Projects
Photographs of Chelsea Creek | |||
 Salt comes from as near as Mexico, which is about an eight-day trip and as far away as Australia, which is about a 45-day trip. Most of the crew do not have US passports and must remain onboard the ship while it is unloading, which can take three to four days. |  An oil tanker offloading refined petroleum products for Logan International Airport. The terminal is located on the East Boston side of Chelsea Creek and can store approximately one million barrels of petroleum-related products. | ||
 Approximately 22 billion gallons of petroleum products come through Boston Harbor each year, of which more than 15 billion gallons goes up Chelsea Creek to be stored in the tank farms. The storage capacity of all the tank farms along Chelsea Creek is approximately 267 million gallons. |  Workers preparing to offload product at the Irving Oil terminal in Revere.It takes a crew of between 14-20 to operate an oil tanker. Officers are in charge of navigation, engineers oversee propulsion and mechanical systems, including handling of fuel products, and deck staff handles lines for docking. | ||
 A 10-yard clam bucket holds about 10 tons of salt. When unloading a ship with approximately 55,000 tons of salt, multiple cranes can expect to make some 5,000 transfers before salt is off-loaded. Trucks that distribute the salt across the state hold anywhere from four to 33 tons of salt. |  Unused petroleum product storage tanks at Eastern Minerals. The insulated black tanks stored asphalt and kept it hot enough to be pumped through product lines to delivery trucks. | ||
 A view from atop one of the salt piles at Eastern Minerals on Marginal Street. Road salt is mined from Egypt, Northern Ireland, Chile, Spain and Australia. Salt from Mexico, "solar salt," is easily identifiable by its pure white appearance because it is harvested on large flat impervious surfaces that have been flooded with salt water and allowed to dry. The salt is then scooped up by a machine and then transported onto the ship. |  Once the majority of the salt has been unloaded, the crane operator on the loading dock lowers bulldozers into the hold of the ship to shape the salt into piles for easy removal. | ||
 More updated and costly delivery methods include an automatic unloader that offloads salt via conveyor belt. The price of salt is also determined by the distance to be delivered, with salt shipped farther away is more expensive due to trucking and fuel costs. The most distant delivery of salt is more expensive than the salt itself. |  Only one class of oil tankers can come up Chelsea Creek, and these are known as "Chelsea Class" tankers. The ships are 90 feet wide and can just barely fit through the Chelsea Street bridge, which is 96-foot wide at the fenders. All ships coming up the Creek are double-hulled and have separate containers to take on seawater as ballast for the return trip. The Chelsea Class tanker holds approximately 275,000 barrels of petroleum products in five segregated cargo holds. | ||
 Resident volunteers participating in the 7th Annual Keep Chelsea Beautiful Cleanup Day in 2006. About 125 area residents clean up trash across the city and along Chelsea Creek every year since 2000. |  Each year during the second week of June, the Chelsea Creek Action Group hosts the Chelsea River Revel. The celebration attracts about 2,000 people each year to the McArdle bridge for music, food, family activities, and a 5k road race. It is the only time that the bridge, which provides access to oil tank storage facilities along the Chelsea creek, remains closed to vessel traffic all day. | ||
 Chelsea, East Boston and Revere residents fish from the Harbor Walk along Marginal Street and the Chelsea Street Bridge. Cod and striper are plentiful, and during a good year 150 fish can be caught. Most fishermen report that they throw back anything under 14 inches. |  Tanks on the former Coastal Oil site on Marginal Avenue can store 13 million gallons of asphalt, heating oil, and jet fuel. The site was purchased by Eastern Minerals and converted to additional salt storage space and a seasonal residential recreation area. | ||
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