CMA CGM (again) at Halterm

The Columbus JAX service was initially named for its connection between Jakarta, Indonesia and Los Angeles, but it is virtually a round the world operation using 18 ships on a 118 day rotation, thereby making weekly calls at a bewildering array of ports.

Starting from Hong Kong, it calls in Vung Tau, Singapore, Port Klang, Colombo, Halifax, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, Port Klang, Singapore, Jakarta, Laem Chebang, Ving Tau, Los Angeles, Oakland and Hong Kong.

CMA CGM is the operator of the service, but as part the Ocean Alliance, there are three other partners:
APL, which is owned by CMA CGM,  OOCL, which is owned by COSCO, and Evergreen.
COSCO/OOCL calls their share SEAP (South Est Asia Pendulum) and Evergreen calls theirs PE 1

The line's Halifax calls, usually on Saturday have been adjusted recently when a new ship was inserted in the rotation and all the other ships were moved one week later. This has caused some irregularity in arrival times. There was no call Easter weekend. That meant one ship called on Friday-Saturday (CMA CGM Ivanhoe) last week-end and another yesterday and today (CMA CGM Fidelio).

At 349 meters long, it is hard to get a sidelong view of the ship without resorting to a wide angle lens. After its first North American call, the ship is still well loaded.

Although not giant ships, they are certainly big at 9415 TEU and take a long time to work with Halterm's current facilities where sometimes only two cranes are available if other ships are in port at the same time. Having two of these ships in such a short spell also puts pressure on the storage areas and rail service.

The situation will only become worse if larger ships are added.

The great advantage to Halifax (and Canada) is that we are the first port of call from Asia thus expediting imports to Canada. A lot of the cargo that comes off these ships is destined to the US mid-west too, and Canada effectively "piggy backs" on that traffic.

 Dredging continues off the south end of pier 42, as CGA CGM Fidelio gets underway. The scale of these largish ships gives an idea of how much longer the pier will have to be to host two at a time.
 
Halterm expansion is certainly on the front burner, and current operators Macquarie Infrastructure Partners have apparently finalized a sale to an as yet unidentified buyer, but believed to be PSA International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the PSA Corporation. Formed in 1997 when the Port of Singapore Authority was privatized, the company has interests in many lines of business including tug operations and ships, but is primarily known as a leading terminal operator. (The parent of PSAI, Temasek, were the previous owners of APL's parent NOL - see above)

Mcquarie on the other hand is also an important terminal operator. Coincident with the sale of Halterm they have announced the acquisition of the former OOCL Long Beach container terminal for a cool $1.87 bn (US). US authorities required OOCL divest the terminal as part of approval process for the takeover by COSCO.

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Something old, something new

It was a bit of a mixed bag today, but given the bright sun it was hard not to take photos of everything.

At Halterm (we are supposed to say South End Container Terminal, since Halterm is the operating entity only)  CMA CGM Fidelio was quite late in getting away. It was scheduled to leave at 0400 hrs, but did not sail until 1130 hrs from pier 41.

CMA CGM Fidelio outbound as seen from the aptly named Black Rock Beach.

Pier 42 was already occupied by the early morning arrival RHL Agilitas for Zim.

Pier 41 was soon occupied again by JPO Aries arriving for the first time for Melfi Lines on its Voyage 001, replacing Jona. It is German owned by the J-P Oltmann Group and has sailed under several names since built by Aker Werft, Wismar in 2001. Built as JPO Aries it was renamed in the same year as TCL Challenger, and in 2002 became Trade Rainbow and in 2005 MOL Dream. It kept that name until 2012 when it reverted to JPO Aries.

 

JPO Aries takes its tug to assist in turning off Halterm.

The ship has a capacity of 2470 TEU, including 400 reefers, and carries three 45 tonne cranes. Melfi charters are continually increasing in size and this one measures 25,361 grt, 33,937 dwt.

With all Halterm berths full (Nolhan Ava occupied pier 36) Oceanex Sandelring remained at anchor after unloading and loading at Autoport.  It is not often that the ship is seen idle, as it keeps up its busy weekly run to and from St.John's.

 

Still looking good after all these years: Oceanex Sanderling is not often idle.

A veteran ship, built in 1977, it is apparently ideal for the  St.John's service, carrying container and RoRo cargoes. In addition to cars, most of which are worked through Autoport, it carries numerous truck trailers with a variety of freight to and from Newfoundland. It is also one of the few ships that caries 53 ft container to sea. Although it has been refitted many times, it must inevitably be replaced.


There has been speculation over the years that one of the Stena Lines ships might make a good replacement. In fact two of those ships have been used while Oceanex Sanderling and Oceanex Connaigra were in refit. Both Stean Foreteller and Stena Carrier appeared to be suitable.

The sleek Stena Foreteller was called in to substitute for Oceanex Sanderling during a refit period.

However Stena Lines has found a ready buyer for one ship of the same class in Blue Origin, a US company that transports rockets and launcher components to Port Canaveral. Earlier this year Stena Carrier was sold to Baja Ferries and renamed Mexico Star. In November Stena Foreteller and Stena Freighter were also sold, but the new buyers have not been disclosed yet.

