Look what the wind blew in

A first arrival for Irving Oil took place on Sunday November 1 with the arrival of the tanker Nor'easter from Ijmuiden, Netherlands. The ship is one of five on charter from Vroon BV of the Netherlands, but is the "odd man out" in that it was not one of the original four. Those four ships consisted of the Acadian to be Canadian flag, Nor'easter, Great Eastern and New England to be Marshall Islands flag.  All were built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan in 2005 and were 23,356 grt, 37,515 dwt more or less.

After Esso closed its refinery and Irving Oil withdrew from the common storage facilities it shared with Esso, they had an increased demand for a Canadian flag tanker and transferred the first Nor'easter to Canadian registry. However the name was already taken by another ship and so it was renamed East Coast in 2014.

In the meantine Irving Oil had been using another Vroon ship, Iver Progress and in 2016 it was folded into the fleet as the second Nor'easter. Also a product of Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, it was built in 2007 , and has tonnages of 23,421 grt, 37,412 dwt so is essentially the same size. It was also refitted with the same exhaust gas scrubber system as the other four ships, and in profile looks quite similar.
There are differences in its appearance however, most notable is the black trim around the wheelhouse windows. It also appears to have a slightly more raked bow.

Nor'easter anchored in the harbour yesterday, and will await the arrival and departure of Acadian (expected tonight) before unloading at Woodside. Interestingly the ship is carrying a cargo from the Netherlands. It usually trades along the US east coast.

A sixth ship, Iver Prosperity, a sister to Nor'easter is also dedicated to Irving Oil work, but has not been renamed. Also it has not been fitted with the SOx scrubber sytem.

A Friday arrival anchored in Bedford Basin due to high winds and remained there until yesterday when it moved to Imperial Oil #4 dock.

Jinan was last here in June ( see http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/06/early-riser-rewards.html, ) and as noted then it is a rare Qatar flagged ship. On that visit is came from Port Neches, TX. Port Neches, Beaumont and Port Arthur are all ports on the Neches River, which at its mouth forms the border with Louisiana.

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