Big Ship Day

 It was a big day for ships or put another way it was a day for big ships. 

The first arrival was Algoma Integrity to take on a load of gypsum from Gold Bond. 

Algoma Integrity loading at Wright's Cove in Bedford Basin.

At 33,047 gt, 47,761 dwt, the self-unloader is a regular caller. The former Gypsum Integrity was acquired and renamed by Algoma in 2015 after a brief career with U.S. Gypsum's Fundy Gypsum fleet. It was built in 2009 by EISA-Ilha in Rio de Janeiro to serve Hantsport, NS and Little Narrows, NS, but was redeployed, then sold, when the parent  company shut down its Nova Scotia operations.

Next along was a most unusual caller. The Marshal Islands flag crude oil tanker Elli arrived at Pier 9C. It first went to Bedford Basin where it was turned by tugs then tied up at Pier 9C, with its bow facing seaward.

The ship was met at Pier 9C by a pair of fuel tankers, operated by the J.D.Irving trucking company RST Transport. 

( The large grey objects are fenders which are used along the pier faces for cruise ships. They are unlikely to be deployed this year.)

New Times Shipbuilding Co of Jingjiang, China, built the ship in 2010 as United Fortitude. It took its present name in 2018 when Halkidon Shipping Corp of Piraeus, Greece took over. The ship figures to be 62,775 gt, 112,719 dwt.

Elli arrived from Point Tupper, NS where it off loaded a cargo to Nu-Star's terminal.Canaport, Saint John, NB . Once it had refueled it sailed for sea for tank cleaning, then will be headed for Sorel-Tracy, QC .

In ballast Elli was an impressive sight in the Narrows.*

Sprague Energy operates the Kildair Services ULC facility in Sorel-Tracy, where they store and export diluted bitumen crude for Suncor. That crude comes from Alberta by rail. In 2013 the federal government permitted ships wider than 32 meters on that portion of the St.Lawrence River, but they still restrict draft. Tankers loading at Kildair are known to top up at other facilities once they get to deep water.

When Elli sailed, the ConRo Atlantic Sky was inbound, and a passing plan was arranged whereby Elli would pass west of George's Island and Atlantic Sky would pass to the east, leaving each vessel lots of room.

At 100,430 gt, 55,828 dwt, the ACL G4 ships are the largest by dimension to transit the Narrows on a regular basis., but not the largest in terms in terms of container capacity.

Among the other ships in Halifax today is Energy Progress arriving from Port Neches, TX (Beaumont-Port Arthur) for Imperial Oil. Most ships arriving for Imperial lately have been from Antwerp, in part because of the disruption to refining caused by severe winter weather in the southern US.

Tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Fir push the ship alongside Imperial Oil #3 dock.**

A fairly typical MR tanker of 29,605 gt, 46,606 dwt, it was built in 2008 by the lesser known Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering of Tongyeong, South Korea. Unusual also is that it is registered in Douglas, Isle of Man. 

Operators Golden Energy Management are based in Athens, Greece.

The other sizable ship to call in Halifax today was the container vessel Bilbao Bridge, which, at 46,944 gt, 59,623 dwt would be considered medium sized to small these days, with a capacity of 4526 TEU.

Such is the demand for container ships these days, there is little talk of inefficiency in sips of this size. It was built by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industry in Koje, South Korea in 2011. It is on charter to K-Line from Seaspan Corp. (K-Line's container operations are now part of Ocean Network Express ONE).

Footnotes:

I rarely mention the fact that I like to include wild life in my photos if possible, without distracting from the main subject. Halifax harbour and its shores are home to many species of birds - some seasonal - and mammals such as seals, occasional whales and squirrels. I feel fortunate when I am able to include one of these creatures, since they are rarely willing to sit still:

Today I was able to include birds on two occasions.

* - (dead centre bottom) - a starling (year round residents)

** - (bottom left and bottom right) - common eiders (seasonal)

Sometimes of course I see an animal when there is no ship in sight and I am forced to take a solo photo. Recently I spotted two birds that are usually hard to get:  this thick billed murre, a fairly rare sight in my experience.