Stena Lines have been the suppliers of numerous ships to Oceanex's prime competitor Marine Atlantic. Another deep background feature on Canadian Stena ships is upcoming in the next few days.

Also at anchor awaiting a berth at Imperial Oil, Algonorth is back again on its second trip of what may become a routine shuttle from Montreal.

Algonorth looks spectacular in its inherited red paint. Some frozen spray forward blends in with the white painted deck. Someday the ship will be painted in Algoma Tankers standard colours of deep blue hull and cream superstructure.

Algoma Tankers only recently acquired the ship from Swedish owners. See Shipfax new-for-algoma

With two ships at anchor the pilot on the next inbound opted to pass west of George's Island, giving an opportunity for a close up Brotonne Bridge.

The tug Atlantic Oak takes up position astern as Brotonne Bridge heads inbound west of George's Island in late afternoon sun.
 

 

Despite my pronouncement December 10: end-of-line , the AL6 service did not end on that day. No further sailings were shown on port schedules at that time, so this may or may not be the last call either. THE Alliance announced September 27 that the service would end in December, so it is possible that one more ship may show up next week.

Another new-to-Halifax autocarrier showed up later in the afternoon. The oddly named Morning Conductor carriers the EUKOR [EUrope KORea] banner of its commercial managers on its side, but its technical management is by Wilhlemsen Ship Management Korea Ltd. Current owners are listed as the opaquely named MP-PAN SA, which list three Japanese diectors and the usual Panamanian non-entities as "suscriptors" in its Panamanian registration documents. They appear to be associated with SBI Leasing Services Co Ltd, a Tokyo based financing and leaseback company that caters to the shipping industry.*

Two tugs make up to the Morning Conductor to help it make the turn toward Eastern Passage and Autoport, catching the last rays of afternoon sun.

Morning Conductor was built by Hyundai Samho, Mokpo in 2008. The 57,542 grt, 21,091 dwt ship has a capacity of 6,645 cars.

*As you may have noted I have become more descriptive of the actual owners of ships in recent posts - if I can determine who they are. Thanks to the so-called Panama papers and other sources, more information is now available as to the actual or beneficial owners of ships. 

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Return of the Prodigal Sun

After yesterday's wintry conditions, it was a return to sunny conditions and better photos today.

The tanker Arctos arrived during all that snow yesterday.

But looked a little clearer today tied up at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal unloading its cargo of refined products loaded in Amsterdam. Irving Oil seems to be importing at least as much fuel for local use as it is producing in Saint John. The vast majority of the product it makes in Saint John is exported to the US.

Arctos is a typical 29,608 grt, 49,999 dwt product of Hyundai, Mipo. It is very new however, delivered in July of this year. Owned by the obscure Libero Panama SA, the ship is managed by Sea World Management and Trading of Liberia (but operating from Greece). Another tanker under its management was found to discharged oil and waste in US waters in 2017 and the company was fined $2.25 mn and the ship's master was jailed for six months.

At Imperial Oil it was possible to get a glimpse of the oddly named Alpine Marina. The ship's name conjures up images of a Swiss yacht club, but is more likely taking a woman's given name.  The ship is another Hyundai Mipo product tanker from 2010, measuring 29,130 grt, 46,162 dwt. It arrived Sunday from Port Neches, TX. Its owners are the improbable Tornado Navigation Inc, and managers Oxygen Maritime Management Inc of Greece. That company manages four ships for Greek owners who are currently embroiled in mortgage and financing issues with creditors . The ship is registered in the Marshal Islands.

The ship was ready to sail late this afternoon and its place at the number 4 dock will be taken by Kitikmeot W

The Canadian flag Kitikmeot W was acquired by Coastal Shipping Ltd earlier this year from Turkish owners and was among the first of a wave of new tankers acquired by Canadian owners recently. Both Algoma Tankers and Desgagnés / Pétro-Nav have also added to their fleets. Now McKeil Marine has announced that they have purchased two Turkish built tankers. Currently named Topaz-T and Turquoise-T.
The pair are trading in the far east, so are unlikely to be seen in Canadian waters before spring.

At Halterm the 9415 TEU CAM CGM Fidelio arrived with the appearance of being fully loaded.

This is good news for the Port of Halifax and the terminal as tenders closed today for Phase 2 of the South End Container Terminal Expansion which will allow for two ship's of this size or larger, to berth at the same time.

Phase 1 - the tender for dredging was awarded to McNally Construction last month, and although the dredge and support plant have been mobilized, work is not expected to start until January.

Phase 2 - the construction and placement of the caissons and pier extension is the larger portion of the project, and although the contract has not been awarded yet, the tender results from today are:

Waterworks Construction Ltd $19,940.00
McNally Construction Ltd $19,059.00

Once construction starts the winter bird life may be disturbed somewhat by all the activity. This suspicious looking loon may be among them.

CMA CGM Fidelio was built in 2006 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan and the ship comes in at 107,898 grt, 113,964 dwt. Although just under the 10,000 TEU threshold it is large enough at 9,415 including 700 reefers to take up a good chunk of the existing berth space at pier 41-42. The new extension will allow two 10,000 TEU ships to tied up at the same time.

East Coast North America port trends indicate that ships of up to 14,000 TEU are now calling, and the worry is that the extension will still not be big enough.

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