More USCG

Last week's visit of the USCGC Eagle was followed up today, July 23, with a somewhat smaller, but much newer, member of the service. USCGC Melvin Bell WPC 1155 is the sixth Sentinel class Fast Response cutter to be based in Boston and the 55th boat of the class to be built.

Delivered by Bollinger Shipyard of Louisiana on November 16, 2023 (other sources say it was accepted November 20) at Key West, FL, it arrived in Boston January 6, 2024. It was commissioned March 29, 2024 in New London, CT.

The Sentinel design evolved from the Damen STAN Patrol 4608 as configured for the USCG with the capability to carry a 26 ft cutter boat. The number of such vessels to be built for the USCG has steadily increased since the first order and now stands at 64.

.

Catching Up and an Explanation

On Monday July 15, 2024 my aged computer began to show distressing behaviour and had to go to the repair shop. After a week in "drydock" and a new hard drive it is back in operation, but with almost a week's worth of Halifax shipping activity to catch up on.

I have therefore summarized the high points of the past several days:

Tuesday July 16, 2024

The United States flag tug Stephen Dann arrived from New York with the 2,652 gt, 4,850 dwt barge J.G.Burke in tow.

The barge has been here before. The first time it was in 2008 under the name Weeks 246 as a flat deck barge. It was back again in 2017 after being rebuilt as a semi-submersible caisson launch barge. It was then used as a build platform for the cells for the new NJ Jetty for the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels at HMC Dockyard. The units were built on the barge's deck, then floated off and sunk in position at the Dockyard.

The barge's owner, Weeks Marine, is the parent of McNally Construction Inc, now part of the Kiewit organization. As a US flag vessel it required a coasting license for the 2017 work, but I do not see any application for it this time round, when it will be used to build and launch cells for the new Halifax Shipyard fitting out berth.

The tug Stephen Dann works for Dann Ocean Towing Inc of Tampa, FL and is well known along the east coast of the United States.

Built in 1999 by Bollinger Shipyards in Lockeport, LA as Crosby Knight it is a twin screw 3600 bhp vessel, acquired in 2016 by Dann and renamed. They may also have added the "bird house" elevated wheelhouse. The tug sailed again the same day for New York (area).

Also in port at the same time, and always a joy to see, was Nova Scotia's own Bluenose II. The much rebuilt replica lives up to the saying "if you own an old wooden boat, you will eventually own a new wooden boat."

    Wednesday July 17, 2024

 The cruise ship Silver Shadow arrived at Pier 23 and was greeted by Coast Guard boats and a truck carrying a large (and apparently brand new) oil boom, which was soon deployed.

I think this was an exercise, as there was no sign of a sheen on the water, and no absorbent material or pumper trucks in evidence.

Thursday July 18, 2024

The USCGC Eagle moved from anchorage (it arrived July 17) to Pier 20 on departure of the cruise ship Volendam (fleet mate Zuilderdam sailed from Pier 22 right afterwards.)

It was assisted to its berth by the two navy "pup" tugs Granville and Listerville both suitably bearded with white duck to preserve Eagle's paint.

Eagle sailed on Sunday, July 21.

Friday July 19, 2024

 There was a newcomer on MSC's Canada Express 2 service, arriving from Montreal en route to the UK. The MSC Mia Summer II is quite a small ship by current standards, and elderly - even for MSC.

Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Kiel turned out the ship in 1999 as ADCL Scarlett [ADCL = Abu Dhabi Container Line] but it was renamed Buckinghamshire in 2000 and became MSC Mia Summer II in 2005. A 25,719 gt, 18,779 dwt ship it has a capacity of 1658 TEU, well below the 2,000 mark implied by the "II" in its name.

Of note: it is an "open top" type ship, with no hatch covers required. The hold area is sheltered to a degree by the raised freeboard. Numerous restrictions as to stability, firefighting snd carriage of dangerous goods apply to this type of ship and at least so far, the safety record had been good.

