got to have drama to be proper trash TV, I just wish when I was a much younger man had I known there was a yachty lifestyle I would have LOVED to give that a try.
1 Like
LTL* is a different animal than bulk shipping of a container full of dishwashers, one of DVD players, one of refrigerators, etc.
*LTL is ‘less than load’ shipping in which multiple shippers share a container. You see a lot of this to rural areas, to developing nations, and other places that don’t need a full container of all the same thing. Tropical is the line I’m most familiar with - they do LTL shipping from Florida into the Caribbean. It’s time consuming in transit but way cheaper than air.
Poor personnel management. The drama that makes it good TV is simply unsafe. That market is above my pay grade but I know a lot of people on megayachts and it is a lot more professional than Below Decks shows. Lots of married skippers and chief stews. Young deck hands and stews do flirt; no good skipper is going to allow that to affect the boat - it’s a good way for one or both parties to find themselves walking down the dock with their duffel.
Replacing under-performing crew is really easy in the superyacht community. One call to a crew house and you’re set. Crew houses can get a little wild although there are still quiet hours.
Further owners keep track of what’s going on. Really rich owners have people for that. A skipper who lets their boat turn into animal house will find him or herself walking down the dock with his/her duffel.
2 Likes
Even though this is an “OT” thread, I will bring it back to food for a minute. Your comment rang familiar with my years in the restaurant business, no matter what positing you need from dishwasher to sautee’ chef all you have to do is ask one of your (generally Mexican) other kitchen staff and they “know somebody”. Anytime I was shorthanded for a reason I would tell one of my guys and sometimes the same day, next at latest, I have someone with the talent to fill the position. Without fail.
3 Likes
One of our apartment maintenance workers is from Mexico. I have him on retainer so to speak. I give him a few bucks every week and he’ll pick up the trash and do little things like help with the groceries, I just give him a call and he is there.
It helps that I speak a smattering of Spanish and the Wifeacita is fluent.
4 Likes