Red breasted mergansers usually dive out of sight before I can get a picture:

Some readers noted the squirrel in a post a while back: 2021-02-04

I have no intention of making this a nature photo blog, so will refrain from noting animal life in future unless it is particularly noteworthy.

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End of the Line

THE Alliance announced in September that their AL6 service would stop calling in Halifax in December, and with today's arrival of Bilbao Bridge that has now happened.  The cut was originally to stop in the spring but the operators recanted in February, however at only about 200 boxes a week according to some sources, the Halifax stop was not profitable. The service operated jointly with THE Alliance members  Japanese consortium ONE, HAPAG-Lloyd and Yan Ming with ZIM, has now taken on CMA CGM and COSCO / OOCL. The previous port rotation of Salerno, Livorno, Genoa, Marseiile/Fos, Halifax, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Salerno will change to La Spezia, Genoa, Fos, Barcelona, Valencia, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Miami, Algeciras, La Spezia.

A truck carrying a UASC container crosses the MacKay bridge as Bilbao Bridge heads for sea on what is likely its last visit to Halifax. The container may have arrived earlier today on the same ship.

(UASC is now part of HAPG-Lloyd)

THE Alliance's AL7 service, actually operated by ZIM will now carry the former AL6 traffic to Halifax in a slot charter arrangement. However those ships will call at Halterm, rather than Cerescorp in Fairview Cove as the AL6 did.

The AL6 was operated originally with K-Line ships. Although those ships have now been merged into ONE (Ocean Network Express) the ships retain their K-Line identity. They are owned by Washington Group's Seaspan International on long term charter. All were built by the Samsung in Koje in 2011, 2012 and are 4526 TEU ships.    Berlin Bridge, Bilbao Bridge, Brotonne Bridge, Brevik Bridge and Budapest Bridge will be reassigned to other services within THE Alliance.

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THE Alliance - new to us

As THE Alliance swings into action, its new shipping roster continues to bring ships to Halifax for the first time.
Today there were two "new to us" ships at Fairview Cove.
Bilbao Bridge arrived early in the morning and sailed just at sunset.

The tug Spitfire III waits to put a line up on Bilbao Bridge as the last of the sun strikes the ship about 2004 hrs this evening.

 The ship is one of several K-Line ships that will be maintaining the Transatlantic route for THE Alliance. It is rather lightly loaded, but that is the nature of a new scheduled transatlantic service, as it builds its customer base. One thing of note  was the large number of UASC (United Arab Shipping Company) boxes on deck. UASC has been acquired by HAPAG-Lloyd, on the THE Alliance members.

Built in  2011 by Samsung SB+HI , Koje, the 46,444 grt, 58,200 dwt ship has a capacity of 4526 TEU. It is owned by Seaspan, the international ship financing arm of the Washington Group, based in Vancouver.

Arriving mid-day was the Malleco a member of the Peter Doehle fleet of Hamburg. The 75,752 grt, 60,400 dwt ships was built in 2009 by China Shipbuilding in Kaohsiung. With a capacity of 6589 TEU (including 1162 reefers) the ship flies the flag of Madeira, a Portuguese offshore registry.

 Despite its size, the ship seemed to navigate the Narrows with ease, and tethered escort Atlantic Oak did not have to work to hard to keep the ship in line.
 
A sister ship Maule has been a frequent caller for the old G6 Alliance. 

Wit the addition of these new ships, one wonders how much longer old G6 Alliance ships will continue to call.

The May 8 arrival of OOCL Kuala Lumpur may be the last we see of OOCL ships until a new alliance comes along.

Also among today's arrivals was the Adriatic Highway, which is now monthly caller trying to keep up with the demand for new automobiles in North America.

 Adriatic Highway enters port after a period at anchor offshore. Also anchored outside is the general cargo ship Thorco Luna which has been there for a week or more. It is due to enter port Monday, probably to load undersea cable drums.

Low financing rates and digressive German export policies has put such cars as Mercedes, BMW and Audi within reach of more Canadians.