Transitions

 I guess most of us will be pleased to see the end of 2020. However there must certainly be widespread consternation about 2021 as to whether it will be more of the same, a return to normal or the advent of a "new" normal. A transition of some sort is inevitable.

There was also anxiety, but on a different scale, in the shipping world, fifty years ago as containers were making a significant impact on how cargo was transported. Hard as it is to believe today, Maersk Lines, now the world's largest container operator, was slow to make a commitment to containers. Much of its trade was with Asia where things were still done in the traditional way. Therefore Maersk was still building conventional cargo ships.

The handsome Clifford Maersk was built in 1969 by Bergens MV in Norway. A 10,918 gt, 14,159 dwt ship it was equipped with an array of two 25 tonne cranes, one 60 ton, one 30 ton, ten 10 ton and six 5 ton derricks! It had six holds, some of which were refrigerated and accessed through side doors. It also had tank space to carry latex, vegetable oil or molasses and high flash point liquids. Its massive 9 cylinder B+W main engine propelled the ship at 22.5 knots.

In this early 1971 photo at pier 36,  you can see Canron erecting a container crane at Halterm in the background, and so the writing was definitely on the wall as ACL and DART had already started serving Halifax with containers and RoRo.

By 1980 Maersk built a new, longer, cellular forebody for the ship and converted it to a 21,349 gt, 21,349 dwt container ship. They sold it in 1988, and renamed Jian He it lasted until 1988 when it was broken up in Tianjin.

Clara Maersk was built to the similar specs by Kockums MV, Malmo, Sweden in 1968, measuring 11,000 gt, and 14,164 dwt, with one 80 ton, one 25 ton, eight 10 ton and twelve 5 ton derricks. In 1980 it received a similar conversion with a wider, longer forebody, emerging as a 21,609 gt, 25,078 dwt container ship. It served as TFL Adams from 1984-1986, reverting to Clara Maersk until 1988 when it was sold and renamed Yi He. It was not broken up until May 2004. 

 

Another sister of the C class was Chastine Maersk, also built by Bergens MV, but in 1968. The 10,918 gt, 14,169 dwt ship was equally equipped with a veritable catalog of cargo gear.It therefore made for an awkward container carrier.

Later in 1980 it received a similar conversion with a new 11.6 m longer forebody, resulting in a 21,609 gt, 25,007 dwt ship. Sold and renamed Hui He in 1987 it was reportedly broken up in China in 2002.
 

Maersk was regularly serving Halifax in 1970 with several similar ships, including Trein Maersk.

Seen here at pier 37, with the Canadian coaster O.K.Service XI at pier 34, they were all handling cargo the old way with slings and palettes, although modern "towmotor" forklifts had taken the place of hand carts.

Built at Maersk's company owned Odense Staalskibs AS, in Denmark, but completed by Burmeister + Wain's Copenhagen shipyard, in 1962 Trein Maersk measured 12,310 gt and 14,387 dwt. Also powered by B+W its speed was listed as 21.75 knots. It was fitted out with one 80 ton, one 25 ton, eight 10 ton and twelve 5 ton derricks. 

By 1981 Maersk became fully committed to containers and they sold the ship. It became New Stallion but only lasted until 1985 when it was broken up in China.  

 

Sister ship Thomas Maersk also dating from 1962 and 12,310gt, 14,390 dwt was built entirely by B+W in Copenhagen. Sold in 1980 and renamed Sarika B it was scrapped in Kaohsiung in 1982.

Slightly older ships such as Lica Maersk were also smaller, with five holds.

Built in 1962 by AG Weser in Bremen, it was a 6365 gt, 9725 dwt ship also fitted with tanks for vegetable oil, latex or molasses and had a similar outfit of one 80 ton, two 15 ton and twenty 5 ton derricks. It also had side doors (just forward of the "E" in "LINE" and midway aft). Its 10,000 bhp B+W, fitted amidships, gave it a tamer 17.5 knots cruising speed. Ships of this class did not make the cut when it came to the container age, and were sent directly to Kaohsiung, where this one was scrapped in 1980.

