What is going on

 There is some confusion about what is going on with the Maersk (Canada Atlantic Express) CMA CGM (St-Laurent 1) weekly service between North Europe and Montreal, with a customary eastbound stop in Halifax. As per my November 9 post a new ship appeared on the route, namely Maersk Idaho, and oddly it arrived on the westbound leg.

Maersk Idaho arriving November 9.

Earlier this year Maersk replaced two older ships on the route with ships displaced from a Baltic / Russia service. The ice class Vistula Maersk and Vayenga Maersk began regular calls, but the Vistula Maersk now seems to be running between Rotterdam, Antwerp and Denmark. Vayenga Maersk sailed from Montreal November 2, but sailed directly for Bremerhaven, by-passing Halifax. 

CMA CGM also replaced their long time ship on the route, the EM Kea with the CMA CGM Montreal. It sailed from Montreal October 29 and also bypassed Halifax eastbound. Today however the EM Kea arrived in Halifax from Montreal. (It had sailed from Bremerhaven October 17, Rotterdam October 19-20, and Antwerp October 20-21.)

The stylish EM Kea at Pier 41 this morning.

In looking at the arrivals list for tomorrow (November 12) I see the Maersk Idaho again. When it sailed from here in the early hours of November 10, it just went out to sea and has been standing off ever since. It seems unlikely therefore that it will be heading for Montreal, but we will have to wait and see.

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More and More Containers and other traffic - updated

 PSA Halifax's Atlantic Gateway terminal is looking at a busy few days, with all berths occupied and ships waiting.

Today it was the ZIM feeder AS Felicia at Pier 42 (see yesterday's  post) and the Ultra size COSCO Shipping Himalayas at Pier 41. The latter ship is reported to be here on a trial basis for China Ocean Shipping Co (which also owns OOCL) to see if there is benefit in calling here en route to congested US east coast ports. (The arrival of Hurricane Ian in Charleston is coincidental, but is expected to create more havoc in schedules.)

COSCO Shipping Himalayas dates from 2017 when it was built by Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry. The 154,300 gt, 153,811 dwt ship is rated for 14,568 TEU. The massive ship stacks its containers so high that there was minimal clearance for PSA's "Super Post Panamax Cranes". 

Even with the Equinoctal new moon low tide late this afternoon, the largest cranes had maybe a two box clearance.

Waiting offshore the APL Sentosa and Vivienne Sheri D (Eimskip) formed a backdrop for the inbound CMA CGM Montreal. Also anchored outside was the ZIM Yokohama.

CMA CGM Montreal, arriving from Montreal, had to wait in number one anchorage for a time until AS Felicia sailed for Kingston, Jamaica.

The ship will top up its containers to ocean going draft before resuming its trip to Europe. CMA CGM and Maersk maintina the weekly St.Lawrence, with an outbound (eastbound) Halifax stop. 

Other arrivals of note today were for passengers and for the Royal Canadian Navy.

Norwegian Breakaway and its 3965 passengers (if loaded to capacity) had perfect weather for its call.

The 2013-built ship from Meyer Werft has been a regular weekly caller this year. It will continue that routine until November 4, when it is due to be the second last ship of this cruise season.

Returning from Operation Nanook the RCN's yearly arctic exercise, HMCS Margaret Brooke AOPV 431 arrived this afternoon. The ship had stopped off in St.John's along with HMCS Goose Bay for a few days until post tropical storm Fiona passed.* - see Update below.

There were no reports of technical issues with the ship, unlike sister ship Harry DeWolf AOPV 430 which had to return to Halifax for main engine repairs. 

Halifax Shipyard will be "launching" the next ship in the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel series this fall. The AOPV ships are not launched in the conventional way however. Irving Shipbuilding Inc (ISI) has the Boa Barge 37 on long term charter from Norway. When ships are ready to take to the water they are rolled aboard the barge, then moved from the shipyard to Bedford Basin where they are floated off. ISI has applied for a coasting license for the Boa Barge 37 for the period November 20 to December 19, in order to load, transport and float off the fourth AOPV, the future William Hall AOPV  433. (There are to be six AOPVs for the RCN and two for the Canadian Coast Guard. AOPV 432 Max Bernays was delivered to the RCN on September 2.)

