Quite a Parade

 With three ships all arriving at the pilot station for 0600 hrs ADT, there was an interesting procession. Not long after that there was another procession of outbound naval vessels, making for a busy morning.

The inbound ships, all regular callers in Halifax in order of arrival were:

Irving Oil's Acadian on one of its last trips through Halifax. Its replacement the new Algoma Acadian is due today in Savannah, Georgia on its working delivery trip, via Brazil, from Korea.

 Nirint's Gotland with another delivery of nickel sulfides from Cuba:

 and Tropical Shipping's Tropic Hope on the weekly service from the Caribbean.

 Morning deparures included a naval contingent heading to near shore areas for exercses:

The Royal Canadian Navy charter Asterix was first to leave (no photo here- I had to eat breakfast sometime) and HMCS Montreal:

 ... followed by an as yet unidentified, by name, US submarine:

 and the visiting Danish air defence frigate HDMS Vaedderen:

 There was also later activity, stretching through to noon time.

The cable carrier Fairwind Legion arrived for Pier 9B to load cable racks.

and the cable ship IT Infinity:

Then there was a departure from Autoport. Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Oberon is on the usual route from north Europe.

Aside from the Danish visitor, all of these ships are regular callers and have been covered in detail previously in this blog, so no details are given here.

 There were some other arrivals and departures today, so it was a very busy day in the port.

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Algoma East Coast

 The new product tanker Algoma East Coast arrived in Halifax today, April 13, on its delivery trip from the Hyundai Mipo shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. 

 

The ship, which is carrying the Liberian flag temporarily, has yet to carry a cargo. It will undergo Canadian regulatory inspection here, and will transfer to Canadian flag over the next few days.

A thin weld bead of the outline of Saint John is faintly visible on the transom.

 It will then proceed to Saint John, NB to load cargo for Irving Oil and assume its spot in the usual port rotation, delivering refined product to Halifax, Charlottetown and St.John's. It will be an occasional caller in other ports including Quebec City and Montreal and some US ports such as Boston.

The ABS Ice Class 1B ship measures 23,451 gt, 37,242 dwt and includes many features such as cold-ironing (shore power) capable and methanol fuel ready.

The ice knife, installed above and in line with the rudder, prevents ice from jamming the rudder when backing or turning. The hull plating is also thicker to well above the waterline. The transition line is visible in the photo.

Irving Oil has chartered the ship from Algoma Tankers Ltd, and unlike Irving Oil's most recently chartered ships, this one bears no indication of any connection with Irving Oil. It is painted in Algoma Tankers colours and carries the parent company  Algoma Central Corporation "bear" funnel mark and bow crest.   

The ship takes the place of the similarly sized East Coast (23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt) which completed a twenty year charter from Vroon last month and has since been reported in Turkey for refit.  It arrived inYaklova on March 31. 

Irving Oil has contracted with Algoma for two ships, and the second, the Algoma Acadian, has departed  Korea and has been reported arriving in Tarjun, Indonesia, April 7. It will replace the chartered Acadian which is currently unloading at Irving Oil's terminal in Halifax harbour.

 Acadian in Halifax April 5 (it has since been to Charlottetown and Saint John)

 Acadian will be the last ship to carry the well known Irving Oil colours of green boot topping, "biscuit" hull colour and black capped yellow funnel with the Irving logo. It arrived in Halifax April 12.

Algoma Tankers was established in 1998 to take over the Imperial Oil domestic product tanker fleet. It has since become the premier Canadian flag tanker operator with nine ships. It also has an interest in one foreign flag tanker with ten more under construction.

The Algoma East Coast will soon become a familiar sight in Halifax, but seldom in the Narrows. It is seen on arrival today coming alongside Pier 9B. It shows some "lock rash" from its recent Panama Canal passage.

 

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More Tankers

 Tanker traffic in Halifax harbour usually concentrates on the Woodside area on the Dartmouth side of the harbour where both Irving Oil and Imperial Oil have terminals for refined product. Ships docking at these terminals are difficult to photograph due to their distance from Halifax, and inaccessible vantage points. 

On February 25 the Jessie Glory arrived at Imperial Oil from Philadelphia / Camden with a cargo of refined product. It tied up at the newly refurbished dock #3, using mooring buoys for its head and stern lines. Dominion Diving provides a line handling boat for docking and undocking at the jetty.

