# Large Tanker in Houston Ship Channel



## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

This might be cool!

The LARGEST OIL TANKER TO EVER ENTER THE HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL, the Nave Quasar, will be entering the Port of Texas City this afternoon. This Tanker is over 3 football fields in length, and 2/3 of a football field wide!!! She will be entering the Galveston Jetties around 12pm after being boarded by the Galveston/Texas City Pilots just after 11am. You can watch the exclusive LIVE feed of the Nave Quasar on our East Beach and Seawolf Park Cams during her journey through the ship channel, live on Facebook, or you can watch it on Saltwater-Recon.com. The best view may be from the Seawolf Park Cam! Enjoy watching history in the making.


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

Interesting. On the tracking apps it shows a current draft of 11 meters , but it is capable of drafting 21 meters.


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## yakfisher (Jul 23, 2005)

Thats gotta be a beast to parallel park


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

It would be interesting to watch from the dike.


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

WilliamH said:


> It would be interesting to watch from the dike.


Heck, winds suppose to die down, I may drop the sled in, ha ha!


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## Profish00 (May 21, 2004)

http://www.saltwater-recon.com/east-beach/


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

Friend who shrimps with his dad out of Texas City is on it! He always takes great pics and will likely let me share, until then:


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

Quite a few years ago my wife and I came upon one of those giant/super tankers anchored offshore for lightering(?). If was amazing the size of that thing!!


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

How many barrels does she hold?


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## pg542 (Oct 9, 2006)

Hot dog! Break out the Jet-ski.......They don't need a bigger boat.


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## bobbaganoosh (Jun 26, 2009)

She's on the seawolf park cam now


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## aggies01 (Apr 13, 2016)

It seems to be moving at pretty good pace


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## Wade Fisher (May 22, 2006)

Must take miles to get her up on plane


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Wade Fisher said:


> Must take miles to get her up on plane


Louie could improve on that. :work:


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## WoundedMinnow (Oct 11, 2011)

I have my surfboard ready. Who wants to drop me off to catch his wake?

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## Tsip (May 21, 2004)

A lot less wake than I expected to see. That's definitely a big bote. 

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## SaltwaterSlick (Jun 11, 2012)

I bet she stirs up some mud on the way out if she takes on a load up to her "marks" before leaving...


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I hope they did a good job dredging the channel. Maybe I should buy some gasoline futures. I wonder how big a wake it creates while you are trying to fish the jetties?


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

Pics from my shrimper friend:


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

Tsip said:


> A lot less wake than I expected to see. That's definitely a big bote.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk


Not loaded yet.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Zeitgeist said:


> Not loaded yet.


I think it is common for tankers to come in with crude. What do we have enough of to fill this beast to go out with?


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

Whitebassfisher said:


> I think it is common for tankers to come in with crude. What do we have enough of to fill this beast to go out with?


No clue, but pretty sure it is empty because the bulbous bow is above the water line. That is the bulb looking thing at the ships bow. Full ships, they sit below the waterline.


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## bwguardian (Aug 30, 2005)

She's a big ole gal fo sho!


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## Reel Time (Oct 6, 2009)

Here she is right now (the big red one in the middle of the map.)


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

Stuart said:


> Interesting. On the tracking apps it shows a current draft of 11 meters , but it is capable of drafting 21 meters.


Thatâ€™s because 11m is about as deep as you can go in the houston / texas city area
Ship channel is only 45â€™ deep and you have to take into account under keel clearance requirements as well.
She is coming to discharge, canâ€™t go any Deeper as she will be sitting on the bottom

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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

Whitebassfisher said:


> I think it is common for tankers to come in with crude. What do we have enough of to fill this beast to go out with?


Ethanol would be my bet. It's strange to be bringing it into port with such a nice weather forecast for the next two weeks. You could have water ski'd on the Gulf yesterday. Lightering operations are quite the site to see offshore.


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

Mont said:


> Ethanol would be my bet. It's strange to be bringing it into port with such a nice weather forecast for the next two weeks. You could have water ski'd on the Gulf yesterday. Lightering operations are quite the site to see offshore.


Na she is a crude carrier. Ethanol doesnâ€™t move on that scale

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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

oldriverrat said:


> Na she is a crude carrier. Ethanol doesnâ€™t move on that scale
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


So, it's running empty one way? It can't be dropping off and picking up the same thing and making money. I live on the tracks that end up down there and outside of the two buffer cars they put behind the engines, it's all ethanol moving along them. Who knows though. I needs a bigger anchor, I do know that.


