CMA CGM Victory Bridge

 

 Not the name of a ship, but the name of a North Europe / North America Service, the CMA CGM Victory Bridge is an "on demand" caller in Halifax, so does not always include our port in its rotation. That route starts with the usual European hubs of Southampton, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Bremerhaven then crosses the Atlantic. When the route was established in 2022 Halifax was not mentioned and the US east coast ports were Charleston and Miami. Those last two have now been dropped and ships bypass the US for Veracruz / Altamira, Mexico then Houston and New Orleans. Ships then return on the eastbound leg via the same ports (in the reverse order) with Halifax as the optional first /last North American port. 

The latest ship to call in Halifax on this route is the CMA CGM Molière which arrived early last evening (October 9) and sailed early this afternoon. 

 The ship is owned and managed by the Piraeus based Danaos Shipping Co Ltd and is presumably on a long term charter. The little known Sungdong Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Tongyeon, South Korea (since 2020 called HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding Co Ltd) built the ship in 2009 and it is listed at 72,884 gt, 83,793 dwt with a capacity of 6758 nominal TEUs ( 4840 TEUs at 14 tonnes /6554 TEU per CMA CGM) and 500 reefer plugs.

The ship has a substantial deck cargo space aft but was oddly stowed with a large empty space inboard. The ship used PSA Halifax's largest cranes, so the midship area was within easy reach. The reason for this odd arrangement may remain a mystery.

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