Clear Sailing

 After two days of intense fog (and the melting off of about 10 cm of snow left over from Christmas), today, December 31, there was a clear view of harbour activity.

Yesterday's arrival, the Coastal Shipping Ltd tanker Kitikmeot W., moved off Imperial Oil's number 3 dock and anchored in the lower harbour. This will be a short term position and I expect the ship will move again early in the New Year. 

It appears to have offloaded most, if not all of its cargo, so it will be interesting to see where it is headed next. Some of its fleet mates trade internationally over the winter. (Sister ship Kivalliq W. is in the Gulf of St. Lawrence en route to Rotterdam. Another sister, Qikiqtaaluk W. sailed from Halifax December 27 and arrived in St.John's December 29. Another sister ship Tuvaq W. currently in St.John's has been reflagged to the Marsall Islands.) This ship has been reflagged to Marshall Islands most years for about five to six months - usually December / January to May/June.

So far at least, the Canadian port of registry, St.John's, has not been painted over but there is a light blue space available for Majuro when the time comes.

Kitikmeot W, was built in 2010 by Icdas in Biga, Turkey and measures 13,097 grt, 19,983 dwt. It sailed as Icdas-09 until acquired by Coastal Shipping in 2108. It is rated Ice Class 1A by DNV. Halifax was its first port in Canada when it arrived May 8, 2018. [see my post from that date]

 It has since operated on Coastal's usual routes to the Woodward Group's home port of Goose Bay, NL, its operational base of Lewisporte, NL and many far north outposts with only seasonal access by sea. It has sourced petroleum products in several ports, mostly from Imperial Oil facilities.

On its current voyage the ship loaded in Sarnia, ON, December 21 to 23, having entered the St.Lawrence Seaway from Montreal on December 16 and exiting again December 26.

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Back to Work

 After the Christmas break things begin to get back to normal. Ships put out  to sea, terminals open up and before long there is a return to routine, perhaps even to clear an accumulated backlog.

That has certainly been the case in the Port of Halifax with considerable activity yesterday and today (December 27 and 28)

Two of the three ships anchored in Bedford Basin sailed today - heading in opposite directions. The Boskalis fleet mates Forte and Triumph, in port since December 15 and 16 respectively, ordered pilots for 0830hrs and 0915 hrs AST. That meant the pilot boat only had to make one trip out to Bedford Basin - a one half hour round trip at best.

The Foundation Pilot is the newest pilot boat in service in Halifax, completed this year by the Armon Shipyard in Puerto de Vega, Spain. The 60.54 gt boat arrived in Halifax May 25, 2024 as deck cargo on the Acadia Desgagnés. [see post of that date.]

First away was the Forte heading for Newport News in ballast. The ship shows very little freeboard, even as light ship, and must sometimes see its deck awash at sea.

Triumph followed soon after, heading for St.George's Bay, Newfoundland, (not St.George's Bermuda as AIS would have it.)[The crew member who programmed the AIS will be in for a shock when they arrive in wintery Newfoundland!] The large bay on the southwest coast of the island of Newfoundland is the location of the Port of Stephenville (formerly Port Harmon) where the former military port has become a staging area for offshore wind projects.

The Triumph's deck cargo of wind turbine towers, will be unloaded and stored in Stephenville for transfer to an installation vessel. Work has resumed on the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts after a five month shutdown when one of the (Canadian made) wind blades shattered and fell (in pieces) into the sea. The blade failure was traced to faulty adhesive which was not picked up by QA at GE's factory in Gaspé, QC. Existing blades may have been replaced and new testing procedures have been instituted.

Also in Bedford Basin in was the second ship in two days to load at Gold Bond Gypsum. CSL Spirit loaded and sailed for Tampa December 26 and fleet mate CSL Tacoma arrived this morning.

CSL Tacoma is a regular in Halifax and since its last call November 1 delivered its gypsum cargo to Wilmington, North Carolina, November 9 then proceeded to Puerto Drummond, Colombia to load coal November 14 to 15. I'm not sure why it stopped in Baltimore Decmber 11-12, but it then sailed to Belledune, NB where it unloaded the coal.

The CSL Tacoma, 43,691 gt, 71,405 dwt was built in 2013 by Changxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China and is a Trillium class self-unloader. It can discharge at 4,250 tonnes per hour of coal, 4,500 tph of gypsum, 5,000 tph aggregates and 6,000 tph iron ore.

