Spruceglen underway

1 and 2 the ship's new red paint brightens up considerably in direct sunlight.

Spruceglen went to anchor in Bedford Basin yesterday, in a cold move. The tug Atlantic Willow stood by until the ship fired up her main engine. (Ships are required to have the use of their engines while at anchor.)

After spending a stormy night she got underway late this afternoon, and carried out a compass swing, with the tug Gulf Spray standing by to take the adjustor off. (The same tug had been providing a regular shuttle service to the ship during its time at anchor.)

By late afternoon, just as the sun was about to go down, the ship made for the Narrows and headed to sea.

The Port of Quebec website shows her arriving there January 30. I wonder how her new paint will look after she passes through some ice en route?

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Spruceglen - finally out of drydock

After a postponement yesterday (in bright sunny weather) Spruceglen emerged from the Novadock floating drydock today- in snow.

The ship went to anchor in Bedford Basin, where its engines were started up and with the major low pressure zone working its way over Halifax, with high winds, snow/freezing rain/rain (your choice) it will remain at anchor until tomorrow. Perhaps the sun will be shining when it sails.

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Rederi AB Transatlantic - end of another era.

1. In August 2011 TransWood approaches Pointe-au-Pic, QC to load paper.

2. The same ship as FinnWood in 2007, with side door open, loading at Pointe-au-Pic.

3. Same place, different ship. Ingrid Gorthon loads from forklifts, through two side doors.

4. As built, Ingrid Gorthon was a bulk carrier. After a hard winter she is tied up in Halifax, in March 1984 to load newsprint rolls using travelling cranes.

With the arrival January 25 of Transwood in Terneuzen, Netherlands another chapter in shipping history draws to a close. There is one tantalizing remnant remaining, but that can’t be for long.
The story starts with the founding of the Gorthon family of shipping companies, in the early days of the 20th century (either 1915 or 1921 depending on your sources.) The Swedish company had many iterations over the years and many owning entities, but its ships bore the Gorthon family name starting in 1924. They developed a specialization in carrying forest products and in the 1930s they began carrying woodpulp and pulpwood for Bowaters in the UK. It was not until after World War II that they began to be seen in Canada, as they built specialized ships for carrying newsprint. Regular callers to many eastern Canada ports, the ships often called in Halifax for bunkers and repairs, particularly in winter. Their distinctive white painted hulls set them apart as quite unique.
The subsequent history of Gorthons is far too convoluted for retelling here, but effective March 2005 Gorthon Lines AB was dissolved as part of a takeover by B&N Nordsjofrakt AB becoming Rederi AB TransAtlantic [RABT].
Since then RABT has gradually disposed of the Gorthon ships, chartering them back for periods of time, before they went off for scrap or other charters. Their new ships were either renamed or named with the prefix "Trans" with one exception. That is Ingrid Gorthon which, at least for the time being still works for RABT.
There are also some other stray Gorthon ships around, but they no longer have a connection with the succeeding owners, and have merely kept their names.
The North American paper business has been in long term decline and in 2011, after several years of poor returns on their transatlantic services, RABT decided to concentrate in other areas, such as European coastal routes, and offshore/icebreaking.
For now they will keep two ships on the North America/South America services, the TransFighter and the venerable Ingrid Gorthon. TransWood, which arrives in Terneuzen January 25, and TransPine will be assigned to European operations.
RABT has its own informative web site, complete with shipping schedules, and corporate history. See www.rabt.se/en/

Ingrid Gorthon was built way back in 1977 as a 10,358 gross tons/ 14,229 deadweight tonnes bulk carrier to Lloyd’s ice class 1A. Its two travelling cranes of 30 tonnes capacity were fitted to load newsprint in rolls.But the ship had large hatches for other bulk cargoes. It was built by Korea Shipbuilding & Engineering Co in Busan. In 1990 it was rebuilt as by Blohm & Voss , Hamburg as a side loader, with two doors and a conveyor/ elevator system for pallets or newsprint rolls. It now measures 12,750 gross tons/ 14,298 deadweight tonnes. Recent photos show that the ship has been repainted with a rusty red coloured hull.
It was sold by RABT in 2006, reflagged to Cyprus and chartered back by RABT.

TransWood was built in 2002 by Stoc. Gdynia in Poland as a RoRo/side loader, Finnwood. In 2006 it was lengthened 23m by Blohm & Voss. It measures 20,851 gross tons and 18,855 deadweight. It flies the Swedish flag, and acquired its present name in 2008.
TransFighter and Transpine are sister ships to TransWood.

The two remaining ships on North American service will shuttle up and down the east coast with paper southbound and recycling paper north bound, with one remaining Gorthon ship hanging in for a few more years - reminder of a once substantial and distinctive fleet.

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Svendborg - former Halifax visitor in distress

1. Svendborg sailing form Halifax 2010-07-23 en route St-Pierre.

The German owned, Gibraltar flagged Svendborg issued a distress call on January 23 while on a voyage from Ipswich, England to Georgetown, Guyana.

