Graceful Leader heads upwind - awaits Oceanex Sanderling

The autocarrier Graceful Leader arrived this afternoon for Autoport, and remained in the lower harbour until Oceanex Sanderling left Autport and cleared Eastern Passage. Due to high winds, Graceful Leader, with the help of the tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Larch, headed bow up in to the wind very close to the Halifax shore and fell slowly back, and with the wind's help swung around for her turn, passing Oceanex Sanderling off Imperial Oil. The tanker Elka Angelique which still appeared to be in ballast, was tied up at Imperial Oil dock 4.

Built by Gdynia Shipyard in Poland in 2007, the Bahamas flag ship is operated by Ray Car Carriers, Douglas, Isle of Man. It is on charter to NYK Lines, the world's largest autocarrier fleet, with more than 100 such ships. About half  the fleet are owned ships and half on long term charter.

Oceanex Sanderling, fresh out of refit at Halifax Shipyard, returned to pier 34 yesterday. There it was reconnected with a portion of its stern ramp that was left on the pier for repairs. This morning it moved to Autoport to load cars for Newfoundland and this afternoon moved to pier 41 to load containers.

 

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