Morning Lynn, EM Kea

 Autoport hosted the auto carrier Morning Lynn today (May 26) on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Europe / North America route. It called in Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Zebrugge and Southampton en route to Halifax and sailed this afternoon for Manzanillo, Panama.

The ship was built in 2009 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industry Co Ltd and is registered at 68,701 gt, 28,092 dwt with a capacity of 8,011 CEU. Eukor is the former car carrier divison of Hyundai Merchant Marine acquired by Wallenius Wilhelmsen to gain control of Korean auto exports (and fend off thew Japanese car carriers). It is still a South Korean company, but is now jointly owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, American Roll-on-Roll-off Carriers (ARRC) and United European Car Carriers. Ships of Eukor and ARRC are integrated into Wallenius Wilhelmsen trade routes and can often be seen in Halifax.

EM Kea arrived from Montreal on the jointly operated CMA CGM, Maersk St-Laurent 1 route to Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp.The ship has been on the route since 2015, and is a regular in Halifax on the weekly service. (Halifax is an optional port, so ships do not always call here every week). Oddly there were two ships this week, with CMA CGM Louga in port yesterday.

EM Kea was built in 2007  by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland and measures 35,824 gt, 41,859 dwt with a capacity of 3108 (or 3091) TEU with 500 reefer plugs.

The roster of ships on the St-Laurent 1 service is flux with yesterday's visitor being dropped in favour of CMA CGM Paranagua a 2005 near sister of the EM Kea, but equipped with a pair of 45 tonne SWL cranes. It is expected to call in Halifax in early August. Vistula Maersk and Volga Maersk are expected to remain on the roster with Vayenga Maersk also possibly reassigned (It appears to be in drydock in Setubal.)

CMA CGM Louga was well concealed yesterday when it was tied up at mid-berth Pier 41-42. It has onlty been on the St-Laurent 1 service for a short time, making its first call in Halifax March 15. It also called April 21. CMA CGM Louga was built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan, China in 2018. It is a 29,316 gt, 34,694 dwt ship with a capacity variously quoted as 2462 TEU or 2487 TEU including 747 reefer plugs. It is a Baltic 1A ice class vessel.

The ship sailed in daylight April 21, but on its last call in Halifax it sailed at 0330hrs this morning May 26.
 

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St-Laurent 1 service

 The St-Laurent 1 service is jointly operated by CMA CGM and Maersk and uses four ships to maintain a 28 day North Atlantic rotation. Sailing from Bremerhaven (Day 0) the service calls in Rotterdam (Day 1), Antwerp (Day 2), Montreal (Day 12), Halifax (Day 18), Bremerhaven (Day 27) . A recent addition to the service, which called here first on March 15, called again today April 21. (It certainly seems to be out of sequence if it is to call every four weeks.)

CMA CGM Louga was built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan, China in 2018. It is a 29,316 gt, 34,694 dwt ship with a capacity variously quoted as 2462 TEU or 2487 TEU including 747 reefer plugs. It is a Baltic 1A ice class vessel.

The CMA CGM Louga is the smallest of the four ships on the run. On departure today it gave an ETA of May 2 for Bremerhaven.

The other CMA CGM ship is the EM Kea, rated at 3091 TEU including 500 reefers. As of today it is en route from Antwerp (April 16) for Montreal with an ETA of April 24.

Maersk contributes two ships, each with a capacity of 3600 TEU, including 600 reefers. The Vayenga Maersk sailed from Montreal April 19, by passing Halfax, with an ETA Rotterdam April 30. Vistula Maersk sailed from Antwerp (today) April 21 and is showing an ETA Montreal of May 1. 

CMA CGM's published schedule shows the Volga Maersk (also 3600 TEU) replacing Vayenga Maersk. It is currently shown at anchor since April 11 at Lindoe, Denmark, with no ETD. As with the other "V" class ships it has been displaced from Russian services due to the international boycott.

 Vayenga Maersk arriving Halifax June 6, 2022.

The eastbound Halifax call is sometimes dropped, presumably to make up time or for want of cargo, with ships sailing directly from Montreal to Bremerhaven. 

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Clear up then close in

Following a storm with very high winds last night, things began to clear up and calm down this morning, March 16, allowing most lingering ships to resume their interupted voyages, and a return to normal arrivals and departures. However by late afternoon things began to close in again with fog, strong gusts and periods of rain.

One of the two MSC ships anchored in Bedford Basin, the MSC Brianna moved in to PSA Fairview Cove this morning and completed shedding weight to reach St.Lawrence River draft. With the ships Oceanex Sanderling and Tropic Lisette at the Southend terminal, PSA opted to send the ship to Fairview to unload. Once the operation was completed the MSC Brianna sailed in the early afternoon, leaving fleetmate MSC Rosella at anchor. (It has no ETD yet, but is due in Barcelona March 22.)

As the ship moved past my position I noted some interesting features:

When the ship was built in 1996 by Daewoo, Okpo it was equipped with Japanese style radio masts at each bridge wing. In those days ships carried morse code marine radio, and a radio operator. That type of communication was on the way out by then, and the last official broadcast was in 1999. But even in 1996 few ships still carried it. Although the aerial wires that were slung between the towers have been removed, the towers remain as supports for lighting and some wires and wire stays remain.

A more modern touch is the exhaust gas scrubber system retrofitted to the ship , and highly visible as a large high yellow/orange box on the after deck. There is exhaust coming from the regular exhaust pipe in the ship's funnel as the ship is likely using low sulfur MDO (Marine Diesel Oil) while in port and maneuvering. Once at sea it will switch to HFO (heavy fuel oil) and the exhaust gasses will be diverted to the scrubber.

As the ship squeaks under the A. Murray MacKay bridge, it gives bridge users a smoke bath.

A delayed arrival due to weather was the coastal tanker Algotitan. Since acquired by Algoma late last year, the former Chantaco was renamed and brought under Canadian flag January 11. It has now settled in to regular coastal voyages between Imperial Oil's Halifax depot, and Sydney, NS, CornerBrook, NL and Sept-Iles, QC.

It must have had a fairly lumpy ride along the eastern shore last night. It arrived at the Halifax pilot station at 0800 hrs ADT this morning, but pilot boarding was put off until 1500 hrs, perhaps due to sea conditions from the lingering effects of the storm.

The autocarrier Morning Peace put off its arrival from Southampton, UK, until 1030 hrs this morning when it made for Autoport. By the time it was ready to sail at 1800 hrs rain had moved in again and it was touch and go for a photo as it passed the Mauger's Beach light outbound for Manzanillo. 

 A 2017 product of Hyundai Samho, the 66,802 gt, 22,438 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,368 (or 7,549 - take your choice, depending on the source) cars.

 

An arrival of note was the new to Halifax CMA CGM Nouga from Montreal on the joint CMA CGM/ Maersk St-Laurent 1 service  (Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Montreal, Halifax, Bremerhaven).

 

A dark and rainy arrival, but not as dark as it will be on departure at 0230 hrs.

 

CMA CGM Louga dates from 2018 when it was built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan County, China.The 29,316 gt, 34,694 dwt ship has a capacity of 2462 TEU and was built to the heavy 1A Baltic ice class. Until last year it was employed on a service to St.Petersburg, Russia and was expected to transit the Baltic Sea without icebreaker assistance. Its bridge wings are fully enclosed, and it no doubt has other features for winter navigation.

It is not clear if the ship will be replacing the EM Kea on the St-Laurent 1 service or if it has been added to Maersk's two ships Vayenga Maersk and Vistula Maersk to increase voyage frequency.

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