The Ripple Effect, and other news

 Work appears to be completed on relocating one of the existing cranes at PSA Halifax. The Super Post Panamax crane dubbbed "Max5", was repositioned by loading it back onto the Zhen Hua 23, then off loading it further north (by passing two other cranes) and adjacent to the two newest cranes which have just been delivered from the same ship.

The existing crane (with boom up in the photo) will be "plug and play" I assume. In other words it will be ready to run in short order. The two newest cranes - left in photo - are in the commisssioning process and may be operational in December or January.

(The green cranes in the photo are still aboard the ship Zhen Hua 23 and are not for Halifax. They are en route to the PSA terminal in Sines, Portugal.)

With the new cranes the Port expects to be able to handle 20,000 TEU ships efficiently. Although no ships of that size currently call on east coast North America, their arrival is inevitable as lines look for efficiencies of scale.
 

Ripple 1

Because the Pier 41 berth was occupied with this crane move, the container ship ONE Falcon went to anchorage number one, just off the South End Container Terminal. The 14,026 TEU ship will move alongside tonight when Zhen Hua 23 sails.

Dating from 2017 when it was delivered by Japan Marine United in Kure as NYK Falcon, the ship was renamed in 2020 by NYK Lines, a partner in Ocean Network Express along with the other Japanese container lines. ONE is a member of THE Alliance and the ship is operating on its EC5 service.

Ripple 2

With ONE Falcon occupying number one anchorage, and impeding the usual east channel, the Oceanex Sanderling passed west of George's Island en route to Bedford Basin. The ship is arriving on its weekly route from St.John's, NL.

It will remain at anchor in Bedford Basin until the sailing later this evening of Atlantic Sail frees up the west berth at PSA Fairview Cove.

Ripple 3

The presence of ONE Falcon in number one anchorage also obliged the arriving autocarrier Lake Wanaka to pass west of George's Island then turn, north of the island, then head back east of the island to make its approach to Eastern Passage and Autoport.

The line boat Roseway makes its way to Autoport to take the ship's head lines out to a mooring buoy.

The 47,168 gt, 12,272 dwt autocarrier has become a regular in Halifax (it was last here October 17) working as it does for Volkswagen sailing out of Emden, Germany. Built in 2008 as Triumph by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co, it has a capacity of 4902 CEU. It became Lake Wanaka in 2019. The ship is equipped with an exhaust gas scrubber, housed aft of the usual funnel.

Once the ship neared the Autoport jetty, the tugs turned it to back in alongside. The ship is equipped with a side ramp, which is never used in Halifax, instead using the large stern ramp.

Ripple 4

Adnittedly Ripple 4 effected only me, but what the ONE Falcon did was to (partly) block my customary view of the tanker at Imperial Oil's Number 3 dock.

The Torm Agnes arrived yesterday from Antwerp with a cargo of refined products. A member of the Danish Torm A/S fleet (although apparently re-finanaced and leased back) the ship wears the unique burnt orange painted superstructure and the Torm name and flag on the hull. Built by Guangzhou International, in Guangzhou, in 2011 it is listed at 30,302 gt, 49,999 dwt. That is a rather larger than usual gross tonnage, perhaps as the result of roomier accommodation than the run of the mill MidRange tanker.

The five decks of superstructure (one more than the usual) are more visible from aft.

Non-Ripple

Totally unrelated to the crane delivery issue, was the departure of the cargo ship Franbo Lohas from Pier 9B. Tugs were able to turn the ship right off the berth in the Narrows and so to head it for sea.

This was the ship's third call in Halifax in two years. First in March 2022 and again just a year ago in November 2022. This time it arrived November 2 from Oman. As it did on the last calls, it loaded steel racks for carrying fibreoptic cable. When it sailed today it gave Portsmouth,NH as destination, where it will load another cargo of the cable manaufactured at SubCom's factory in Newington (formerly Tyco and before than Simplex Wire and Cable).

One of ten sister ships built by Honda Heavy Industries (unrelated to the car) in Saiki, Japan for Thorco A/S of Denmark. It was named Thorco Lohas from 2016 to 2021when some of the ships were sold to Franbo Lines of Taiwan and renamed. The 13,110 gt, 16,966 dwt ship has box shaped holds and two 50 tonne SWL cranes. Other ships of the Thorco "L" class have also been fitted with cable racks in Halifax.

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