Saturday, March 31, 2018

Red DAY

Refits for two ships are drawing to a close.
Fundy Rose moved this morning from pier 9B to pier 9C, likely to give pier space to test evacuation chutes.


In port since January 25, the ship is due to resume service April 11 as previously reported.

The long awaiting return to service of CCGS Hudson must be very close as the ship sailed from Bedford Institute today, first to Bedford Basin then to sea.


Its return late this afternoon - not to be over dramatic - was majestic. When was the last time a ship with hull sheer and raked masts arrived?

 
The delay of almost a year in completing the refit has been discussed here before, but given the extended time, I expect the ship will be in great shape to finish out is career.
Built, unbelievably, in 1963 in Saint John, as CSS Hudson it initially worked for the independent Department of Mines and Technical Surveys . It was properly painted white in line with hydrographic survey tradition.Its operation was eventually melded into the Coast Guard, but it retained the white hull until March 1997.


A first time caller in Halifax sailed today. CSL Frontier arrived from Charleston, SC, loaded at National Gypsum and sailed for Savannah, GA.When it was built in only ten months  in 2001 by Hyundai Mipo, as Gypsum Centennial, it was a revolutionary vessel in may ways. It was the first ship with a large common rail fuel injection engine, making it essentially smokeless. Selective shut off of injectors allows engine speeds as slow as 12 rpm. Its patented moving hole self-unloader system means that there are no gates to feed the two conveyors.


 It was built to service for Gypsum Transportation specifically to load at Hantsport, NS, however it did not do so until 2004, preferring to call at US Gypsum's Little Narrows facility in Cape Breton. When US Gypsum (aka Canadian Gypsum) decided to close its Hantsport operation the ship was sent to work in Europe, then in Sierra Leone shuttling iron ore.
In 2015 CSL acquired and renamed the ship. Now it usually carries coal and stone as CSL Frontier.

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Friday, March 30, 2018

Arctic Floounder bunkers

The tanker Arctic Flounder arrived early this morning to take bunkers. By about 0800 hrs, the operation was completed and the bunkering tanker Algoma Dartmouth got away to return to pier 34.


The Arctic Flounder was launched as  W-O Salute by the Brodosplit shipyard in Split, Croatia in 2009, but took its current name on delivery to companies associated with Prime Marine Corp, operators of 27 tankers (many named for more glamorous fish). Although it is a product tanker, it is much larger than the Mid-Range tankers of 50,000 dwt that we normally see. Arctic Flounder ,measures 42,827 grt, 74,925 dwt and is considered to be Long Range 1 type.(LR1). Long Range 2 (LR2) product tankers are large than 100,000 dwt.

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Thursday, March 29, 2018

Other Thursday Activity

It was a very busy day in Halifax with many arrivals and departures and moves, some trying to get in and out of port in advance of the Easter weekend.

The oldest registered vessel currently active in Halifax Harbour was hard at work again today.Commdive II is a barge, built in 1942 by TC Gorman (Nova Scotia) Ltd, (perhaps under another name). The main reason for its longevity is that it was built of concrete. Operated for some years now by Waterworks Construction, it has been busy the past few weeks carrying a crane used to lift the naval trot buoys in the harbour just south of the Macdonald Bridge. It completed removing the buoys last week, and this week is lifting the anchors.

 
With the tug Roseway pushing, the barge is moving to its work position. It will later be joined by Dominion Bearcat as diving tender. Divers will free the anchors from the harbour bottom and secure lifting gear. The buoys have not been used for years, and were a hazard to pleasure craft.

At number one anchorage the tanker Patroclus took bunkers, then had divers working around it during the morning, before sailing. The ship, arriving from Poit Tupper, appeared to have some cargo aboard. It was built as Astro Patroclus by Hyundia Ulsan in 2009, but acquired the shortened name the same year. The 79,890grt, 158,267 dwt ship sailed for Bayway, NJ.



 Just before the outbound Athabaskan in tow passed the ship, a kayaker crossed the channel ahead of the tow, no doubt giving the pilot a few tense moments. If he had a camera he got a close of view of Athabaskan's departure. He is just visible in the photo near the ship's bow.

One arrival today was the odd looking Kommandor Iona. Operated by Hays Shipping of Aberdeen, Scotland, it is a multi-task research vessel fitted with dynamic positioning and both side and stern A-frames.