Saturday July 20, 2024

Not to be outdone ZIM had a really new ship on their ZCA service from the Med. ZIM Condor  was delivered in April of this year by Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard Co Ltd in Zhoushan. It is a 49,877 gt, 62,999 dwt ship with a capacity of 5315 TEU [nominal; 3845 TEU at 14 tonnes] with 1,000 reefer points.

The new tug Atlantic Maple took up an unusual forward escort position, operating in reverse mode, as the ship returned to sea in the Narrows later in the day. Nevertheless the ship still had to send warning whistles to a heedless sail boat in its path.

The second tug Atlantic Cedar provided the stern tethered escort.

Sunday July 21, 2024 - see Monday

Monday July 22, 2024

Among the several morning arrivals was the unusually named DreAMBoat. The capitalized letters in the middle of the name represent the initials of the owner, Arthur Morris Blank, co-founder of the Home Depot big box store chain. (Compare to the July post of another store owner's boat.) Mr. Blank also owns the Atlanta Falcons football team, and a soccer team.

At a reported cost of $180 million Oceanco of Alblasserdam, Netherlands built the 2946 gt ship to accommodate 14 guests and up to 27 crew along with "hangars" for a 10.8m limo tender and 10.5m sport tender.  

Moving within the harbour, from Imperial Oil (where it arrived Sunday from Antwerp) was the tanker Eli Knutsen.

It is one of two sister tankers purchased by Algoma Tankers, and announced in January of this year. Both were to be chartered back to Knutsen OAS Shipping of Sweden until later in the year. The "intermediate epoxy" chemical and product tanker was built in 2010 by Jiangnan Shipyard Group in Shanghai and measures 11,889 gt,m 16,544 dwt. The ship is still flying the Malta flag, but is carrying the Algoma "bear" funnel mark and is likely to be registered in Canada soon.

 Its sister ship Liv Knutsen is still trading in western Europe, but is also expected in Canada this year. No new names have been announced yet, and for the meantime the Eli Knutsen is at anchor in Bedford Basin. (Fleet mate Algoluna, the former Birgit Knutsen, took its place at ImperialOil.)

.

 

 

Hapag-Maersk - Gemini Cooperation Agreement

 The plan for Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd to work together under the Gemini Cooperation Agreement has run aground - at least temporarily, but has not yet been written off as a total loss.

The lines' application to the United States Federal Maritime Commission was rejected July12. The regulator may review a revised submission with more information. Other major world regulators will also have to approve the plan before it can be implemented.

The Gemini Caooperation Agreement would see the two lines join forces when the current 2M Alliance of Maersk and MSC expires, and THE Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Yang Ming and ONE) expires, both in February 2025. However the Agreement was to take effect this week in order to allow for the necessary preliminary work.

The plan will see a major shakeup as the two former competitors withdraw from competing services and realign. Yesterday (July 14) the NYK Demeter sailed from Halifax with the usual large number of Hapag-Loyd, UASC and CSAV boxes. The ship operates for THE Alliance, as  NYK Line is a partner in ONE (Ocean Network Express). The potential loss of Hapag-Lloyd related cargo may well see the collapse of THE Alliance as the other lines my find it difficult to maintain service.

With the ports of Halifax (and partner CN Rail) and Saint John (with the newly merged CPKC) vying for the realigned services, the fallout for Halifax may be quite significant. However to the credit of the FEC, the lines must show some benefit to customers, not just an improvement in their own operating ratios before regulatory approval is granted. 

.

Paving the way

 It is paving season in Nova Scotia, and the demand for asphalt must be at its peak. Last week Miller McAsphalt (the Canadian subsidiary of Colas, the multi-national from France) brought in a full cargo of asphalt on its articulated tug / barge Leo A. McArthur / Johnn J. Carrick [ see post from July 7 ]. That cargo came from the Great Lakes, possibly Hamilton, ON.

