GLOVIS CAPTAIN continues to maintain 17 kts. She is remaining to the west of the main shipping lanes for the moment which makes me think she may swing by Brixham to pick up a pilot tomorrow morning. She should come within terrestrial AIS range late tonight. The Zeebrugge port schedule has now brought forward her arrival to 2200 on Saturday night, which she can easily achieve.
HORIZON LEADER is making good progress in the Caribbean towards the Mona Passage. The Mona Passage is the gap between the Dominican Republic to the west and Puerto Rico to the east.
On the Atlantic side lies the Puerto Rico Trench which is about 8000m deep whereas in the passage it's only about 100m deep.
On the Caribbean side it's about 1000m deep. Additionally, there is a significant current that runs from south to north.
This 'shallowness' in the passage can be responsible for some pretty treacherous seas with some horrendously big waves.
It's not something that is too much of a concern for big ships but for smaller vessels the 'dreaded' Mona Passage has a fearsome reputation and navigating it is something that needs careful advanced planning and respect.
It is also the site of a significant British victory in 1782 when British and French warships engaged there.
ETA for Zeebrugge 14 Feb.
GRAND RUBY is doing well on her passage to Panama maintaining 17kts and is presently 80NM W of Cabo San Lucas.
There are no weather concerns for her at the moment.
She is due to arrive off Panama next Wednesday evening and I have her pencilled in to arrive in Zeebrugge on 23 Feb.
The GRAND RUBY competition is now up and running!
ENTER HERE!
GLOVIS COMPANION is loading at Pier 80. No sign of a departure anytime soon.
My ETA for her in Zeebrugge is 28 Feb.
GLOVIS SOLOMON A false alarm - I’m now satisfied that she will not be calling at Pier 80.
LAKE GENEVA is due to arrive alongside Pier 80 on 10 Feb. I have her pencilled in to arrive in Zeebrugge on 7 Mar
GLOVIS SIRIUS will arrive at Pier 80 on 16 Feb. She will be the biggest ship of Q1 and I suspect probably the last ship of Q1 to Europe. I have pencilled her in to arrive in Zeebrugge around 12 Mar
GLOVIS CENTURY I’m pretty confident that this ship is loaded with the first MIC RHD Model 3s for UK and Ireland.
She continues to make steady progress and is just passing Aden. There are no weather concerns for her at the moment, although she will notice the wind will strengthen considerably later today as she passes through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and enters the Red Sea. It will be a tailwind and so won’t affect too much.
She is due to arrive in Suez on Monday and I estimate Southampton around 18 Feb
MORNING CELLO I suspect this ship may be heading to the UK with Tesla Model 3s onboard too.
I have still not received a satellite-derived position report from her and so I have estimated her position on the chart. I’m a little surprised that land-based AIS receivers in Sri Lanka have not picked her up as she passed by, which by now I think she will have done. She is due to arrive in in Suez on 12 Feb and my estimate for her arrival in Southampton is 21 Feb.
GRAND CHOICE She departed Shanghai last week and is another ship that is on my list of suspects. She is currently enroute to Jeddah. This ship is heading for Southampton but she is on a stopping ‘all stations’ service and won’t arrive there until 11 Mar. This would normally rule it out from being a Tesla ship but I’m not sure the UK market is large enough at the moment to take a full shipment and so the UK Tesla portion of this ship may be only one or 2 deck fulls. We shall see. I will just monitor her progress rather than track her every move.
TORONTO arrived off Singapore last night and is currently refuelling. TORONTO is due to arrive in Zeebrugge on 26 Feb but may have a stop in Athens (which makes me wonder if this is really a Tesla ship).
MORNING CAPO This ship has all the hallmarks of being a Tesla ship and departed Shanghai on Wednesday enroute to Singapore where she is due to arrive at midnight Z on 8 Feb, probably just to refuel. She passed through the straits of Taiwan earlier this morning and is now in the South China Sea. She is due to arrive in Zeebrugge on 6 Mar