 

Maersk eventually made a successful transition to the "new normal" (although it is being challenged for the number one spot by MSC as noted in yesterday's post) and its trademark blue hulls and seven pointed star continue to be seen in Halifax and in ports around the world.

 

 

 Shipfax wishes all its readers a successful transition into 2021 and a safe and prosperous new year.

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COVID scare at BIO and CCG News

 The local newspaper reported in this morning's edition that contractors working on CCGS Jean Goodwill and CCGS Hudson exposed crew members to COVID-19 before the crews went home for Christmas breaks. The Coast Guard's response and method of communication with the crews are being questioned by the Chronicle-Herald and others.

As previously reported, the Bedford Institute, where the boats are based, is full up over the Christmas week:

CCGS Jean Goodwill, G.Peddle S.C., Captain Jacques Cartier, Hudson, Corporal McLaren M.M.V., M.Perley.

Among the ships at the base is CCGS M.Perley. It would normally be in winter layup, but a crew may be called to re-activate the ship to participate in the wreck location of the scallop dragger Captain William Saulis which was lost in the Bay of Fundy with all hands on December 15. Some debris has been found, and the body of one of the six crew has been recovered. However despite air and sea searches the wreck itself has not been located, nor the remaining crew. 

CCGS M.Perley as seen in 2018.

Built in 2012 by Méridien Maritime Réparations in Matane, QC, the 22m long, 211 gt vessel is used for nearshore fisheries research. However for this operation it would assist the CCGC North Light workboat with a Sonar search.

(Moses Perley (1804-1862) was appointed New Brunswick's Fisheries Commissioner in 1855 and was an early cataloguer of fish species in the region.)

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More MSC

 There was another MSC ship at PSA Halifax today. This time it was the eastbound MSC Lorena from Montreal on the Turkey-Canada service.

I noted yesterday that MSC is well known for using older ships, often with interesting histories. MSC Lorena however has spent its entire career with MSC. From the time it was built in 2006 by Daewoo, Okpo, it has carried the same name. The 50,963 gt, 59,587 dwt ship with a capacity of 4860 TEU, including 500 reefers, was originally owned by Compton Overseas Equities Corp. In 2016 ownership was transferred to Pegasus Carriers. These are likely investment vehicles, giving no hint as to actual ownership.

MSC, which may surpass Maersk as the world's largest container line sometime in 2021, is apparently re-jigging its Canada services again, this time combining their Turkey-Canada Express with their Canada Express 2, running Montreal, Halifax, Valencia, Sines, Halifax, Montreal. The objective is to make the Atlantic crossings at maximum draft and cargo capacity. They will top up eastbound or lighter off westbound in Halifax to reduce draft to meet seasonal requirements for the St.Lawrence River's Quebec to Montreal section. This will allow them to use their ships as efficiently as possible. (It is impractical to build wide, shallow draft vessels exclusively for St.Lawrence service, although it has been done by some other lines, such as HAPAG-Lloyd.)

The ships that MSC operates were designed for world wide trade, and to restrict them to under 12m  draft means that they are carrying far less than their ideal capacity.  This photo of yesterday's visitor MSC Rochelle shows the lightly loaded ship on the St.Lawrence River.

So far we have seen MSC Poh Lin and MSC Rochelle stop in Halifax westbound and eastbound, and it looks like we will see ships on a weekly basis into the new year.

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Some Boxes Moving, Oil too

 The port was back to full operation today with PSA Halifax working two ships. While there is no glitch in PSA's operations, there may be a delay for one of the lines it serves.

The Icelandic shipping line Eimskip's vessel Lagarfoss en route from Reykjavik for Halifax had a main engine breakdown December 27, while some 230 miles off Gardskagi. The Iceland Coast Guard took the ship in tow and it is due in Reykjavik, December 31. 

A dramatic night time photo on Eimskip's website shows the ICG making up the tow:

Icelandic Coast Guard photo

Not only does the Shipping line connect Iceland to eastern North America, it also works a feeder service from Halifax to the Boston area through Portland, Maine, carrying boxes for other lines such as CMA CGM.

