Battening down the hatches

 Now mostly just a figure of speech, "battening down the hatches" no longer describes the process of making hatch openings ready for sea. At one time it was necessary to seal a ship's hatches with boards, and canvas tarps held in place by laths (battens) and wedges. Modern day ships have all sorts of steel hatch covers and seals that generally keep the cargo safe and prevent the hull from filling with water. Some ships are even designed to be "hatchless", such as the Oceanex Avalon (see many previous Shipfax references.)

Battens removed, tarps rolled back and hatch boards lifted to gain access to the hold.

(The goélette Rivière-Verte at St-Laurent, Ile d'Orleans, in 1959.)

 Nowadays "battening down the hatches" means preparing for a tempest (either a real weather event or some other kind of crisis). So today September 23, in Halifax, there was evidence of such preparations in advance of the arrival tonight of Fiona. Currently a hurricane, it may be down graded to a post tropical storm (but still a dangerous northern hemisphere cyclone) when it makes landfall in our area, then tracks across the province and Gulf of St.Lawrence to the west coast of Newfoundland.

Workers from Develop Nova Scotia, the government agency responsible for waterfront amenities, were busy moving floating docks to safe storage at the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (C.O.V.E.) dock in Dartmouth (the former Coast Guard base). High winds and a predicted storm surge would certainly damage these structures and potentially cast them adrift. Develop Nova Scotia closed off most of  the waterfront boardwalk to pedestrian access too.

The visiting Irish Navy patrol vessel LÉ James Joyce P62  was tied up at the Tall Ships Quay, a timber pile wharf adjacent to Pier 20. It was decided to move the ship to HMC Dockyard where it will be safer during the storm, and would not risk damage to the dock.

 

The Samuel Beckett class vessel was built by Babcock Marine in Appledore, England and commissioned September 1, 2015. It carries a compliment of 55, which includes 10 trainees. 

The James Joyce arrived on September 21 and was open to public tours for a time. The tugs Atlantic Willow and Listerville stood by while the ship let go from the pier, which it did by "springing off" - a bit of seamanship rarely seen in these days of bow thrusters and twin screws.

As Listerville makes its way to the Tall Ships Quay, Develop Nova Scotia's work boat moves some floats and the supplier Atlantic Condor is visible in the background at the C.O.V..E dock.

 The number of commercial ships in port was at a minimum (see yesterday's post). The last container ship to sail, Conti Crystal got under way around noon time. That left the Oceanex Sanderling and Nolhan Ava anchored in Bedford Basin as the only sizeable commercial vessels remaining in port. The Canadian Coast Guard deployed CCGS Sir William Alexander to the Shelburne area of the south coast and CCGS Jean Goodwill to Sydney in Cape Breton, where they are on standby for Search and Rescue.

CCGS Sir William Alexander, September 13, 2022.

That left two ships tied up at piers, namely Atlantic Condor at C.O.V.E and the CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752 at the IEL dock. The latter is the former CCGS Edward Cornwallis currently rebuilding by Irving Shipbuilding Inc.  I assume that extra lines have been run to secure these craft during the storm. The barge Scotia Tide is alongside Pier 9  (despite the Harbour Master's requirement that all barges were to be removed moved from Halifax Port Authority berths by noon September 23.)

The yacht clubs and others with waterfront facilities such as the Atlantic Pilotage Authority and Dominion Diving have also "battened down the hatches" in various ways.

Halifax Harbour has experienced several hurricanes during my time, the most severe being Hurricane Juan September 29, 2003 which was a Category 2 when it tracked through the harbour with 150 kph winds (and a gust of 176 kph). Lessons learned by that event, and subsequent ones such as Dorian in 2019, have no doubt guided the preparations for this event.

There were two container ships that remained in port during Juan, and  one of the them, the Albert Oldendorff (ex Hoegh Dyke) parted its lines and ran down on the Saudi Tabuk causing damage to both ships and their cargoes. Numerous other vessels sank or were blown aground, at least partly due to inadequate preparations or the impossibility of emergency response during the storm.

 Albert Oldendorff ripped into containers on the adjacent Saudi Tabuk and dropped at least one of its own containers on the other ship's deck. Adding to the confusion - both ships were carrying National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) containers.

