CMA CGM (again) at Halterm

The Columbus JAX service was initially named for its connection between Jakarta, Indonesia and Los Angeles, but it is virtually a round the world operation using 18 ships on a 118 day rotation, thereby making weekly calls at a bewildering array of ports.

Starting from Hong Kong, it calls in Vung Tau, Singapore, Port Klang, Colombo, Halifax, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, Port Klang, Singapore, Jakarta, Laem Chebang, Ving Tau, Los Angeles, Oakland and Hong Kong.

CMA CGM is the operator of the service, but as part the Ocean Alliance, there are three other partners:
APL, which is owned by CMA CGM,  OOCL, which is owned by COSCO, and Evergreen.
COSCO/OOCL calls their share SEAP (South Est Asia Pendulum) and Evergreen calls theirs PE 1

The line's Halifax calls, usually on Saturday have been adjusted recently when a new ship was inserted in the rotation and all the other ships were moved one week later. This has caused some irregularity in arrival times. There was no call Easter weekend. That meant one ship called on Friday-Saturday (CMA CGM Ivanhoe) last week-end and another yesterday and today (CMA CGM Fidelio).

At 349 meters long, it is hard to get a sidelong view of the ship without resorting to a wide angle lens. After its first North American call, the ship is still well loaded.

Although not giant ships, they are certainly big at 9415 TEU and take a long time to work with Halterm's current facilities where sometimes only two cranes are available if other ships are in port at the same time. Having two of these ships in such a short spell also puts pressure on the storage areas and rail service.

The situation will only become worse if larger ships are added.

The great advantage to Halifax (and Canada) is that we are the first port of call from Asia thus expediting imports to Canada. A lot of the cargo that comes off these ships is destined to the US mid-west too, and Canada effectively "piggy backs" on that traffic.

 Dredging continues off the south end of pier 42, as CGA CGM Fidelio gets underway. The scale of these largish ships gives an idea of how much longer the pier will have to be to host two at a time.
 
Halterm expansion is certainly on the front burner, and current operators Macquarie Infrastructure Partners have apparently finalized a sale to an as yet unidentified buyer, but believed to be PSA International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the PSA Corporation. Formed in 1997 when the Port of Singapore Authority was privatized, the company has interests in many lines of business including tug operations and ships, but is primarily known as a leading terminal operator. (The parent of PSAI, Temasek, were the previous owners of APL's parent NOL - see above)

Mcquarie on the other hand is also an important terminal operator. Coincident with the sale of Halterm they have announced the acquisition of the former OOCL Long Beach container terminal for a cool $1.87 bn (US). US authorities required OOCL divest the terminal as part of approval process for the takeover by COSCO.

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Inaugural Call and Repeat Visitors

It was the inaugural call for Holland America's Zaandam today as the 61,396 gt ship tied up at pier 31.
The regular cruise terminal facilities at pier 22 are not ready for the tourist season yet, so the ship berthed at the open (and highly industrial) pier 31.

Zaandam makes the turn in for pier 31.

Built in 2000 by Fincantieri, Venice and refurbished most recently in 2015, the 1430 passenger ship will become a familiar sight in Halifax this year with  no less than 23 scheduled port calls. The ship replaces the veteran Maasdam (1255 passengers) that has been reassigned to the Alaska/Pacific area.

It is regrettable that ships have to tie up at pier 31, and then have to be bussed off the Port property through other port related activity. However there may be more ships docking there this year as the only two berths for large ships may be occupied by other cruise ships. If ships want to take bunkers, they may have to tie up at pier 31, because tanker trucks can't access the Pier 20-22 seawall and there is no bunkering barge service in Halifax anymore.
The Port's master plan will eliminate pier 31, so there will not be enough berth space at the deep water piers for all the cruise ships that usually call here. - definitely a problem awaiting a solution.