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## 4 Ever-Fish N (Jun 10, 2006)

That is a big ole ship for sure. My dad was a Merchant Marine for over 30 years. I have toured a few of the ships he sailed on, many years ago. Sometime we'd pick him up or take him to the dock, other times he'd fly to or from the dock. No way I could have ever done that type of work.


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

Mont said:


> So, it's running empty one way? It can't be dropping off and picking up the same thing and making money. I live on the tracks that end up down there and outside of the two buffer cars they put behind the engines, it's all ethanol moving along them. Who knows though. I needs a bigger anchor, I do know that.


No Iâ€™d say she loaded to max houston draft, so probably half full 
We can now export crude too so it wouldnâ€™t be out of the question for her head to the loop off shore In Louisiana and then fill up on crude 
We ballast our ships frequently, itâ€™s not ideal but sometimes thatâ€™s just the way the market goes
They may have booked this cargo to reposition her to the USG, half cargo is better than no cargo, at least pays for bunkers vs keeping a ship in a trade lane that isnâ€™t active

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## acoastalbender (Jul 16, 2011)

Zeitgeist said:


> No clue, but pretty sure it is empty because the bulbous bow is above the water line. That is the bulb looking thing at the ships bow. Full ships, they sit below the waterline.


They brought one in the same size to Corpus Christi last year for demonstration purposes (CC channel is about the same depth as Hou.). The CC ship channel has been ok'd by the CG to dredge to 52ft since the 90's but the feds never send the $ year after year ... there's something north of 50 billion being invested in the area for the movement of crude and LPG ... and Trump has actually specified a small amount for the dredging in his current budget and the Port of CC has decided to start without the feds money and hope it comes in eventually ... the hope is to be able to regularly load ships like this with crude, LPG and heating oil to ship to the northeast and Europe ... at present there is no capacity anywhere in the country to do this on this scale ...!

.


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

oldriverrat said:


> No Iâ€™d say she loaded to max houston draft, so probably half full
> We can now export crude too so it wouldnâ€™t be out of the question for her head to the loop off shore In Louisiana and then fill up on crude
> We ballast our ships frequently, itâ€™s not ideal but sometimes thatâ€™s just the way the market goes
> They may have booked this cargo to reposition her to the USG, half cargo is better than no cargo, at least pays for bunkers vs keeping a ship in a trade lane that isnâ€™t active
> ...


That's interesting stuff, for sure. We used to run into lightering operations going on offshore back in the day when we ran to Claypile for snaps. They would start calling us on the radio about the same time we could see them from the flybridge. Always reminded me of siphoning gas, except trying to do it going down the freeway. It's amazing how fast those big tankers can run up to speed offshore. If you look at the stacks on that one, it's got some kind of serious horsepower available.


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

at present there is no capacity anywhere in the country to do this on this scale 

Except for LOOP
I hope cc gets the money but getting money from the feds for dredging has always been a battle and now the big issue in houston is there is no where to put it so the costs skyrocket when you consider the additional expense for having to transport the dredge material somewhere 


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## Reel Time (Oct 6, 2009)

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:690000/mmsi:477881300/vessel:NAVE QUASAR


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## roundman (May 21, 2004)

heard they had 4 pilots onboard


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## DannyMac (May 22, 2004)

When does this tanker head back to sea?


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## djwag94 (Nov 19, 2009)

acoastalbender said:


> They brought one in the same size to *Ingleside* Corpus Christi last year for demonstration purposes (CC channel is about the same depth as Hou.). The CC ship channel has been ok'd by the CG to dredge to 52ft since the 90's but the feds never send the $ year after year ... there's something north of 50 billion being invested in the area for the movement of crude and LPG ... and Trump has actually specified a small amount for the dredging in his current budget and the Port of CC has decided to start without the feds money and hope it comes in eventually ... the hope is to be able to regularly load ships like this with crude, LPG and heating oil to ship to the northeast and Europe ... at present there is no capacity anywhere in the country to do this on this scale ...!
> 
> .


^
Yep 
http://www.101corpuschristi.com

/news/supertanker_makes_historic_docking_In_ingleside


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/NAVE-QUASAR-IMO-9514559-MMSI-477881300

Indicates it is a crude oil tanker


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

Reel Time said:


> https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:690000/mmsi:477881300/vessel:NAVE QUASAR
> 
> View attachment 4220641


Her voyage log shows she came from LOOP , probably discharged there first until she reached a safe draft for houston

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## gater (May 25, 2004)

*Tanker*



Mont said:


> So, it's running empty one way? It can't be dropping off and picking up the same thing and making money. I live on the tracks that end up down there and outside of the two buffer cars they put behind the engines, it's all ethanol moving along them. Who knows though. I needs a bigger anchor, I do know that.