Let's hope that this time around Fiona will not be as brutal as its predecessors. However, Shipfax may not be able to publish due to power outages for the next few days. A summary of events will be provided when posssible.

.

 

 

 

 

 

Look What the Fog Dragged In - corrected

 Despite the legendary pea soup fog this morning (June 26) five ships arrived in Halifax and four took up positions in the harbour anchorages. As the fog slowly retreated back to sea, the ships were revealed.

First in was the MidRange product tanker Dee4 Dogwood from Amsterdam.

 A 26,900 gt, 47,399 dwt vessel, it was built by Onomichi Zosen in Onomichi, Japan in 2008. It started out as Nord Organiser and was renamed in 2020 when it joined the oddly named Dee4 Capital Partners fleet. That fleet currently stands at 12 MR tankers. All the ships have names with the "Dee 4" prefix plus the name of a tree. Several of the ships have called in Halifax in recent times, including this one, which was last here November 21, 2021, and at least once before that.

In a repeat of its last visit it is anchored until this evening when Irving Oil's Acadian sails from the berth at the Woodside terminal. 

The next arrival was the once familiar offshore supplier Atlantic Condor. Built by Halifax Shipyard in 2010 to support gas installations off Nova Scotia, it was based in Halifax for ten years. When the gas facilities were decommissioned and removed, the ship found work elsewhere and was also laid up in Stephenville, NL for a time. 

 

The 2334 gt ship will now be fitted with an array of lab equipment for its next assignment. It will be part of an extensive research program into (yes you guessed it) fog! Funded by the United States Office of Naval Research and working with numerous universities and other groups, the US$7.5 MN program will include documentation from instruments to be installed on Sable Island. The Atlantic Condor will sail to the Grand Banks - thought to be the foggiest place on earth - for other aspects of the work.
 (They could have done some research in Halifax this morning.)

The next ship to work its way through fog to anchor was Maritime Jingan another MidRange tanker of 29,211 gt, 44,411 dwt, built in 2003 by Dalian Shipyard Co in Dalian, China.

With a solid wall of low level fog in the background, the ship anchored off the Dartmouth shore near the old Shell Oil pylon. Later in the day the ship resumed its voyage from Carteret, NJ to Saint John, NB.

The launch Halmar stands by the ship as the fog lifts to reveal the Halifax shore line.

Another arrival this morning, although I do not know exactly when, was the CCGS Earl Grey which also took up a position in the lower harbour anchorages. It later moved to Bedford Basin.

As more of the Halifax shore became visible, HMCS Toronto showed through on the Syncrolift at HMC Dockyard. (Thanks to fog I misread the pennant number - it is HMCS Charlottetown.)

The final arrival of the morning, and the last to become visible as the fog moved out was the large bulker Chow in number one anchorage.

A 94,761 gt, 181,146 dwt ship, it was built in 2016 by the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd in the free trade zone of Shanghai.After launch as Chow it briefly carried the name SBI Estupendo (seems appropriate) before reverting back to Chow later in 2016.

 

 After clearing CFIA inspection the ship sailed later in the day for Sept-Iles, QC where it is due to load 175,000 tonnes of iron ore at the common user dock (in Pointe Noire).

Also due to sail later today for Contrecoeur, Bécancour, QC is the tug Atlantic Elm, towing the barge Atlantic Marlin. The barge will be loaded with cargo for Baker Lake and make the long trip to Hudson's Bay where it will spend the summer lightering cargo from ships to shore.

Fleet mate Atlantic Beech passed Halifax today en route from Saint John, NB for Contrecouer, Bécancour,  then Baker Lake, with the barge Atlantic Swordfish Sealion for the same work.

A late morning departure that I did not attempt to photograph was the X-press Irazu for Melfi Lines. I was at Woodside when the tug left for Pier 41, and the photo explains why I did not make the attempt.

Only the tops of the cranes at PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub (southend terminal) were visible as a band of dense fog clung to the Halifax shore.

.

Lifting On

 The Canadian Coast Guard lifeboat Cadboro Bay took to the air briefly today. A crane lifted the boat aboard the re-purposed offshore supplier Atlantic Condor as the first step in its transfer to the west coast.

After a dry run yesterday, the boat returned to the BIO base, then came back alongside this morning at the IEL dock in Dartmouth where the operation began in earnest.