The ship was built in 1985 for the Royal Navy as Salmoor, a heavy lifting ship for buoy and net placement or salvage work, with huge bow "horns". These were removed in 2015 when it was rebuilt for research, with added accommodation and the high bow.

Another research vessel, the Coriolis II made a trials trip to Bedford Basin this afternoon. It had been laid up all winter at the old Coast Guard Base in Dartmouth.


It is owned by the Université du Québec à Rimouski and operates for a number of research institutes in eastern Canada. Last year at about this time it filled in for CCGS Hudson during that ships prolonged refit.

HMCS Charlottetown also had a trip to Bedford Basin. It was a cold move however to Jetty November November, the Bedford Magazine, to de-store some ammunition.
 

On its return run, the ship was in charge of a pair of Glen, one secured on each quarter.
 
At pier 9B the crew broke out the paint and began to touch up Fundy Rose. The Bay Ferries schedule indicates that it will resume service between Digby, NS and Saint John, NB, April 10, so there must be some other work to do before it sails.


A new to Halifax ship arrived on THE Alliance EC3 service today. Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a very large one for Fairview Cove, but it has a relatively low air draft for its size, thanks to a flat top funnel and folding masts.


It was built in 2012 by IHI, Kure, and has a capacity of 9120 TEU, measuring 96,790 grt, 96,980 dwt. Although smaller in gross tonnage than the ACL Con-Ro ships, it is the largest pure container ship (both by tonnage and by capacity) to transit the Narrows and dock at the Cerescorp terminal as far as I know. Although it left around low tide, it certainly proved that the Fairview Cove terminal can handle some quite large ships.

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Athabaskan - end of an era

Actually the end of the RCN's destroyer era was just over a year ago when, on March 10, 2017, HMCS Athabaskan was paid off as the last destroyer in the fleet. However when the ship left Halifax in tow for the scrap yard today, it was a reminder of what the RCN once was.

 The tug Atlantic Larch assisted by RCN tugs Glenside and Listerville gets away with Athabaskan on a tow line. The scrappers had a deadline of March 31 to remove the ship from HMC Dockyard.

Commissioned in 1972, as DDH 280 (Destroyer Helicopter), its Tribal class upgrade in 1994 made the ship DDG 280 (Destroyer Guided Missile) and gave Canada a platform for long range air defense. With its decommissioning that capability has been lost, and it will be a good many years before new ships are built to replace it.

Stripped of all its military gear the beautiful lines of the Tribal class are still evident.

Athabaskan will be scrapped by Marine Recyclers Corporation at their yard in Point Edward, NS (ironically at one time Nova Scotia's second largest naval base). 

Outbound for sea for the last time, it may be a decade before the next RCN destroyer sails from Halifax.

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Monday, March 26, 2018

Canada 2, Netherlands 1

No not the final score in a game, but the results of some photo taking today.

The Netherlands flag Muntgracht arrived for Spliethoff's on its regular visit. This is an "M' class ship, instead of the usual "F" class. Somewhat larger at 9524 grt, 11,744, it carries three 80 tonne cranes on the starboard side. Built in 2012 by Zhejiang Ouhua in Zhenshan, it appears to have more accommodation sace than other ships of its size.


With the St.Lawrence Seaway re-opening at the end of this week, Spliethoff will be resuming their monthly Cleveland-Europe Express service for container and breakbulk. They recently announced the addition of a second ship to the route to meet demand.

Also St.Lawrence related, but not the Seaway itself, CSL's Ferbec arrived flying the Barbados flag. It is in port to re-flag to Canadian and take on a Canadian crew. The ship was flagged out in December 2017 to work overseas, but will soon resume its dedicated run between Havre-St-Pierre, QC and Tracy, QC for Rio Tinto Fer et Titaine. carrying iron and titanium ore. (The ship is too large to fit the St.Lawrence Seaway locks).


The ship was brought to Canada last year after working as CSL Melbourne since 2015. It was built in 2002 by Nantong Cosco as Orientor, but was soon renamed Orientor 2, a name it carried until acquired by CSL in 2010. The 27,198 grt, 49,502 dwt handymax bulker carries four cranes and grabs for unloading.


The dual fuel Canadian flag tanker Damia Desgagnés remained at anchor today, but will move back to McAsphalt later this evening when the wind dies down to resume unloading.