The Jessie Glory was built in 2024 by K Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Jinhae, South Korea. The shipbuilder is the former STX Offshore and Shipbuilding which went into creditor protection in 2013 and was re-launched as K Shipbuilding in 2021 by new investors (and presumably former creditors). It had been the world's fourth largest shipbuilder, but sold for only $220 million. The ship comes in at 29,549 gt, 49,801 dwt and is operated by Sinokor Ship Management Co Ltd under Marshall Islands flag.

Meanwhile at Irving Oil the Canadian flagged East Coast made an unusual move from Woodside to Pier 9B. A regular caller, it distributes Irving Oil products from the Saint John, NB refinery to Charlottetown, PE and St.John's, NL with occasional forays to the St.Lawrence River and nearby US ports.

 It is very unusual to see this ship in the Narrows, but like the previous caller at Pier 9B, the Algotitan (see February 25 post) it is likely that the ship will undergo some maintenenace that could not be accomplished at the oil dock. (A boom truck was waiting at the pier.)

The ship was turned, by the tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Cedar, off Pier 6, then backed down to Pier 9B.

The five construction cranes at work on new buildings in Dartmouth are not mounted on the ship!
 

The several notable features of the ship became more visible; the large exhaust gas scrubber system which was retrofitted aft of the original funnel; the ice knife in line of the rudder and the initial "E" on the superstructure immediately below the funnel. Each of the Irving Oil tankers has the first letter of its name similarly positioned, presumably as some form of quick identification.

The East Coast was built by Hyundai Mipo in 2005. A 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt ship, it sailed as Nor'Easter under Marshal Islands flag and operated between Saint John and US ports until brought under Canadian flag and renamed in 2014. It joined sister ship Acadian to serve Canadian ports.

The large "V" shield on the ship's bow signifies Vroon B.V., the Dutch company that owns the ships and has them on long term charter to Irving Oil. Those charters are begining to expire this year and

Algoma Tankers Ltd will soon be providing new ships for Irving Oil service. Algoma already serves Imperial Oil, but the new ships are expected to work exclusively for Irving Oil.

This ship's replacement Algoma East Coast conducted sea trials at Ulsan Febraury 8 to 11. Algoma Acadian was launched in December 2024.

As I stated in January "The other two Marshall Islands flag sister ships in the Irving Oil charter fleet, New England and Great Eastern will also be coming up for renewal surveys in the fall of 2025, but there has been no word on replacements (at least to my ear)." 

Another ship, the similar sized former Iver Progress, built in 2007, joined the fleet in 2016 and was given the name Nor'easter, with Marshall Islands registry. 

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East Coast - countdown

 The tanker East Coast arrived today, January 8, at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal with more product from the Saint John refinery. This may be one of the ship's last calls in Halifax as its replacement is due sometime in the first quarter of this year.

Irving Oil has entered into a long term charter arrangement with Algoma Tankers Ltd for two new 37,000 dwt ships to replace East Coast and Acadian to trade under the Canadian flag. 

East Coast was delivered in March 2005 by Hyundai Mipo as a 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt product tanker. It was initially named Nor'Easter and flew the Marshall Islands flag, trading out of Saint John to ports on the US east coast. In 2014 it was brought under Canadian flag and reanmed East Coast. Another ship, the similar sized former Iver Progress, built in 2007, joined the fleet in 2016 and was given the name Nor'easter, with Marshall Islands registry.

Reports indicate that the new ships, of essentially the same size, and also built by Hyundai Mipo, will be named Algoma East Coast and Algoma Acadian. They will be "methanol ready" as that fuel seems to be the fuel of the future, although there is no ready source for the stuff as yet.

The East Coast and the other members of the Irving Oil charter fleet, were retrofitted with exhaust gas scrubbers which are housed in large appendages to their orginal funnels. Presumably the new ships will be built to use low sulfur fuels (which Irving Oil produces) at first and will not have scrubbers. (Some ports have banned scrubbers, particularly the open loop type.)

East Coast was retro-fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber in 2015. 

(August 20, 2022 photo)

The other two Marshall Islands flag sister ships in the Irving Oil charter fleet, New England and Great Eastern will also be coming up for renewal surveys in the fall of 2025, but there has been no word on replacements (at least to my ear). 

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This and That

 Halifax may now be noted as a container port (it exceeded 500,000 TEU again in 2023) but there are lots of other things happening in the port too, and today (April 18) was an example.

