Big Ships in the Big Harbour

 Halifax Harbour has been known as "the big harbour" since time immemorial. The original Mi'kmaq people called it that in their language, which modern orthography renders as Kjipuktuk. The name Kjipuktuk has been given to the Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services fireboat, which also has the unofficial call out name "Fireboat No.1".

 English colonizers corrupted Kjipuktuk to Chebucto, which continues as the name for an important road and countless other uses. Nevertheless Halifax remains the name of the Metropolitan area and the harbour.

The Big Harbour continues to live up to its name as it hosts ships of all sorts, some that might not be able to use other ports due to their size. Both the main harbour and the headwater Bedford Basin are in almost constant use.

In the Bedford Basin the tanker Ionic Anax has been at anchor since May 14 when it arrived in ballast from Canaport, off Saint John, NB, after unloading a cargo of Texas crude.

The diving tender Allen Clipper is alongside the ship - usually a sign of some underwater activity such as hull cleaning. (If the tender had been closer to the stern I would have suspected propellor trimming or removal of tangled rope.) 

Built in 2017 by Namura Shipbuilding in Imari, Japan, it is a 63,502 gt, 114,720 dwt Suezmax ship. As the name implies it is Greek owned and named for a mythical giant.

Arriving today, May 15, to anchor in the lower harbour is a former crude oil tanker, converted to a far different use. The Target is now a semi-submersible heavy load carrier.

Built in 1990 by Brodosplit in Croatia, as the Jahre Target it was renamed Nord-Jahre Target in 1993,  Crude Target in 2000, and was renamed Genmar Centaur in 2003 and Front Target in 2004. In 2007 it was rebuilt to its present configuration by Cosco Nantong Shipyard and renamed Target. It can now be ballasted down to submerge its main deck so that cargo can be floated over.

In the rebuild it was shortened about 10 meters, and its hull cut down and and a heavily reinforced deck installed, with resulting changes to its tonnages, from 77,931 gt to 42,515 gt and 142,031 dwt to 53,806 dwt. A secondary wheelhouse was installed forward for use if large loads block sightlines from the main bridge.

The ship is carrying cradles on deck which are used for transporting wind generator monopiles.

At PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway the large container ship ONE Wren sailed this morning after a 24 hour port call.

 The ship was built by Japan Marine United in Kure in 2018 as NYK Wren. When it was renamed in 2021 its gross tonnage was revised from 144,285 to 146,409 tons.  Deadweight tonnage remained the same at 139,335 tonnes as did container capacity of 14,026 TEU. 

The ONE Wren is on the EC3 service of the new Premier Alliance. It was previously a regular on the old THE Alliance service which has been renamed after the withdrawal of Hapag-Lloyd. Remaining members HMM, ONE and Yang Ming formed the Premier Alliance, maintaining many of the same routes and using the same designations. The EC3 runs to and from Asia and the US east coast. ONE Wren is currently east bound from New York and is due in Singapore June 18. It will likely be sailing non-stop via the Cape of Good Hope.

Not all ships using the harbour are big however. Some are realtively small, such as the multi-purpose general cargo ship Franbo Logic which sailed today after a shortish visit. It arrived May 12 from the Philppines via the Cape of Good Hope.

 Although the ship appears lightly loaded, it did take on steel racking to spool fibreoptic submarine cable. It also seems to have refueled at Pier 27 this morning. It has been here several times before going back to 2019, to take on the same "cargo". 

The ship was built by the Honda Heavy Industries Co Ltd in Saiki, Japan under the name Thorco Logic. It is a 13,110 gt, 16,969 dwt with movable pontoon tween decks and two 50 tonne cranes. It was renamed in 2021.

A sister ship the Franbo Lohas ex Thorco Lohas was port in April (see April 18) and also took on cable racking. It eventually sailed to Portsmouth, NH to load cable. However today's departure, the Franbo Logic, sailed for Avonmouth, UK.

.

 

 

 

 

 A sister shipm Franbo Logic is