Cadboro Bay was built by Chantier Forillon in Gaspé and arrived in Halifax for the first time October 12, 2020. It has seen some service as a stand-in for the Sambro lifeboat while it was off for refit.

See http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2020/10/cadboro-bay-first-of-two.html

Sister boat Florencia Bay, which arrived from its builder, Hike Metal Products in Wheatley, ON on October  13, 2020 is also at the Bedford Institute, and will also be loaded aboard for the westbound trip.

See: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2020/10/florencia-bay-second-of-two.html

The Atlantic Condor was been a familiar sight in Halifax, following its construction by Halifax Shipyard in 2011. It worked a ten year contract supporting Encana's offshore gas activity. When the gas was depleted and the installation decommissioned last year the vessel was laid up Stephenville, NL.

http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2021/01/new-gig-for-atlantic-condor.html

Atlantic Towing Ltd contracted to transport the two Bay class lifeboats to Victoria, BC before the end of March. The Atlantic Condor just returned to Halifax October February 8 after drydocking in St. John's. It has been fitted with special cradles (not visible) to support the boats for their voyage.

.

November 11

November 11 is observed as Remembrance Day and most activity comes to a halt at least for a minute at 11:00 am, the hour of the Armistice that ended World War I. As might be expected there are numerous memorial sites around Halifax recognizing the contributions from various communities and the different armed services.

Nevertheless (shamefully) the day is not a statutory holiday in Nova Scotia, so many businesses remain open and industries such as construction and shipbuilding continue unabated. Some enlightened employers however do close their doors for the day and allow their employees to observe the day in their own ways.

At Halifax Shipyard it was a regular working day, with the newly launched AOPS2 (future Margaret Brooke pennant number 431) alongside at pier 6, after yesterday's float off (and yes Shipfax did not observe that operation).

Halterm welcomed Tropic Lissette for Tropical Shipping on the usual Monday schedule. The ship was off for one trip due to some mechanical issues, and may still have some deficiencies, but is at least back in service.

Cerescorp had two ships at Fairview Cove. CLI Pride is back again after several trips to Montreal and is now headed back to Rotterdam.

The much larger Budapest Bridge had the whole terminal to itself later in the day after CLI Pride sailed.

Even National Gypsum got in on the act today with CSL Tacoma sailing this morning for Savannah with less than a full load.

Siem Hanne was alongside at the southernmost end of pier pier 9B, and late in the day the Atlantic Condor arrived for pier 9C north.

One of the most attended Remembrance Day services is at the naval memorial at Point Pleasant Park. Seen from Purcell's Cove shortly after the end of the service, it was a particularly fine day to linger along the shore while poppies were placed at the base of the monument.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the service - and maybe not noticed by participants, was the aggregation of seals on rocks just off the point as the service progressed. From one seal at the start of the service, there were at least six by the time eleven o'clock had passed.

.

Catch Up Day

When yesterday's high winds and seas diminished over night, pilotage operations resumed and it was a very busy morning as several ships arrived and sailed. In view of the sun direction and location of the ships, I stationed myself in Eastern Passage to see most of them, even though from a distance.

Starting with Halterm, the Tropical Shipping substitute Vega Fynen (see October 30) moved out to anchor last night and sailed this morning. Thanks to news received, I understand it was called in to take the place of the new Tropical Lissette which has some mechanical problems. The normal schedule for Tropical ships is Monday, so the breakdown and the weather have meant a major delay.

Giving Tropical Shipping good advertising, Vega Fynen prepares to get underway from anchor.

The overnighter Hansa Meersburg filling in on ZIM's feeder service also got underway.

With the piers clear, the arrivals were able to tie up. First was ZIM Monaco for pier 42.

On ZIM's transatlantic service, the 40,030 gt, 50,800 dwt ship flies the Malta flag for owners Danaos Shipping Co Ltd. Built in 2009 by Samsung SB+HI in Koje, the ship has a capacity of 4253 TEU.

Following not long after Maersk Patras managed to dodge the weather and arrived on its usually scheduled day from Montreal.

The 2090 TEU (400 reefers) ship is on the eastbound leg of its regular transatlantic run.

