Fogged in again

 For the second day in a row (although today was an improvement some of the time) thick fog covered much of the harbour activity. Yesterday's (July 2) arrival and departure of the Queen Mary 2 was largely invisible - no doubt disappointing the many fans that usually show up for its visits. (There has been no further information about the medical emergency that caused its unplanned visit to Halifax on June 29, when it was visible - see previous post.)

It is futile to try to demonstrate the thickness of the fog by photos, but I tried, and no amount of digital tweeking helped!

 

One arrival yesterday, and departure today that I also would have liked to photograph was Coastal Shipping Ltd's tanker Kitikmeot W.  It is not unknown in Halifax,  but this particular call was a bit unusual. Coastal Shipping, founded by Mel Woodward, Sr, in Goose Bay, NL has had a long-standing relationship with Imperial Oil and distributes their products into many isolated northern and arctic communities. Their tanker fleet is based in Lewisporte, NL - a port that is accessible year round.

 (file photo 2021-02-12)

On this particular trip the Kitikmeot W. has ventured outside its usual range and on May 24 it was upbound in the St.Lawrence Seaway for Imperial's refinery in Nanticoke, ON. It was downbound again June 3, but quickly discharged in the Montreal area and was reported upbound again June 7 for Sarnia. It then made an unusual call to Green Bay, WI before returning to Sarnia. It made another trip from Sarnia June19 to an unknown destination, returning June 24. It sailed June 25 and made its way to Halifax. On departure this afternoon (July 3) it gave its home port of Lewisporte as destination.

Built by Ikdas in Biga, Turkey in 2010 the 13,097 gt, 19,982 dwt ship was originally named Ikdas-09 and was acquired and renamed by Coastal Shipping Ltd in 2018. 

Another notable departure from Halifax today was by a pair of Royal Canadian Navy vessels, sailing for a four month deployment to NATO. HMCS Shawinigan MM704  and HMCS Summerside MM711 and are headed for the Baltic and Operation Reassurance.

 Both ships were built at Halifax Shipyards as part of the twelve ship Kingston class of coastal defence vessels. Shawinigan was launched (conventioanlly) November 15, 1996 and commissioned January 14, 1997. Summerside was the last ship in the series, and was launched September 25, 1998 and commissioned July 18, 1999.

The ships are propelled by azimuthing stern drives, (in reverse position for the launch in photo above) and are thus highly maneurverable.

Unrelated to fog: As predicted there were some delays due to limited berth space at PSA Halifax south end terminal on the long weekend. There was a steady stream of ships from Friday through to today, with some anchoring to await their berth. 

The Atlantic Hub, southend terminal processed a remarkable ten ships from Friday June 30 to Monday July 3 whereas  Fairview Cove had only four. Some of the ships (3 or 4 by my count) were too large to get to Fairview Cove, but I believe some delays could have been avoided by rationalization. (i.e. by relocating some lines to Fairview Cove permanently).

I hear that some changes are indeed planned this month to balance demand for pier space with the under utilized Fairview Cove terminal. Details to follow.

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