 The third cruise ship of the season arrived and it is another of the small "expedition" types. Viking Octantis is en route to a summer on the Great Lakes.

Built in 2021 it is a 30,114 gt ship with a capacity of 378 passengers in 189 staterooms. It is rated as a Polar 6 class and was designed specifically for Antarctic and Great Lakes cruising. Initial construction took place at the Tulcea, Romania yard of Vard (Fincantieri). The shell was then towed to the Søviknes Shipyard in Norway for finishing. After a day in Halifax the ship will head for Toronto, where it will be based until October 15.

 At Irving Oil's Woodside terminal their tanker Acadian was discharging product from the Saint John, NB refinery. It arrived last night and will be sailing late this afternoon.

The Canadian flag ship, is on long term charter from the Dutch Vroon (Iver Ships BV). Built in 2005 by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co Ltd in 2005, it is a 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt product tanker. It operates from Saint John primarily to the Atlantic Canada ports of Halifax, Charlottetown and Saint John's NL, and occasionally to Montreal and Quebec City.

Arriving for its turn at the Irving Oil facility this morning was the tanker STI Hackney from Amsterdam.

Perhaps not surprisingly it is a product of the same prolific South Korean shipbuilder, Hyundai Mipo. Dating from 2014 it is a 24,230 gt, 38,734 dwt ship. Flying the Marshal Islands flag, it operates for Scorpio Tankers Inc.

Imperial Oil is also busy with the Algoberta in from Montreal with product and the Algoscotia waiting at Pier 27 25 to take its place to load for regional distribution.

Autoport is not be left out as another busy spot with imports arriving from two directions. The load of vans that arrived on April 15 on the Trica (see previous post) and were off loaded at PSA Fairview Cove are being transported to Autoport by truck (three or four at a time). My initial report of 200 vans has been revised to 350. That is a lot of truck trips!

Cars (and vans) arriving from overseas at Autoport are prepped including installation of some accessories and other equipment, and stored and shipped out by rail or truck on demand.

Today's arrival was a more conventional auto carrier, but with a twist. The ARC Honor is a United States flagged vessel reflagged and renamed February 2 in Incheon, Korea by American Roll On Roll Off Carriers (ARC).

Formerly the Tulane it was built in 2012 by Hyundai, Ulsan and is a 72,295 gt, 28,818 dwt LCTC (Large Car and Truck Carrier) with a capacity of 7,934 CEU. It was operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, and has now been transferred to the United States subsidiary (but not yet re-painted in ARC colours). As a US flag ship it has preference for carrying government cargoes internationally. But as a non-Jones Act ship it cannot trade between US ports.

The ship has been in Halifax many times, and initially called wearing the old Wilhelmsen hull colour scheme.

 

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Lee update

 Although there was coastal flooding and shore erosion due to the storm surge, Post Tropical storm Lee did not create the widespread damage to boats and harbours that last year's Hurrucane Fiona did. That is not to belittle the impact of the storm - it was severe - but perhaps it was as much due to wise precautions as to the somewhat less powerful distrurbance.

As previously noted ships vacated Halifax harbour and went well offshore to the east as the storm tracked across mainland Nova Scotia on Septmber 16. For instance the container ship ZIM Iberia which cleared Halifax on Friday September 15 and was destined for New York, instead headed northeasterly and was spotted on AIS well offshore. Similarly the cruise ship Zaandam which sailed on the 15th got ahead of the storm and made for CornerBrook, NL after a day or more at sea.

The heavy load ship GPO Sapphire, which had been anchored off Halifax made for the shelter of Chedabucto Bay. It likely did not anchor because with its Dynamic Positioning capability, it was able to keep station. The huge windage of its deck load of six wind turbine tower components could have put unbearable strain on conventional anchors and chain.

GPO Sapphire anchored off Halifax on September 13.

Speaking of anchors however, the stress was too much for one of those red white and blue navy trot buoys off Macnab's Cove (on the right and left of the photo above.) It and a green navigation buoy were spotted adrift in the harbour, but were later coralled by tugs.

Coastal tankers sought shelter too with Acadian off Lismore and Big Island to the eastern of the Northumberland Strait. (It was bound for Charlottetown.)

Algoscotia and Mia Desgagnés were in St.Ann's Bay (northeast coast of Cape Breton) and not far away the cruise ship Norwegian Joy (which had been due in Halifax September 17) stood by off Wreck Cove (an inauspicious name under the circumstances.)

