Narrows Action

 Activity in Halifax harbour today (February 22) saw ships in the Narrows en route to or from Bedford Basin.

 The usual parade of Daedalus class ships continues for THE Alliance, but today's arrival is a reminder that one of the ships is sill in port after ten days.

NYK Constellation arrived this morning from Antwerp on the AL5 service, enroute to US east and west coast ports, before returning via Saint John and Halifax to North Europe. The port rotation is Southampton – Le Havre – Rotterdam – Hamburg – Antwerp – Halifax – Port Everglades – Cartagena – (Panama) – Rodman – Los Angeles/Long Beach – Oakland – Rodman – (Panama) – Cartagena – Caucedo – St. John - Halifax – Southampton. It headed for PSA Fairview Cove, passing smartly through the Narrows with the Atlantic Bear working as stern tethered escort.

 Built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, NYK Constellation is a 55,534 gt, 65,919 dwt ship with a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers. Meanwhile sister ship NYK Romulus, built in 2009, has been in port since February 13. It moved from PSA Fairview Cove to Pier 31 on February 17 for some kind of repair. A large crane has been seen on the dock - not to handle cargo but likely to lift some piece of equipment on or off.

Ships at Pier 31 are difficult to see from shore with P&H's flour mill to the left and container stacks all around, but a 55,00 tonner dominates the scene when it is alongside.

Waiting patiently in Bedford Basin was the bulker CSL Tacoma with a cargo of Gold Bond gypsum bound for Wilmington, NC. As soon as the Narrows was clear the ship stood on and was soon outbound.

An Equinox class ocean going self-unloader, the CSL Tacoma was built in 2013 by the Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China. The 43,691 gt ship has a deadweight tonnage of 71,552, but carries much less than maximum capacity when sailing from Halifax due to the restricted draft at the gypsum dock. On this trip its sailing draft was 9.5meters, representing about 43,000 tonnes deadweight.

After delivering a split load of coal to Point Tupper and Sydney, NS for power generation, the ship returned to Halifax for its third load of gyspum so far this year. (It also sailed from Halifax December 30, 2023.) Its coal loads have orginated from the Curtis Bay coal piers in Baltimore. Gypsum cargos have gone to Savannah and Baltimore.

Following the CSL Tacoma through the Narrows for sea was the CCGS Sir William Alexander. heading eastbound.

As with most CCG ships it is multi-tasked for Seach and Rescue patrol as well as its primary duties related to Navaids. It is carrying several buoys on deck, no doubt to replace those that are to be removed for maintenance. The label YS6 is visible on one buoy. (Number 578 Porter Island West light and bell buoy. Located off Clam Harbour, about 60 km NE of Halifax harbour.)

There was also tanker activity in the Narrows, and both ships were berthed. Algoscotia tied up at Pier 9B, after returning from CornerBrook to Imperial Oil yesterday. It appeared to be fueling from trucks this morning.

I hear that the Algoscotia will be headed to Viana do Castelo, Portugal for refit where it will also receive a new Ballast Water Treatment System at the West Sea Viana Shipyard. Fleet mate Algocanada received the new Teramtech BWTS system at the same shipyard last year.

Further alsong, awaiting its turn to refuel was the Liberian flag crude tanker Haifeng The ship had offloaded at Irving Oil's Canaport facility off Saint John, and anchored off Halifax February 20. It moved into port this morning.

The ship was built in 2018 by Shanghai Waigauqiao sshipyard in 2018. It is now working on its third name. First named Salamina it became Dumo Square in 2021 and Haifeng in 2023. It is registered at 62,508 gt, 109,898 dwt.

Neither Halifax (nor Saint John) have bunkering barges, and so ships needing to refuel must come alongside where the fuel can be pumped aboard from trucks. There are no suitable docks for that in Saint John, but Halifax is well equipped for the work, and apparently has trucks available, but even so ships apparently have to take turns.

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