Both ZIM and MSC had ships at PSA Halifax today. The ZIM ship was not one of their usual vessels, but was a spot charter,  ALS Apollo at Pier 42.

Built in 2009 by Samsung, Koje, the ship was launched as Benedict Schulte but delivered as UASC Jubail for a charter that last until 2015 when it reverted to its original name. It became APL Apollo in 2017. A 40,030 gt, 51,758 dwt vessel, it has a capacity of 4253 TEU.

At Pier 41, MSC Rochelle was making another call for MSC. It had called previously during the Montreal labour dispute in August. No official announcement has been made, but it seems MSC has decided to speed up its import (westbound) Europe -St.Lawrence service by calling Halifax first, at least for a trial period.

MSC is noted for operating older, but interesting, ships, and this one is no exception. Built in 1997 by Hyundai Ulsan, it is a 53,324 gt,, 62,000 dwt carrier with a 4688 TEU capacity. It started life as Pugwash Senator for a ten year charter. In 2007 it was renamed CSAV Appennini and in 2012 became Pugwash. After a short stint as MSC Curitiba in 2013 it reverted to Pugwash in 2014, but became MSC Rochelle later the same year.

The village of Pugwash on Nova Scotia's Northumberland Shore achieved renown when the industrialist Cyrus Eaton  (a native of the village) established a conference centre and conferences on science and world affairs, eventually winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. 

Despite good close up observation from the breakwater, stacks of boxes block a clear view. As unloaded containers pass the "gear boxes" in the foreground, longshore workers remove connector twist locks, and deposit them in the boxes, which are returned to the ship.

Both Imperial Oil and Irving Oil had ships in today. The latter had Acadian, from Saint John, and the former has Atlantic Journey from Garyville, LA. a 29,256 gt, 49,999 dwt ship, built by Hyundai Mipo in 2018. I hope they had a paint warranty - the ship is looking very scruffy for only two years old.

 

This is the second ship in the last few days from Garyville, site of a Marathon Oil refinery. Imperial had been sourcing product from Antwerp until quite recently.

Speaking of scruffy, Imperial Oil has plans to upgrade the number three oil dock next year. The jetty and catwalks are badly deteriorated. They will also be installing mooring buoys that will allow ships to remain alongside in bad weather, but will likely need the services of a line boat to secure the ships' lines to the buoys.

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More Big Ships

 There was another 10,000 TEU ship at PSA Halifax today, following on after yesterday's 10,000 TEU ship. As I have suggested previously, the novelty will soon wear off as the 10,000 TEU benchmark becomes commonplace.

Yesterday's caller was CMA CGM Chennai, a ship that has called here several times before, and is the first 10,000 TEU ship to be considered a "regular": http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/11/cma-cgm-chennai-10000-teu.html

Today's arrival is APL Gwangyang for its first visit. Built in 2012 by Hyundai, Ulsan, it is a 113,735 gt, 123,159 dwt ship with a capacity of 10,700 TEU (including 700 reefers.) It berthed at Pier 41.

With the re-opening of the breakwater walkway it is possible to get a close up look at the ship, but  to get an overall view is difficult  except from the Dartmouth side of the harbour. 

    There was still lots of room at PSA Halifax, with the newly extended pier. so the ZIM feeder Tampa Trader looked very small at pier 42. [See http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2020/06/trading-closer-to-home.html  ]

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A Merry Christmas

Thanks to the Longshore workers union it appears that the Port of Halifax will be quiet for a couple of days to celebrate Christmas. Overtime rates for unionized port workers are extremely high for Christmas day, which certainly discourages most shippers from scheduling ships. Even today, Christmas Eve, there were no arrivals or departures scheduled, and there did not appear to be any work on Niovi.GR which is in the process of loading wood pellets. (Not grain as per previous post).

Oceanex Sanderling was tied up at pier 36, with its RoRo ramp down, but no work going on this afternoon.