That made today (Monday, September 18) a double header Norwegian day in Halifax with both Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Pearl in at the same time. They were joined by the Pearl Mist which must have had a rough time of it en route from Portland, ME.

 Wind gusts of 117 kph (72 miles per hour) were recorded at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (well inland) and there were power outages all over NovA Scotia and New Brunswick. Ship Centreal Eastern (- the home of Shipfax) was without electricity for 28 hours from roughly 0715 hrs ADT Saturday, September 16 to 1100 hrs Sunday, September 17.

The storm was well passed by Sunday, Septemeber 17, but the only commercial activity in the harbour was the arrival and departure of the EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St-Laurent 1 service. It would normally have been here on Saturday en route from Montreal to Bremerhavem but can quite likely make up the time on the long transatlantic leg.

By today harbour activity had returned to normal (ferry service had been suspended on Saturday for example) with comings and goings at both container terminals. 

CMA CGM Mexico (15,000 plus TEU) made its call (westbound from Tanger Med) at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, along with Tropic Hope...

 ... and Atlantic Sky at PSA Fairview Cove (west bound en route for New York).

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Catch Up

 There have been several noteworthy ship movements in Halifax over the past several days.

Acadian

  Irving Oil's Acadian arrived in Halifax on August 24 after a refit in Setubal, Portugal. It returned to Saint John August 21, several days earlier than anticipated. Fleet mate, but foreign flagged,  Nor'Easter was granted a coasting license to cover the Acadian's expected refit period July 12 to August 26.

Acadian at Irving Woodside, August 24.( Imperial Oil's tank is on the adjacent property.)

After loading at Saint John it sailed August 22 for Halifax, and once it had discharged its consignment here it sailed in the early hours of this morning (August 25), apparently for Bucksport, ME.

Maersk Kaya

When Acadian arrived in Halifax it could not berth immediately at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal, but went to anchor until the tanker Maersk Kaya sailed.

The Maersk Kaya was built in 2011 by Guangzhou International to 24,481 gt, 39,738 dwt tonnages. It arrived August 22 from Amsterdam with product and sailed later on August 24 for Saint John. We do not often see Maersk tankers in Halifax, but they do operate a sizeable fleet, with 150 tankers under management (but none are owned). A subsidiary, Maersk Product Tankers, operates 52 ships in a consortium with Mitsui Co Ltd. Both tanker companies are owned by A.P.Moller Holdings, a family investment group which is completely separate from A.P.Moller-Maersk - owners of the Maersk Lines container line. Both however have the right to use the "Maersk blue" hull colour and seven pointed star funnel mark.

Sandra Mary

Another August 24 arrival was the tug Sandra Mary with the Derrick No.4 and a mud scow, to set up for removal an old timber pier and construction of a new concrete caisson pier at the Bedford Institute. For detailed info see Tugfax August 24

Oberon

On August 25 it was the arrival of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean auto carrier Oberon.It first went to Autoport to unload cars then moved to Pier 9C to offload RoRo cargo. 

The 71,673 gt, 30,134 dwt ship was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Okpo in 2008. It is rated for 7620 cars of RT43 size and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. The ship called here just over year ago and made the same two point visit on August 8, 2022.

The Oberon was built for Wallenius Lines before the formal joining with Wilhelmsen, and was originally painted with a green hull, and called here from time to time. In those days it offloaded RoRo cargo at Pier 31 or sometimes Pier 27-28 as in this photo:

Valeria

The last arrival on August 25 was the bulk carrier Valeria en route from Providence, RI. The ship appears to be fully loaded, so its call at Pier 27 is likely related to a repair of some sort.

 

The ship was built in 2011 by the Taizhou Maple Leaf Shipbuilding Co in Linhai, to the account of its parent company Taizhou Maple Leaf Shipping Company. [As far as I can tell the Maple Leaf  company name has no connection with Canada.]

A handysize bulk carrier of 20,954 gt and 32,391 dwt it is equipped with four cargo cranes. Until July 1 of this year it carried the name Taizhou Pioneer but was renamed and is now managed by Theomar Shipmanagement Corp of Greece for Solymar Shipping SA.

X-Press Sagarmala

A new ship on Melfi Marine's MEDCAN service arrived August 25 [no photo] The X-Press Sagarmala dates from 2021 when it was built by COSCO Guangdong, Dongguan, as Feeder 1. It was renamed in 2022 . A 19,235 gt, 23,250 dwt ship, it has a capacity of 1762 TEU and is gearless [meaning: no cranes].