The Canadian owned tanker Kitikmeot W arrived early this evening and tied up at pier 27. The ship was last here, at the same pier, December 30, 2018 to January 2, 2019 and sailed under Marshal Islands flag for foreign going winter work. It returned to Canadian waters last week when it sailed up through the Seaway to Hamilton, ON, arriving there April 22. After unloading, it headed for Halifax in ballast. It will likely be re-flagged Canadian here in the next few days.

Kitikmeot W exhibits a case of "lock rash" from its recent trip through the St.Lawrence Seaway. 

Ships slide along the approach walls to the locks on their "knuckle" and incur serious scraping.

Coastal Shipping Ltd of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, part of the Woodward Group, are owners of the ship. Built in 2010 by Icdas, Biga, Turkey, the 13,097 gt, 19,938 dwt ship sailed as Icdas-09 until last year. It arrived in Halifax May 8, 2018 for AGM inspection, but was still under Marshal Islands flag. It then made a trip to Oshawa, ON to deliver cargo then was first registered in Canada June 5, 2018.

A tanker that was last here in 2012 arrived yesterday for Imperial Oil. At first it tied up at Number 3 dock, then today after  NS Pride sailed, moved to Number 4 dock.

Ance sails for the Latvian Shipping Co of Riga, but is registered in the Marshal Islands.

The 30,641 gt, 52,622 dwt tanker was built in 2006 by 3 Maj Brodogradiliste in Rijeka, Croatia., and arrived from Houston.

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Three New to Halifax - corrected: make it two

Most ships that come to Halifax these days are repeat callers. Even if it has been some time since they were here last, they are familiar to varying degrees. Today however there were three two first time callers to to see.

Arriving over night at Irving Woodside, the tanker Elka Glory is, as usual, coming from Irving Oil's bleanding terminal in Amsterdam. It was anchored off Halifax yesterday, then moved to anchor inside the harbour. It then waited  for Irving's Acadian to sail early this morning before moving alongside.

 Due to the angle of the photo, it is Imperial Oil's tanks that show in the background, even if the ship is tied up at Irving's Woodside terminal. 

The ubiquity of the Irving name however is safe, thanks to a Midland Transport truck on Pleasant Street. (Midland is owned by the other side of the Irving family from Irving Oil, namely J.D. Irving.)

Elka Glory is a member of the European Product Carriers fleet of "Elka" ships. It came from the Brodosplit shipyard in Split Croatia in 2008 and measures 27,612 gt, 44,598 dwt.

Oddly another Croatian built tanker arrived this afternoon. Brodotrogir of Trogir, built the NS Spirit in 2006.

 With tugs alongside, NS Spirit  NS Pride heads for Imperial Oil's number 4 dock.

Owned by the Russia based SCF, it is a 27,357 gt, 46,941 dwt Mid-Range type and is giving Antwerp as its last port.

Correction:
I mis-identified the ship. It is in fact NS Pride, built in 2006 by ShinA Shipbuilding Co in Tongyeong, South Korea. Its tonnages are 25,467 gt, 40,119 dwt and in fact it has been here before - 2017-05-13 for Irving Oil.

The third second "new to us" ship is  JSP Levante, owned by a German investment syndicate and registered in Antigua and Barbuda with Jebsen Shipping Partners as managers. It was built in 2006 by Kouan Shipbuilding Industry in Taizhou, China. The 9957 gt, 13,634 dwt ship is a CV1110+ type feeder container vessel with a capacity of 1118 TEU. It carries a pair of 45 tonne SWL cranes.

The tug Atlantic Oak is positioned near the ship's stern to swing it around for backing in at pier 31.

This is a new ship to Melfi Marines regular service between Europe and Cuba. It is on the return leg of the trip, and as usual the ship has a load of nickel sulfides in bags, which it will unload here. There are no containers stacked on hold number seven of the ship's eight holds, to allow the bags to be craned out.

