Halifax - a nuclear port

 With the war clouds roiling in Europe, the population of Halifax cannot help but be reminded of the Port of Halifax's role in wartime. Halifax was founded in 1749 as a counter to the fortress of Louisbourg, and has been used by naval vessels ever since. It has also played an important role in merchant shipping during every major conflict ever since. The population has paid the price in various ways but has also benefited, with the military, defense based industries and HMC Dockyard as the major employers in the City.

As a member of NATO, Canada contributes ships to standing forces and participates in exercises with other NATO countries, most notably the United States. For the past few weeks, the next ship to be assigned to NATO in the Mediterranean has been working up off Halifax. HMCS Halifax put into port today (March 8) and anchored in the lower harbour.

 It was announced in late February that the ship will be sent to Europe in direct response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sister ship HMCS Fredericton Montreal sailed from Halifax January 19 for a six month deployment with NATO.
 

Halifax has seen very few United States warships recently, there was a very significant US Navy arrival today. (March 6).

An as yet to be identified US submarine arrived at noon time and tied up at Navy Jetty Alpha.

 Accompanied by four navy tugs and a fleet diving unit boat, the sub made its way to the Shearwater pier. All US submarines are nuclear powered, and they always tie up at Shearwater rather than at HMC Dockyard itself, which is in the centre of town.

As if we need more reminders of the nuclear age, the cargo ship CLI Pride made one of its seasonal calls in Halifax, arriving yesterday and sailing today. I have covered this ship many times in the past see: CLI Pride references

 We usually only see the ship in winter when it avoids the St.Lawrence River with its cargoes of uranium hexaflouride. This year however the ship did make its January trip to the St.Lawrence as there was not much ice. The ship is owned by Compass Schiffahrts and operated by SMS Bereederung of Haren (Ems), Germany.As with many German ships its flies the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

On this trip the ship loaded in Ellesmere Port (near Liverpool UK), site of a large nuclear power plant called the Ince Power Station. Spent uranium from European reactors is sent to Canada for reprocessing to make it viable for long term storage or to be prepared for re-enrichment. Canada also exports uranium hexaflouride. As usual Wikipedia provides a potted story about the material see: Hex

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No 3 in 1

Getting a photo of two ships underway in the same frame is not particularly difficult in Halifax, if one is in the right place at the right time. Getting three in one is rare enough that it is worth a try. Today's possibility could have been done with a drone, or being positioned in a high building, but I had neither of those advantages and had to make do with a "twofer".

The autocarrier Columbia Highway was due to sail at 1530 hrs ADT. The ConRo Oceanex Sanderling was to take its place at Autoport in a move from PSA Halifax at 1630. While this was going on the small container ship CLI Pride was due to sail from Cerescorp / Fairview Cove at 1600.

In order to provide each ship with room to work, Oceanex Sanderling opted to come off the berth at pier 41, turn, and work its way west of George's Island and fall in behind the outbound CLI Pride at a location north of George's Island. Meanwhile Columbia Highway would be able to exit Eastern Passage, sailing south of George's Island with lots of sea room, remaining ahead of CLI Pride.

The following is a sequence of photos, all taken from the Tall Ship's Quay, the closest vantage point to my home.

CLI Pride works its way outbound, heading east of George's Island, as the duty pilot boat Capt. E.T.Rogers heads out west of the island.

Oceanex Sanderling has cleared berth 41 and is headed northward.

Columbia Highway has rounded Indian Point and is halfway to Ives Knoll.

Columbia Highway dates from 2008 when it was built by Imabari, Marugame. With measurements of 59,493 gt, 18,930 dwt, it has a capacity of 6,237 cars. So far it has not been repainted in K-Line's new super graphic paint scheme.

Just to prove that Oceanex Sanderling did indeed pass west of George's Island the iconic George's Island light house shot is mandatory.

Speaking of George's Island, there has been much activity of late rebuilding the pier in preparation for a public opening this summer. The former cable ferry LaHave 2 , now with spuds installed, is the work platform for reconstructing the pier, along with a couple of sectional scows.

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CLI Winter Season

Now that the St.Lawrence Seaway is closed for the winter Compass Logistics International (CLI) will once again be calling in Halifax for a few months, with their ship CLI Pride. (In December the ship unloaded at Valleyfield, QC and Johnstown, ON.)

CLI Pride rounds Seaview Point heading out of Bedford Basin bound for Rotterdam.