It replaces X-Press Irazu which took up the service in May 2021. That ship dates from 2007 when it was built by Guangzhou Wenchang Shipyard Co Ltd. At 18,480 gt, 23,716 dwt, it has a capacity of 1732 TEU including 379 reefers and carries a pair of 45 tonne capacity cranes. It is now operating a feeder service between Portugal and Spain, not associated with Melfi.

Melfi is subject to restrictions by the United States government because it is Cuban owned. It does not call in US ports en route from the from Livorno, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Setubal (for Lisbon), Halifax, and Mariel, Cuba. It does sometimes call in Halifax in the return (eastbound) leg.

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Bull's eye for the Bear

 

 Algoma Central Corp's tanker subisidiary Algoma Tankers has announced a major development. The company has ordered two 37,000 dwt ice class product tankers from Hyundai Mipo for delivery in 2025. The ships will be methanol and shore power ready.

Most surprising however is that the ships will take up long term charters with Irving Oil. That company currently charters two ships (also built by Hyundai Mipo) from the Dutch company Vroon, which will be turning twenty years old in 2025. Acadian and East Coast, trading under Canadian flag, deliver Irving Oil products in eastern Canada ranging from St.Lawrence River and Gulf ports to Newfoundland, from Irving Oil's refinery in Saint John, NB. (Three other tankers of the same vintage, also on charter from Vroon to Irving Oil, fly the Marshall Islands flag, and operate between Canada and the United Staes. No announcement has yet been made about their replacements.)

 Algoma Tankers was established to take over the fleet of Imperial Oil tankers, and has been largely dedicated to serving its refineries and depots on the Great Lakes and eastern Canada. The new ships will be dedicated to Irving Oil work, although some exhange of product does take place with other oil companies.

The current Irving charters are painted in traditional Irving tanker colours (Irving once owned a large fleet of tankers)  and wear the Irving Oil symbol on their funnels. [Their scrubbers were retrofitted and are housed in plain white structures]. The Vroon "V crest appears on the bows. It will be interesting to see what the new ships will look like.

 

 And what they will be called:

For what it is worth, my guesses are that they will be painted in the Irving colours, with Irving Oil funnel marks, and names similar to the current ships - that is to say no direct reference to Irving or Algoma.

 Two interesting side notes to this news may or may not be relevant:

1. Irving Oil has recently made it known that it is reviewing options for the future that could include members of the Irving family selling the company. The family's various interests are now relatively separate. The J.D. Irving companies, such as Irving Shipbuilding Inc, Atlantic Towing Ltd and Harbour Development Ltd and their wood, paper, steel, construction and trucking operations  have no connection with Irving Oil, and the announcement has little if any bearing on them.

2. Vroon has recently been re-organized with lenders taking equity for debt, and has opted to sell off their offshore supply and support vessel business. Whether this had any bearing on Irving Oil's decision is of course unknown to me, but Algoma has certainly established itself as a stable and growing company.

They have rccently disposed of older ships and acquired newer ones on the strength of existing business.

 

Algoma Central has also expanded well beyond their orginal Great Lakes bulk carrier business, and are now partners in Nova Algoma Cement Carriers (NACC) and coastal cargo ships and tankers in Europe as well as self-unloading bulk carriers in the CSL Americas pool.

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Odds and Ends

 Today, June 15, was one of those days when Halifax Harbour was the scene of a great variety of shipping activity. There seemed to something happening in almost every sector.

A visitor to number one anchorage represented the bulk carrier category. Danae arrived for clearance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency before proceeding on to La Baie, QC. The ship is carrying bauxite, loaded at the west African port of Kamsar, Guinea, the world's leading bauxite exporter. Due to limits on the size of ships than can load there a whole class of bulk carriers are named "Kamsarmax". With a maximum length of 229m, ships of the class are also sized to navigate the Panama Canal, so are limited to 80,000 to 85,000 tonnes deadweight.

 Built in 2012 by Penglai Zhonghai Jinglu, in Penglai, China Danae is a gearless bulker of 44,060 gt, 80,989 dwt. The ship arrived during the late evening June 14 and sailed late morning today. It is destined for Rio Tinto Alcan's unloading facility in Port Alfred. Its cargo will feed the giant aluminum production complex in the Saguenay region.

