Single, Double and Quad and one offshore

 Today, September 19, saw a single caller at Autoport, and was a double day for MSC ships and a four ship day for cruise ships - and there is a bonus.

 

Single 

Autoport's ship was a first time caller, the Cadwell a new ship, just entering service in July. The 69,250 gt, 19,160 dwt Pure Car and Truck Carrier, with a capacity of 7,000 CEU, was built by CIMC Yantai Raffles Offshore Ltd in Yantai, China. It features an advanced dual fuel system and is the ninth in a ten ship "state of the art" order by Zodiac Maritime Ltd. Unusually for newer PCTCs it also has a side ramp, positioned well aft of midships.

As with many of Zodiac's ships it is named after a British race source. In this case one that is used mostly for motorbike racing, Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. It is on long term charter and is serving Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic service from North Europe ports of Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge and Goteborg.
 

Double 

MSC Salina III arrived this morning on the Canada Express service from North Europe and as it sailed from PSA Atlantic Hub this afternoon it met the inbound MSC England which was heading for PSA Fairview Cove.

The MSC Salina III is a recent addition to the MSC fleet taking its present name as of July 1, and still carrying the colour scheme of previous operators. Built in 2009 by Guangzhou Wenchong as Cape Mele it was renamed POS Sydney in 2010 then Cape Male again in 2011. It is a 35,878 gt, 41,411 dwt ship with a capacity of 2758 TEU. It also carries four cargo cranes - three forward of the house and one aft.

 I saw the ship on August 10, upbound on the St.Lawrcnce River off La Malbaie at a speed of about 19 knots. The ship is operating on the Canada Express service and is  now outbound from Montreal for Le Havre, and was stopping in Halifax to top off. 

The inbound MSC England serves the Med-Canadian route and was arriving from MSC's Sines, Portugal hub. It will offload sufficient cargo to reduce its draft to suit St.Lawrence River restrictions.
 

A 39,812 gt, 51,020 dwt ship, built on 2001 by Hyundai, Ulsan, has as its capacity 4132 TEU with 500 reefer points. It has been retrofitted with an exhaust gas scrubber system, and trails the distinctive plume of water vapour.

I also saw this ship on the St.Lawrence, August 14, downbound in the south channel off Kamouraska, also at good speed.

Quadruple 

Four cruise ships arrived today with ships berthing at Pier 20, 22 and 23 and the fourth ship landing passengers  in tenders from an anchorage in mid-harbour. 

The  anchored ship was Holland America's Volendam from Montreal, Quebec City, and Charlottetown, bound for Eastport, Maine.

 

The ship used at least three of its own tenders (numbers 9, 10 and 12 by my count), delivering passengers to the landing stage at Pier 24.

 

Meanwhile at the adjacent Pier 23 the Seabourn Sojourn was decanting refuse to a barge, handled by the tug Mighty Edge. The Radiance of the Seas was an early morning arrival at Pier 22 and the Norwegian Getaway was an early afternoon arrival at Pier 22.(no images of those on this call.) 

 There was one more ship of note, although so far it has not actually entered the port. The Croatian flag AP Revelin was noted off the coast several days ago giving an ETA for Halifax of September 17. The 25,494 gt, 38,785 dwt ship is a handysize bulker built in 2016 by Qinshan in Wuhan, China. The ship rendez-voused instead with the United States flag tug Ezra Sol and with the assistance of the Halifax-based tug Atlantic Maple took up anchorage in the outer anchorage, outside the harbour limits (and outside the pilotage zone) on September 18.

The AP Revelin hull down on the horizon viewed from Shore Road, Eastern Passage. The elevated wheelhouse of the tug Ezra Sol can just be seen between the two pairs of cranes. The ship's last port was Port Allen, LA (near Baton Rouge) and the tug came out of Norfolk. 

It seems likely that the ship was in need of repairs which would require disabling the main engine, thus having a tug alongside for security. In case repairs are not succesful, towing the ship might be required and the 6,000 bhp tug would be right there. [There is no Canadian tug with that power in this region, and the local 4,000 to 5,000 bhp tugs are fully committed to harbour work and would not be available for extended standby duties.]

The tug Ezra Sol was built in 2002 by Main Iron Works in Houma, LA, and is powered by three Cummins main engines driving three screws. Originally named O.J.Cenac it became the O.J. in 2008, Copper Mountain in 2013 and Ezra Sol in 2023  when acquired by Seaward Marine Corp of Norfolk.

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