After yesterday's meeting of Canada Steamship Lines sister ships in Bedford Basin, there was another twin meet up - also in Bedford Basin - today, December 22. This time it was two multi-purpose 'tween deck general cargo ships.
Franbo Lohas has been in Halifax since since November 6. It was at Pier 9B from November 10-22, and made one brief "day trip" to sea for trials December 3. The rest of the time it has been at anchor in the Basin. As per previous posts, the ship was in Halifax in March 2022 to load fibreoptic cable racks and was reported in Vancouver. IT International Telecom had a major submarine cable project in British Columbia, and I am assuming the ship delivered cable there.
Today Franbo Lohas was joined at anchor by the Thorco Legacy a 13,110 gt, 16,966 dwt product of the same Honda Heavy Industries shipyard in Saiki, Japan. It is two years newer however and was completed in 2016, the last of nine sister ships all of which originally carried "L" names and were owned or chartered to Thorco Shipping A/S of Denmark. (Franbo Lohas was Thorco Lohas until 2021.) It carries the same 50 tonne SWL cranes and featues box shaped holds of the "open hatch" design.
Thorco, based in Copenhagen (and merged with Clipper Projects in 2013) operates about 70 ships- many on charter from other owners. Franbo, based in Taiwan operates a variety of ships, many of them bulk carriers. Thorco prefers to charter ships than to build up a fleet of owned ships, and can thus reduce long term commitments while meeting short term needs.
The two ships were anchored near each other and were not the only ships at anchor in Bedford Basin. Also arriving this morning after a brief trip to Boston [see December 16 post], was the icebreaking tug Polar Circle.
As Thorco Legacy (right) approaches anchorage positon number 9, it passes the Polar Circle and nears the Franbo Lohas (left - blue hull).
As with the cargo ships, the purpose for Polar Circle's presence in Halifax is not known. Why it should sail to Boston only to take on bunkers is also a mystery.
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