Today, July 15, they received another consignment, this time on the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Asphalt Carrier.

 The ship was built in 2010  by Kraljevica Shipyard in Croatia. It is a 6292 gt, 9,230 dwt tanker equipped with a large boiler plant and heating system to keep asphalt in a liquid state.

The Asphalt Carrier is a caller in Saint John, NB where it loads asphalt for US and Caribbean ports.  This time however it is bringing asphalt. Its last port is given as Providence, but that is usually a discharge port. Before that it was in Willemstad (June 13 to 26) a more likely source of the product. From an examination of the plimsoll marks on the ship's hull, I believe it was not fully laden on arrival here.

.

Twelve more

 Mounting criticism from NATO allies that Canada is not living up to its commitment to the alliance revolves around Canada's failure to meet the figure of 2% of GDP dedicated to defence spending. At the recent NATO meeting in Washington, the Canadian government reiterated its intention to increase spending to that level - over the long term.

Details on how this will achieved are scant, but the Minister of Defence has announced that Canada will be acquiring up to twelve conventionally powered, under-ice capable submarines. Called the Canadian Patrol Submarine Program (CPSP) the process will begin with a search for potential bidders. It is understood that the boats will not be built in Canada, but will come form establish constructors elsewhere in the world.

The project will presumably also require a massive infrastructure upgrade to provide bases and refit capabilities for such a large number of boats. Neither of the two HMC Dockyards, Halifax nor Esquimalt, currently has the space for that many subs, particularly as new large destroyers and supply ships will be added to the fleet in the interim.

Today, July 14, saw Canada's sole east coast submarine, HMCS Windsor move to Bedford Basin for some trials. It is one of four Victoria class subs in the RCN, purchased in 1994 from the Royal Navy's stock of decommissioned Upholder class boats of 1980s vintage. The other three are currently based in Esquimalt.

 

HMCS Windsor ex Unicorn, July 14, 2024.

The subs have been maintenance heavy and have had life extensions that will only see them to the mid 2030s. It is questionable if new subs can be delivered on that timetable. Six year refit intervals may see lmore arge expenditures if they RCN needs to keep them in service for another cycle.

.

Tankers with a difference

 There were two tankers in Halifax today, July 12, but they did not follow the usual routine and tie up at Imperial Oil or Irving Oil.

The larger of the two ships, the Silver Zoe, arrived in the wee hours of the morning and anchored in number three anchorage in the lower harbour. 

The ship's last port was Amsterdam, and it was reported outbound at the Ijmuiden sea lock on June 30. Tracing the ship's movements back to mid-May, it has been in Durban, Carteya Guadarranque, Spain, Augusta Italy, and Hamburg before arriving in Amsterdam June 26. I suspect that the ship was in the far east earlier in the year and if so, it would require clearance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency before it is allowed to dock in Canada. Inpsectors would need determine that the ship is free of invasive species before proceeding.

By 1300 hrs this afternoon the ship was cleared to leave the anchorage and move to Pier 9C. The tugs Atlantic Oak (astern) and Atlantic Beaver (alongside) shepherded the ship through the Narrows to Bedford Basin then assisted it in turning round. It then entered the Narrows again and moved alongside Pier 9C bow south.

A typical Long Range 1 tanker, built by Hyundai, Mipo in 2015 it measures 29,327 gt, 49,635 dwt. Irving Oil has a terminal in Amsterdam and frequently sources refined products from there. Ships chartered by Irving Oil sometimes refuel in Halifax, and Pier 9C has easy access for tanker trucks. However I did not see any trucks waiting for the ship, so it may have docked for some other reason such as engine servicing.  

According to AIS reports the ship is headed for Quebec, so may have been diverted from Irving Oil.

The second tanker arrived at the pilot station at 0900 hrs and anchored in the lower harbour at anchorage number one. This anchorage is considered to be for short term visitors  such as ships requiring CFIA inspection. However the Linus P has been in Canadian waters already this summer, so would not normally require invasive species inspection.

