Return to near normal

Before the rail blockades began to disrupt freight traffic in and out of the Port of Halifax last week CN had one inbound and one outbound train from Halifax each day, each about 10,000 feet long. The trains carried mostly containers - both seagoing and intermodal - but also various types of general and bulk commodities.
Trains in and out of the Dartmouth side the harbour carried autoracks and petroleum tank cars (including propane) and also general freight.

With the rail disruptions all available container cars were loaded but held within the container piers awaiting removal of obstacles. (Some traffic was re-routed through northern Quebec and on CP tracks, but not enough to keep all goods moving.)

Inbound traffic (on the right) and some outbound traffic amassing (centre tracks).

Now that there is some easing of the blockades, Halifax received a full 15,000 foot train today. However it will take some time to relieve the 100,000 feet of cargo stored on rail cars within the terminals. On top of that, ships keep arriving!

CMA CGM Thames (9365 TEU) at PSA Halifax today.

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Early Riser Rewards + supplement

All of today's scheduled arrivals happened in the early morning. The first, CMA CGM Thames was due at the pilot station at 0430 and Heritage Leader at 0530. These were well before first light, but I did manage to catch them after they were alongside.

CMA CGM Thames is an impressive split superstructure vessel of 9365 TEU, built in 2015 by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., measuring 95,263 grt, 113,800 dwt.

It made its first call here on June 17, 2017, and is one of 17 ships that maintain the Columbus JAX service. Some ships have been replaced in the rotation recently and the new ships are expected in early July. CMA CGM Cochin and CMA CGM Chennai are fresh from the builders, and measure in excess of 112,000 grt.

Heritage Leader tied up at Autoport. The 6700 CEU ship is owned by Ray Carr Carriers and is on charter to NYK Lines.

 The 58,767 grt, 20,434 dwt ship was built in 2011 by Hyundai, Mipo. According to my records this is the ship's first call in Halifax since 2015.

Next in, after sunrise, was the coastal and bunkering tanker North Atlantic Kairos for Wilson's Fuels at pier 9. In addition to supplying its local service stations and furnace oil customers, Wilson's also provides fuel to the supply vessels supporting BP's offshore exploration. (Whether for their own use or for the drill rig West Aquarius I am not sure.)

 From its base at the North Atlantic Petroleum refinery in Come-by-Chance, NL the tanker provides a bunkering service to in Placentia Bay and makes occasional coastal trips.

A first arrival in Halifax is the container ship Arica for Maersk / CMA CGM's Canada Atlantic Express. As the usual ships go into major inspections and drydocking, the operators have introduced this ship to try to keep up the schedule (which has been in disarray in the past month).

Zhejiang Yangfan Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan built Arica in 2007 , but soon after delivery it was renamed Maersk Jakobstad for a five year charter. In 2012 it reverted to its original name for owners, part of Reederei NSC Schiffahrts of Hamburg.
 

The 32,901 grt, 35,359 dwt ship has a capacity of 2797 TEU, including 746 reefers, and is fitted with a trio of 40 tonne cranes. Unusual for container ships of its size, it has no cargo space aft of the accommodation.

Also arriving this morning was East Coast for Irving Oil. Since it is all I can do to be in one place at a time, I did not photograph this ship - this time.

For this morning's only departure - see Tugfax

Supplement:
Not all arrivals were early. Late this afternoon, when the tanker Mahadah Silver  sailed another ship with Arabian roots arrived to take its place at Imperial Oil dock #3. Jinan flies the flag of Qatar for its owners Qatar Shipping Co. Its cargo for Imperial however was loaded in Port Neches, Texas. Jinan is an island off the western coast of the Qatar peninsula.

The handysize tanker of 25,408 grt, 40,232 dwt was built in 2003 by ShinA Shipbuilding Co, Tongyeong, South Korea. Judging from its immaculate condition however, it must have been drydocked very recently. Note also the symbols for no less than 15 cargo manifolds painted on the hull amidships.

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Got 'em (all) - (oops) better late than never

 I intended to post this on October 14, but it somehow got stuck in my "drafts" file. Here it is late. 
 
It isn't often that I get the chance to capture every arrival and departure on a given day, but the combination of excellent weather, and a free Saturday made it possible.