It canâ€™t come in fully loaded because of the draft. Itâ€™s probably carrying around 500,000 barrels of crude. Makes you wonder why they use that ship unless there was nothing available.


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## oldriverrat (Jun 6, 2011)

She didnâ€™t make a full voyage half laden, she most likely discharged enough crude off shore in Louisiana in order to make draft in TX city 


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## MikeV (Jun 5, 2006)

Haven't seen that old boat in years. Before it became a tanker, it was a lifeboat on my yacht.


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

MikeV said:


> Haven't seen that old boat in years. Before it became a tanker, it was a lifeboat on my yacht.


Ha ha! We need to hang out!


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

We get quite a few 1000 fters that come into the Duluth harbor on Lake Superior. They have to come in through a 500 ft wide canal that has a lift bridge, so you can watch very close to the ship. They draw big crowds.


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## WhiteSquall (Feb 11, 2013)

WilliamH said:


> How many barrels does she hold?


A fully laden vlcc from Saudi will hold around 2.2mil bbl. Usually 4 lifts onto lighter vessels for discharge in ports around here. With domestic export increasing most of these tankers are trying to charter the trip over with foreign crude and reverse lighter with domestic crude to take over to China Korea etc.

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## WhiteSquall (Feb 11, 2013)

She is currently at Enterprise berth which is set up to load domestic, from what I understand they are checking the viability of bringing a vlcc into the port then will likely partial load empty vlccs in port then top off at GOLA with two more shuttle vessels then go sell to China ! 

Very cool nonetheless!


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Too big to hijack. Yemenese ladders won't reach.


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

Cool insight about the operation. Thanks!


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## Bozo (Jun 16, 2004)

How many miles out from the Galveston jetties would they have to dredge a channel to be able to accommodate a 22m depth draft? 30 miles probably?

I don't see that ever being considered, let alone happening even if they could get some pork barrel money to dredge the channel inside the jetties up to Texas City.


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

This was on the front page of the paper this morning.

Copyright owned entirely by www.galvnews.com



> TEXAS CITY
> 
> Hundreds of people gathered Thursday at the Texas City Dike to observe the Nave Quasar â€" the largest oil tanker to ever enter the Houston Ship Channel â€" arrive at the Port of Texas City.
> 
> ...


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

More!


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## Reel Time (Oct 6, 2009)

Looks like they have enough bumper boats in case he "runs" into problems.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I tried to go see it. I had no idea that the dock is only accessible to authorized personnel. The security guard did tell me that it had already left. Looks like it is at an offshore terminal off of Galveston now.


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## Reel Time (Oct 6, 2009)

Here she is now. At the end of the red line.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Here is a video of a 1013 ft ship coming out of the Duluth Harbor, by passing under the lift bridge. They mostly haul iron ore pellets from the Minnesota iron range, coal from the western states, and lots of grain from the midwest.

If it is a good weather day, and on a weekend, the viewing area will be packed with people.


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

Dick Hanks said:


> Here is a video of a 1013 ft ship coming out of the Duluth Harbor, by passing under the lift bridge. They mostly haul iron ore pellets from the Minnesota iron range, coal from the western states, and lots of grain from the midwest.
> 
> If it is a good weather day, and on a weekend, the viewing area will be packed with people.


Some nice rollers coming through the channel!


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Dick Hanks said:


> Here is a video of a 1013 ft ship coming out of the Duluth Harbor, by passing under the lift bridge. They mostly haul iron ore pellets from the Minnesota iron range, coal from the western states, and lots of grain from the midwest.
> 
> If it is a good weather day, and on a weekend, the viewing area will be packed with people.


Here is Mont's favorite...on the big Great Lakes ore carriers....


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

These pics were converted to canvas and are for sale.

















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## Fishin4tails (Oct 24, 2016)

Dick Hanks said:


> Here is a video of a 1013 ft ship coming out of the Duluth Harbor, by passing under the lift bridge. They mostly haul iron ore pellets from the Minnesota iron range, coal from the western states, and lots of grain from the midwest.
> 
> If it is a good weather day, and on a weekend, the viewing area will be packed with people.


Cool video Dick. My sister actually lives in Duluth and I have been there a few times, got to watch a ship go through there before and then went and checked out the light house. The lift bridge is definitely cool to see in person.


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