Friday - big rush

 The end of the work week is usually a busy time in the Port of Halifax as ships complete their work and time their departures to be at sea on weekends. However today Friday, June 28, was a little unusual as there were also several arrivals. 

One notable arrival was the CMA CGM Leo on the Ocean Alliance from Colombo (June 4) via the Cape of Good Hope. Ships of this line usually call in Halifax on Saturday, but the ship began working on arrival at Pier 41, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. 

There was a stiff breeze so the ship took four tugs on arrival, with the Atlantic Larch far forward. (I suspect the ship had a faulty bow thruster). Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver tethered aft and Atlantic Willow on the port side well forward. [Atlantic Larch is based in Saint John and considered to be the "outside tug" for work away from that port. It has exchanged places with the Halifax based Atlantic Fir for the past few weeks.]

CMA CGM Leo is a 131,332 gt, 131,236 dwt ship built in 2010 by Hyundai, Ulsan. It has a container capacity of 11,388 TEU. It is another of the largest type of container ship with the bridge aft. Many ships of its size have the bridge structure well forward.

Also at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway was the Vega Vela arriving yesterday from Valenica, Spain and sailing this afternoon for Mariel, Cuba for Melfi Marine Corp. It is a new ship to the route, and was previously reported in Tunisia.

Carrying the usual deck load of containers, the ship also had a truck with a stainless steel tanker body just forward of the superstructure, likely secured on a platform or flat rack container. The ship also loaded an unusual piece of unknown function. Spreaders and slings were used to hoist the unit aboard.

Vega Vela is a 9931 gt, 13,879 dwt ship with a container capacity of 1118 TEU. Most of the ships running to Cuba carry cargo cranes, but this ship does not. It was built in 2005 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing as Ulrike F and became TS Singapore in the same year, but reverted to Ulrike F in 2007. In 2012 it was renamed Paola and in 2015 E.R.Hobart. In 2019 it settled in as Vega Vela.

PSA Halifax's Atlantic Gateway also worked the Nolhan Ava which vacated Pier 41 and sailed for St-Pierre et Miquelon as CMA CGM Leo  arrived.

PSA Fairvew Cove was also active with ZIM Iberia arriving early a.m. and sailing for New York late afternoon.The ship is a regular on the ZCA service from the Mediterranean.

While it was outbound the ZIM feeder ship Contship Art was inbound.

It will pick up containers dropped off from ZIM Iberia and take them to ZIM's hub port of  Kingston, Jamaica for Caribbean desintations. It appears to be returning empties to Halifax.

PSA Fairview Cove also had the Oceanex Sanderling on its weekly run to St.John's, NL

 

And yes that is the Mi Cabana of Tiki Tours motoring alongside, thatched roof and all, lending a tropical touch to the scene. This is the boat's second season of operation. See my opinion from last year: July 29, 2023.

Once the Sanderling was clear the arriving Atlantic Sail took its place at the Fairvew Cove west berth RoRo ramp. (No photo of the ACL this time.)

Autoport was not to be left out as it had the SFL Conductor from Emden with a load of Volkswagen products.

 Find out more from my March 29, 2023 post. Its charter to VW has been extended to the fourth quarter of 2026.

SFL Conductor carries a side ramp. It would be interesting to know when the ship uses this ramp. Many newer auto carriers don't have side ramps at all, so it is likely that very few ports use them. Autoport cannot accommodate side ramps as they would project over the opposite side of the jetty.

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US Navy visitor and other foggy arrivals plus news

 The USNS Robert E. Peary T-AKE-5 arrived in Halifax this afternoon, June 7 for a courtesy visit.

 Robert E. Peary emerges out of the fog inside Maugher's Beach, still sounding its fog signal, a surprisingly soft low tone.

Although not a fighting ship per se, (it is armed) it was built to support fighting ships by carrying vital supplies such as ammunition, dry stores, including provisions, and repair materials. A unit of the Lewis and Clark class of dry cargo ships, it was built by NASSCO, the National Steel Shipbuilding Corp in San Diego and entered service in 2008. It displaces 23,852 long tons light, 40,298 long tons loaded, and has a cargo capacity of 5,910 long tons. It is also equipped with replenishment at sea cargo handling gear. It also carries a pair of Kighthawk helicopters and decoy launchers.

 

The tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Bear assist the ship to its berth at Navy Jetty Bravo.

USNS Robert E. Peary is owned by the United States Navy but is operated by the United States Military Sealift Command and thus is not a commissioned ship of the United States Navy. It carries the USNS (United States Navy Ship) prefix to its name and has a civilian crew of up to 143 with a military contingent of 49 for specific duties.
It is interesting that the ship arrived one day after the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy during the Second World War. There was a large commemorative event held in France, but there seemed to be very little notice paid in Halifax, despite the ports strategic role in World War II and preparations for the invasion.

It is also of interest that the ship was named after the arctic explorer Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary whose many achievements in the north have been overshadowed by his now discredited claim to have reached the North Pole in 1909. 

Also  emerging from the fog and sounding its much louder fog signal earlier in the day was the feeder container ship Contship Art, sailing for ZIM's CFX service. The "reverb time" of its signal echoing off buildings on the Dartmouth side of the harbour was worthy of any cathedral.

