Meet the giants of the lane e881dce
The shipping lanes between the Bay and the Pacific have gone heavy. Four new hulls now work the lane in both directions — three deep-laden supertankers and a cruise liner — each one named and typed in the traffic system, each trailing a wake scaled to its length. Meet the new traffic, largest first:
- MT PETRO PACIFIC — 360 m overall, 54 m beam, 3.5 kt on the lane. The biggest hull in the bay; she barely answers her helm.
- MT GOLDEN CRUDE — 340 m, 50 m beam, 3.8 kt. Black hull, rust-brown deck, pump manifold amidships, accommodation castle right aft.
- MT ATLANTIC BULK — 320 m, 48 m beam, 4.0 kt. The sprinter of the tanker trio — which, granted, is not saying much.
- MS BAY MONARCH — 230 m, 30 m beam, 6.8 kt. The cruise liner and the fast mover of the lane: stacked white decks, window bands, and the line’s amber band on the funnel.
Seamanship notes: after dark all four show proper lights — white masthead, red to port, green to starboard — and every hull leaves a wake you can pick out from altitude. They share the water with the existing freighters, fishing boats and yachts, so the Golden Gate is properly busy now.
One word to the wise, pilots: file these names away. The mission desk has been asking an unusual number of questions about lane schedules of late — best to know a supertanker from a cruise liner before the tasking orders start mentioning hulls by name.