 

Update:

HMCS Margaret Brooke went to the isolated communities of Francois and Grey River on south coast of Newfoundland and conducted damage assessments and wellness checks following the passage of post tropical storm Fiona. I was not aware of this humanitarian assistance when I made the orginal post. 

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A Summer Sunday Summary

 There was a fair amount of activity in the harbour today (Aunday, August 28), including an abundance of pleasure craft. The last weekend before Labour Day weekend (which marks the traditional end of summer) is always a busy one for boaters - weather permitting. And this weekend weather was nearly perfect, with warm temperatures, light winds and lots of sun. That also meant ideal conditions for ship watching.

The Lake Wanaka arrived early this morning at Autoport from Emden, and sailed this afternoon for Davisville, RI weaving its way through small craft without incident.

 The Lake Wanaka was here March 30 of this year, and Shipfax reported its unusual movements and technical details. The 46,800 gt, 12,272 dwt PCTC was built in 2008 by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co and has a capacity of 4902 CEU. The ship sailed under the name Triumph until 2019 when it was renamed after a lake in New Zealand. Since new it has been managed by Eastern Pacific Shipping UK, a 200 ship strong operator for many owners - some with uninformative corporate names.

Following it in was the Vayenga Maersk from Antwerp en route to Montreal, and docking at Pier 42, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway (a.k.a. the southend terminal).

Shortly afterwards its route mate CMA CGM Montreal arrived at mid-berth Pier 41-42 from Montreal en route to Europe. The two ships (along with EM Kea and Vistula Maersk) operate the weekly joint Maersk/CMA CGM St.Lawrence service, and usually call in Halifax to top up (eastbound) or lighten (westbound) because of St.Lawrence River draft restrictions. Because of the many containers on the pier the CMA CGM Montreal was hidden from view.

Another arrival this morning was the Canadian tanker Algoterra from Sarnia, ON, docking at Imperial Oil, number 3 dock.(It is the only operational dock at Imperial Oil - docks 4 and 5 are still there but not in use. Docks 1 and 2 were demolished many years ago.)

Ships usually dock starboard side to at the oil dock (bows north) but for some reason Algoterra tied up bows south- thus an unusual photo angle. The harbour tour boat Silva of Halifax is just rounding George's Island on one of its regular outings with a full deckload (of people).

Algoma ships are usually painted a very dark blue, but Algoterra is the exception to the rule. It had very nice paint from original owners Knutsen Produkt Tanker of Norway when it was acquired in 2019, so presumably Algoma Tankers saw no reason to replace a perfectly good coating. The ship was built in 2010 by Jiangnan, Shanghai as Louise Knutsen. The 11,889 gt, 16,512 dwt ship was renamed Louise K. briefly in 2019 for the delivery trip to Canada. The paint is looking a bit faded now, but its next class renewal survey and drydocking is not due until March 2025 so it may not see new paint until then.

Amongst today's departures was the Contship Leo sailing for Kingston, Jamaica, the sole ship on ZIM's Canada Feeder Express service, CFX. The route also includes New York northbound.

 Contship Leo was built in 2008 by China Commerce Group Kouan Shipbuilding as Vega Saturn. It became CFS Paceno in 2016 and took on its current name in 2020. The 9957 gt, 13,803 dwt ship has a container capacity of 1118 TEU and carries two 45 tonne cranes.

The giant container ship CMA CGM Alexander von Humboldt sailed early this morning from the southend terminal. Shipfax was not on  scene this time, but covered the ship on a previous visit on December 27, 2021.

There was one more container ship to deal with, but at the other end of the size scale at 354 TEU (including 100 reefer plugs). The 3871 gt, 3650 dwt Vantage which has been sailing for Eimskip, arrived from Reykjavik on Friday August 26. It was to have sailed that evening, but remained in port overnight and moved Saturday morning to Pier 36. Although that pier is within the PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway facility, it is not served by a container crane, so the ship cannot be working cargo. 