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Write if you find work

It think it is time for a letter from the Lomur. After a short tenure with Eimskip, the ship arrived in Halifax April 12 and anchored in Bedford Basin. Original schedules showed Lomur with a longer term charter with Eimskip, but perhaps all the storm damage incurred to ship and cargo in March convinced someone that the ship was not suitable for the type of work, and cut the deal short.

 Lomur awaiting assignment, Bedford Basin.

It now appears that the ship has been fixed for work with Transport St-Pierre International (TSMI) for at least a few trips. Lomur will move from anchor to Cerescorp Friday morning to load, departing later in the day.


TMSI also serves Argentia, NL but Lomur will be unable to do that as a foreign flag vessel, so it will only run between Halifax and St-Pierre. As for lack of RoRo capability, TSMI has recently taken delivery of a number of flat rack 53 foot containers containers, which should accommodate most RoRo items such as cars. TSMI and Oceanex are among the very few container lines in the world to carry 53 foot containers to sea. Both companies operate ships that do not have celluar holds, which limit the size of containers.

TMSI's brand new 53 foot flat racks await work at Cerescorp. 

 (They carry reporting mark "MMJ")

 

The regular TMSI ship Nolhan Ava is in Freeport, Bahamas for reft. Is there a small chance that it will handle some of the Halifax bound cargo from Yantian Express that has been stuck in Freeport for months?

Nolhan Ava with several 53 foot dry containers on deck

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Algoterra Sails

After a remarkably quick "Canadianization" the tanker Algoterra sailed this afternoon to take up its new duties. It had only arrived on Sunday April 14, and in less than a week it had made all the needed changes.

First order of business after getting away from the dock today was a compass swing in Bedford Basin. (I noticed a lot of welding going on around her main mast, above the bridge, which likely played havoc with the ship's magnetic field.)

Away from the berth, bound for Bedford Basin.

Countering a stiff nor'west breeze, making for the Narrrows outbound.

Once that operation was completed, the ship was outbound for Montreal, giving an ETA of mid-day April 23.

The pilot ladder is rigged to disembark the compass adjustor to the launch Halmar in the lower harbour. The pilot will be aboard for another hour until they reach the pilot station.

Algoma Tankers Ltd have their entire tanker fleet "booked" for the navigation season according to information from Algoma. There may still be a need for some coasting licenses for foreign tankers, but so far Algoma seems to be getting along without, except for one short term trip for a US flag tug and barge.

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Worth a Wait

I've never been one to adhere to the old adage about all good things coming to those who wait. However I did wait it out today in hopes of getting a sunny photo of a first time caller, Grande Senegal Although the pilot was called for 1630 and the tug Atlantic Bear was alongside, the ship was not ready to call for clearance until 1740 and then did not get away from Cerescorp, Fairview Cove until 1915. There were some sunny breaks in the interval, but it was down to glimmers when the ship actually hove into view.

Owned by Grimaldi Lines, parent company of Atlantic Container Lines, the ConRo is here as a substitute for ACL's Atlantic Sail which had to go into drydock in Hamburg April 10. It is still there.

Fortunately Grimaldi was able to find another ship in its stable to take over for at least one round trip. Grande Senegal was built in 2010 by Uljanik Shipyard in Pula, Croatia and is one of fifteen similar ships in the Grimaldi fleet, and two of its class, at 47,218 gt, 26,653 dwt with a capacity of 800 TEU and 2500 CEU.  While nowhere near the giant size of the ACL G5s, it certainly takes some of the weight off the line which relies on five ships to meet a weekly transatlantic schedule. This ship's next port is given as Baltimore, so apparently ACL is skipping New York entirely on this voyage.

Another Grimaldi ConRo, Grande America has been in European news for several weeks after it caught fire and sank in the Bay of Biscay March 12. A large oil slick resulted, but seepage has now been halted by sending down an ROV to seal vents. The wreck is intact and upright on the sea bottom, 15,000 ft down. It carried 365 containers, of which 70 carried hazardous cargo, and 2,000 cars, many of which were luxury models.
Porsche went to the extent of re-activating a closed production line to replace four 911 GT2 RS models that were included in those lost. Thier Brazialian owners will be overjoyed I am sure.