First in was the Norwegian Jade. This is the first time I have seen this ship, built in 2006 as Pride of Hawai'i for Norwegian Cruise Lines' ill-fated American venture. After the line had huge losses, it was reassigned to Europe in 2008 and renamed, but apparently kept much of its Hawaiian themed décor. Until March of this year that is, when it was given an intensive three week refit and re-do.

By this time the sun was fully up (and directly in line with arrivals), so I skipped the next arrival, hoping to get it later on departure. Fritz Reuter (see below) tied up at pier 42.

The CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell left the Coast Guard base at BIO at 0800 for exercises offshore with Zodiacs.

Stationed in Newfoundland, the ship has been in these parts for a month or so replacing CCGS Earl Grey for the time being.

Built in 1985 in Marystown, NL as a supply ship on spec for the Newfoundland government, the MoT purchased and converted in 1987 for search and rescue work. It was removed from service and de-stored in a cost cutting purge in 2013, but was re-activated. It had a major refit this spring so should be in service for several years to come.

While in Dartmouth I noted the bunkering tanker Algoma Dartmouth tied up at the Irving Oil Woodside terminal. This may be a first.

When Algoma took over harbour bunkering, the fuel supplier was the Imperial Oil refinery. When the refinery shut down  Stirling Fuels (part of  Miller/ McAsphalt Industries) secured the fuel provision contract. At various times the ship has gone to Point Tupper to load at NuStar's tank storage, or has received fuel brought from Central Canada aboard McAsphalt's own tug/barge.
Since Stirling is not a refiner in its own right, I guess they can buy fuel wherever they want, so perhaps this time they have sourced in from Irving Oil.
Algoma Dartmouth can carry diesel or heavy fuel oil as needed.

 Next in was the small cargo / container ship Hollandia working for Nirint Shipping. It arrived with nickel cargo from Cuba and has been a regular caller since 2014.

 

It was built in 2007 by the Damen Okean Mykolayiv, Ukraine shipyard and finished by Damen Hoogezand, Foxhol, Netherlands. Launched as Trinitas it was renamed Nirint Hollandia on delivery. It measures 8,999 grt, 12,000 dwt and carries two 80 tonne cranes. It was renamed in 2012.

The largest arrival of the day was the impressive CMA CGM Thames. With is split superstructure it looks much bigger than its container capacity would suggest. At 95,263 grt, 113,900 dwt, that capacity is reported to be 9365 TEU, including 1458 reefers.

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company built the ship in 2015.

At one point late in the afternoon all four Halterm cranes were alongside the ship, but only three were actually working. The southernmost crane (near the bow) was moved out of the way of the departing Friz Reuter - see below.

There was one more arrival, this morning, the cruise ship Seabourn Quest following on the heels of CMA CGM Thames.

 The ship is on a return visit to Halifax.

Seen from a slightly better angle leaving pier 23 on October 10.

Noted for its luxury cruises to Antarctica for only 450 passengers, Seabourn has the smallest cruise ships in any major fleet.
It was completed in 2011 by the T.Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, on a hull built by Viktor Lenac in Rijeka and measures 32,346 grt. It has many amenities but also has a number of Zodiacs garaged in the hull for passenger excursions.

By late afternoon Fritz Reuter was ready to sail.
 

The ship had arrived in the morning and tied up at Pier 42 and used two of Halterm's cranes.
The 1732 TEU (including 379 reefers) ship is on its 32nd trip for Melfi Lines. Starting in 2013 the ship has been a regular caller every five weeks on Melfi's Europe via Halifax to Cuba service.
The 18,480 grt, 23,732 dwt ship dates from 2006 when it was launched as Maruba Zonda by Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard Co Ltd. It assumed its current name on delivery a few months later.


As soon as Fritz Reuter was off the berth the next ship berthed (its bow is just visible in the photo above). EM Kea is on its regular visit as part of the Maersk / CMA CGM transatlantic service. So as not to block the channel for the outbound Reuter, the ship made an unusual turn to port to come alongside. Usually ships are turned to starboard and back in. However with two tugs alongside, and a bit less wind than earlier, it was the best move to make.

It was not all commercial activity in the port today. Late season sail races for small craft took place in very stiff breezes this morning.

Although there have been above normal temperatures recently, this morning's air temperatures were in the single digits, and barely scraped above 10C when the races started. Water temperature on the other hand exceeded 15C!

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