The ship started calling here June 11, 2022 on Eimskip's Green Line from Iceland to Argentia, NL, Halifax and Portland, ME. It is currently not showing on any future Green Line schedules, but appears to be carrying a deck load. (Those are just reflections on the bow - not damage.)

Despite the stacks of Tropical Shipping boxes on the dock, the Vantage is sailing for the Icelandic company Eimskip (and from the opposite direction).

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CMA CGM Montreal and MOL at ther Atlantic Hub

 1. New for CMA CGM at PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub

As reported yesterday, the joint Maersk and CMA CGM North Atlantic service CAE / St-Laurent 1 is replacing older ships with newer ones. The first of the newer ships CMA CGM Montreal, arrived today, June 1, from Montreal en route to Bremerhaven.

 

The ship greeted Halifax with a big "burp" of black smoke as it approached PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub.

 The ship was greeted with much hype when it arrived in Montreal on May 25. It was then noted that it has "better fuel efficiency" , provides "extra capacity", etc., I wonder how a 15 year old ship that is smaller than the usual ships on the route can live up to that - and who will keep score.

It was built in 2007 by the little known Naikai Zosen, Sedota, Japan as Hanjin Ningbo and became Ryujin Nakara in 2106 and Irenes Rose in 2018. In March of this year it was renamed CMA CGM Montreal. A 27,104 gt, 33,632 dwt ship it is rated at 2553 TEU including 250 reefers (considerably short of the 2800 to 3100 TEU ships it replaces.)

 The ship is actually owned by CMA CGM SA The French Line, but is managed by Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, and flies the flag of Malta.

A quick look at the ship's deck load showed one lonely CMA CGM box peaking out of one stack, but lots of Maersk and Hamburg-Sud (owned by Maersk) boxes amidst the "no-names" and rentals. The ship also showed lots of freshly painted boot topping, suggesting a light load due to the imbalance of eastbound North Atlantic cargo, and St.Lawrence River draft restrictions. Five high stacks therefore suggest lots of empties.

(In the photo above the navy tug Glenevis is scooting past on its way inbound to HMC Dockayrd, and was not involved in the arrival of this ship.)

2. Also docked at PSA Halifax, Atlantic Hub this morning was MOL Charisma on THE Alliance's EC5 service.

It was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industies Ltd in Nagasaki in 2007 and is registered at 86,692 gt, 90,390 dwt, with a capacity of 9060 TEU, including 630 reefers. Delivered as MOL Charisma it was renamed APL France from 2007 to 2010 before returning to its orginal and current name.

Ships of THE Alliance have traditionally called at Fairview Cove,  but now that PSA operates both container terminals in Halifax, the larger ships will be worked at the Atlantic Hub southend terminal. It is also expected that lines using smaller ships will eventually move to Fairview Cove.

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CMA CGM Montreal sold

The container ship CMA CGM Montreal is reported sold to undisclosed buyers for $US 7.2 mn. One of five ships in the Maersk / CMA CGM TA4 transatlantic service, it was in Halifax last Saturday.
 

Built in 2002, the 32228 grt ship has a container capacity of 2732 (including 450 refrigerated). It only started on the TA4 service earlier this year, and carried the name Antje Wulff for its first cal in Halifax. Since built is has carried the names Antje-Helen Wulff, P+O Nedlloyd Dammam, CMA CGM Seagull and Ibn Abdoun. Owners since 2010 have been Herman Wulff of Glueckstadt, Germany.
It is too early to tell if the ship will continue with the joint Maersk/ CMA CGM service or will be replaced by another ship.It is currently the only CMA CGM ship on the run, the others are all Maersk.
The TA4 port rotation is Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Antwerp, Montreal, Halifax, Rotterdam. CMA CGM Montreal is due in Rotterdam November 24. It would be due in Halifax again on December 13.

Today's caller was Maersk Palermo which caught the last rays of the setting sun on departure. Several CMA CGM boxes are identifiable in its deck cargo.

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