The oil terminals in Halifax usually work right through holidays and that was certainly yhe case with Imperial Oil this year. The Canadian tanker Qikiqtaaluk W arrived December 24 with product from Sarnia and sailed early December 27 (sorry no photo). Its place at number 3 dock was almost immediately taken by the Malta flagged Aegea from anchorage off Halifax with product cargo from Antwerp.

SLS Shipbuilding Co in Tongyeong, South Korea built the ship as the Mare Di Venezia in 2008. The 29,683 gt, 51,371 dwt Medium Range tanker was renamed in 2018 when it changed hands from Gestioni Armatoriali SRL to Chandris Hellas.

There was also container ship activity, but that may be for another post.

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Bulkers Take a Break

 Most ships spend Christmas at sea. They thus avoid costly overtime charges for working during the holiday. Longshore worker wages can be triple the normal rate if the port or terminal is working. It can often be the case that the terminals or loading / unloading ports are not working, but there still may be charges for security and berthing.

In Halifax this Christmas both container terminals were not working and other port facilities were shut down. The anchorages were available however, and as it turned out three more ships took advantage of that fact. (Two ships, the heavy load carriers the Forte and Triumph have been at anchor since December 15 and 16 respectively.)

Late on Monday December 23 the bulk carrier CSL Spirit arrived from Point Tupper, NS, where it had unloaded a cargo of coal from Puerto Drummond, Columbia. The ship docked at Gold Bond Gypsum shortly after midnight to load. In the early afternoon of December 24 the ship moved out to anchor in Bedford Basin. Most business operations close at noon on Christmas Eve and presumably Gold Bond shut down its operation. The ship remained at anchor through Christmas Day and then this morning, December 26, it moved back alongside to continue loading.

The Gold Bond dock in Wright's Cove, Lower Burnside, is visible from the Halifax side of the harbour, but not the best for photography. The mobile ship loader can be seen well forward, but did not appear to be working when I took the pic at about 16000 hrs.

Built in Shanghai by Jiangnan it is a 41,428 gt, 70,018 dwt ship with an unloading rate of 4,000 tonnes per hour for coal and 6,000 tonnes per hour for ore. Due to water depth at the terminal it will not be loading to full capacity in Halifax. It is due to sail this evening for Tampa.

In a similar way the UBC Tarragona moved out from the PSA Fairview Cove terminal at mid-night December 23 and anchored in Bedford Basin. The ship had been unloading containers (see previous post) despite being a general cargo / bulk carrier, not rated for containers.

The ship had some hatch covers "cracked" open today. This would normally indicate cleaning or other work in the holds.

The only arrival in Halifax on Christmas Day was the Port Tokyo an Ultramax bulker of 35,825 gt, 63,475 dwt built in 2019 by Imabari Zosen in Imabari, Japan. It anchored in number 5 anchorage in the lower harbour.

The ship is equipped with four cranes at 30.5 tonnnes capacity and carries its own grabs. They are painted yellow and conveniently stowed adjacent the hatches. The ship operates for Portline Bulk International SA, the former Portuguese state shipping copmany (privatised in 1991).

The ship appears to be loaded and arrived from Port Gladstone, Australia (October 30) via Las Palmas (December 12 - 14) and is headed for Sept-Iles, QC. It was due in that port December 25, but presumably ducked in to Halifax to avoid bad weather in the Gulf. It is scheduled to sail December 27. Its cargo (by inference) is alumina (or processed bauxite) one of several bulk commodities handled in Port Gladstone. It is the only signifocant import to Sept-Iles, the location of the Aluminerie Alouette. the largest primary aluminum smelter in the western hemisphere. It is owned by a consortium of international companies with Rio Tinto Alcan the largest at 40%. It is powered by eletricity generated at Churchill Falls, and sold (until now) at a highly discounted rate to Hydro-Québec. Recent negotiations between Newfoundland and Quebec may result in a new contract that will result in Hydro-Québec paying a fair market price to Newfoundland and Labrador for the power. What effect this may have on Aluminerie Alouette remains to be seen.

There was little other activity in Halifax over Christmas, with the ship Oceanex Sanderling overnighting at Autoport until late December 26. 

Aside from the idle offshore ships Connector and Symphony and the cable ships IT Intrepid and IT Integrity, there was the coastal tanker Qikiqtaaluk W at Imperial Oil and the container ship CMA CGM John Adams arriving December 23 and sailing late December 26. It remained alongside PSA Atlantic hub over Christmas - an unusual event as the terminal would otherwise be completely shut down.

