CSL double bill for Gold Bond

 CSL Americas had two ships in port today, both to load at Gold Bond (formerly National Gypsum) and both arrived from Sydney, NS where they had delivered coal cargoes.

First in was CSL Spirit which docked this morning and began to load. We have not seen this ship in Halifax for a long time. It was built in 2001 at Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai (although launched in 1998!)  with tonnages of 41,428 gt, 70,018 dwt. It was a frequent caller here until 2011 when it was brought into Canadian registry. 

The ship appears unchanged from this 2003 photo.

CSL used it in Sept-Iles, QC to top up large ships that could not load to full draft at the ore docks. In 2015 it reverted to Bahamas flag. It seems to have been working the Pacific coast of  South America until 2020.

Although the ship is a self-unloader, it does not have a typical unloading system. The 79m long unloading conveyor and boom is mounted amidships. Nevertheless the unloading rate of 4,000 tonnes per hour for coal or 6,000 tonnes per hour for ore is typical of CSL ships.

The second ship to arrive is CSL Tacoma a regular caller of the Trillium  class, also built in China but in 2013 and 43,691 gt, 71552 dwt - very similar in size to its fleet mate, with comparable unloading rates, but very different in every other way. It went to anchor in Bedford Basin until its fleet mate sails.

Catching two CSL ships in the same frame is a rare feat.

 

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CSL Spirit - back again (updated)

 CSL Spirit arriving in Halifax for the first time May 28, 2001.

The largest bulk carrier under the Canadian flag arrived in Halifax for a rare call today to take bunkers. CSL Spirit was a regular caller here for gypsum until 2011, but under the Bahamas flag. It was then transferred to the Canadian flag and sent to Sept-Iles, QC where it has operated ever since as a shuttle vessel. It picks up iron ore at Pointe Noire or Sept-Iles and ferries the cargo out to larger ships anchored in Sept-Iles Bay.
Using its 79m long telescoping conveyor boom, it fills up the larger ships at a rate of up to 6,000 tonnes per hour. It can take three or four shuttle trips to load the largest bulk carriers.

Construction of a new multi-user pier at Pointe-Noire was completed in October, with loader equipment due to be operational by this summer. It will allow Chinamax ships of 350,000 dwt to tie up and load directly. Added to that the closure of Cliff's Wabush/Bloom lake mine and the prospective sale of its assets in the area, CSL Spirit's services may no longer be required when the new pier starts up.
But demands by Alderon's new Kami mine and Rio Tinto's mine and even the Iron Ore Company of Canada to use larger ships mean that I may be premature in my suggestion.

CSL Spirit has been shown on these pages several times before.

http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2011/11/csl-spirit-soon-to-be-canadian.html

http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2011/12/basin-doings.html

http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2012/01/spruceglen-going-red-csl-spirit-getting.html

CSL Spirit was built by Jiangnan Shipyard in China in 2000. It measures 41,428 grt and 70,018 dwt.

My favorite photo of CSL Spirit, thanks to a co-operative gull, December 20, 2011.

CSL Spirit with Algoma Dartmouth alongside in anchorage number 1. The ship has cargo aboard, which must be iron ore. It has also accumulated a lot of frozen spray on deck on its trip from Sept-Iles.
The CCG/DFO boat Sigma T. makes its way back in to BIO after doing water sampling off Chebucto Head.

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Spruceglen going red, CSL Spirit getting in the spirit

CSL's Spruceglen is indeed going red. While in drydock at Halifax Shipyard, the bulker is being repainted in CSL red, the present hull colour for CSL's domestic fleet. I was not sure this would happen since she may be back in operation by the end of the month, but after a good hull cleaning the aluminum coloured primer was going on the other day, and today I see red.
This ship is one of several ships acquired by CSL and Algoma to fill the void left by older ships going for scrap and the delivery of newer ships building in China.
It now turns out of course that they have found work for gearless bulk carriers, despite very poor remuneration in the bulk trades (the Baltic Dry Index is in the doldrums.)
Although they are not lavishing large sums on these ships, they may now keep them going longer than I originally thought.
1. Today - I see red.