Autoport's caller was the Hero [High Efficiency RoRo] class Theben. A 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt ship, it combines the capabilities of a Pure Car and Truck Carrier [PCTC] with a capacity of 8,000 cars, with those of a RoRo carrier, employing a 300 tonne capacity stern ramp.

Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, the ship has no side ramp, but carries accommodation ladders and even a lifeboat in hull recesses. I hope they demanded a refund on the paint. Normally a sparkling orange, many of the recent Wilhelmsen ships have a washed out faded look.

MOL Paramount sailed from Fairview Cove and Gerhard Schulte arrived for ACL this morning and early this afternoon Nolhanava moved from its storm berth at pier 9C to Fairview Cove to load for Argentia and St-Pierre et Miquelon. Presumably some ACL cargo from France was to be unloaded from Gerhard Schulte  and loaded on Nolhanava.

Nolhanava glides past the Atlantic Condor stocking up at pier 9C. 

Next along for Fairvew Cove was YM Modesty. However it had to wait in Bedford Basin until Nolhanava sailed.

The 71,821 gt, 72,370 dwt YM Modesty carries 6258 TEU. Built in 2013 by Koyo Dockyard, Mihara, the ship is on long term charter through Zodiac Maritime to Yang Ming Line.

Two other departures were noted. HC Svea Kim completed unloading its cargo of rails for CN in good time and was able to sail this morning. (See October 27 arrival).

and the tanker Elka Eleftheria sailed from Irving Oil and headed back to Amsterdam. (see October 31 arrival).

With tonight's shift from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time, photographing late afternoon arrivals and departures has likely come to an end until February. Despite more light early in the morning, photos at that hour will continue to be difficult due to the sun position. Shooting directly into the sun is a challenge!

.

Worth a Wait

I've never been one to adhere to the old adage about all good things coming to those who wait. However I did wait it out today in hopes of getting a sunny photo of a first time caller, Grande Senegal Although the pilot was called for 1630 and the tug Atlantic Bear was alongside, the ship was not ready to call for clearance until 1740 and then did not get away from Cerescorp, Fairview Cove until 1915. There were some sunny breaks in the interval, but it was down to glimmers when the ship actually hove into view.

Owned by Grimaldi Lines, parent company of Atlantic Container Lines, the ConRo is here as a substitute for ACL's Atlantic Sail which had to go into drydock in Hamburg April 10. It is still there.

Fortunately Grimaldi was able to find another ship in its stable to take over for at least one round trip. Grande Senegal was built in 2010 by Uljanik Shipyard in Pula, Croatia and is one of fifteen similar ships in the Grimaldi fleet, and two of its class, at 47,218 gt, 26,653 dwt with a capacity of 800 TEU and 2500 CEU.  While nowhere near the giant size of the ACL G5s, it certainly takes some of the weight off the line which relies on five ships to meet a weekly transatlantic schedule. This ship's next port is given as Baltimore, so apparently ACL is skipping New York entirely on this voyage.

Another Grimaldi ConRo, Grande America has been in European news for several weeks after it caught fire and sank in the Bay of Biscay March 12. A large oil slick resulted, but seepage has now been halted by sending down an ROV to seal vents. The wreck is intact and upright on the sea bottom, 15,000 ft down. It carried 365 containers, of which 70 carried hazardous cargo, and 2,000 cars, many of which were luxury models.
Porsche went to the extent of re-activating a closed production line to replace four 911 GT2 RS models that were included in those lost. Thier Brazialian owners will be overjoyed I am sure.

I did get one photo when the sun peeked out, as Atlantic Condor moved from pier 9B to Bedford Basin for a short trial period.

The supplier is one of two Atlantic Towing vessels servicing the Deep Panuke gas installation off Nova Scotia. Both Atlantic Condor and the smaller Atlantic Tern have been drydocked this spring in St.John's forcing the partner vessel to spend almost three weeks at sea, since one vessels stands by the facility at all times, while the other shuttles back and forth with supplies. 

The Encana owned Deep Panuke gas field ceased production last year and is in the decommissioning stage, which will last until 2021 when all four production wells and one injection well are capped, and production trees and topsides structures are removed.
For whatever reason government regulators allowed the pipeline to shore to be abandons in place. It is to be purged and opened and filled with seawater.

.