Instead of the usual slop tanks on deck, the ship carries its LNG fuel in large cylinders.
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Sunday, March 25, 2018

More Wind

March has lived up to its reputation as a windy month, and going into the last week, today was no exception.

CMA CGM Medea arrived for Halterm this afternoon. Normally ships on the Columbus JAX service arrive on Saturday, so weather was no doubt a factor.

The ship used three tugs to bert6h at Halterm.
 
Built in 2006 by Hyundai Samho, the 107,111 grt, 113,964 dwt ship has a capacity of 9415 TEU including 700 reefers.

Note the deck is loaded only 4 boxes high - no doubt a precaution against expected conditions in the winter North Atlantic.
 
And for Cerescrp at Fairview Cove Berlin Bridge arrived on AL6 service for THE Alliance.

Deck stacked six boxes high, the ship has much lower freeboard than the CMA CGM ship shown above. Somewhat suprosiginly for a North Atlantic winter crossing.
Bulker Atlantic Huron is loading at National Gypsum in the background. It is due to sail tonight. (It left winter layup in Montreal on March 17).

A regular caller the 4526 TEU ship is owned by Seaspan International and is on long term charter to K-Line.

The coastal tanker Damia Desgagnés made another appearance to day, its second this year, for delivery to the McAsphalt dock in Eastern Passage. When the winds picked up however it went out to anchor.


The first Canadian dual fuel ship, it can use LNG or Marine Diesel/Heavy Fuel Oil. Less than a year old, it arrived  in Canada from its Turkish builders last May. It will be joined shortly by sister tanker Mia Desgagnés which sailed from Rotterdam March 21 and is due in Montreal April 2.

Also in port the small tanker North Atlantic Kairos is back with another cargo (believed to be furnace oil ) for Wilson Fuels. It is due to sail tomorrow.

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Saturday, March 24, 2018

A very quiet day

It was an unusually quiet day in Halifax for a Saturday. The usual Maersk ship, this week it was the Maersk Penang, arrived and sailed without fanfare. The ferry Fundy Rose sailed for sea trials and will return tonight.
At Autoport Don Carlos finished cargo work (after a day at pier 31 also) and sailed.


The tug Mister Joe arrived from Saint John (via way ports) with the dump scow  S11 en route to Point Tupper. It will wait out some more weather for a few days before continuing its trip. And at the Bedford Institute Imperial Dartmouth bunkered CCGS Hudson - another sign that the refit must be nearing completion.


Meanwhile off the end of Pier B (berth 31) the scowl that has been working all this week was still hard at it. (A close examination will show three men operating the drill.)


This work is to take core samples from the harbour bottom, usually in advance of dredging or major marine construction. Although no plans have been announced there continues to be speculation that the Port's master plan does not involve moving the Halterm container pier after all, but to expand it dramatically by filling the cambers between some of the deep water piers.
(In the background of the photo above, the yellow objects are rail cars (car racks) waiting their turn at Autoport. They are now highly visible because little trace remains of the Imperial Oil refinery, which has been scrapped and demolished to grade level.

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Friday, March 23, 2018

Jona for Melfi

Over the years Melfi Marine has had countless ships on charter - some long term and some short, but ever increasing in size. In the past year the ships have inched up again to break the 2,000 TEU mark.
One of those is Jona now on its third trip for the line.

Melfi operates from Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Lisbon, Halifax to Mariel, Cuba and back to Genoa with four ships, making a call in Halifax every two weeks.

Jona moves from over night anchorage to pier 41 Halterm this morning.

Built by Zhejiang YangFan Shipbuilding Co Ltd in 2007, the ship has a capacity of 2007 TEU, including 510 reefers and is fitted with three 45 tonne cranes. The 23,633 grt ship has a deadweight measurement of 27,245 tonnes.

The ship was built as Rio Stora and in 2010 was renamed CMA CGM Togo, reverting to Rio Stora again in 2012 and was renamed Jona in 2013. It flies the Liberian flag for German owners, managed by MPC Munchmeyer Petersen Steamship GmbH + Co.

Having a "Jonah" aboard is considered to be a very bad omen for a ship - but perhaps omitting the "h" in this case eliminates that concern.
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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Roundabout the harbour

HMCS Toronto put to sea this morning for a day of exercises. With a storm brewing in from the sou'east (again) the ship was back in port by evening.

HMCS Toronto recovers its RHIB. It had returned the navy pilot back to the Dockyard.

