Tenders Ahoy

 There were three large cruise ships in Halifax again today, September 26. The Arcadia (84,342 gt, 285 meters) was assigned to Pier 20 and the Enchanted Princess (145,281 gt, 330 meters) to Pier 21- 22. That left no more room at the seawall so the smallest ship, the Volendam (60,906 gt, 237 meters), took up position in #1 anchorage in the lower harbour.

The Volendam's tenders worked to lighter passengers ashore to the landing stage at Pier 24.

 With the gigantic Enchanted Princess taking the entire south two thirds of the seawall, it used the 150 tonne capacity yellow bollard at the end of the Pier 22 (see yesterday's post). The floating landing stage at Pier 24 was busy with the Volendam's tenders shuttling back and forth to the ship.

Volendam tenders 9,10 and 11 (and perhaps others) were in use late in the afternoon, ferrying passengers (and crew) back to the ship.

 The boats have bow and side loading doors with tarps as rudimetary awnings to protect from rain (there were very light showers). Labels near the stern declare the boats suitable for 90 persons when used as tenders and 150 persons for lifeboat service. (Flying the Dutch flag is a reminder that the ship uses its own (foreign) crews on the boats in apparent contravention of Canadian cabotage laws and as line handlers, contrary to the longshore union's collective agreement.)

The Volendam has been a perennial caller during the cruise season, and like the other two ships in port today, it was built by Fincantieri, this one at the Breda yard in Monfalcone in 1999. It carries 1432 passengers and 647 crew.

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I repeat that the Arcadia is one of the best looking cruise ships despite the "super graphic" flag on the bow (not visible in thsi view).

It was also built by Fincantieri Breda in Monfalcone, but in 2005, and carries 1952 passengers (single) and 2,388 maximum, with a crew of 976.

As the afternoon wore on it became more and more gloomy and slightly drizzly so there is no current photo of the Enchanted Princess. Today's call was its last for this year, but I was able to get a photo on a previous visit (September 29, 2022).

 The ship came from Fincantieri's Italiani yard in Monfalcone in 2020 and has a capacity of 3660 passengers and 1346 crew.

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