Given that there will be little activity in the harbour, there will also be little activity on this blog. However before signing off for a few days I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, hoping that the restrictions we are all experiencing will not be too onerous.

Business in the port may be quite busy between Christmas and New Year, so Shipfax is standing by for action.

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Full House at BIO

 The Bedford Institute has a full house for the holidays and as a result is farming out some of its craft to other locations in the harbour. The Canadian Coast Guard in Halifax has added two ships to its fleet this year, with no retirements, so far, so space is at a premium.

CCGS Hudson returned to port December 4 for winter layup and will be in refit until the end of March. A cocoon has already been installed to permit some sort of climate controlled work on her decks.

The CCGS Alfred Needler is idle for Christmas, but not undergoing any specific major maintenance, so has taken up temporary residence at Pier 9.

Despite delivery of new vessels, Alfred Needler is scheduled to remain in service for some time to come, and in fact was scheduled for drydocking this month.

Also at BIO is CCGS Jean Goodwill, recently delivered, but not in full service yet. That may not happen until after March 31, so it will need to be alongside a lot until then.

Also the Capt. Jacques Cartier will be in port over Christmas, taking up some more dock space. Most research vessels do not go to sea during the holidays.

Even with the additional ships, BIO is still down two vessels from normal strength. CCGS Edward Cornwallis is in Vessel Life Extension at Shelburne and CCGS Earl Grey is in drydock in St.John's.

CCGS Sir William Alexander was in today, possibly for crew change, occupying the last open berth. It soon returned to SAR patrol.

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NIOVI.GR - new twist in naming

 In some of my more curmudgeonly posts, I have decried current naming themes for ships, due to lack of originality [oh yes - see previous post] but today's subject is a member of a fleet with an originak scheme for naming. Many of M-Maritime's ships have a domain name followed by the extension for Greece. Thus Niovi. Gr. (Niovi or Niobe is a figure from Greek mythology.)

The ship is tied up at Pier 28 loading grain, and is thus almost impossible to photograph (maybe when it sails I can do better).

The ship itself is quite new, delivered in October 2019 by Namura  Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Hakodate Dock. Following current practice for Handysize bulkers, it is double hulled, with five holds. Holds 2, 3 and 4 are box shaped and served by four 30 tonne cranes, with grabs.

M-Maritime, based in Greece, manages about fifteen ships of several different classes, and assigned to operating pools. Niovi.Gr appears to be in the Hamburg based TMA Bulk Pool.

This is not the first time that a domain name has appeared on a ship however. In 1998 Canada Steamship Lines was among the first - if not the very first - to show the company's web address on the ship's side.

The ship was Atlantic Erie *(built in 1985 as Hon. Paul Martin, renamed in 1988) a self-unloader of Seaway size. It was repainted as part of a drydocking at Verreault Maritime in Méchins, QC, and when it emerged in October 1998 the ship had " www.csl.ca" on its sides instead of Canada Steamship Lines or the simpler CSL of its fleet mates. 

Web sites are de rigeur for companies now, but CSL was certainly ahead of its time in 1998 posting theirs on the ship's flanks. 

Seen here in the pool between the Snell and Eisenhower locks of the US portion of the St.Lawrence Seaway, the Atlantic Erie displays CSL's web address.

 * Atlantic Erie incurred severe bottom damage when it grounded January 11, 2015 in the Magdalen Islands. It was patched up sufficiently to be towed to layup in Montreal. In 2016 it was towed to Aliaga, Turkey for scrap.

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Halifax - lots of integrity

Use of the word "integrity" seems to be on the increase. Once it was just an assumed characteristic of most people and things. It now seems necessary to assure others that you, your company or its product has integrity. Overstating it does little to reassure me, but it does make those companies that can bring themselves to use it a sort of cachet, if only in their own minds. 

The Port of Halifax has had lots of "integrity" lately with three ships of the name showing up in within a few days. Yesterday it was the autocarrier Integrity operating for American Roll On Roll Off Carriers. (That company likes the name so well it also has a ship called ARC Integrity in its fleet too.)

