Oberon - takes the ribbon

 As a year round port Halifax rarely celebrates the first arrival of the year. (Such ports as Montreal and Quebec City historically celebrate first arrivals dating back to the days when they were blocked by ice for four or more months of the year. Now that there are ice classed ships, and icebreaking services, the first arrivals usually make port on January 1 and the significance is largely traditional.) 

If Halifax were to celebrate the first arrival of the year 2025 it would recognize the Large Car and Truck Carrier Oberon of Wallenius Wilhelmen Ocean which arrived at noon time and docked at Pier 9C to discharge RoRo cargo.

There were still traces of early fog as the ship made its way up the Narrows to turn in Bedford Basin, with the tugs Atlantic Cedar (forward) and Atlantic Fir (aft) tethered to inset hull bollards.

The ship was built in 2008 by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering in Okpo, South Korea. Registering 71,673 gt and 30,143 dwt, it has a capacity of 7620 RT43 autos. Five of its car decks are hoistable for oversize cargo and it has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. It also has a smaller starboard side ramp.

The ship was built for Wallenius Lines and was named for a mythical character, the "elf-king" in the Weber opera of the same name. It was delivered in traditional Wallenius green hull paint, as shown on November 30, 2016 when it tied up at Pier 27.

 Wallenius Lines was founded in 1934 by Olof Wallenius and based in Stockholm. It is now owned by Rederi AB Soya and is also an investor in RoRo shipping in the Baltic. Wilh. Wilhelmsen, dates from 1861 and is Norwegian. The two lines increasingly cooperated from 1999 and in 2017 formed Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean (WWO) to operate its shipping fleet. The ships then gradually adopted a common colour scheme. Wilhelmsen also has many other related activities such as logistics, third party crewing and ship management services and own or have interest in other auto carrier fleets such as EUKOR and American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier (ARC). WWO is the third largest auto carrier company after MOL and NYK and list a fleet of 53 ships directly owned, but sources now say they control about 160 ships.

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