Steel and Oil and Gypsum

 The general cargo ship Onego Bayou arrived late Tuesday afternoon February 21 with another consignment of rail for CN. The rail comes from the Polish port of Szczecin, but in this case not directly. 

Onego Bayou at Pier 28 (February 22).

After loading the steel January 21 -30, the ship used the Kiel Canal to shortcut the trip to the North Sea. However once clear at Brunsbuttel, the ship made a left turn and sailed up the Elbe to Bremen where it took on some wind turbine components on February 1. It then proceeded to Saint John, NB, arriving February 18. 

Intrepid ship photographer "andrecas" posted a series of excellent photos showing the ship arriving in Saint John, which he posted on Shipspotting.com at:

 https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3532650?navList=latestPhotos18

After offloading the turbine components it sailed for Halifax February 20.

Construction of the ship was started in 2007 by Yichang Shipyard in China, and completed by Damen, Gorinchem. The 7878 gt, 11,087 dwt ship was fitted with a pair of 80 tonne capacity cranes that can be paired for a 150 tonne lift.  Originally named Uta it became Marmakira in 2014 and Onego Bayou in 2018.

Another February 21 arrival was the tanker Lumen N with cargo for the Nova Scotia Power Corporation's Tufts Cove generating station.

Tying  up at the red and white stacks on the Narrows opposite Pier 9, it was not immediately obvious that the ship is somewhat larger than the usual product tankers we see in Halifax. Built as Ice Blade in 2008 by STX Shipbuilding Co in Jinhae, South Korea, the ship is classed as a LongRange 1 product tanker, measuring 38,955 gt, 63,599 dwt.  The MidRange types that bring refined product to Halifax are in the 50,000 dwt size.

As befitting a DNV Ice class 1A ship it also has a fully enclosed bridge. The ship was acquired and renamed Lumen N in 2013 by Navios Tanker Management Inc, part of the Navios Group, which currently operates 32 tankers of various sizes.

The large "N" on the funnel points to the interesting Navios Group, owned by Angeliki Frangou, a modern day shipping "tycoon". See the Wikipedia page:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angeliki_Frangou

While both the ships mentioned above were busy unloading, the bulk carrier CSL Tacoma has been anchored in Bedford Basin since February 20 waiting to load gypsum.

The stockpile of raw gypsum ore at Gold Bond's dock is rarely as low as it appeared today (February 22). A daily train usually delivers more ore to the site every day, but there has apparently been a hold up. Demand for gypsum is relatively brisk these days, with an average of about a ship a week.The last ship was Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin on February 13-14, so there has been time to replenish the stockpile under normal conditions.

(above) The much diminished gypsum stockpile (February 20, 2023).

(below) A normal single pile, but there are often two or three piles.(September 5, 2022)

 

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