From late May the ship has been in Houston, Port au Prince, Houston, New Orleans, Come-by-Chance (June 3-5), St.Croix, Port au Prince and again Houston (July 2-4) and is next due in Come-by-Chance July 14.

Although similar in appearance, and a 2016 product of Hyundai Mipo,Ulsan, the Linus P is significantly smaller than the other visitor at 17,858 gt, 25,161 dwt.

From what little information I can find about the ship's operators, Sterling Ocean Chemical Tankers, it appears that they are descended from Alterna Capital Partners, and have a fleet of about ten tankers on voyage charters, The ships are named for renowned scientists, in this case the two-time Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, Linus Pauling (1901 - 1994).[ See the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling ]

.

 

MSC Levina III

 The container ship MSC Levina III arrived this morning, July 11, on the Canada Expresss service from Montreal for London, Antwerp and Le Havre. The ship will take on cargo here that could not be loaded in Montreal due to draft restrictions on the St.Lawrence River.

The much traveled ship is working on its seventh name, having previously sailed for all the major container lines at one time or another over its 18 year career (so far).

Built in 2006 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, it is a 28,616 gt, 39,359 dwt ship with a capacity of 2824 TEU. It was originally named Santa Balbina, presumably for charter to Hamburg Süd, but was almost immediately reanmed Maersk Jackson. It carried that name until 2011 when it reverted to Santa Balbina. From 2014 to 2018 it was named Satie then CMA CGM Pointe du Diamant in 2018 and again Satie in 2019. As of June 1 of this year it became MSC Levina III. Up until that time it appears to have been owned by Claus-Peter Offen interests of Germany.

The Roman numeral "III" in the ship's name represents the ship's capacity class, which is 2000 to 3000 TEU. With so many ships in the MSC fleet, thue use of the Roman numeral makes it easy to know the ship's size at a glance. The company's container fleet now exceeds 800 ships with a capacity in excess of 5.5 mn TEU, representing nearly 20% of the world's container capacity.

.

Superyacht Samsara

 I don't pay too much attention in these posts to yachts, particularly "super yachts" but the recent Halifax visitor Samsara is worth a mention simply because of the mind boggling dollars involved in such a ship.

There is no doubt that the Samsara is an impressive and even elegant looking ship, and so it should be for a 2914 gt vessel of 88m length (290'-4"). Built in 2015 by Oceanco of Alblasserdam, Netherlands, it is now on its third owner.

From what I can determine, its first owner was the billionaire Eric L. Smidt the founder of Harbor Freight Tools, a US bargain hardware chain. He took delivery in 2015 and named the vessel Infinity, but decided to upgrade and ordered a new yacht of the same name for a price tag of $239 mn. The Australian billionaire Brett Bundy purchased the ship in 2022, renaming it Cloud 9. He put it up for sale in January 2023 asking €155 mn. but let it go for €150 mn. [US dollars and Euros assumed to be at par.]

Current owner is reported to be J.K.Rowling, writer of the Harry Potter series, who chose the name Samsara*. The author was not reported in the area during the ship's stay in port (It arrived June 22). As with most mega yachts, the Samsara is available for charter . This one sets a rate of $1,100,000 per week. There is accommodation for up to fourteen guests and up to twenty-eight crew.

 It's departure this morning (July 9) was scheduled well in advance, and was not hastened by emanations from its neighbour the herring seiner Morning Star which arrived this morning. There is a real scarcity of the fish this year and a quota cut has been introduced, so the boat may not be aromatic. (Another seiner, the Fundy Monarch, arrived later and was the only one with catch to unload.)

.

 * from definitions found on the internet Samsara means:

            Hinduism: the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. 

            Buddhism: the transmigration or rebirth of a person.

.