I did get one photo when the sun peeked out, as Atlantic Condor moved from pier 9B to Bedford Basin for a short trial period.

The supplier is one of two Atlantic Towing vessels servicing the Deep Panuke gas installation off Nova Scotia. Both Atlantic Condor and the smaller Atlantic Tern have been drydocked this spring in St.John's forcing the partner vessel to spend almost three weeks at sea, since one vessels stands by the facility at all times, while the other shuttles back and forth with supplies. 

The Encana owned Deep Panuke gas field ceased production last year and is in the decommissioning stage, which will last until 2021 when all four production wells and one injection well are capped, and production trees and topsides structures are removed.
For whatever reason government regulators allowed the pipeline to shore to be abandons in place. It is to be purged and opened and filled with seawater.

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Fresh Paint

A couple of dry days allowed painters to get to work on two ships in Halifax.

Acadia Desgagnés, has removed Bridgetown and applied St.John's as its port of registry and as of today returned to Canadian registry. They have not found the Canadian flag in the flag locker yet, so the Barbados flag still flies astern.

The owners could save on repainting if they would register the ship in Antigua, where the port of registry is also St.John's. Unfortunately Bridgetown, Nova Scotia is no longer a port of registry. It certainly would be closer to Acadia than St.John's.


Algoterra now carries the Algoma Central Corporation disc on its funnel, complete with the famous bear. The funnel itself has been repainted to Algoma colours, whereas the disc is shop made and was installed by crane.

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Slow Rush Hour

The end of the workday usually results in a build up of harbour traffic. Hardly a rush hour really, but usually a good time to do some shipwatching in a short period of time.

Today's miniature rush hour saw two departures and an in-harbour move all happening with a few minutes of each other. Before those however the pilot boat set out for the station.

Outbound ahead of the departures, Scotia Pilot catches a sunbeam as does HMCS Ville de Québec at anchor.

The container ship Budapest Bridge sailed from Cerescorp's Fairview Cove container terminal at 1700 but it was a full hour before the ship arrived in the lower harbour.

The sun was disappearing again as the ship made its way outbound.

As soon as the big ship was clear, Trinity Sea moved from the Exxon Mobil dock in Dartmouth to pier 27 in Halifax. This seems to be a popular layby berth for offshore suppliers. They don't usually load or unload there, but could take fuel if the Irving Oil terminal is occupied, as it was today with Irving Oil's East Coast.

A very dark squall chased the vessel across the harbour.

Horizon Star followed, heading for sea trials. The big offshore craft has been idle at the Cove in Dartmouth, since January 25 when it returned from the Yantian Express salvage operation.That ship is still stuck in Freeport, Bahamas with no destination yet revealed to unload its un-damaged cargo.

As the photos indicate the sun was in and out from behind clouds and rain squalls with gusty winds blew through every few minutes. Typical April weather.

Meanwhile dredging continues round the clock off pier 42. Two complete crews work 12 hour 7 to 7 shifts from  1900 Sunday night until Friday.

 Yesterday the dredge Derrick #4 was enshrouded in fog  and looked like it was in outer space.

 Note the water depth, from the height of the 70 foot spuds above the deck of the dredge.

There is still about three weeks of dredging left to do.

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Algoma's Latest Tanker - UPDATED

Algoma Tankers Ltd's latest acquisition arrived at Pier 9C this morning. Built in 2010 by Jiangnan Shipyard Group in Shanghai, the ice class 1A, 11,889 gt, 16,512 dwt ship worked for Knutsen OAS Shipping as Louise Knutsen under British flag, registered in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Algoma announced the purchase on March 21, and the ship was renamed Louise K under Tuvalu flag for the delivery trip. International Marine Service took charge of the ship and sailed it from Amsterdam to Halifax, sailing March 30.