The biggest thing that happened in Halifax harbour today was the Malta flag bulk carrier Proti at number one anchorage for Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM) inspection en route from Rotterdam (Maasvlakte) to Sept-Iles for a cargo of iron ore.



Built in 2015 by Japan Marine United, Ariake, as Indomitable, the 93,297 grt, 182,476 dwt ship was sold and renamed in 2016. (Japan United was formed in 2013 by merging Universal Shipbuilding and Ishikawajima - Harima Heavy Industries. It is now the second largest shipbuilder in Japan.)

Inspection completed, the pilot boat heads out to the Poti.

The ship spent no longer in port than it absolutely had to, and was gone as soon as the inspection was completed.


Another arrival for AGM inspection was the tanker Silver Express. A Mid-Range tanker of 26,900 grt, 47,701 dwt, it was built by Onomichi Zosen, in Onomichi Japan in 2009. It also used stay in port to take on bunkers.

 Algoma Dartmouth has taken up position alongside the ship for bunkering.

The ship arrived from New Haven CT, and does not show a destination, but is likely headed for Newfoundland.


Another Mid-Range tanker arrival was the NS Stella 27,357 grt, 47,197 dwt arriving from Saint John for Irving Oil.


Owned by the Russian company Sovcomflot, it is nevertheless registered in Liberia and managed from Dubai by SCF Management Services (a SovComFlot subsidiary). It was last in Halifax in Septmber 2016 when it docked at Imperial Oil.


There has been a bit of an unveiling at the Bedford Institute, as the hoarding around the wheelhouse and bow of CCGS Hudson has been removed. Bridge window replacement was apparently part of the refit work that the ship had yet to complete when it returned from Hamilton, ON last fall. The ship is looking pretty good, so it seems possible that it will make the revised completion date of April.

On March 7, work was still underway from staging around the bridge and bow.
Also a number of fenders had been rigged. 
The yellow bags are in fact water weight used to test the ship's davits.


Today all that was cleared away and the ship is returning to normal appearance.

Also in at the BIO is the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell after assisting the distressed vessel Nordika Desagagnés off Louisbourg. [see Tugfax].


The ship was built originally as an anchor handling tug supplier and although converted for Search + Rescue, it still has its stern roller and winch house.

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Monday, March 19, 2018

More dollars for research, and some tanker traffic

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is again hiring outside vessels to conduct research due to the unavailability of ships from their own fleet.

Mersey Venture fueling up at BIO today. The 2337 grt ship was built in 1988 and has been in the northern shrimp fishery.


Mersey Venture, owned by Mersey Seafoods of Liverpool, NS, is the latest hire. It will cost $290,000 to conduct an abbreviated  winter fisheries survey on George's Bank. The annual survey collects important data on fish stocks and usually takes five weeks. However the DFO's aging fisheries research fleet is unable to conduct the work this year due to problem refits.
CCGS Alfred Needler, built in 1982 was to have completed its refit in St.John's February 14, but more steel work was needed so it will not be ready before April 1. Last year when it was unable to complete the survey due to mechanical issues, the work was completed by Teleost (built in 1988). However this year that ship is also in refit, which has been extended from the end of February until at least March 30.

Both DFO ships are up for replacement but delivery dates for the new ships are still somewhat up in the air.  The first of three new ships, Sir John Franklin is fitting out in Victoria, BC after is was "launched" by Seaspan's yard in North Vancouver. It is expected to enter service sometime in 2018, followed by the next two ships in 2019 or even 2020.

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Today the coastal tanker Algoscotia took a break from its routine of shuttle trips from Lévis, QC to Imperial Oil in Dartmouth. The ship moved to pier 26 - likely for some repair work.


The Algoscotia has been working through the winter and certainly shows signs of wear and tear on the hull.

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Based in Come-by-Chance, NL. the 2985 grt, 3569 dwt  tanker North Atlantic Kairos arrived at pier 9 today with cargo for Wilson's Fuels. Built in 2008 in Tuzla, Turkey, to the same design as Algoma Dartmouth, it is primarily a bunkering tanker, but can also carry out coastal voyages


As North Atlantic Kairos approaches pier 9, the tug Roseway in the background, is towing a containment boom that will be placed around the ship while it discharges its cargo. An underground pipeline connects pier 9 to Wilson's tanks on Barrington Street.