2. January 17, primer going on.

CSL Spirit is also getting in the act by acquiring the Canadian version of the CSL funnel marking. The traditional black/white/red horizontal strips are now only worn by the CSL International fleet. With CSL Spirit joining the domestic fleet it has now had the black and white stripes sloped down the after side of the funnel. Whether it will get the red hull too is another matter.

3. January 13, in transition. The domestic funnel colour scheme is on the side, with the remnants of the international (and traditional) scheme on the aft face. The crew has started to paint the aft face all black.

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Basin Doings

1. CSL Spirit, now a Canadian ship, has turned around in the Bedford Basin and is heading south toward Pier 9A. Her unloading boom has been slewed to the port rail to free up deck space.

2. Algoscotia in the Narrows, northbound in ballast, heads for an anchorage in Bedford Basin.

3. The lobster boat Oralee has checked its traps in the Basin and is tailed by hundreds of gulls waiting for a few morsels of old bait.

4. One wind surfer off the Bedford Institute dock (with Bedford Magazine in the background) tempts fate.

What little action there was today was mostly in the Bedford Basin. The newly Canadianized CSL Spirit arrived and went into the Basin to turn around before coming back alongside Pier 9A. This is now favourite spot for refits and repairs, since it doesn't tie up the south end piers, which see more commercial activity. [see also: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2011/11/csl-spirit-soon-to-be-canadian.html ]

Algoscotia however had been at Pier 33 for repairs since December 14, but moved to the Basin this afternoon to anchor.

Also noted in Bedford Basin: one lobster boat, and one wind surfer. The stiff wind and below zero C temperatures didn't seem to bother either of them.

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CSL Spirit: soon to be Canadian

1. CSL Spirit in Halifax in 2003.
Word on the street has it that the bulker CSL Spirit will soon*[see update below] be reflagged to Canada and fleet- mate Atlantic Superior will be going foreign.

CSL International operates CSL Spirit under the Bahamas flag and CSL Group's Canada Steamship Lines operates the domestic Canadian flag fleet.

CSL Spirit arrived in Halifax this evening for bunkers, but too late for a picture. However she has been in port many times and is no stranger to Halifax.

Launched in 2000 at Jiangnan Shipyard in China, she entered service in 2001 and was the first of three sister ships in the CSL International pool. The other two are Sheila Ann and Sophie Oldendorff. The are self-unloaders, with enclosed articulating booms and have a deadweight of just over 70,000 tonnes. They are Panamax vessels and have worked in various parts of the world over the years carrying stone, coal, ore and gypsum.

In her new role as a Canadian ship CSL Spirit will be put to work in Sept-Iles bay on shuttle service, running iron ore from the Pointe Noire pier to large ships anchored in the bay. The pier will be extended to take larger ships, but in the meantime they must anchor off and take their loads by shuttle. CSL Spirit has an unloading rate of 6,000 tonnes per hour for ore, thus speeding up the process slightly from the current pace that Atlantic Superior is able to work. Her unloading rate is about 5,500 tph. But as a much smaller ship at 36,800 deadweight, she has to make more trips.

The shuttle process requires constant tug attendance to move the shuttle vessel back and forth alongside the larger ship, and Groupe Océan has two tugs based in Sept-Iles for this work, André H. (ex Point Valiant (i), ex Foundation Valiant) and one of their new tugs, currently Ocean Yvan Desgagnés. They also do other docking work in the port, which is Canada's largest for tonnage.

Word also has it that Atlantic Superior will be coming to Halifax Shipyard for steel work this winter before reflagging.

CSL Group has a comprehensive web site and within it you can find spec sheets for CSL Spirit and Atlantic Superior(more on the latter ship when it arrives in Halifax.)

Web Site:http://www.csl.ca/

Spec Sheets: http://www.cslint.com/pdf_specs/SP-CSLSpirit.pdf

http://cslcan.ca/fleet_specs_pdf/spec_sheet_Atlantic_Superior.pdf

* Update the ship was reflagged Canadian on November 18, 2011, and registered in the port of Quebec.