Offshore update

With both of Nova Scotia's offshore gas installations shut down, there is till activity, but at a much reduced level. Both Sable Offshore Energy (Exxon / Mobil) and Deep Panuke (Encana) are in the process of decommissioning and eventual abandonment and removal over the next two years.

Encana's short lived project, that only began production in 2013 was expected to have a 13 year production life. On the strength of that they entered into a ten year renewable contract with Atlantic Towing Ltd to provide the Offshore Supply Vessel Atlantic Condor. The four well field encountered significant quantities of water and with the drop in gas prices the project became unfeasible, and after several seasonal stops and starts, production halted permanently in May 2018.


The Atlantic Condor was built at Halifax Shipyard to the UT 755 LN design and launched October 31, 2010 (a day later than planned due to high winds.) It went into service in 2011 and has worked steadily in and out of Halifax on the 250 km run to the Deep Panuke site.

Atlantic Condor just reaching the Ives Knoll buoy outbound for St.John's.

On February 22 it made one of its rare departures from Halifax for another destination, and that was St.John's, NL where it has been drydocked.

Today's offshore vessel arrival was certainly a bit out of the ordinary. Rather than one of the local suppliers, this was a United States flagged ship, HOS Renaissance. H.O.S stands for Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC, headquartered in Covington, LA (suburban New Orleans.) The company has a fleet of about eighty vessels of several classes. However at year end 38 of these boats were stacked. Therefore the fleet is seeking work no matter where it can be found.

 HOS Renaissance carries an accumulation of white stuff from passing through last night's heavy snow fall. 

HOS Renaissance is a supplier of the HOS MAX 300 class and was built In 2013 by Eastern Shipbuilding Corp in Panama City, FL. The 3911 gt, 5494 dwt ship has the open deck space for various types of cargo and tanks for liquid muds and other commodities. It is powered by four Caterpillar engines of 7200 kW and through electric motors drive two Schottel Z-drives for 6700 hp. It also has two fixed pitch tunnel thrusters, also of Schottel manufacture.

Far from its Gulf of Mexico base, the ship has probably never been exposed to snow or freezing conditions before.

The ship departed Port Fourchon, LA February 21, and tied up at pier 9C. A sister vessel, HOS Red Dawn arrived in here in September 2017 and was fitted out for cable transport. It then sailed for Portsmouth, NH to load. I expect HOS Renaissance to follow the same routine.

.

Orange and Red

The tanker Torm Carina arrived Friday from Ijmuiden, Netherlands (sea lock for Amsterdam) with another load of refined product for Irving Oil. A 30,024 grt, 46,291 dwt tanker, built by STX Shipbuilding Co, Jinhae, South Korea in 2003 it was originally named Guld Falk for the Italian d'Amico company. In 2005 it was sold to Torm A/S of Denmark, renamed and painted in their distinctive orange colour scheme.

 
Although tied up at Irving Oil's Woodside dock, neighbouring Imperial Oil's tanks are visible in the background, complete with Imperial's new corporate badge. The familiar Esso oval is gone or going.

In Bedford Basin the heavy load carrier Forte is anchored awaiting its next assignment. It delivered the jack-up rig Noble Regina Allen November 7 and remained in number 1 anchorage in the lower harbour until November 15 when it moved to long term anchorage. Specialized ships such as this one often are often idle for extended periods between gigs.

Also in Bedford Basin the supplier Atlantic Condor was just completing some exercises with its fast rescue craft.

 Halifax Shipyard built the vessel in 2010 for a ten year contract with Encana to support the Deep Panuke gas project. With that project under performing (and in fact not producing at all according to recent reports), Encana is looking for contractors to begin dismantling the topsides structures.

 
And at the Bedford Institute, CCGS Hudson is back at its old stand. It arrived November 13 from Hamilton, ON where it was in refit. That refit was supposed to be complete last spring, but as time went on the Coast Guard became concerned that the ship would be trapped on the Lakes when the Seaway closes for the winter at the end of the year. They then took the unusual step of  re-possessing the ship from the Heddle Marine Shipyard. After couple of weeks alongside the CCG base in Hamilton the ship was able to sail November 8 and made a bee-line for home.

The Coast Guard has not revealed what work remains to be done on the ship and when it will return to service. The extended refit meant that many planned research programs had to be postponed, cancelled or transferred to other ships.

.