The ship had been in port for only a few hours and workers were already painting over the old name and preparing to change the funnel markings and carryout other work to "Canadianize" the ship.

The new name is reliably reported to be Algoterra, but we will have to wait until it is actually painted on and the ship is registered to be certain.

As previously reported other Canadian companies such as McKeil and Desgagnés are also buying tankers on the used ship market.

Desgagnés latest, to be named Gaia Desgagnés has already sailed from Landskrona, Sweden and is due in Quebec April 21. It is the former Fure Vinga, built in 2018 by AVIC Dingheng, Yangshou and measures 12,770 gt, 17,999 dwt. It is a state of the art dual fuel, ice class ship.

UPDATE:
Algoterra it is. After painting over the old name, a crew in a bucket lift applied the new name using transfer letters.

 Further aft, staging was going up around the funnel to apply the Algoma colours and "Bear Spot", the company logo.

 The Algoma company flag was also hoisted on the foremast.

There is room to add "NS" to the port of registry line, since "Halifax" is not centered under "Algoterra"

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Court Ordered Sales - #2 Scotia Tide

A barge, built in 2015 by Aecon Atlantic Industrial Inc in Pictou, NS to carry the Cape Sharp tidal turbine has been ordered for sale by the Federal Court. Tied up in Saint John, NB since lowering the turbine into the fast flowing waters of the Minas Passage (twice), the barge is heavily in debt to a variety of service providers.

Open Hydro Technolgy Canada Ltd, owners of the barge, have been declared insolvent and there was no other way for the creditors to recover some of their overdue bills except to apply to the Federal Court to have it sold.

The turbine was first lowered into the Bay of Fundy  in November 2016 but was raised in June 2017 after it malfunctioned. It took until July 2018 to repair then reposition the turbine again on the seabed. Shortly after that Open Hydro Technologies parent company in Ireland and its Canadian branch were forced into bankruptcy when its major shareholder Naval Energies withdrew financial support.

A separate outfit called Cape Sharp Tidal, owned by 80% by Open Hydro and 20% by Emera (parent company of Nova Scotia Powder, the electrical utility in Nova Scotia)  actually owned the turbine. However Emera withdrew when Open Hydro went into bankruptcy.

In September 2018 the turbine stopped working again and has been sitting on the bottom ever since, not living up to its expected production of 2MW of electricity.

The sophisticated barge measures 1282 gt, and consists of two hulls bridged in two places, forming a uU shaped well. A winching system holds the turbine in position for transport and can lower or raise it from the slot between the two hulls. The cost to build the barge was reported to be $30mn in 2016.

En route from Pictou to Saint John in July 2017, the barge, with the turbine slung between the two hulls, made a stopover in Halifax.

 
There were initially several creditors with charges against the barge, but RMI Marine, claiming $444,719 forced the sale. Others interested are believed to be DP World (terminal operators in Saint John where the barge is tied up), Atlantic Towing Ltd, and several other service providers in Saint John. 

An ad appeared in the Halifax newspaper The Chronicle Herald on April 12 giving two weeks for filing claims. Interestingly instead of naming a local sheriff  the ad gives British ship brokers Marint (Offshore Services) Ltd as the point of contact, with an e-mail address and a London telephone number.

The Province of Nova Scotia apparently holds a bond of $1.2 mn against the turbine, and on April 3, 2019 ordered its removal for failure to comply with the terms of its license (insolvency being one of several violations).

It would likely be possible to recover the turbine using conventional salvage methods, but it would likley  be easier if the barge were available. There is little doubt that the bond is insufficient to pay for recovery, some say it would be twice that at least.

For a third court ordered sale see Tugfax: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/04/court-sale-ex-panuke-sea.html

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Court Ordered Sales - #1 Ethan

A ship that was a sometime caller in Halifax is now advertised for sale by Federal Court order.  Ethan, registered in the unlikely port of Zanzibar has been idle in Quebec City since 2015.

