Today, September 2, saw three "new to Halifax" arrivals. Predictably two of those were container ships while the third was a genuine oddity. There were departures too, but they were not particularly remarkable, as their arrivals had already been noted in these posts.
The first arrival was the Melina a mid-size container ship of 40,030 gt, 50,716 dwt with a capacity of 4253 TEU. Built in 2009 by Samsung Koje (now Geoje) it was launched as Benita Schulte but renamed for delivery as UASC Samarra for a charter to the United Arab Shipping Co (the majority shareholder in Hapag-Lloyd). On completion of the charter in 2014 it reverted to Benita Schulte and carried that name until 2017 when it became the Melina.
The Melina took up position in number one anchorage in the lower harbour - possibly for Canadian Food Inspection Agency examination. It is scheduled to move to PSA Fairview Cove when the berth is clear there. Fom the look of the containers on deck the ship appears to be a ZIM charter for the ZCA service (with slots for Hapag-Lloyd). Its last port was Valencia Spain.
The next arrival was the MSC Sarah V on MSC's Turkey-Greece service. The ship does not appear to have been in either Turkey or Greece recently (its last ports were Cristobal, Panama, Fort Lauderdale, Baltimore, Barcelona and Valencia.) It may therefore have been transferred from another service and transloaded from another ship in Spain. (Huge delays in the Panama Canal due to low water levels have resulted in the transfer of many ships from service to service.)
The MSC Sarah V is also a Samsung Geoje build, dating from 2000 when it was named Saudi Yanbu. In 2002 it was renamed MSC Sarah and took the "V" suffix earlier this year. When the ship moved into Bedford Basin and was at a better angle to the sun, its retrofitted exhaust gas scrubber housing became more visible, adjacent to and abaft the original funnel casing.
As the MSC Sarah V was transitting the lower harbour the USS Oscar Austin DDG 79 was just casting off its lines at HMC Dockyard with the assistance of the tug Atlantic Oak. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer arrived August 29 for a courtesy call from its home port of Norfolk.
The most unusual of the arrivals was the classic Dutch coaster Layla tying up at Pier 9C.
It has been many years since a ship of this type has been seen in Halifax, especially after a transatlantic crossing (from Amsterdam). The tug Atlantic Willow was almost as big as the ship, and did a good job of blocking a clear view.
The Barkmeijer Shipyards in Stroobos, Netherlands built the ship as long ago as 1975. It was then measured at 945 gt, but has since increased to 1010 gt as the ship was modified as a cable layer. Its deadweight tonnage remained at 1599 tonnes. Sheaves have been installed at the bow and the ship carries some packaged workshops in containers and other equipment on deck.
Operators Mertech Marine, based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, have two more similar ships for submarine telecommunications cable work. They are also associated with WIND BV in the Netherlands which has more cable ships. This leads me to believe that the ship may be involved in the Vineyard Wind project, as Halifax is the staging area for the work off Massachusetts. The offshore wind turbines will be connected with an offshore electrical substation all of which will be connected by a subsea power and communications cable networks. See September 6 post.
The Layla was originally the general cargo ship Elisabeth Holwerda becoming Elina B. in 1987, the Elina in 1990, Blue Moon in 1997 and Layla in 2004.
Back to full size ships the NYK Meteor (see yesterday's post) sailed this morning,
A solitary loon shared the view of the NYK Meteor making its way toward the Narrows, outbound.
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