More Saturday

With gloomy weather and snow showers in the forecast I thought my early morning shot of Monte Toledo might be it for the day, but conditions improved somewhat allowing for a few more photos.

Over at Autoport it was more business as usual with Morning Cindy in port all day. The Panama flag ship owned by Excel Marine of Fukuoka, Japan arrived from Bremerhaven in the early hours of the morning. Sailing for the Eukor fleet (EURope-KORea) The 59,432 grt, 18,954 dwt ship was built in 2012 by Imabari Shipbuilding's Marugame shipyard in Japan.

It is low tide in Eastern Passage but Morning Cindy is immune thanks to the design of the pier, which allows ship's ramps to remain operational in all states of the tide.

Autoport is once again stuffed full of cars, with Greeen Cove anchored off awaiting her turn tomorrow.

Across on the Halifax side, it was (nearly) all systems go at Halterm, with Maersk Penang at pier 42 and the CMA CGM Cendrillon arriving for pier 41. Oceanex Sanderling was back at pier 36, ballasted down by the stern again - probably to complete bow repairs from ice damage.

Tugs Atlantic Oak and Spitfire III take CMA Cendrillon in hand south of George's Island and turn it to back into the pier.

The 90,931 grt, 109,021 dwt ship, with a capacity of 8465 TEU was bilt by Samsung in 2009. Jusrt a coincidence, but Cendrillon translates as Cinderella in English - no relation to the Cindy at Autoport.

At pier 31 the Pure Car and Truck cxarrier Tosca was finishing off discharging non-car RoRo cargo. It had unloaded its cars yesterday at Autport.

Fairview Cove was all out too, with Atlantic Star and NYK Daedalus sailing early and Itea arriving late afternoon.

 Atlantic Oak moves Itea toward the Fairview Cove pier.

Itea has been calling for ACL since last July. The 39,582 grt, 48,304 dwt ship with a capacity of 3842 TEU is operated by Costamare under Liberian flag.  Built in 1998 by Hyundai, Ulsan, as Bunga Raya Satu, the ship was renamed KY Parissia in 2012 and MSC Itea in 2014. It was renamed Itea in 2016.

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Masterpiece of timing

Halifax pilots performed a masterpiece of tining today -as they often do - when three container ships departed and one arrived within an short span of time.

First out was NYK Diana from Fairview Cove. Its pilot timed the outbound route to meet the incoming CMA CGM Cendrillon after the inbound had picked up its pilot.

Next off was Aeneas (sailing for Zim) which took the western channel to give CMA CGM Cendrillon lots of room.

Then the Zim Tarragona sailed, also taking the western channel as CMA CGM Cendrillon kept well to the east in the main channel, and would then tie up at the same berth - pier 41 at Halterm.

All this was also done with two tugs working from one ship to the other in turn from Aeneas to Zim Tarronga to CMA Cendrillon without any apparent delays.

18:44 hrs: On the right, NYK Diana is outbound. At centre, Aeneas in the western channel outbound and at left, CMA CGM Cendrillon inbound in the main channel.

1847 hrs: Aneas (left) has made the 90 degree course change off Ferguson's Cove heading back toward the main channel as NYK Diana (right) bears toward the pilot station.

 1850 hrs: Zim Tarragona has worked its way off pier 41 and its tugs have moved on to the inbound CMA CGM Cendrillon.

1859 hrs: CMA CGM Cendrillon  makes its way, with tugs alongside, toward pier 41.

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CMA CGM Cendrillon

Finally a break in the weather - which has been stormy, rainy or just plain dark for the better part of the week and most ship movements have been taking place early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Today's first time caller was CMA CGM Cendrillon on the Columbus Loop service. As with all the ships in this rotation its name is associated with French musical theater. Cendrillon (Cinderella) is the subject of numerous tales in many languages and several operas, notably that by Jules Massenet.

CMA CGM Cendrillon was built in 2009 by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industry, Koje, South Korea. Its capacity is 8465 TEU including 700 reefers and it measures 90,931 grt, 109,021 dwt. Although owned by a French copmany flies the British flag.

Cendrillon or Cinderalla is a more fanciful name than most, but it has also been associated with Halifax before, since it was carried by a second generation Atlantic Container Line ship.

Atlantic Cinderella was built in 1970 by Ateleier et Chantier de Dunkerque et Bordeaux (France-Gironde) in Dunkirk, France. At 15,437 grt, 18,154 dwt, and with a capacity of 738 TEU it would be a pipsqueak by today's standards, but was a big and impressive ship at the time. Its massive Stal Laval propulsion system consisted of four steam turbines producing 35,000 shaft horsepower for 24 knots.

The ship's owner was Wallenius Rederierna of Sweden, one of the original ACL partners, which still names its ships after operatic characters.

After less than 15 years in service it was laid up in Jacksonville FL in December 1984, and was towed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, arriving January 19, 1986 for breaking up.

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