Built in 2008 as CT Wicklow is was acquired by North Atlantic Refining Ltd in 2016 and arrived in Halifax July 9, 2016 for fitting out and renaming. It returned to Halifax in August of that year with a cargo for Wilson's.
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Sunday, March 18, 2018

APL Salalah breaks the record

As per my earlier post APL Salalah became the largest container ship to call in Halifax when it arrived early this morning. Also as predicted, it arrived in the dark and is due to sail in the dark too, thus preventing photos of it underway.

Without scaling fences, climbing communication or electricity towers or trespassing on private property (for more than a few seconds), I did squeeze off a few photos to give an idea of the scale of the ship. 

The ship was alongside and tied up by sunrise, but the cranes had not started work yet. By my estimation the ship could have loaded another tier or more of boxes. 

Although using up all of berth 41 ( 333m / 1,093ft ) and stretching into berth 42 (same length) at  347.05m long (1138.45 feet) APL Salalahleaves room for a smaller ship at pier 42. Macao Strait is barely visible at the far right, loading for Melfi Lines. Thus only two cranes were available for the large ship - surely a less than desirable situation. 

If anyone needed a comparison in size between a 10,960 TEU ship of 128,929 grt and a "normal" container ship, there was this afternoon's arrival of YM Evolution a regular caller since last May on THE Alliance AL1 service. With a capacity of a mere 4662 TEU, the 47,952 grt ship is supposedly of a size that is threatened with extinction by the larger ships.

YM Evolution rounds George's Island heading for Bedford Basin. Its tethered escort tug Atlantic Fir is already made up astern and Atlantic Willow is just coming alongside for the trip through the Narrows. The irony in the ship's name is that evolution may spell its exctinciton.

 
In fact there are many trades, such as transatlantic that currently depend on frequency more than capacity. Being able to maintain a weekly service efficiently means that "smaller" ships of less than 5,000 TEU will still find niches, where the economy of scale that the giants provide is not a factor. The risk is that with ownership consolidations, there will be fewer and fewer (but bigger and bigger) ships and shipping lines, calling in fewer and fewer ports, leaving some ports out in the cold unless they can provide exceptional service.

It is only a matter of time before more bigger ships start coming. The extension to Halterm pier C, berths 41-42 was made to accommodate two large ships at once, but that was obviously not enough to work two 10,000+ TEU ships. When the next leap occurs to to the 13,000 to 15,000 TEU range, then not even smaller ships will be able to dock at Halterm when a big ship is in.

I have sighted drilling and sounding vessels working in the area over the last few days, so some plans are afoot - but they have not been revealed to the public yet.

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Saturday, March 17, 2018

More signs of spring

With light snow on the ground and a few snow showers in the air, perhaps it was good to be reminded that spring is on the way.

One sure sign is the opening of Asian Gypsy Moth season. As of March 15, all ships entering Canadian waters that have been in the far east must provide a declaration that the ship is clear of the pests that threaten North American forests. Ships that have visited China north of Shanghai, Japan, Korea and the far east of Russia may be carrying egg masses of the invasive insect.

If they do not have a certificate they  must undergo an inspection by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. It takes a few hours to do this, and it is usually done at Halifax, Sydney or the Strait of Canso, before the ships get near any forested areas.

The regulations make no exceptions for ships such as autocarriers that are going no deeper into Canada than Halifax.Such is the case for Miraculous Ace and the reason that the rare sight of an autocarrier anchored in Bedford Basin.
 


Operated by Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan, the ship was built in 2006 by Imabari Zosen, Marugame, and measures 59,422 grt, 19,281 dwt. It has a capacity of 6,141 cars.

The ship will remain anchored in the Basin until Monday.

At pier 27 the Radcliffe R. Latimer was doing some hold cleaning after winter layup. They had swung the self-unloading boom out over the dock, and with an elephant's trunk extension were preparing to unload sweepings into trucks.


The ship is preparing to sail tomorrow, which will give it time to pick up cargo en route to the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway at the end of the month.


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Friday, March 16, 2018

TEU record going to APL

The record for largest container ship to call in Halifax is about to be broken again with the arrival of APL Salalah early Sunday morning. The previous record holders were three ZIM ships, the first of which was ZIM Antwerp June 29, 2017, followed by ZIM Rotterdam (which was originally intended to be the first, and shown above in the masthead photo) and  ZIM Djibouti all just edging by the 10,000 TEU mark by 62 TEU. The ships measure 114,044 grt, 116,499 dwt. They are now regular callers here, with ZIM Rotterdam sailing today.