(Unfortunately for crew who might enjoy some time ashore, the city was blanketed with heavy snow, making it difficualt to get around. Most businesses were closed from December 24 to December 27. The mixed blessing may be that crews did not fall prey to greedy locals who will only exchange US dollars for Canadian at par. This practice is especially inexcusable on two counts - one being that the Canadian dollar is trading at an all time low against the US dollar [around 70 cents] and second that foreign sailors are very poorly paid. It is a shame that some merchants are willing to take advantage in this way, with hard working sailors who have no recourse save the friendly intervention of local citizens and the fine work of the Mission to Seafarers.)

Work resumed on all fronts in the harbour December 26 with the usual array of arrivals and departures.

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UBC Tarragaona at PSA

 An unusual caller arrived at PSA Fairview Cove on Monday, December 23. The UBC Tarragona is classed as a multi-purpose / dry cargo vessel and is not rated for carrying containers. However once alongside the dock it proceeded to unload containers from number 2 hold (there did not appear to be any boxes on deck).

 The 24,140 gt, 37,706 dwt ship was built in 2009 by Saiki Heavy Industries (Jukogyo) in Saiki, Japan and carries three 36 tonne SWL cranes and three 12 cbm electro-hydraulic grabs (stowed forward on number one hatch cover.)

UBC, which stands for United Bulk Carriers, headquartered in Philadelphia, calls the ship a bulk carrier. Its hull is double skinned so that the holds are the same size as the hatches (which is termed "open hatch") with ventilated box shaped holds, strengthened for heavy cargoes.

Judging from the ship's draft, it is not carrying heavy cargo, and in fact the containers may be empty. Tracing the ship's movements for the past month, it does not seem that the ship was on any known container line route. It sailed from Haiphong October 25 and after clearing the Straits of Malacca called in Sriracha, Thailand October 30 to November 4. It then appears to have sailed directly via the Cape of Good Hope to Charleston, arriving December 13 and sailing December 15 for Dundalk Terminal in Baltimore, arriving December 18. It sailed from there December 20.

At the end of the regular work day, Secember 23, the ship moved out to anchor in Bedford Basin where it will likely remain until the resumption of work after the Christmas break.

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Big Move to Make Room

 Two large offshore inatallation vessels have been languishing in Halifax since August and September respectively. The Connector arrived August 30 and the Symphony on September 6. Aside from some DP trials the ships have scarcely moved from Pier 9A. They have been seen to take fuel and stores, but otherwise have been idle. Both are owned by the big Belgian dredging and marine construction outfit Jan de Nul and are registered in Luxembourg. They are reportedly contracted to work on the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts but that work has been put off until February at the earliest.

Today the Symphony moved from Pier 9A to Pier 25-26 to make room at the berth for the IT Integrity cable ship arriving tomorrow and IT Infinity, IT International Telecom's recently rebuilt cable ship, en route from Norway and due January 5.

 The Symphony dates from 2011 when construction was completed by Bergen Group at Laksevaag. The hull was built by Stocznia Gdansk in Poland and fitted out in Norway. It is equipped for offshore trenching and other support work and has accommodaiton for 105 persons. It carries a special trenching ROV, and a 150 tonne sea crane. Registering an impressive 11,324 gt and 6500 dwt, it has two 4200 kW main engines and an array of thrusters for DP2 Dynamic Positioning. In addition to the large open after deck it also has a helicoper landing deck forward. A large gantry on the port side is used to handle the ROV.

The ship was originally called Fugro Symphony, was renamed Global Symphony in 2017 and became Symphony in 2022. 

Fleet mate Connector remains at Pier 9B. It did move to Bedford Basin for DP trials November 12.

It appeared to have a cable "tank" on deck and numerous cargo containers. It also has an odd "bulge" feature on the hull.

The Connector was completed by Soviknes on a hull built by STX Tulcea in Romania. It is a 20,190 gt, 11,000 dwt ship also with impressive specs. Classed as a Deepwater, Multi-Purpose Flex-lay, it has one 400 tonne crane and a second 50 - 100 tonne crane It has facilities to support two ROVs and accommodation for 140 persons. It also has a helicopter landing pad and rates DP3 for Dynamic Positioning. Its 23,405 kW engines can drive the ship at 15 knots, Originally named  AMV Connector, it was renamed Lewek Connector in 2012. In 2018 it was acquired by the Jan De Nul Group becoming Connector.

