Below. Dry bulk carrier from from Vietnam (see: Hai Phong ... remember that one?) taking on scrap metal at Schnitzer wharf just west of Jack London Square. Built in '97.  181 meters. Max speed: 8.1 knots. Cruises at 6.  On the way back I went to the dock-side of the ship -- to eat a Cliff Bar -- and watched huge bulldozers dump scrap metal onto gigantic dustpans, that were lifted by the gantry (not seen) and dumped into the rear compartments.  Up front, a large conveyer belt was delivering scrap -- mountains of it somewhat visible behind --  to the forward compartments.  Someone on the ship overseeing waved to me, and I waved back. Vinalines is headquartered in Hanoi.  Full size version posted at Marinetraffic.com:  http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/showallphotos.aspx?mmsi=574483000  (click on photo on page to view actual file.)



I hear they got the idea for these things from George Lucas.



More about this one below. 



Below.  When a ferry goes by, which produces 2 foot swells, the sound of the water smacking the underside of the stern really gets your attention.  When I watch it, I always think, 'man, I'm glad I'm not swimming under there right now', which generally strikes me as somthing that would be fun to do, minus the ferry swells.



About a 1,000 yards out into the bay -- my first time.  Very choppy.  I think my first trans-bay trip will have to start very very early, before the wind picks up.



Under the shadow of the Don Pascuale.  Length 335 meters.  Beam: 43M.  Built in South Korea in 2007.  Has sported three different names in 3 years, which probably says something about the shipping business. The big black circles on the hull are from the tires grappled around the exterior of the tug boats that push them this and that way on the way in and out of their berth.



Below:  Ramming speed.  Toe to toe with the Zim Ontario.  Zim's in Haifa, registered in Hamburg, for good reasons, politically, on the high seas.  It's riding high, even though I thought it was pretty well loaded.  On the other ships, the bulb in front is sometimes under water.  On this one, the bulb extends 7 meters from the hull.  I went up against it, to check out it out.  It's like a 12 foot ball.  There were a few dings, and I could see the paint is about an eighth of in inch thick.  Then I thought it would be great to have a little can of black primer spray paint, so that I could have put 'Kilroy Was Here'.  Also posted at Marinetraffic.com: http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/showallphotos.aspx?mmsi=218186000



Here's the same ship, copied off a ship spotter page, last August 21st, heading under the Bayonne Bridge in NJ.  Lovely bridge.  Built in '31. Not my photo, obviously.