The Regulars

 Shipfax usually makes note of new or different ships coming and going to Halifax, and tends to ignore the day to day regulars unless something unusual happens. To correct that imbalance, here are a few of the regulars, just going about their normal business:

Tropical Shipping

On Monday, March 21 the Tropical Lissette sailed on its regular run to the Caribbean for Tropical Shipping.

Tropical Shipping is one of the more visible shipping lines calling at PSA Halifax, thanks to its white reefer containers with large lettering. Tropic Lissette (new in 2019) is one of two ships, with sister Tropic Hope (new in 2018) serving the line with weekly calls in Halifax. The purpose built 15,215g, 20,313 dwt ships have a capacity of 1100 TEU with 200 reefer plugs.

Since 2014, Tropical Shipping has been part of the Saltchuck Family of companies which includes interests in logistics, air cargo, tugs (Foss, Cook Inlet, Young Bros), oil and the domestic US shipping company TOTE Services. The line moved its operations to Halifax from Saint John, NB in 2017.

Nirint Shipping BV

On Wednesday, March 23 the Trinitas arrived for Nirint Shipping BV, with a cargo of nickel sulfides and containers from Cuba.

Built as Trinitas in 2007, with the hull by Damen Okean, Mykolayiv and completed by Damen Hoogezand, Foxhol, the ship was delivered as Nirint Hollandia. It was renamed Hollandia in 2012, but remained on Nirint service. It started to call in Halifax in 2014 and was renamed Trinitas in 2019.

It is a 8,999 gt, 12,016 dwt vessel with a container capacity of 684 TEU, including 80 reefer plugs on deck. It uses a pair of 80 tonne SWL cranes to handle cargo, which in the case of the nickel concentrates is in bulk bags. It has movable tween decks and ventilated box shaped holds, so is an adaptable multi-purpose vessel capable of carrying bulk and general cargoes. Uusally it also has a number of tank containers on deck - which are rumoured to carry rum, molasses or sucrose.

 

Atlantic Container Line

Among the most regular of callers in Halifax are the five giant CONROs (the world's largest) of Atlantic Container Lines. In addition to the visible deck loads of containers, the ships also carry substantial quantities of RoRo, including new and used cars and trucks, machinery, and oversize loads.

 

Atlantic Sun arrived Thursday, March 24 on its regular run from Hamburg / Antwerp / Liverpool.
 
Delivered in 2017 by Hudong-Zhonghua, Shanghai, the ships have an immense gross tonnage of 100,430 gt and 55,547 dwt. ACL (owned by the Grimaldi Group) has been calling in Halifax since the late 1960s and had the ships built to clear the Halifax bridges to make their berth at Fairview Cove. They are the largest ships (by volume) to transit the Narrows of Halifax harbour. They have a capacity of 3800 TEU and 1300 plus autos in about 18,500 square meters of RoRo space.

Canada Steamship Lines

 

As an update to previous posts, I can report that Baie St.Paul sailed yesterday, March 24, for Hamilton, ON with a cargo of Gold Bond gypsum. (Compare the ship's draft in this picture to previous posts.)

 

 

After a brief "winter layup" (since Febraury 15) the ship returned to service as the St.Lawrence Seaway opened for the season. CSL ships, both domestic and international (through the CSL Americas pool), are regular gypsum haulers, but also deliver the occasional grain cargoes from the Lakehead during the Seaway season.  CSL will also be taking delivery of a new ship in the coming days - stay tuned.

 

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