The ship was built in 1975 by Collingwood Shipyard for N.M.Paterson & Sons Ltd of Thunder Bay, ON as Ontadoc. It was a bulk carrier of 4488 gt, 7405 dwt intended for trade to smaller ports and occasional overseas work. The ship was one of six similar vessels built in pairs.
Initially it had no cargo handling gear to serve its four hatches, but two cranes were fitted in 1989 to facilitate unloading on northern supply trips. It then became a general cargo ship too.

In 1990 Transport Desgagnés purchased the ship and renamed its Melissa Desgagnés. In 2001 it made one of its rare appearances in Halifax in tow of Magdalen Sea from the area of Port aux Basques where it presumably had been aground. The next day, July 23, it entered the Novadock at Halifax Shipyard where its rudder, prop and shaft were removed. New shell work was visible on the port side just forward of amidships, but there was likely bottom work too. The ship exited the drydock August 17 (minus prop and rudder)and lay alongside pier 6 until April 23, 2002 when it entered the Graving dock for completion of repairs. It emerged May 24 and sailed for Pugwash May 27 to load salt.

Melissa Desgagnés shifting berths in 2001. New shell plating is visible just forward of amidships.

In 2015 the ship was laid up in Quebec City and sold, with Canadian registration closing July 21, 2016. Renamed Ethan and flying the flag of Tanzania, the ship remained in Quebec City over disputed payment. The ship lost its classification by Lloyds in 2017 and was arrested in January 2017. It shifted around from berth to berth with court permission piling up costs for towing, berthing, repairs, agency, etc.,

Finally on April 2 the Federal Courts ordered the ship to be sold, free and clear, as is where is. The submission date for bids is May 1, 2019 with the sale closing June 28, 2019.

This ship's nearest sister ship Amélia Desgagnés ex Soodoc was sold in June 2017, and renamed Amelia. Under the flag of Micronesia (port of registry Malakal) it sailed directly for Aliaga, Turkey where it was beached August 17 and broken up.

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Unusually Busy

The port of Halifax was business as usual but busier than usual today with something happening in most sectors of the port.

Viewable in its entiretly only from across the harbour, CMA CGM Musca takes up a good piece of Halterm's pier 41-42  face.

 
At Halterm the regular Saturday callers were in: Maersk / CMA CGM's CAE (Canada Atlantic Express) ship was the regular Maersk Penang en route from Montreal to Bremerhaven.
Not so usual for the Ocean Alliance service (CMA  CGM ,  Evergreen, Maersk, COSCO) was the 10,000TEU+ ship CMA CGM Musca.


It is the first time in Halifax for this ship, built in 2009 by Daewoo, Okpo. Its impressive stats are 128,600 gt, 131,830 dwt and the (all important) container count of 10,980 TEU, including 700 reefers. The Port of Halifax is counting on ships of this size and larger to come to Halifax, thus justifying huge and disruptive expansions to its container handling capabilities.

Assuming the cranes are in the same position as in the previous photo, about 1/4 of the ship is not visible in this view.

 

The fact remains that this particular route can apparently operate well with 9500 TEU ships. But every once in a while they must send bigger ships to take away empty containers that are clogging up terminals due to lack of export cargo. The trade imbalance with the Far East is such that we import far more containerized cargo than we export. Shipment of raw materials, such as grian, ore, and forest products narrow the gap somewhat, but finished goods are way out of balance.

Hoegh Brasilia arrived in the morning but had to undergo a Canadian Food Inspection Agency  inspection for Asian Gypsy moth larva before it could dock.

Halmar takes the pilot off Hoegh Brasilia while it undergoes inspection at number one anchorage in the lower harbour.

That procedure took only an hour or so, and it was then able to move to Autoport. Built in 2007 by Tsuneishi Cebu in the Philippines, the ship is owned by Chijin Shipping and managed by Kambura Kisen Co Ltd. It is on long term charter to Hoegh and  is registered in Panama.

