Carmen - no pun intended

 The Large Car and Truck Carrier (LCTC) Carmen arrived at Autoport yesterday, December 6, and was in port all day today. The ship sails for the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean fleet, and belongs to joint venture partner Wallenius Lines. The Swedish company names all its ships after operatic characters. Carmen is the title character, a fictional Romany dancer, in the opera of the same name composed by Georges Bizet in 1875. The company has used the name several times over the years, so it is unlikely that this one is intended as a pun on the ship's crew or their line of work.

As usual, my arrival to take a picture of the ship this morning, startled a number or napping gulls and ducks. The section of beach in Eastern Passage is usually devoid of humans, so is favoured by birds.

This Carmen made the headlines earlier this year when it was held in the port of Baltimore for a month due to the ship strike and collapse of the Frances Scott Key Bridge on March 24. A task force suceeded in removing enough debris and clearing a temporary channel to allow the ship to sail on April 25. Wallenius Wilhelmsen ships make about 150 calls per year on Baltimore, and during the closure diverted ships to several other US east coast ports.

Carmen dates from 2011 when it was delivered by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering in Geoje, South Korea. It is a 74,258 gt, 31,143 dwt ship with a capacity of 7934 CEU (or 7879 RT43 size cars, depending on the source.) It has twelve decks, five of which are hoistable for oversize loads, and reinforced for heavy loads. It has a stern ramp with a 320 tonne capacity and a single side ramp with unknown capacity.

When built Carmen was painted in Wallenius colours, and that is how it appeared when it called in Halifax in 2018. Wallenius Shipping and the Wilhelmsen Group merged in 2017 and adopted the current  colour scheme over time.

 

On its current transatlantic loop it sailed from Bremerhaven November 20, Goteborg November 22, Zeebrugge November 25 and Southampton November 28. It is due in New York December 11 and is expected to then call in Brunswick and Baltimore before returning to Europe. It will then embark on a long run to Santander, Spain; Durban, South Africa; Fremantle, Melbourne and Port Kembla, Australia and Masan, South Korea (for March 18.)

Despite punishing traiffs threatened in the United States, Wallenius Wilhelmsen is forging ahead with fleet expansion. It has recently confirmed construction of two 11,700 CEU Shaper class ships with options for two more and upsizing two ships already on order to 11,700 CEU. It now has fourteen ships in its orderbook for delivery between 2027 and 2028. 

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