ZIM Antwerp the last record setter for the Halifax.

APL Slalah, operated by APL, which is owned by CMA CGM, was built in 2012 by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Okpo, South Korea. With a tonnage of 128,929 grt, 131,477 dwt, it has a capacity of 10,960 TEU. Not only does it set a capacity record, it is also the first boxship of more than 120,000 grt to call here. (Since its arrival will be in the middle of the night, there may be little chance for a photo)

It will be interesting to see how long its record stands, as larger ships have been docking at nearby US east coast ports for several months, and are now in the 13,000 TEU range.

To keep things in perspective however, this week the Port of Hamburg, Germany greeted its largest ship ever. CMA CGM Antoine de Saint Expury carries 20,776 TEU and beats the previous record set by  Munich Maersk of 20,568 TEU in August 2017. It took nine cranes to work the record breaker, offloading 7,000 boxes and loading 4,000 during its stay in the port. Hamburg is about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its entry into the container business, only a year ahead of Halifax.

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Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Waiting it out - again

The third major storm to sweep through the area in as many weeks has once again disrupted arrivals and sailings. As today brightened up from last night's snow and rain, there was still very high wind and breaking waves in the harbour. Conditions outside are no doubt much worse.


0nce again a Wilhelmsen ship took up a position at pier 9C. Titania is a 2011 product of Daewoo, Okpo. The 74,255 grt, 30,907 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,934 CEU. It is also much larger, by about 1,000 cars,  than the last two Wilhelmsen ships, Tomar and Toscana that waited out weather at pier 9C.


Also at pier9C, Stellaprima unloaded the Multicat Dominion Warrior. See today's Tugfax.

At pier 27  BBC Ganges in from Baie-Comeau for a brief stopover - and no cargo work - is stuck in port until conditions improve outside.


Built in 2010 by Tianjin Xingang it is a 12,974 grt, 16,943 dwt ship has two 250 tonne cranes and one 80 tonne crane. The big cranes can work in tandem for a 500 tonne lift. The ship originally intended to stay in port for only a few hours yesterday.

At the adjacent pier 31 Hollandia had completed unloading nickel from Cuba for Nirint, and is waiting its turn to leave port.

On February 19 in Oranjestad, Aruba, while hoisting a mobile truck crane from its hold a sling parted and the unit was dropped on the tween deck and heavily damaged. Apparently the ship incurred minimal damage, but the truck crane was in a sorry state.

Once again at anchor in the lower harbour Nolhanava is repeating its performance of the past few weeks. On arrival from its St-Pierre et Miquelon run, its normal berth is occupied by Oceanex Sanderling and it will await its time either at anchor or at pier 9B.


The ship was registered in Canada September 1, 2017.  The Canadian registration show its name as Nolhan Ava and that is how it will be shown here. For some reason the ship's registration is still shown in Transport Canada's online listings, but is also shown as closed, and the ship still carries Briidgetown (Barbados) on its stern. I understood that it was moved to Canadian flag to allow it to call in Newfoundland as well as St-Pierre on its weekly trips, but whether this has happened yet I am not sure. I believe it does carry a Canadian crew. 


In Bedford Basin CSL Tacoma is waiting out the weather with its cargo of gypsum bound for the US.


Also at anchor is the tanker Silver Millie Built in 2015 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, it is a typical mid-range (MR) product tanker, of 29,327 grt, 49,642 dwt.


When conditions improve, it will dock at Imperial Oil. Interestingly its last port was Vondeling, Netherlands (within the port of Rotterdam). It is the first foreign tanker at Imperial Oil in several weeks - ever since Algoscotia began shuttling product from Lévis, QC. Prior to that Imperial was getting refined product from the US Gulf.

 Harbour ferries were battling it out against wind and some swell as they maintained their regular schedules.

Woodside I was doing some rolling as it lined up for arrival in Halifax from Woodside.


Craig Blake was doing some splashing on its way to Halifax.
And at Fairview Cove, YM Epress moved under the big cranes to work cargo after Dalian Express had finished. Dalian Express then moved to the east end of the pier to await an improvement in sailing conditions.

Wind driven salt spray in the Narrows almost blots out the Dartmouth shore, despite bright sunshine.
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