zaterdag 22 september 2007

September 16th 2007.

A new shipspotting day in Antwerp.
A day full of small vessels. But a day would not be complete if there were not some big ladies on her way to and from the port of Antwerp.
The weather was very kind this day.
A nice sun and only a little bit of wind made it a great day to spend out side the car looking for the best looking ships in the port.

The day started very good. When we arrived at the locks a very big tanker was moving out of it to leave Antwerp. She had unloaded in the port and went on her way empty.

Cape Ancona (imo: 9144079)



Then it deffinately was time for the smaller ones. But as i already said, they did look very good. To start with i saw the Conger (imo: 9122227).




A nice red gastanker moved up after her. The sun made her look very good. The wind was turning a bit at the moment, so the ships that came from now had some trouble moving to the locks. But that did gave me some very nice (stern) shots.

Sigas Margrethe (imo: 9346407)




Another little red on followed her.

A very strange feeling came over me to see a Wilson ship in a pretty red color. Most of these Wilson ships that come to the port of Antwerp are sparkling blue collored. But this one looked very pretty red.


Wilson Sky (imo: 9017393)


Then the Zandvlietlock went open to get some ships out who will go towards the Noordzee on the Westerschelde.
An amazing one i saw leaving was this fantastic looking Bulker.
She made a nice move, so my sternshot was fantastic.
Ocean Spirit (imo: 9372767)



From the Boudewijnlock a few ships came passing the pier from the other side. Because of the renovations near the pier i was only able to make the sternshots.

Anna Johanne (imo: 9018115)



Amarant (imo: 9260407)



One ot the harbour cruise ships was on her way to check out what kind of ships where moored at the Noordzeeterminal.


Antverpia 17 (imo: 7646059)



There went a big Car carrier towards the Kallo-lock. She is filled up with new cars for the european market.

Asian Dynasty (im: 9203588)



And after this big beauty, there was the Atlantic Companion (imo: 8214152). She had just came from the dry docks in Duinkerken. There she had been given some new paint. Coming in to the port of Antwerp she was totaly empty, but there where a lot of cars and containers waiting to get on board of her. She was going to get moored at the Europaterminal. At the end of the terminal towards the ram for loading the cars.



The Cremona (imo: 9306392) came out of the Zandvlietlock. She is a nice grey general cargo ship. She was very nicely loaded.


The turn of the wind brought me an other good sternshot. This time it was the Eastern Sun (imo: 9054846). She came out of the Zandvlietlock and is a fantastic looking Bulker.



Then it was time for two big ladies to leave the new Deurganckdock in Antwerp.

Kota Latif (imo: 9340764)



Laura Maersk (imo: 9190731)



And last but not least two very fine elderly girls from the stable of MSC ships.

MSC Iris (imo: 8201624)


MSC Mee May (imo: 7015274)


That all folks!!!
More pictures after the next weekend!!






vrijdag 14 september 2007

September 1st 2007

A nother day at the pier in Antwerp.

The weather keeps playing some jokes on us.
A little bit of sun, some rough winds and a very low appearance of the sun.
But as long as there are some ships coming my way, you don't hear any complaints from this site.

So the day started with a nice ship full of cars. She was on her way to the Kallo-lock in Antwerp. This is the part of the harbour where a lot of companies stall cars to wait to move to other parts of the world.

On this site of the port is also the Repubblica di Genova waiting to get shipped out to a drydock to cleaned up after being on the bottom of the lock. She capsized in march 2007. She is been in the water for nearly 6 months, but the Grimaldi group does want to patch her up to get her seaworthy again.

The ship i saw today was the Glorious Ace (imo: 8021270).



Another nice one for today was a new one to me, but looking at her, she is sailing round for some years.

Navigator II (imo: 9057458)

She was build in 1998 and was leaving Antwerp.



Coming out of the Berendrechtlock. The sun was trying very hart to shine on this little beauty, but didn't have much luck.
Okapi (imo: 7129336)

Leaving the Zandvlietlock entering the port was another nice ship. Build in 1995. She was very empty and went to the Delwaidedock to get containers on her.


Ute Johanna (imo: 9118355).



Moored at the other side of the locks there was, nicely enjoying the sun for a spilt second, the Washington Express (imo: 9243198)

Just take a look:


Just after i took this great one, the sun returned and another nice looking lady draw my attention.

Norgas Alameda (imo: 9240158)



A regular visitor to the port came facing the "bocht van Bath" a very difficult point. Specially at the low tide. For the large ships it is very narrow to pass each other.
But this little one had no problem coming through.
OPDR Cartagena (imo: 9155432)



And for today the last one that came up, leaving the port of Antwerp by the Boudewijnlock this good looking one.

Windfield (imo: 7711581)



Come back again soon, cause i got a lot of new ones coming up!!!

maandag 10 september 2007

Here is another ship i saw on saturday the 8th of september 2007.

She was on her way getting moored at the Europaterminal in Antwerp.

The large APL India was still getting ready to leave the terminal, so this big girl had to wait to turn round and move up to her right place to get moored.



Wan Han 503 (imo: 9294862).



zondag 9 september 2007

Saterday september 8th 2007

Today i went to Antwerp to look at the ships.
I've been doing this for about 5 years and enjoying every moment of it.
When i got the the Zandvliet- and Berendrechtlocks, it was very busy.
If i see full locks with great looking ships, it usually means that it will be a good day for taking photos.

So i started the day with some nice views on the following ships:

The 3 Maj (imo: 8610904)



Soon after her there came more:
- Union Mars (imo: 9229166)
- Bastiaan Broere (imo: 8712154)
- Joanna Borchard (imo: 9113197)

And in the locks there where two other great looking ladies waiting to leave the Berendrechtlock and move in to the port of Antwerp:

Balva (imo: 8618968)



Stolt Endurance (imo: 9284697)


And this all passed by in the early morning.

So not such a bad start of the days.
Then it became a little quiet. So time to leave the inbound side of the locks and move to the other side.

There we have the famous "Pier".

Today there was a visit planned by a coach party from the UK.
A nice bunch of friendly guys and even a few women came to check out the ships around Antwerp. One of them i met on shipspotting.com and i went looking for him. It didn't took me very long before i met Andrew. He was very lucky today. He saw a few ships had worked on back home. And he was very pleased to see he could still get pretty close to the ships even there where a lot of maintenance jobs going on near the terminals where the big containerships are.
It was great to meet these lovely people. They where all so enthusiastic about the ships that came by. I hope to see these people again next year!

Meanwhile some ships came closer to enter or leave the locks:

- Elbia (imo: 8509856)

- Jo Sycamore (imo: 9198563)

- Arco Dijk (imo: 9034092)

And a nice new ship was waiting to get in to the Zandvlietlock:

Kemal Kuru (imo: 9418080)

Can you beleave she is build in 2007!




And on the other side there was the big Luna Maersk (imo: 9190781) on her way to the new Deurgackdock. The tugs are coming closer to escort her to her mooring place.



These are absolutely ships to take some photos off.

Then it was time to take a bit of lunch, but not for long, because the ships keep coming.

- Navajo (imo: 9262285)

- Wan Hai 503 (imo: 9294862)

- Grande Mediteraneo (imo: 9138393)

- MSC Grace (imo: 8918057)

- Torm Carina (imo: 9263708)


And there where two nice ships moored across of us at the Noordzeeterminal:

OOCL Montreal (imo: 9253739)



Hong Kong Express (imo: 9229843)



And that was the end of a very nice day of spotting ships in Antwerp.

I hope to give you a new impression soon.

Ships in Antwerp


Ships in Antwerp