When IT International Telecom added another cable ship to its fleet, based at Pier 9A in Halifax, they named it IT Integrity. It returned to port December 12 from a repair mission to Cabot Strait.

Passing Pier 9A today on its way inbound to National Gypsum, Algoma Integrity caught the sunlight quite nicely.

The ship more or less inherited its name from its original owners, Canadian Gypsum who called it Gypsum Integrity. Since they intended it for use in our northerly climate, they equipped it with enclosed bridge wings, giving excellent weather protection year round. The ship is on a more or less regular run these days delivering raw gypsum to Baltimore, and other US ports. It was here twice in November.

Current owners Algoma Central Corp, gave the ship its current name in 2015, and placed it in the CSL Americas pool.

Aspirational and perhaps inspirational names for ships seem common nowadays, but as with many fads and fashions they do get overworked after a time. Perhaps this particular word has hit that mark and thus lost its integrity. 

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MSC Poh Lin and Carmen

 Another MSC ship arrived in Halifax today. This one is a first time caller, unlike the December 12 arrival MSC Brianna which was here before August 24.

MSC Poh Lin is slightly larger at 54,774 gt, 66,786 dwt, with a capacity of 4862 TEU. The ship was built by Hyundai Samho in 2004.

I took the pictures from the newly opened walkway on the extended Pier 42 at PSA Halifax. I am grateful to have access once again after a year, during which it was closed for rebuilding.

The new walkway gives a much closer view of ships, compared to some other vantage points, such as the one I chose for the arrival of Carmen a short while later.

Built by Daewoo, Okpo in 2011, it is a 74,258 gt, 31,143 dwt ship with a capacity of 7,934 cars (RT43). Its name is not a pun but follows the Wallenius practice of naming ships after operatic characters.

MSC on the other hand selects women's names for its ships, but as far as I know they are generic, not recognizing any specific person.

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ZIM Qingdao in the Basin

 There was the rare sight of a ZIM ship in Bedford Basin today. The ship went out to anchor Friday evening from its normal berth at PSA Halifax. It returned to PSA this afternoon (December 12), but tied up at Pier 36-37 where it will not be able to work cargo, since that pier has no crane.

It is understood that the ship was detained by Ship Safety until repairs could be made. It was later cleared to sail at 2300 hrs.

The 41,482 gt, 50,689 dwt ship was built in 2006 by the Dalian New Shipbuilding Co in China, and has a capacity of 4250 TEU. The ship flies the Israeli flag and sails on the ZIM Atlantic service.

Good bye to Deep Panuke

 The topsides structure of the Deep Panuke gas installation left Halifax today on the BOA Barge 34 towed by the tug Atlantic Kestrel, assisted by Atlantic Kingfisher and Atlantic Larch. The destination is indeed Sheet Harbour, NS, where the structure will be demolished.

I mistakenly stated in a prior post that the topside structure was lifted off by the crane barge Thialf. In fact the topside, which is  equipped with jack-up legs, was lowered onto the barge. Presumably when it reaches Sheet Harbour a reverse process will occur and the barge will be "slid out" from under.

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No More Offshore

 I used the same title for a post on my companion blog Tugfax on November 29 to mark the end of Nova Scotia's involvement in offshore oil and gas. With the completion of removal operations for the last offshore installation a number of support vessels that had been involved in exploration, construction, extraction and now demolition, have been idled.

However that is not quite the end of the story. A few "landmarks" around Halifax harbour are also disappearing.

The most prominent, although of rather short duration, has been the Deep Panuke topsides structure. It was removed intact by the giant crane ship Thialf, and landed on the BOA Barge 34, which arrived at the IEL dock in Woodside on July 21. With its flashing light on top of the flare tower, and other illumination, it is a colourful addition to the "harbourscape" day and night.

The structure was brought to Halifax pending its potential sale for re-use or for scrap. Much of the other material from the Sable Offshore went to Europe for scrap, but this structure apparently poses many challenges, not to mention the transatlantic tow. The decision has now been made, and it is rumoured to be scrapping in Sheet Harbour, NS.