Intermittent fog during the day did not seem to delay shipping to any degree, but some ships did perhaps sneek in or out more or less invisibly. The Kingston class HMCS Moncton wearing its commemorative disruptive paint scheme, was one of them. The camouflage was applied to the vessel as a tribute to vessels that served during World War II's Battle of the Atlantic.

The fog partly concealed the tanker Acadian at anchor. It is due to move alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal this evening.

The fog was thicker in a seaward direction, but as it lifted it also revealed container ship activity at PSA Halifax. The MSC Nuria remained hidden at Pier 42, but the ZIM Luanda could be seen at Pier 42, even if the tops of idle cranes were not.

 

The 40,030 gt, 50,697 dwt ship dating from 2009 has a capacity of 4253 TEU. Samsumg Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry Co Ltd built the ship at its Koje (now khown as Geoje) shipyard. The ship is a long time regular caller on the ZIM Container Atlantic (ZCA) route.

There was only one herring seiner in Halifax today. The Morning Star arrived in mid-morning and sailed at noon time after unloading its catch to tank trucks. (The gull escorts accompanied the boat in from sea).

The difference in size between the Danae and Morning Star presented quite a contrast.

Autoport received an unsual vessel, the Grande Togo one of about 27 Container / RoRo's operated by the Grimaldi Group. (Grimaldi also owns the Atlantic Container Line, which has five more ConRos.) The ships of this increasingly rare type usually operate between Europe and Africa, where they can handle a wide variety of cargo at all kinds of ports. Grimaldi is one of the last operators of ConRos of any substantial number. Its presence on a transatlantic run is certainly an "one of".

Built in 2011 by Uljanik Shipyard in Pula, Croatia, it is a 47,232 gt, 26,650 dwt ship with a capacity of 1318 TEU and 3037 cars. It is equipped with two cranes (probably of 40 tonne SWL capacity).

Of note are the truck cab/chassis units stowed on the open deck. It must be the first time in many years that vehicles have been seen here in the clear like this. There is some evidence of protective panels on the front grillles of some of the cabs, but they must have taken at bit of a saltwater shower en route. The ship is not taking the usual transatlantic route. Although it loaded in Antwerp, Jun 3-6, it also called on Vigo, Spain June 8-9 before embarking on its transatlantic voyage.

Another consignment of wind farm pylons arrived this afternoon on the GPO Sapphire. The ship is a fleet mate of GPO Grace which delivered a similar cargo in May.

GPO Sapphire was built by CSBC Taiwan Corp in Kaohsiung in 2019. Measuring 49,091 gt and 63,581 dwt, it is a semi-submersible specialist heavy load carrier, one of four sister ships in the GPO Heavylift fleet.

The six pylons, including pilings, bases and towers will be assembled and transferred to the installation vessel Orion at the IEL pier in Dartmouth. The Orion is currently installing the first six units in the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts.

 

There is one more type of vessel, not covered in the above "catalog" and that is pleasure craft. While Halifax is home to scores of small craft, from PWCs on up (see yesterday's post), it is also a way point for larger vessels en route to and from the various pleasure ports of the world. Two such "boats" are in port now, and are perhaps worthy of mention.

Epiphany (with the "i" given as "!") is a 132 gt motor sailer built in 2003 in New Zealand. It previously carried the names Nephele and Ipanema. The 34m x 8m aluminum hulled craft can accommodate six guests and five crew (in 3 cabins). It arrived from Newport June 12. Its mast is visible from blocks away.

 On the other side of the pier, the motor yacht Vive la Vie provides something of a contrast. It is a 60 m long miniature ship of 1277 gt, built in 2009. Its more spacious hull can cater to 12 guests in six cabins and has eight double berth cabins for crew. It arrived from Gibraltar June 13.

These two craft are tied up at a new timber pier built on the site of the old Foundation dock, which to my mind was a lot more interesting when it was home to the tugs of Foundation Maritime and later Eastern Canada Towing. It was a little less pedestrian friendly however.

There are nine tugs tied up at the Ectug pier in this 1977 (ca. May 1) photo.

(One tug is hidden behind the cook house / dispatch office with only its mast showing.) 

The tugs are from the left:

1, 2 (hidden) and 5: three of the same class Point Vim, Vigour, and Viking; 

3: Point Valiant; 4:Point Vibert; 6: Point Valour, 7 and 8: Point Gilbert and/or/and Point James 

and 9: either Point Carroll or Point Spencer

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