As I have observed before, it is among the smallest ships to maintain a regular transatlantic schedule year round. However as a specialized carrier, it has a built-in demand for service. Compass Logistics and its Canadian partner company RSB Logistic Inc specialize in transporting nuclear materials. They have their own dedicated truck fleet also, based in Saskatoon.

The ship was built in 2011 as Brielle by Dongfang Shipbuilding Group in Yueqing, China. Measuring 7138 gt and 7950 dwt, it carries a pair of 30 tonne cranes.

In 2014 owners Schepers Ocean Transport placed the ship under Briese management and the ship was renamed BBC Luanda. Compass Schiffahrts acquired and renamed the ship in 2018. it remains under Briese management however.

Its primary cargo is uranium hexafloride, which has been handled in Halifax for many years, previously by Briese and before that by Atlantic RoRo.

Unloading radioactive casks January 28, 2016.

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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.

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Friday Arrivals

Friday can be a busy day in the port as ships try to get in an out before the weekend. Today was not exactly bustling, but among the arrivals were two ships of interest.

CLI Pride is back again. This is its third transatlantic trip in three months. January 7, February 6 and March 8 is an enviable record, particularly in the dead of winter. While I have not yet been able to determine what cargo the ship is carrying, it has been tying up at Fairview Cove, and sailing in a matter of hours.
On its first trip it arrived from Rotterdam, but on the second and third it arrived from Liverpool.
 

A small ship of 7138 grt, and lightly loaded, it must be a gruelling experience for its crew. After a few calm hours in port, it is back off to sea again.

Following closely behind was the tanker SCF Angara, It arrived from Baton Rouge, LA for Imperial Oil.

A 29,967 grt, 50,956 dwt ice class product tanker, it was built in 2008 by STX Shipbuilding Co in Jinhae, South Korea. Originally Prisco Ekaterina it was acquired by current owners SCF and renamed in 2016. SCF is Sovcomflot, the big Russian shipping company, primarily tanker owners. Their current fleet consists of 123 tankers (product, shuttle and crude) and 16 gas carriers (both LNG and LPG). Of these, 8 are under construction. The company also operates 42 offshore vessels (supply and seismic) and two bulk  carriers.
SCF are proponents of gas fueled ships and are in the forefront of developing this as a means of compliance with more stringent emission regulations.

Among the regular Friday callers is Oceanex Sanderling. Owners Oceanex are reporting a significant drop in traffic, reflecting a shrinking economy. A 15% drop in automobile shipments (largely new cars) and a 10% drop in regular freight after two years of stable volumes. Oceanex is not alone in this trend. Its main competitor, the subsidized Marine Atlantic reports 4.2% less passenger and commercial traffic.

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Ice Point, CLI Pride, and some harbour craft

The tanker Ice Point completed unloading at Nova Scotia Power, Tuft's Cove and sailed at noon time. [See earlier Shipfax post for more detail]

Ice Point in ballast heading for the St.Lawrence River.

The ship is headed for Lévis, QC. By coincidence its 2008 built sister ship Iron Point sailed from Lévis this morning, headed for Boston. The two ships will pass somewhere in the Gulf of St.Lawrence.

One feature of the Tuft's Cove terminal is that ships secure to mooring buoys and use line boats to take the head and stern lines to the buoys. (This is not unique in Halifax - the docks at Autoport and Irving Oil Woodside also require line boats.)

Boats from Connors Diving Services Ltd do the line boat duties for Nova Scotia Power, and their veteran work boat tender Divecom III does the honours, along with a smaller outboard. It also deploys the oil boom around the ship during unloading.

Divecom III heads back to base at the Armdale Yacht Club on the Northwest Arm.

Divecom III was built of wood in 1984 by Roy M. Doucette at Cape St.Mary, NS. That company has since switched to fibreglass and moved to nearby Yarmouth, NS. Present day boats are much larger and beamier - this one is a traditional style.

Connors Diving has other watercraft and by coincidence one of them passed my vantage point a few minutes later. Eastcom is a much newer vessel, dating from 2010 when it was constructed, of fibreglass, by Millennium Marine Inc of Escuminac, NB.

Eastcom returns to its base at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

It offered an opportunity to compare the favoured hull shapes from southwestern Nova Scotia  to those on the Northumberland Strait. 

Eastcom is in almost daily use in the harbour with various diving operations and rescue training. It also heads out to rendez-vous with ships off Halifax with charts, part and sometimes ice advisors.