Once cleared by the inspectors, the ship took another pilot and a pair of tugs then headed for Autport. That is Tulane in the background at pier 31.

 
It was not the only autocarrier in port . Wilhelnmsen's Tulane (see yesterday) was at pier 31 unloading RoRo cargo which included a couple of shrink wrapped helicopters as well as wheeled machinery for farm, forestry and mining. (Another trade imbalance).



Another ship made only a brief call in Halifax. The tanker Silver Venus en route from New York to Come-by-Chance in ballast anchored for about an hour before it sailed. No reason was given for this short stay but it was likely another AGM inspection. 'Tis the season.

Silver Venus with barely any way on, slides inot anchorage position.

 
An entirely typical product of Hyundao, Mipo in 2015, it measures 29,327 gt, 49,635 dwt. It appears to be still under Korean ownership, but registered in the Marshall Islands to the cryptically named Silver No.29 SA. Management has been entrusted to Sinokor Maritime Co Ltd.  Sinokor (Sino=China, Kor=Korea) operates container ships and cargo handling concentrating on trade between the two countries. It also has a fleet of bulkers and tankers trading world wide.

Up in the Narrows it was time for the BBC News. (Two BBC ships sailed in the last two days - see previous posts.)
Today's arrival was BBC Kwiatkowski 6155 gt, 7732 dwt multi-purpose carrier with two 120 tonne cranes. It won't be doing any heavy lifts while it is here, but instead will load steel frames to carry fibreoptic cable.

Several prefabricated frames wait on truck trailers, to be loaded aboard the ship using its own cranes.

The ship was launched in 2008 as Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, but renamed on delivery. The ship 's hull was built by Polocna shipyard and finished by Remontowa, both in Gdansk. It was last here in January 2014 (in a blizzard) with project cargo that it unloaded at Woodside. This time it anchored off port on April 7 and waited for its fleet mates to clear before coming in today. 

The Cerescorp terminal in Fairview Cove was also a busy spot with the 6402 TEU Dimitra C alongside until late afternoon. The former Priority -81, MOL Priority-14 dates from 2002 when it was built by IHI, Kure. At 74,071gt, 74,453 dwt it is among the largest conventional container ships that call at the pier.

Tugs are pulling Dimitra C off the pier.Atlantic Willow, on the bow will go to assist the next inbound, and Atlantic Fir on the stern, will stay with the ship as stern tethered escort through the Narrows.

The largest ships to call at Cerescorp are the ACL container /RoRos. Today's arrival was Atlantic Sun built in 2016 and totalling 100,436 gt, 56,700 dwt. Built by Hudong-Zhonghua, Shanghai, it and its four sister ships have had more than their share of teething troubles, and in fact Atlantic Sail has been in dryock in Hamburg since April 10 for unspecified issues and is missing at least one rotation trip.

Taken a few minutes prior to the photo above,, Atlantic Willow plunges past Atlantic Sun as it strides up the Narrows with Atlantic Oak on the stern.

Atlantic Sun loafs off Cerescorp waiting for Dimtra C to clear.

Atlantic Sun is eastbound, but its westbound counterpart, Atlantic Sky, which was in on Wednesday brought a variety of RoRo cargo including many army trucks, an aircraft fuselage and a tail section:

About the only place in Halifax Harbour that did not look busy today was the Bedford Institute. CCGS Cape Roger sailed at some point and CCGS Sir William Alexander arrived late evening. However the pier looked quite bare earlier this week. (photo taken Thursday)

Something is missing! Indeed the former CCGS Matthew is gone. I believe it was towed out by Dominion Victory earlier in the week for North Sydney where it will get a serious going over. Renamed Miss MJ it was acquired by Newfoundland owners, based in Goose Bay.

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Comings and Goings

After transferring some of the deck cargo of wind blades from BBC California, [see previous posts] BBC Brazil sailed this morning for  Montreal. Since the California must pass Montreal en route to its destination of Ogdensburg, NY, there must be a reasonable explanation as to why the transfer was necessary.

