CSL Flexvik sails

 The CSL Flexvik sailed this morning (October 19) from its berth at Pier 9C after more than nine months alongside. It first went to Bedford Basin and with the assistance of the tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Bear turned about then put out to sea. (The ship is too large to turn in the Narrows.)

The ship ran aground September 14, 2022 in Long Pond, Newfoundland incurring serious rudder and propellor damage. In October 2022 it was towed to Méchins, QC by the tugs Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Larch, where it was surveyed, then secured for a long distance tow. The Italian tug Kamarina was sent from Europe to tow the ship to Portugal for repairs, but the tow was diverted to Halifax and arrived here January 3, 2023. The tow was not resumed and the tug headed back to Europe on February 15. By mid-March the ship had been sold to CSL Europe, a subsidiary of Canada Steamship Lines and in September the new name CSL Flexvik appeared on the ship's bow, and repairs got underway.

CSL Flexvik was built in 2012 by Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering Co as the Raba for Polska Zegluga Morska (known as Polsteam) and was sold in 2021 and renamed Ale by Oslo Venture Pte Ltd. It is a 13,579 gt, 17,074 dwt general cargo / bulker with three 30 tonne SWL cranes. It was built for the Great Lakes grain trade, and in 2022 made one trip to the Lakehead in May 2022. Then in August it had completed a ten year survey and refit, so was in prime condition when it went ground. In fact the hull paint is still so pristine that the bulkhead location markings are still clearly legible.

 With no drydocking facilities available for merchant ships in Halifax, it took considerable ingenuity to carry out the repairs with the ship still in the water. A cofferdam was installed under the ship's stern allowing for the tail shaft to be removed and replaced, including propellor blades on the controllable pitch hub. The rudder was also removed, repaired and reinstalled. Much of the work was conducted by divers.

The CSL Flexvik is headed for Sydney, NS according to the ship's AIS location signal. It is not clear to me what cargo it might load there, as Sydney is usually an importer. 

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CSL Flexvik (ex Ale) Update number 2

 Rudder and prop repair work appears from all outward signs to be completed on the cargo ship CSL Flexvik, the former Ale and Raba (of Polsteam). Progress was last reported here on September 27. Since then the cofferdam removed, the rudder has been re-hung and the controllable pitch propellor blades installed.

The work was all accomplished with the ship still in the water. The cofferdam was built on shore and craned into position and secured to the ship, it was removed by the same process, but in reverse.

Back on the dock (and resting horizontally) after it was no longer needed, the cofferdam is likely headed for scrap. It was installed vertically under the stern of the ship during the work.

 

With the cofferdam removed the rudder was installed using cranes from shore, a crane on a barge, and a complex arrangement of chain falls and rigging secured from the ship's hull, with divers in the water.

The propellor blades were installed using most of the same gear, and also with divers. The blades appeared to be new, but I suppose they could have been reconditioned as was the rudder. They arrived on the dock on shipping pallets so could have come from anywhere. Their leading edges were protected during shipment.

With all the lifting gear removed, and the barges cleared away, the ship looks as good as new.

The obvious question is - What next? Will CSL Europe be making an incursion into the Great Lakes trade? This ship was built for the international trade to the Lakes, but it could be assigned anywhere in the world, (The significance of the term "flexvik" continues to elude me, but it could be a clue.) We will wait and see.

So far the ship has not made any sea trials and remains alongside at Pier 9C south.

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Update, CSL Flexvik ex Ale

 The newly named CSL Flexvik formerly the Ale and before that the Raba is showing even more signs of progress today (September 27.) Repairs to its grounding damage (mostly below the waterline) including replacement of the tail shaft and controllable pitch propellor hub and prop blades appears to be completed. Its rudder has now been moved nearer to the ship, although there is still work to be done on it before it is re-hung.

Looking well above the waterline, crew members were repainting the funnel with the traditional CSL black, white and red colours.

Those colours date back to well before the founding of Canada Steamship Lines. They were used by the Montreal owned Allen Line (the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company) on its earliest steamships in the mid 1800s. The Allen's domestic shipping operation, the Canadian Navigation Company, also used the same colours and carried them into the Richelieu  +  Ontario Navigation Company formed in an 1875 merger with the Richelieu Navigation Company. Canada Steamship Lines was formed in 1913 in a giant merger of  several other shipping companies, including R+O, and it adopted the black / white / red funnel marking.

The current CSL Group continues the tradition, with a minor twist. Its offshore operations, such as CSL Europe - owner of the CSL Flexvik - use the colours in the conventional way (as bands on the sides of the funnels - but not necesarily on the after side.) Canadian flagged ships of Canada Steamship Lines have used a modified form of the bands since the late 1990s.

The (now scrapped) Atlantic Erie shows the then new pattern, with the black and white bands sloping down parallel to the trailing edge of the funnels. ( Even twin, side by side, funnels received the treatment on both sides.)

From the time of coal burning steamers, a black cap was a way of concealing the build up of soot on a funnel. Once diesel engines became the norm there was still some black sooty residue, often trailing down the after side of the funnel. so "cranking" the black cap downwards may have been a practical solution.

My 1959 photo of CSL's Elgin, taken in the Beauharnois Lock of the St.Lawrence Seaway in its first year of operation, shows (regrettably not in colour) that the coal burners carried a much wider black cap in proportion to the height of the funnel. Even so the white band became sooty.

