Neat Meet

 There is lots of room for ships in Halifax harbour, but the channel approaches are narrow. When big ships or deep draft ships are moving in and out of port the harbour pilots arrange for ships to meet in certain locations. This co-ordination makes for some interesting sights.

Today's arrival of the container ship APL Dublin was scheduled such that it would meet the outbound laden bulk carrier Budva. The pilots apparently agreed to a meet in the north end of the Middle Ground area,with the inbound APL Dublin taking the main channel and the outbound Budva veering off into the western deep water channel just off Point Pleasant.

Although it appeared that the ships were in close quarters, there was in fact ample room for a safe meet. 

APL Dublin, built in 2012 by Daewoo, Okpo is a 128,929 gt, 135,539 dwt ship with a capacity of 10,700 TEU. Normally ships of this size have a split superstructure with bridge and accommodation well forward and machinery aft, but this one has the more conventional configuration found on smaller ships. However it has a very high superstructure which allows for stacking boxes up to eight high.

 

As the APL Dublin nears the berth the Atlantic Oak (forward) and Altantic Ash (aft) prepare to turn the ship. Atlantic Maple, after working as stern tethered escort, moved to the starboard side aft, ready to push.

 

The Budva may be the first ship to call in Halifax under the flag of Montenegro. (Ships from the region, once part of Yugoslavia, have been callers since before the country became totally independant in 2006.)  Built in 2014 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing the Budva is a 24,288 gt, 35,000 dwt handysize, double skin bulker fitted with four 30 tonne cranes. (Budva is a tourist town on Montenegro's Adriatic coast.)

 The ship belongs to the Barska Plovidba fleet of two ships. Along with the Bar is it chartered out. On this trip it loaded wood pellets for the Drax bio-mass power station in Immingham, England. 

 

 

The Halifax grain elevators can handle conventional grains such as wheat and corn, but also soy and wood pellets.  A system of conveyor belts moves the material to the grain gallery. Spouts (long pipes) from the gallery at Pier 28 drop the pellets directly into the ship's holds. The spouts can be moved to distribute the material evenly.

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