Sunday, December 11, 2016

Texas Arrived in Washington

E R Texas Container Ship Arrives in Seattle ...

December 10th  2:07 PM
Arriving in Elliott Bay, Seattle, from Busan, South Korea
[4607 nautical mile voyage]
We were quite surprised to see this container ship arriving here in Seattle, yesterday, December 10, for two reasons. First of all, it is the only ship we've seen named TEXAS and that state holds a special spot in our heart. Secondly, it's the first time we've spotted an E R Schiffahrt Shipping Company vessel. VesselFinder gave us the voyage as being from Busan, South Korea, and the calculator at Sea-Distances.org gave us the distance of 4607 nautical miles, taking 8 days.

Spotting this ship caused us once again to reflect on the amazing value of the World Wide Web as we were able to find all about the ship and the company that owns it at their website. They are based in Germany. They have an excellent website and if you are interested in shipping be sure to check it out. Ship spotting is a fascinating hobby!

Yes, it's the TEXAS

E R Schiffahrt Website
[Screen capture]

Propeller as seen on Schiffahrt website.
An amazing image!

Technical Data for M/V E. R. Texas
[From Schiffahrt website]
The voyage as calculated on SEA-DISTANCES.ORG
Closing thought ...
The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.
     Will Rogers

19 comments:

  1. Wonderful to know so much about a ship just from your fingertips. Love the quote, John. :-)

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    1. Thank you, DJan. Always look forward to seeing you in the comments! When I was looking for a quote this morning I was in need of a smile. That one worked! Glad you liked it too.

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  2. Went to the website and E R Schiffahrt considers themselves a "ship management company". Went to the APL site and they consider themselves "ocean carriers". Wonder what the difference is?

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    1. Hi MacTexas, Thanks for the comment/question. It’s a good question and I’m not at all sure I have the correct answer, but here’s my guess. Schiffahrt may not actually “own” their vessels. The owners may be other investors, perhaps, who don’t want to manage the operations involved in shipping. Schiffahrt says they “charter” their vessels to customers. On the other hand, APL, an ocean carrier, owns the vessels and provides full service. By the way, some parts of the container shipping industry are in distress. Especially Hanjin. This is from the Journal of Commerce: “Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 31, 2016, after months of trying to raise liquidity and restructure its debt, triggering a mad scramble by shippers to locate and gain control of their containers.” Recently, I spotted a Hanjin ship anchored across the Sound, near the entrance to Bremerton, and it stayed there, full of containers, for almost a week. Had to wonder what was going on with that. Thanks again for the question!

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    1. Hi Connie, Thanks for the comment. I loved finding that propeller picture on the shipping company website. When I snap pictures from my place of the container ships out in Puget Sound sometimes the scale of things gets lost. That propeller puts things in perspective, doesn't it? :-)

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  4. Great photos and information on taht ship. That prop is huge. Thanks for the comment on the Secret Bunker, left a reply for you. On eplce I have not show was an ROC post which was manned by 2 people and was built arund 20 foot underground. The job was to monitor fall out but in truth it was signing your death warrant as what would you come out to. Must depressing hole in the ground I ever went in. Check this website out, it's where I work.
    http://www.diamond.ac.uk/Home.html Must write a blog on it some time.

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    1. Hi Bill, Thanks for the comment. Wow, Diamond Light Source is fascinating. What a great place to work. I do hope you will blog about it. Thanks for the link to the website!

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  5. I could see where this could become a hobby quickly and also be very entertaining.

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    1. Hi Ruth, Vehicles can become a fascination. Some folks love cars, others trains, planes, ships. Jake and I shared a love of trains, I know that for sure. I really got more interested in ships after moving to my new location which allows watching them come and go here at the port. I don't think it would have been so interesting if not for the WWW which allows me to get the info on the ships I spot. Thanks, as always, for your comment!

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  6. This beats the anonymous trains that go by thee days. Here it's just one tanker train after another. I imagine most of these ships are chartered???

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    1. Hi Red, Thanks for your comment. BNSF's main line through Seattle is only a few hundred feet from my place but I can't see it because it's down the hill and houses and trees block the view. What I do get is a nice view of the harbor and can watch the ships come and go. Your question is a good one. I really don't know about the chartering. Yes, I think many are, but it's not so easy to find out which ones. I'm going to continue researching that and if I find an answer I'll let you know.

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  7. We don't have a seaport anywhere near where we live in upstate New York. But, every couple of years, we visit Charleston, South Carolina. Standing on the Ravenel Bridge, we've watched the ships with those huge shipping containers. I never knew ship spotting was "a thing". Thank you for the education. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    1. Alana, Thank you for your comment. If not for the WWW I would not know anything about "ship spotting" as a hobby. I happened into it as a result of being required to move out of my old residence because the building was being remodeled. My new location has a view of the harbor here in Seattle and I discovered I could look up the names of ships I'm seeing on the web. There are several sites. The one I use most is VesselFinder.com. When you go to these sites you will see that there are people all over the world who are interested in ships. They take pictures of the ships they see and post them on the websites. Other spotters will rank the photos. So far, I've only been putting my pictures here on my blog. I'm thinking about putting them on VesselFinder too. Thanks again for stopping by and leaving me a comment. John

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  8. That prop is huge!! The only ships/boats/water vessels in my area seem to be kayaks! I always appreciate your views!

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    1. Hi Michelle, I always appreciate your kind comments. Thank you! I often thought about getting into kayaking. It is such a popular thing here around Seattle.

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  9. Will Rogers was a wise man in a world thin on wisdom

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    1. You are so right! Thanks, as always, for the comment!

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  10. Hi Felicia, You are so right! Thank you, as always, for stopping by and leaving me a comment.

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