BBC Brazil has several interesting features, including the turtle deck over the bow and the full width enclosed bridge. It is certainly lightly loaded if it has only three blades on deck.

A new to Halifax autocarrier arrived at Autoport this morning then shifted to Pier 31 this afternoon. I doubt that that there any connection between owners Wilhelmsen Lines and Tulane University in New Orleans, but the choice of name shows the variety available when the fleet standard is to name ships beginning with the letter "T".

With Atlantic Willow (bow) and Atlantic Bear (stern) the Tulane turns to back into Pier 31.

Tulane flies the Maltese flag and sails for the Wallenius Wilhelmsen joint fleet. Built in 2012 by Hyundai, Ulsan, the 72,295 gt, 28,818 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,934 CEU. With a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp, it can handle large RoRo loads as well as cars.

Arriving in Bedford Basin is the small container ship Lomur. The ship had been on a charter to Eimskip and was scheduled to continue calling in Halifax until at least May. However it has now been replaced by another ship.

Lomur at anchor in Bedfrod Basin awaiting orders.

That new ship, called Pictor J has already started work for Eimskip, but will not be calling in Halifax until May. Eimskip's ship rotation has been juggled somewhat as a result of the new ship.
Lomur was battered by a storm on its way from Iceland to Argentia, NL in March and there was damage to several containers and to the ship itself. See previous post:

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2019/03/lomur-revisited.html

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Reflag, Rename and Reload

 Reflag

After three days at anchor outside, Acadia Desgagnés entered port and tied up at pier 25. The ship is still flying the Barbados flag and as it did last year it has come to Halifax to transfer back to Canadian flag.  The ship was acquired by Transport Desgagnés in 2017 and registered in St.John's, NL. It worked that summer and fall in Atlantic Canada then shifted to Barbados on January 1, 2018.

Last year it arrived in Halifax May 23 and returned to Canadian registry May 29. On January 1, 2019 it went back to Barbados flag on a charter arrangement for international work.
The ship was built in 2013 by Shantong Baibuting in Rongcheng, China as Sider Tis for Italian owners. Measuring 7875 gt and 10,396 dwt it carries a pair of 40 tonne cranes. Although ice classed it does not normally work on northern supply, but instead works around the Gulf of St.Lawrence and into the Se3way will bulk cargoes.

Rename

The tanker Parsifal II arrived from New Orleans for Imperial Oil this morning.  This is not the ship's first visit here. Its last call was Just a year ago, April 28, 2018.

The ship as it appeared today from over George's Island.

 

On that trip however it was carrying the name Conti Agulhas. The name change took place when the ship changed ownership between two obsurely named companies on May 1, 2018. Previous owners Conti 145 Conti Agulhas became Condor 220 Schiffahrts. Management remained with NSB Niderelbe Schiffahrtsges however, so aside from the name change there is no other difference in the appearance of the ship.

 The ship as it appeared a year ago from a position I cannot access today.

The 23,403 gt, 37,606 dwt tanker came from Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan in 2008. Its last port of call was New Orleans.

Reload

BBC California sailed this evening from Pier 9C giving its destination as Ogdensburg, NY. While in Halifax the ship transferred six wind turbine blades to fleet mate BBC Brazil. The latter ship is due to sail tomorrow.

Yesterday in the midst of moving one blade the longhoremen took their lunch break with the load suspended in mid air. A thick coating of fresh snow was melting away all the while.

On departure today, there was insufficient room for the ship to turn round at its berth in the Narrows, so it headed north into Bedford Basin then turned outbound and headed for sea. 

The ship still had a good many blades on deck, along with a couple of tower sections. No one seemed concerned that the tarps on those sections had gone adrift on the way to Halifax, It may have other components below deck, but it is lightly laden.

The pilot boat Scotia Pilot paces the ship outbound. The boat had been out of service since January, but now appears to be fully operational again.