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Fednav for top up - amended

 The Canadian owned shipping company Fednav continues to grow and now has a fleet of about 120 ships. That represents some 64 owned and 97 long term chartered. It also employs ships for short term and voyage charters to meet demand.

A goodly portion of the fleet, some 47 ships, consists of Handysize / Lakers, built to transit the St.Lawrence Seaway to the Great Lakes carrying bulk or break bulk cargoes. It has eight more ships of this size on order for delivery over the next two years, set to replace a comparable number of 23 to 25 year olds.

Easily spotted with red hull and tan superstructure, the Handysize / Lakers have three and sometimes four cranes. They are also relatively new ships averaging about twelve years of age.

Today, December 21, one of the older ships in the fleet, the Federal Yukon arrived in Halifax to top up a bulk cargo of grain. (Due to a heavy snow fall and temporarily blocked streets, no photo was possible - maybe tomorrow.)

The Federal Yukon was built in 2000 by Fednav's favourite shipyard, Oshima Shipbuilding in Oshima, Japan. It is one of the eight ships to be replaced by eight new ships from the same shipyard. The 20,659 gt, 36,253 dwt ship carries three 30 tonne SWL cargo cranes. Although this ship has never called in Halifax before to my knowledge, some other ships of the same class have called here, usually to top off grain cargoes or for repairs.

Federal Rideau was here in September 6, 2022 en route from Brazil to Baie Comeau, QC with a cargo of bauxite and was met by divers.

 On its current voyage the Federal Yukon left the western European port of Gent (Ghent), Belgium, September 29, passing Calais and Dover the same day. It transited the Strait of Gibraltar October 6 and was recorded arriving in Arzew, Algeria October 9. (Arzew is a major fertilizer and salt exporting port.) It was recorded westbound in the Strait of Gibraltar November 1.

Crossing the Atlantic, the ship arrived in Trois-Rivières, QC November 15 and remained there until November 21. It sailed directly to the St.Lawrence Seaway arriving in Toronto November 22. Unloading took until December 6 when it moved to Hamilton. I am assuming it must have discharged remaining cargo (if any) there then loaded its current grain cargo. That took until December 14. Due to draft restrictions in the Seaway, the ship could not load a full cargo, so on clearing the Seaway December 17 it headed for Halifax where it can top up to ocean draft.

Loading in Halifax may take some time as it can only be done in good weather, but could only take a day or two in favourable conditions.

Addendum:

Despite the snow, I manged to dig myself out enough to get down to Pier 28 too see the Federal Yukon alongside with some grain spouts deployed and ready to load. The ship appears to be very lightly loaded, so may not have taken on much if any cargo in Hamilton. That suggests that what it will load in Halifax is wood pellets for hog fuel.

Halifax Grain Elevators imports, stores and exports grains, soy and wood pellets, all from the same facility, and it is done mostly "invisibly" through enclosed conveyors. Built in stages when Halifax exported large quantities of grain in winter due to rail subsidies, the current facility has a capacity of 5 million bushels (140,000 tonnes) of grain, but is rarely full.

The view above does not show the entire structure. There is another, smaller, rank of siloes behind.

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Ferry news - good and bad REVISED

 1. Mostly good news on the Northumberland Strait

As a bit of an update on the previous post, November 13, the Northumberland Ferries Ltd service did resume on December 4 after repairs to the Confederation's bow door and hull. The resumption was a day or two later than anticipated but celebrations were short lived. A "load sharing" problem which prevented the main engines from running in sync resulted in the cancellation of further crossings after only one trip. 

The ship was removed from service after aliding with the dock in Caribou, NS on September 15. The bow door had to be removed to be repaired, but the hull puncture was above the waterline so could be repaired with the ship afloat. That meant ten weeks out of service for the ship. some of which was covered by the rented Saarema 1 but it had reliability issues and was returned to Quebec.

The Confederation, with bow door removed, alongside Pictou Shipyard on Ocotber 22.

The load sharing problem on the Confederation was resolved after a day but then bad weather resulted in another shutdown. I don't normally report on weather shutdowns on that route, which are quite common due to the exposed positions of the terminals. 

Northumberland Ferries Ltd then increased the number of daily sailings from three, the usual number at this season of the year, to four to compensate to a degree for the several service disruptions this year. On December 18 it was announced that the season would be extended from the usual December 20 shut down to December 23, again to provide better access to the mainland from Eastern Prince Edward Island. There will be four crosssings a day until December 22, then only two from Wood Island and one from Caribou on December 23.

