Clear up then close in

Following a storm with very high winds last night, things began to clear up and calm down this morning, March 16, allowing most lingering ships to resume their interupted voyages, and a return to normal arrivals and departures. However by late afternoon things began to close in again with fog, strong gusts and periods of rain.

One of the two MSC ships anchored in Bedford Basin, the MSC Brianna moved in to PSA Fairview Cove this morning and completed shedding weight to reach St.Lawrence River draft. With the ships Oceanex Sanderling and Tropic Lisette at the Southend terminal, PSA opted to send the ship to Fairview to unload. Once the operation was completed the MSC Brianna sailed in the early afternoon, leaving fleetmate MSC Rosella at anchor. (It has no ETD yet, but is due in Barcelona March 22.)

As the ship moved past my position I noted some interesting features:

When the ship was built in 1996 by Daewoo, Okpo it was equipped with Japanese style radio masts at each bridge wing. In those days ships carried morse code marine radio, and a radio operator. That type of communication was on the way out by then, and the last official broadcast was in 1999. But even in 1996 few ships still carried it. Although the aerial wires that were slung between the towers have been removed, the towers remain as supports for lighting and some wires and wire stays remain.

A more modern touch is the exhaust gas scrubber system retrofitted to the ship , and highly visible as a large high yellow/orange box on the after deck. There is exhaust coming from the regular exhaust pipe in the ship's funnel as the ship is likely using low sulfur MDO (Marine Diesel Oil) while in port and maneuvering. Once at sea it will switch to HFO (heavy fuel oil) and the exhaust gasses will be diverted to the scrubber.

As the ship squeaks under the A. Murray MacKay bridge, it gives bridge users a smoke bath.

A delayed arrival due to weather was the coastal tanker Algotitan. Since acquired by Algoma late last year, the former Chantaco was renamed and brought under Canadian flag January 11. It has now settled in to regular coastal voyages between Imperial Oil's Halifax depot, and Sydney, NS, CornerBrook, NL and Sept-Iles, QC.

It must have had a fairly lumpy ride along the eastern shore last night. It arrived at the Halifax pilot station at 0800 hrs ADT this morning, but pilot boarding was put off until 1500 hrs, perhaps due to sea conditions from the lingering effects of the storm.

The autocarrier Morning Peace put off its arrival from Southampton, UK, until 1030 hrs this morning when it made for Autoport. By the time it was ready to sail at 1800 hrs rain had moved in again and it was touch and go for a photo as it passed the Mauger's Beach light outbound for Manzanillo. 

 A 2017 product of Hyundai Samho, the 66,802 gt, 22,438 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,368 (or 7,549 - take your choice, depending on the source) cars.

 

An arrival of note was the new to Halifax CMA CGM Nouga from Montreal on the joint CMA CGM/ Maersk St-Laurent 1 service  (Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Montreal, Halifax, Bremerhaven).

 

A dark and rainy arrival, but not as dark as it will be on departure at 0230 hrs.

 

CMA CGM Louga dates from 2018 when it was built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan County, China.The 29,316 gt, 34,694 dwt ship has a capacity of 2462 TEU and was built to the heavy 1A Baltic ice class. Until last year it was employed on a service to St.Petersburg, Russia and was expected to transit the Baltic Sea without icebreaker assistance. Its bridge wings are fully enclosed, and it no doubt has other features for winter navigation.

It is not clear if the ship will be replacing the EM Kea on the St-Laurent 1 service or if it has been added to Maersk's two ships Vayenga Maersk and Vistula Maersk to increase voyage frequency.

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