We will find out Sunday as the barge is scheduled to sail in tow of the Canadian tug Atlantic Kestrel, which has recently refueled and is talking on stores (of spring water!) at Pier 9C today.

Among the other "landmarks" that is disappearing is the Mobil Dock, which is just south of the Woodside pier (to the right in the top photo, where the yellow crane is parked). It has long been the base for loading offshore supply vessels, has been a very busy place at times since the 1970s. There were a few sheds and other infrastructure there that are now being removed.

Meanwhile at Pier 9C which has been another base for activity related to the dismantling of the offshore, a colourful collection of tanks is also coming down.

Some of the tanks have already been removed, and crews are at work dismantling the piping from the larger tanks. 

The company M-I Swaco established the facility to handle drilling and well fluids for the offshore gas facility, and presumably provided material for sealing and capping wells.  

The materials in the tanks were transferred to tanks in the supply vessels by pipeline. When there was a north wind off the Basin it was a pretty exposed location, and was every bit as cold as it looked.

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Dutch Day

 Even though April 27 is the Dutch national holiday, one would be forgiven for thinking that today (December 8) was some sort of special event for the Netherlands.

A procession proceeded up harbour this morning with the lead vessel, a Dutch built tug of course,  towing a Dutch built barge, itself carrying three small Dutch built tugs, and accompanied astern by another Dutch-built multi-purpose craft. 

All this was in aid of the delivery of two of the small tugs to the local Halifax company Dominion Diving. It was their utility craft, Dominion Warrior bringing up the stern. 

Dominion Warrior flying the flag of the Netherlands as a courtesy, bringing up the rear.

The two small tugs, Dominion Enforcer and Dominion Rumbler were offloaded using one of the container cranes at Ceresorp's Fairview Cove container terminal.

After unloading the two small tugs, the lead tug, Amy Lynn D and the barge Jacob Joseph C will  proceed onward to Picton, ON where they will be taken over by their owners the Doornkamp family, owners of a large aggregates and port operation at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, called Picton Terminals.

The third small tug, Saint-Georges  was built to the account of Quebec owners and will be delivered en route.

The Dutch company Damen, responsible for building the four tugs and the barge (called a pontoon in European parlance) have a world-wide business building and operating tugs, barges and a variety of other types of ships. They even provide the delivery crews for the ships that they sell. This particular transaction concluded with the larger tug Amy Lynn D towing the pontoon and its precious cargo, across the Atlantic from Algeciras (Gibraltar) to Halifax in frightful weather, with no apparent damage.

For more detail on the tugs, see recent posts on Tugfax including:  December 6

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CMA CGM Chile arrives

 The third 15,000 plus TEU ship to call at PSA Halifax made its arrival at midday today. CMA CGM Chile follows two ships of the same class that called in September: CMA CGM Brazil on September 10 and CMA CGM Panama on September 21.

It was a gloomy arrival for the ship, which appears to be loaded to near capacity in terms of number of boxes. There is currently a dire shortage of containers in Asia, so ships are trying to pick up as many boxes as they can at way points, however this ship is westbound and has made no port calls since Sri Lanka. Container traffic is apparently booming right now, so perhaps it is mostly payload.

As expected the three ships of this Argentina class are all showing the same or similar numbers: 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt, and 15,072 TEU. Built by Hyundai Samho, CMA CGM Chile entered service in December 2019, so is barely a year old. There are eleven ships in the class, with the first five already delivered ( CMA Argentina and CMA CGM Mexico have not called in Halifax yet). Six more ships, of which one has been delivered are revolutionary dual fuel vessels with the capability of using LNG - if and where available. It is expected that they will use the conventional fuel and exhaust gas scrubbers much of the time.

The Port of Halifax is noting that these ships are the largest container ships to call at any Canadian port, and that Halifax has the infrastructure to handle them, particularly with the newly extended berth at PSA Halifax, and its long reach, super post panamax cranes.

I have often noted that the size of ships is deceptive, particularly with these Ultra class vessels. Yes they are big a 360m long and 51m wide, but they are still smaller than the largest ship to dock at any Canadian terminal. As far as I know, that record is still held by Point Tupper, NS on the Strait of Canso. 