It was on CSL's long gone "white ships" of the St.Lawrence and Saguenay River cruises that the bright red really stood out, giving an elegant touch. Even as late as 1965 when the ships were retired, there were still those who could remember the R+O and even the Allen Line.

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Two CSLers - times two

 Canada Steamship Lines is a large Canadain shipping company part of the even larger CSL Group which has shipping interests in Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa and the Americas/Caribbean. The Canadian flagged Canada Steamship Lines fleet of 18 ships is focused on the Great Lakes / St.Lawrence trade, but some ships can be seen in Halifax loading gypsum for Canadian ports. On Saturday September 23, the Baie St Paul, a Trillium class self-unloader, of Seawaymax size, arrived and went directly to Gold Bond Gypsum's dock on Bedford Basin. It sailed early Sunday morning (September 24). 

(File photo 2022-12-21)

 The Baie St Paul was built in 2012 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin and is a 24,430 gt, 37,690 dwt ship. It came to Canada under its own power, but with considerable temporary reinforcement for the expected conditions during its Pacific Ocean crossing. That reinforcing was removed upon entering into service in Canada, but later, new reinforcing was added allowing the ship to make short sea voyages to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 

Due to current low water levels in the St.Lawrence Seaway system the Baie St Paul likely loaded far less than total capacity.

Meanwhile a CSL America's ship, Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin also arrived on the 23rd. It went to anchor in Bedford Basin to await its turn. The Americans and Caribbean operation claims twenty ships (including those of Algoma Central Corp that operate in the CSL serl-unloader pool.)

It is also a Trillium class ship, but of the ocean going variety, also built at the same Chengxi Shipyard and also in 2012, coming in at 43,691 gt, 71,406 dwt. It operates in eastern North America under the Bahamas flag, in the sand / aggregates, phosphates and coal trades. Recent port calls are typical: Port Manatee, FL (September 5-6, likely to load phosphates), New Orleans (September 8-9), Romeville, Louisiana [population 99] (September 9-10), Rio Haina, Dominican Republic (September 15-17).

Due to its size the ship cannot take a full load at the Gold Bond Gysum dock in Bedford Basin, but would still have a significant cargo when it sailed for Baltimore today (September 25). At 9.9 meters draft the ship has a deadweight of about 45,000 tonnes (displacement of 60,000 tonnes).

 On its way outbound the Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin passed one of the most recent additions to the CSL Europe fleet. The newly reanmed CSL Flexvik is under repair at Pier 9C having just acquired a new tail shaft, controllable pitch propellor hub and new propellor blades just last week.The former Ale ex Raba (then under previous owners) ran aground and damaged rudder and prop a year ago. [see previous posts] CSL Europe acquired the ship early this year and began the repair process.

CSL Europe operates 19 ships, most in the cement trade, but also has six self-unloaders. This ship, as a once frequent Seaway / Lakes caller in the "steel and general-in /grain-out" trade may be the start of a new area of operation for CSL. If so it would be in direct competition with former partner Fednav, and several well known European operators.

 

CSL Flexvik - new name for the ALE

 A ship which appeared to have been languishing in Halifax for many months has been the scene of considerable activity during the past weeks, and I noted today that it now has a new name on the bow.

The ship arrived in Halifax in January 2023 in tow with propellor and rudder damage after grounding in Long Pond, Newfoundland on September 14, 2022. The ship was carrying the unusual name of Ale and was under Norwegian ownership. In early October 2022 the tugs Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Larch towed the ship to the Verreault Shipyard in Méchins, QC for survey and temporary repairs and the Italian tug Kamarina was sent from Europe to tow it to Portugal for permanent repairs. 

Some difficulties encountered with getting the ship away from Méchins (it may have made contact with other ships in the shipyard, but did not run aground as wrongly reported here) and a parted tow line in the Gulf of St.Lawrence, resulted in the tug and tow diverting to Halifax, arriving January 3 of this year.

Instead of restoring the towing set up, the tug returned to Europe February 15. By mid-March it was reported that the ship had been sold to CSL Europe, one of the overseas subsidiaries of Canada Steamship Lines. Still the ship remained alongside, with a maintenance crew on board, but no sign of other activity until September 3 when it appears that the propellor was removed using air bags for flotation support.

In August workers set up tent shelters nearby on Pier 9C and fabricated a cofferdam structure which was placed around the stern of the ship, surrounded by floats, to facilitate work below the water line.

Yesterday I noted the arrival of a new tail shaft with controllable pitch hub. Built by ZAMECH Marine in Poland. (Although the ship was built in China, it was Polish owned until 2021.)

A complex piece of machinery, it contains a hydraulic system connected through the shaft and a servo-motor in the hub to alter the pitch of the propellor blades for forward, feathering or reverse.

Today I noted the ship's new name had been painted on the bow.

CSL Flexvik, as it is now named, was built in 2012 by Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering Co as the Raba for Polska Zegluga Morska (known as Polsteam) and was sold in 2021 and renamed Ale by Oslo Venture Pte Ltd. It is a 13,579 gt, 17.074 dwt general cargo / bulker with three 30 tonne SWL cranes. It was built for the Great Lakes grain trade, and in 2022 made one trip to the Lakehead in May. Then in August it had completed a ten year survey and refit, so was in prime condition when it went ground.

I suppose if the tail shaft replacement and rudder re-instal goes well, the ship may have time to make it to the Great Lakes for the annual grain rush before the winter closure of the St.Lawrence Seaway.

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