Máxima - A Firecracker of a Saltie!

Here is the saltwater vessel Máxima arriving in Duluth, Minnesota on the morning of June 5, 2023. She was arriving empty to pick up a load of beet pulp pellets from the Hansen-Mueller Elevator A. Elevator A was built in 1908 and was operated by General Mills until 2015, after which she sat vacant until being acquired by Hansen-Mueller in 2022. The visit by Máxima was the first ship to be loaded at Elevator A since 2013. The tugboat Kentucky was on hand to help the Máxima maneuver around and back towards the Elevator A dock. The Máxima would depart two days later, bound for Amsterdam to deliver her cargo. Beet pulp pellets are used as feed for horses and other livestock.

Máxima is a ship I've been trying to catch since last year. I made two trips in 2022 to catch her, but she spent longer-than-expected at anchor on both of my visits to Duluth. So it was nice to finally catch her on this visit. Many have remarked that her design borrows from the classic lake freighters, with the pilot house up front, the cargo holds in the middle, and the engine section at the stern. The design is certainly attractive with her firecracker-red paint job. As she maneuvered and backed towards the dock, we got several dark puffs of diesel smoke... almost giving the appearance that the fuse had been lit on this "firecracker." Thankfully she didn't explode!

I made this video a little longer due to the historic visit to this reactivated dock, the unusual design of the saltie, and the extra help from the Kentucky. I added in the radio chatter between the Máxima and the Kentucky (and the Aerial Lift Bridge) that I could find. I attempted to place the chatter in the appropriate sections of the video, though timing may not exact.

The 491-foot Máxima entered service for Royal Wagenborg in 2021 after being constructed at the Niestern Sander shipyards in the Netherlands. She is one of the new EasyMax class of vessels that are multi-purpose cargo haulers with open top, box-shaped holds with movable bulkheads. She can carry up to 14,000 tons of cargo or 625,000 cubic feet of grain. She is powered by one MAK 6M32C diesel engine producing 2999 kW at 1500 RPM, driving a single 14-foot propeller housed in a nozzle. The EasyMax ships are designed to operate with extremely low fuel consumption and 60% less carbon dioxide emissions compared to other ships of this size. This design won Wagenborg a Maritime Shipping Award in 2018.
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