On August 9, 1998 the Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC*) Hellespont Capitol docked at the Nustar Energy terminal there. A tanker of 173,086 gt, 388,118 dwt, it measured 373.5m long overall, by 64 meters breadth with a draft of 22.92m, it was built in 1976 and scrapped in 2002. Originally the Esso Madrid it was built by Nippon Kokan, Tsu, Japan, in response the "energy crisis" of the early 70s. In 1986 it was renamed Capitol and in 1990 Hellespont Capitol when it was acquired by the Greek / Canadian Papachristidis company Hellespont Steamships.

Ships of its colossal size could only be handled at Point Tupper which has the deepest, ice free terminal in North America.

 * The ULCC is the largest class of tanker, starting at 320,000 dwt and ranging up to 549,999 dwt. The next smaller class, the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC),  is sized is from 160,000 to 319,999 dwt. 

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CMA CGM Chile due

 I will be on the lookout tomorrrow (December 8) for the arrival of CMA CGM Chile a 15,128 TEU container ship, due at the pilot station at 1130 hrs AST. 

It will be berthing at PSA Halifax around noon. If I get decent pictures I will update this post.

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Weather again

 The port is on weather watch again, with pilotage operations suspended. Gusty winds and very lumpy seas outside, have resulted in canceled arrivals and departures.

Before condiitons deteriorated last evening the tug Amy Lynn D and its barge carrrying three small tugs arrived safely from Algeciras (Gibraltar). For details see today's posting on Tugfax

 

 

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End of the Road for Salarium

 The bulker Salarium has reached Aliaga, Turkey today on the end of a tow line and will soon be reduced to scrap. Renamed Sal for the trip across the Atlantic, the ship left Montreal October 27 in tow of the tug/supplier Thor I.

Emerging from drydock at Halifax Shipyard, with a fresh coat of paint, the ship's unusual bulbpous bow is fully exposed.

 The ship was a periodic caller in Halifax from the time it was built in 1980 as Nanticoke until 2009 when it took on a charter to carry salt and became Salarium. It then stopped carrying grain, and its visits here were less frequent.

Unloading grain the old fashioned way, using the grain leg.There is now a hopper arrangement that allows self-unloaders to use their own equipment.

Salarium made its last visit in November 2019. It was laid up in December 2019, and aside from one last non-revenue trip from Toronto to Montreal earlier this year. Its last paying cargo was the load of gypsum out of Halifax for Hamilton, ON.

 The ship's last load out of Halifax, and its last cargo, was taken on at Natkional Gypsum, just over a year ago.

Although thoroughly modern when built, The ship was replaced by the Trillium class ships which have greater carrying capacity and are more efficient . Salarium was among the dwindling number of Canadian built merchant ships.

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Odd goings on

 It was a day for some non-typical activity in the harbour. The ZIM feeder ship Taipei Trader (see yesterday's post) moved from Pier 36 to anchorage in Bedford Basin. 

The ship appears to be fully loaded, so must be either getting a repair or waiting out a schedule. ZIM seems to have a lot of empty boxes in Halifax, so maybe it is hauling some of those away.

The newly delivered CCGS Jean Goodwill moved from the Bedford Institute to Pier 9C where a crane lifted off a large cylinder and placed it on a truck. The cylinder looked like a stern roller, but was secured on deck when the ship arrived. (See previous post)

There was another unusual arrival at Pier 9C, the factory stern trawler Mersey Venture.

The attractive vessel was built in 1988 in Norway (started by Tangen Verft, and completed by Langsten Slip, Tomrefjord). It is a 2337 gt freezer trawler, usually engaged in the shrimp fishery for Mersey Seafoods Ltd of Liverpool, NS. The shrimp fishing grounds are in the far north, off Greenland, and trips can take up to two months. However its recent track shows it coming from the Gulf of Maine, headed for its home port of Country Harbour, NS. Its visit to Halifax must represent a change of plan of some sort.

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