Service normally resumes in May after the Northumberland Strait is clear of ice.

The "new" second ferry for the Strait service, the Northumberland, completed sea trials in Norway at the end of November and was registered in Ottawa December 12. (It is owned by the Minister of Transport and will be operated by Northumberland Ferries Ltd). It was built in 2006 and has been reconditioned over the past few months. It was named Fanafjord when built by Aker Tulcea in Romania and completed by Brattvaag Skipswerft in Norway. The 6904 gt ship carried the name Greenferry 1 between 2021 and 2022. Most sources give its capacity at 589 passengers and 212 cars, but that may change.

2 Bad and Good? News on the St.Lawrence River

A. The veteran St.Lawrence River ferry Trans-St-Laurent (built in 1963) soldiers on with remarkably few cancellations, and those usually weather related at this time of year. The seasonal service between Rivière-du-Loup on the South Shore to St-Siméon on the North Shore usually shuts down for the winter soon after New Year's Day. This year however there is an early halt, but not through any fault of the ship. 

It was announced of December 17 that the service has been suspended for the balance of the season due to a fault in the hydraulic operating system of the boarding ramp at Rivière-du-Loup. Repairs could not be completed before the normal closing date, and it was decided to shut down early. 

The crossing is usually very busy during the Christmas season, and will result in significant detours for travellers. The nearest ferry is the Matane to Baie Comeau and Godbout ship. It is a 200 km drive to Matane from Rivière-du-Loup. (The seasonal ferry between Trois-Pistoles and Escoumins is nearer, but closes at the end of October.) The nearest River crossing to the west is at Quebec a 385 km diversion from Rivière-du-Loup to St-Siméon, half of which is on the torturous two lane Route 138, and not exactly a pleasure cruise in winter.

B. REVISED with apologies

The shut down notice was preceeded by another eagerly awaited announcement. It has been decided not to relocate the south shore ferry terminal from Rivière-du-Loup to Cacouna - at least not before as of 2028. (That may be the year when the Trans-St-Laurent replacement enters service.) The Saarema I, operated by the Société des traversiers du Québec, will replace the Trans St-Laurent in 2018 when the current contract with Clarke, owners and operators of the Trans St-Laurent expires.

Pressure for a year round service - for which no announcement has been made  nor whether the new ship will be ice rated - has been steady over the years, but the current terminal location, due to shallow water in the area can not be used when ice is present.  It is also costly to dredge the channel to the current terminal every year due to siltation. Cacouna does not require dredging, and could be used all year, but building a ferry terminal in the port would also be costly and there would be serious conflicts with the commercial port activity there. There are no services near Cacouna, whereas there are numerous motels, restaurants, service stations and shopping centres in Rivière-du-Loup, and most public and business opinion in the area was against the Cacouna location.  See addendum below

An all season terminal at Rivière-du-Loup seems unlikely, so the Trans-St-Laurent replacement may not be much different in function if not in appearance - homely though it is.

Addendum 

I was mistaken when I originally made this post, and in fact the Province of Quebec announced that the ferry terminal will be moved from Rivière-du-Loup to Gros Cacouna as of 2018. A temporary boarding ramp and facilities will be built at Cacouna for use of the ferry Saaremaa 1 which will replace the Trans-St-Laurent in 2018 on expiry of the current contract with Clarke. A permanent terminal, to the east of the commercial facilities will be completed by 2031. [That may be when a new ship is delivered.] The Saaremaa I carries 110 vehicles and 600 passengers (but has only 300 seats), which is more than the Trans St-Laurent at 100 cars and 400 passengers. Lets hope its recent engine repairs will make it more reliable than it was on the Northumberland Strait last summer.

Reasons for the move include the total cost of the move - quoted as $474.5 million - still much less than keeping the terminal in Rivière-du-Loup due to the high cost of annual dredging at the existing terminal. Dredging also disturbs the habitat of beluga whales that live in the area..

The present hour and ten minutes crossing will be twenty minutes longer from Cacouna to St-Siméon. I expect the ship will still sail west of Ile-aux-Lièvres using the same course that it does now.

 

 The Saaremaa I will replace the Trans-St-Laurent in 2018.

The announcement also stated that there will not be year round service, although I believe that may change in 2031.

I apologize for this error.

1978 photo shows the Trans-St-Laurent pretty much as built. There have been some superficial changes such as a passenger elevator, but the huge open lifeboats have not been replaced with rafts and aircraft type evacuation slide system.

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