The ship was a weekly caller in Halifax during July 2010 when it operated the shuttle service to St-Pierre et Miquelon. It replaced Dutch Runner on that service and in turn was replaced by Fusion, the present incumbent, in August 2010.

The ship is a small one of 2,462 gross tons/ 3,450 deadweifght, with a 185 TEU capacity and two 25 tonne cranes. It was built in 1993 and has had nine differtent names in its career so far.

The position of the distress call was given as 23-39.1N x 39-39.1W, which is roughly mid-Atlantic, 1,500 miles from Africa and 2,000 miles from South America, and maybe 750 miles northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. A very desolate spot when you need help.

I will post more details as they become known.

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Private Robertson VC

The first of the new offshore patrol vessels has rolled out at Halifax Shipyard. This is the second time the ship has been outdoors-the first was for painting. This time however it appears to be rolled out in preparation for eventual launching.

CCGS Private Robertson VC is the first of the Hero class and as stated before the first of the series was to be Caporal Kaeble VC, but the names were switched for political reasons.

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Spruceglen going red, CSL Spirit getting in the spirit

CSL's Spruceglen is indeed going red. While in drydock at Halifax Shipyard, the bulker is being repainted in CSL red, the present hull colour for CSL's domestic fleet. I was not sure this would happen since she may be back in operation by the end of the month, but after a good hull cleaning the aluminum coloured primer was going on the other day, and today I see red.
This ship is one of several ships acquired by CSL and Algoma to fill the void left by older ships going for scrap and the delivery of newer ships building in China.
It now turns out of course that they have found work for gearless bulk carriers, despite very poor remuneration in the bulk trades (the Baltic Dry Index is in the doldrums.)
Although they are not lavishing large sums on these ships, they may now keep them going longer than I originally thought.
1. Today - I see red.

2. January 17, primer going on.

CSL Spirit is also getting in the act by acquiring the Canadian version of the CSL funnel marking. The traditional black/white/red horizontal strips are now only worn by the CSL International fleet. With CSL Spirit joining the domestic fleet it has now had the black and white stripes sloped down the after side of the funnel. Whether it will get the red hull too is another matter.

3. January 13, in transition. The domestic funnel colour scheme is on the side, with the remnants of the international (and traditional) scheme on the aft face. The crew has started to paint the aft face all black.

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Cruisin' for a bruisin'

1. MSC Poesia arriving Halifax 2011-10-10.

The cruise ship industry is in for a serious bruising over the coming days as more information comes to light about the sinking of the Costa Concordia in Italy on January 13.

Coupled with the recent grounding of MSC Poesia in Freeport, Bahamas (where there were no deaths or serious injuries) in fourteen feet of water, there will have to be some serious introspection about passenger safety.

[MSC Poesia's first visit to Halifax: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2010/09/poetry-in-motion.html ]

What have we really learned since the sinking of the Titanic (100 years ago), Empress of Ireland (1914), Lusitania (1915), Andrea Doria (1956) and countless others?

1. When ships sink they do not do so on an even keel - if they list to port or starboard to any significant degree, half the lifeboats will not launch at all, and the others will be too far from the ship's side or the ship will roll over on them.

2. If the ship sinks by the bow or stern most of the lifeboats will be useless.

3. Ships are built to withstand flooding of some compartments, but they are never built to withstand long rips in the side of the hull. There is more reserve buoyancy in modern ships, but a big ship at any significant speed, cannot stop quickly, and is thus likely to rip out a lot of its length.

4. Lifeboat drills are never sufficient to prepare passengers for safe evacuation. In the panic of an emergency many things will go wrong (see above) many people will not know what to do. Crew members, even if highly trained (and not all are), will be severely hampered. Language issues will exacerbate the problem.

5. More than a thousand died in the Empress of Ireland and 1,500 from Titanic. More lifeboats were added, davits were changed to gravity type. Even so 1,198 died in the Lusitania, because they could not use most of the lifeboats, due to the ship's trim.

Improvements have been made continuously, and loss of life in those numbers has not occurred in many years, on well found, first class ships. Navigational aids such as radar and satellite navigation, radio and telephone have improved both safety and communication. Personal flotation devices are also vastly superior. Lifeboats themselves are more durable and fire and weather resistant. But that is no reason for complacency.

The issues are still the same: lifeboats and human error. Most accidents are now caused by human error, and when a serious accident occurs, those in danger must rely on lifeboats or take the chance of staying aboard until rescued by others. This last option is often the best, but who really knows that at the time? Jumping overboard is rarely a wise option.

What is the solution?

We will hear many suggestions in the coming weeks-some crazy, some sensible, but one thing is certain, the cruise lines will be under the microscope. Ship designers too, but in reality it is the international safety standards organizations that should be dealing with this on a world scale.

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