Weather (again)

 Another spell of high winds (accompanied by snow and rain) has delayed some harbour activity today, April 4. The tow out of the fire-damaged MSC Sao Paulo V has been postponed until tomorrow, April 5 when the wind is expected to die down and make towing a dead ship a little more manageable. The MSC Shristi is at Pier 41 taking on some of the containers from the Sao Paulo V destined for Sines, Portugal and beyond. 

Following up on yesterday's observation, since amended, the large crane at the north end of the Pier 41was operating today, so it may only be its ability to raise the boom that is (or was) impaired.

 When the tow does depart, vacating the berth at Pier 42, the Vivienne Sheri D will move alongside. The Canadian owned Eimskip charter anchored on arrival this morning.

In the teeth of a stiff breeze in the Narrows, the NYK Meteor arrived and made its way through to PSA Fairview Cove in Bedford Basin.

The ship is sailing for Ocean Network Express on THE Alliance's AL5 service from Antwerp. The NYK Meteor is another of the familiar Daedalus class built by Hyundai Ulsan - this one in 2007. The 55,534 gt, 65,935 dwt ship has a capacity of as much as 4922 TEU (some sources report 4888) and 330 reefers.

Over at Autoport, the 230 members of Unifor have accepted the latest contract offer and returned to work. Replacement workers were brought in during the five week strike and handled numerous ships. There is now pressure to ban replacement workers. A bill to do so in federally regulated work places was introduced in the Canadian parliament last November. A motion by the opposition to ban replacement workers across the board has been introduced in the Nova Scotia legislature.

Today's arrival at Autoport, the Morning Peace, was due to move to Pier 9C late this afternoon to offload machinery, with another autocarrier the Grande Marocco to take its place and the Morning Cindy is due tomorrow. Press reports state that Autoport handles 185,000 cars per year. (By comparison, the Dundalk termonal in Baltimore - currently blocked due to the bridge collapse, handles more than 850,000 cars per year.)

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