Asian Dynasty - back again

 The auto carrier Asian Dynasty was back in Halifax again today, stopping first at Richmond Terminals, Pier 9C to unload RoRo cargo then at Autoport for cars.

 Since the ship was last in Halifax January 3-4, 2023 it has been most of the way around the world more than once.

 On this latest round it sailed from Shanghai May 3, stopped in Masan, Mokpo and Pyeongtaek and transited the Panama Canal June 5. It then headed to Brunswick, Philadelphia, and across to Goteborg, and Bremerhaven June 27-29. On sailing late this afternoon it set course for New York.

The ship was built by Hyundai, Ulsan in 1999 and is relatively small by current standards at 55,719 gt, 21,224 dwt with a capacity of 6450 CEU and is fitted with a 150 tonne capacity stern ramp.

.

Some of Each

 It was a sort of smorgasbord of shipping in Halifax today, July 7, 2024, with representatives of most of the various types of ships that call here.

At PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway there were two container ships, ONE Hawk at Pier 41 and Tropic Hope at Pier 42.

The ONE Hawk is a regular on THE Alliance's Asia -North America EC5 service and is one of several "bird class" 14,056 TEU sister ships on the route. It is westbound from Colombo for New York via the Cape of Good Hope.

 

The Tropic Hope and sister Tropic Lissette operate the weekly service for Tropical Shipping. Tropic Hope arrived this morning from San Juan, Puerto Rico, but was not working cargo this afternoon. It has its cranes swung out ready to start work Monday morning, and is due to sail for Palm Beach, FL.

PSA Fairview Cove also had a regular caller, ZIM China, on the the ZIM Container Atlantic (ZCA) service.

ZIM also carries Hapag-Lloyd (and UASC) boxes in addition to its own cargo.

 ZIM China made it first call in Halifax December 27, 2022. Built in 2008 by Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry in Geoje, South Korea, it is a 40,487 gt, 51,733 dwt ship with a capacity of 4275 TEU. It carried the name Hanjin Kenya from 2008 to 2017 then after a brief spell as Seaspan Kenya it became ALS Fauna later in 2017. It became ZIM China as of April 1, 2022. The tug Atlantic Bear escorted the ship beneath the A. Murray MacKay bridge (pictured) and through the Narrows and the Angus L. Macdonald bridge outbound for sea.

Autoport hosted the familiar Wallenius Wilhelmsen Thermopylae from the usual western Europe ports, Zeebrugge, Bremerhaven and Southampton.

The Thermopylae, 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt dates from 2015 when it was delivered to Wilhelmsen Lines by Hyundai Samho. It has a capacity of 8,000 RT43 cars and comes with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. Its famous namesake was a 991 grt extreme clipper and was once the fastest ship in the world. Built in Aberdeen in 1868 for the China tea trade, it outraced the Cutty Sark, and set a record day's run of 380 statute miles. It was Canadian owned for a time (1890-1895) and lasted until 1907 when it was sunk as a naval target.

There were four tankers in port today. Algoscotia returned Friday, July 5, from its refit in Portugal where it was drydocked and received a new ballast water system. Its return voyage was a little unusual. It went to Sewaren, NJ (also known as Cliffside Port Reading) and took on a cargo for Imperial Oil. Algoma tankers rarely make international voyages, and this may be a first.

Algoscotia docked bow south at Imperial Oil No.3 dock.

Irving Oil had their own ship East Coast (not pictured) arriving early this morning, and it berthed at the Woodside terminal on arrival. The foreign flag CB Pacific arrived yesterday and anchored until the East Coast sails.

The CB Pacific has become a more or less regular, calling in Halifax in February, March, and May as it made its way between Boston, New Haven, Albany (twice) , New York (twice) and Montreal. Although it has been carrying product for Irving Oil it has not called in Saint John, NB as far as I can tell. It appears to be in ballast. or very lightly loaded this time.