Also sailing at noon time was a CLI Pride after a very short stay in Halifax. The ship only arrived this morning at Fairview Cove.

This is the ship's second call in Halifax in a month. Its last was January 7 [ see Shipfax post for more details ] when it arrived from Rotterdam. It sailed the same day, directly back to Rotterdam and returned to Halifax. It makes one wonder why they didn't use a larger ship and save a trip!

On departure the ship gave Liverpool, UK as its next port.

 

Break Bulk - and a throw back.

Non-containerized cargo at Port of Halifax facilities has been dropping steadily over the past several years, and is down to about 370,000 tonnes - below 2013 levels. [Cargo handled by National Gypsum, the oil terminals and Autoport are not included in that number.]

Therefore it was most unusual to see four non-container ships working at Port of Halifax piers today.

From  north to south:

CLI Pride carries a pair of 60 tonne cranes, and a large yellow spreader stowed forward athwartships.

CLI Pride was tucked in at Fairview Cove, and must have discharged its project cargo quickly. The 7138gt, 7821 dwt ship dates from 2011 when it was built by Dongfang Shipbuilding Group in Yueqing, China as Brielle. It became BBC Luanda in 2014 and took its present name in August last.
The ship arrived off Halifax Sunday from Rotterdam, and is returning to the same port. I am not envious of the return trip across the Atlantic in ballast in a relatively small ship.
The ship was in  Montreal as recently as the end of October. It was also on the Great Lakes in July under its previous name.

Crew members check the lashings on a pleasure craft stowed in its cradle on deck.

 It took an extra wide angle lens to squeeze Danzigergracht into one photo at Pier 9 c. As with many Spliethoff ships it has several pleasure craft on deck as part of their regular yacht delivery service from Europe to the Caribbean. However that was not the reason for the ship's call here. To the bottom right of the photo are the tips of three wind turbine blades that the ship offloaded this morning.
They would have been carried below deck and are as long as the space between the middle crane and the ship's bridge.
Built in 2009 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, China, the 13,558 gt, 18,143 dwt ship has three 120 tonne capacity cranes and is specialized for heavy lift and project cargoes, but can also carry sensitive cargoes such as paper products.

Work continues on Thorco Liva at Pier 9c.

Although not carrying cargo, work continues in the holds of Thorco Liva. If its past visits to Halifax in 2016 -2017 are any indication, it is related to carrying fibreoptic cable. It is also multi-purpose ship, capable of heavy lifting. It was built in 2012 by Honda Heavy Industries in Saiki, Japan, rated at 13,110 gt, 16,901 dwt and fitted with a pair of 50 tonne cranes.

And at pier 27 there is another ship of the same type. Regrettably no photos are possible, but Onego Rio  is a 7576 grt, 10,300 dwt ship built in 2003 by Damen Okean in Mykolayiv, Ukraine. It carries a pair of 80 tonne capacity cranes, which it is using to discharge a cargo of rails for CN.

Throwback
The recent news about the Yantian Express* fire noted that the ship Happy Ranger was standing by the to assist if needed. When the tug Smit Nicobar arrived,  Happy Ranger was relieved, and continued its journey from Abidjan, Ivory Coast to Trois-Rivières, QC. 

The ship visited Halifax only twice as far as I can recall, and on its first visit it loaded a very unusual cargo.

As part of the development of the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP), the accommodation structures for the Thebaud field were fabricated in Dartmouth and Halifax. The ship used its 400 tonne cranes to load the blocks. They were then taken to Teeside, UK where they were mounted on the bases, then transported back to the Thebaud field for installation. 

Now twenty years after the first gas flowed, the project is being decommissioned, the structures will be removed and taken to Europe to be scrapped.

The ship was built by Schelde SNB, Flushing in 1998 and measures 10,990 gt, 12,950 dwt. Owner Mammoet is a division of Spliethoff's.


* Footnote
I am irritated by "the media's" continual mis-pronunciation of the name Yantian Express. Named for a city in China, the spelling should accurately indicate how it is to be pronounced. It is not "yan-TAIN" please! 

Just to give a sense of why HAPAG-Lloyd named a ship after Yantian - the Yantian International Container Terminals has an 8km long waterfront, equipped with 70 container cranes and had a throughput of 78.3mn TEU in 2013. (Halifax will likely squeak past 500,000 TEU again for 2018).

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