Storm Report

1. Samraa Alkhaleej at Imperial Oil January 11.

By late yesterday afternoon and into last evening the storm was blasting Halifax with high winds and a driving combination of rain and snow. The pilot boat was taken off station, and there were several delays and and postponements in ship movements.

The Libyan flag crude oil tanker Samraa Alkhaleej had not completed unloading, but put to sea yesterday morning and will return this afternoon. Large tankers typically do not remain alongside the refinery piers in any kind of bad weather due to possible damage to themselves or to the pier.

Container ships OOCL Kaohsiung and Atlantic Conveyor were due late afternoon, but put back to sea and rescheduled their arrivals for this morning. Zim Beijing remained alongside at Halterm and will sail this morning. The tanker Alpine Loyalty also remained in port, at the Ultramar dock in Eastern Passage and is due to leave this morning.

The dredge Canadian Argosy and its attendant fleet of tugs and scows retreated to the upper harbour overnight. It is on its way back to Haltem this morning.

Samraa Alkhaleej is the first Libyan owned/flagged tanker that I can recall seeing in Halifax. Built in 2006 it is owned by the General National Maritime Transport Co of Tripoli, but is managed by Executive Ship Management of Singapore. It measures 61,348 gross tons and 114,858 deadweight tons. It is about the largest size of tanker that brings oil to Halifax.