 The CB Pacific, built by Jiangsu New Hantong shipbuilding in Yangzhong, China, was delivered in 2020. The 27,250 gt, 37,787 dwt ship is equipped to handle crude oil, clean petroluem products or chemicals in twelve phenolic epoxy coated tanks (plus two slops tanks). The ship is also built to DNV Baltic Ice Class 1B and is fitted with a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber which can be run at zero emissions. As previously noted it has a covered fore deck - a feature rarely incorporated in tankers.

The fourth tanker is the heated asphalt carrier barge John J.Carrick with its integrated tug Leo A. McArthur, which arrived yesterday from the Great Lakes for McAsphalt.

 

McAsphalt ordered a 12,000 dwt tanker from China in 2021. It was launched in June 2023 and at last report it appears to have been delivered July 1, but is still in China, with no ETA for Canada.

I have taken better pictures of the cruise ship Island Princess on previous visits, such as this one in 2023: 

The best I could do today was a hazy "going away" shot - not its best aspect:

 

It is a rare day when I catch every ship arrival and departure. The only one I seem to have missed today was the 0130 hrs departure of the Oceanex Sanderling, making is rare second trip to St.John's during the past week.

.

CMA CGM arrives and CCGS sails

 The large container ship CMA CGM Lapérouse arrived today on the Ocean Alliance service from Colombo via the Cape of Good Hope. This is not the ship's first visit to Halifax, but due to its size it was still a noteworthy visitor. [See also: July 20, 2022 and March 25, 2023.]

As usual for large ships, it took the deep water, western channel inbound and had three tugs - two as tethered stern escorts (Atlantic Beaver and Atlantic Bear) and one well forward (Atlantic Oak) . The tugs could be seen assisting the ship to make the dog leg turns in the channel and also to turn the ship off the berth.

 Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co built the ship at Okpo in 2010. At 151,446 gt, 165,422 dwt, it has a capacity of 13,800 TEU. 

CMA CGM is the name of the ship's owners and the initials form part of the ship's name.

On the other hand CCGS stands for the Canadian Coast Guard Ship and vessels of that fleet are given the "CCGS" title in recognition of government service, but it forms no part of the ships' actual names.

The largest ship of the CCG fleet is CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent which has been at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax since June 19 following a refit at the Davie shipyard in Lévis, QC. It sailed today as the CMA CGM Lapérouse was arriving. It is likely preparing for arctic operations but may also be testing some scientific equipment as the ship usually carries out reseach while in the far north.

The tug Atlantic Bear works to swing the stern of the CMA CGM LaPérouse as the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent slips by outbound for sea.

.

Annual Events

 The arrival of the Queen Mary 2 for the first time each year brings out the crowds for both the ship's arrivals and its departures. This year's arrival on July 1 was seen by very few as the harbour was socked in with thick fog accompanied by rain showers. The weather caused the cancellation of many Canada Day events, including the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo parade. The usual fireworks over the harbour were postponed for a week. The Queen Mary 2 passengers would have had a front row seat. The ship also arranged to stay in Halifax overnight and passengers were treated to a bright sunny day today, July 2.

 

 While tied up at Pier 21-22 the ship was tended to by divers from the work boat Allen Clipper. HMCS Oriole also took a close up look outbound for sea.

Departure today was in ideal conditions. The ship also obliged by sailing north about and east of George's Island, making a fine sight. 

A perhaps less anticipated arrival each year is the first shipment of grain from the Great Lakes. That usually occurs soon after the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway in April, or perhaps in May. A June 30 arrival is unusually late, but that was the case this year when the Algoma Mariner arrived.

The Algoma Mariner has been the regular carrier for the past several years. It began to unload immediately on arrival, using its own self-unloader system at pier 26. The ship is due to sail shortly after midnight July 2-3.

Grain is for local consumption by the P+H flour mill (which is also supplied by rail). There is very little grain exported from Halifax anymore.

.