The ship was built by Jangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard in Jiangyin in 2014 as Taipei Trader. It was renamed Cap Avatele on delivery and renamed Taipei Trader in 2016. It is a 9932 gt, 13,063 dwt vessel with a capacity of 1102 TEU including 220 reefers and carries two 45 tonne SWL cranes. As Taiepi Trader it called in Halifax for the CFX service in 2020 -2021. It was renamed Contship Art in 2022.

By the time the ship made it to Bedford Basin the fog had become a light mist so there was a clear view as it approached the PSA Fairview Cove terminal.

A late afternoon arrival also appeared through the fog, which had thinned out a bit offshore. The oddly named Hellas Revenger was in the clear while the anchored ONE Falcon had become faintly visible well offshore.

The Hellas Revenger inbound from Antwerp for Imperial Oil took the main channel, and did not use tethered escort tugs. The outbound Oceanex Sanderling gave the tanker lots of room by taking the western channel which involved making the big dogleg off Point Pleasant, thus appearing in broadside.

The Hellas Revenger built in 2016 by Hyundai, Mipo is a 29,410 gt, 49,975 dwt Long Range 1 size tanker. Owner Latsco Shipping Ltd of Athens, was founded by John L. Latsis in the 1940s and carries the letter "L" (instead of the Greek Lambda Λ) on its ships' funnels. Now strictly a tanker owner, it has a fleet of more than 36 tankers of all types.

Of note in the harbour was the arrival of the Fundy Monarch a herring seiner scouting for fish. The June arrival of herring seiners has diminshed from up to a dozen boats to only a handful or sometimes none at all in recent years. If the scout boat finds the migrating mass of herring it will call in other boats. (There is a moratorium on herring fishing in the Gulf of St.Lawrence, in force since 2022, and qutoas have been cut elsewhere.)

Built in 2014 by Chantier Naval Forillon in Gaspé, the Fundy Monarch was originally called Dual Venture (the second seiner of that name) and was renamed when acquired by Connors Brothers of Blacks Harbour, NB.

Also at work in the harbour was the new pilot boat Foundation Pilot. After arriving in Halifax on May 25 aboard the Acadia Desgagnés the boat completed trials and has been working a regular shift all this week.

The brand new aluminum hulled boat was built by Astilleros Armon in Puerto de Vegas, Spain and is registered at 60.54 gross tons. It is of conventional twin screw configuration with engines totaling 735 bhp.

On the other hand, although far from new, the tug Mister Joe (built in 1964!) continues to work hard for McNally Construction Ltd. Its current assignment is to shift mud scows from the dredging work at Halifax Shipyard to the settling beds at the IEL and Mobil docks in Woodside.

The Mister Joe takes the mud scow Pitts No.1 on the hip and departs from the Shipyard. The scow was  filled by the crane /barge Canadian Argosy as part of preparations for a pier extension project.

McNally Construction (the Canadian subsidiary of Weeks Marine - in turn owned by Kiewit Corporation since 2023) also added to its Halifax fleet this evening, June 7, with the arrival from the Great Lakes of the small tug / workboat W.A.Reid. The boat has been transferred from Weeks by inland waterways from New Jersey to Belleville, ON thence on down the St.Lawrence. With no sleeping accommodation on board, the tug has been leap frogging port to port since May 25. It will join sister tug D.D.Kaufman which has been working on the BIO pier extension since August 2023. More on these new tugs in companon blog Tugfax for December 21, 2023 and a future post.

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Contship Art - Friday sailing

 The ZIM feeder Contship Art got underway this afternoon, Friday, September 1, on its regular CFX run to Kingston Jamaica. The ship, and its companion Contship Leo, normally sail weekyl on a Monday or Tuesday, but on Tuesday, August 29 iContship Art moved out from the PSA Fairview Cove terminal to anchor in Bedford Basin.

 The ship was built by Jangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard in Jiangyin in 2014 as Taipei Trader. It was renamed Cap Avatele on delivery and renamed Taipei Trader in 2016. It is a 9932 gt, 13,063 dwt vessel with a capacity of 1102 TEU including 220 reefers and carries two 45 tonne SWL cranes. As Taiepi Trader it called in Halifax for the CFX service in 2020 -2021. It was renamed Contship Art in 2022.

Had the ship sailed on its usual day it could have crossed the predicted paths of two hurricanes off the US east coast, Franklin and Idalia.

With those storms now downgraded or expired, the trip will be a much safer one.

As the Contship Art was making its way toward the Narrows it kept to the eastern side of the channel to allow the inbound NYK Meteor lots of room to clear the last bridge and make its turn around the Seaview Point buoy. It appeared to be a much closer pass than it actually was, due to foreshortening by the camera lens.

The NYK Meteor is another of the familiar Daedalus class built by Hyundai Ulsan - this one in 2007. The 55,534 gt, 65,935 dwt ship has a capacity of as much as 4922 TEU (some sources report 4888) and 330 reefers. It appeared to be well under capacity.

The Port of Halifax is reporting a drop in tonnage so far this year. In common with the slackening in world trade, this does not come as a surprise - particularly after last year's record, when the port passed the 600,000 TEU for the first time. For the second quarter of 2023 container traffic was 137,774 TEU, down 11.9%  from last year giving a year to date tally of 265,108 TEU, down 6.3% from last year.

Transatlantic traffic has been hard hit, so the lighter load could be expected on the NYK Meteor which was arriving from Antwerp on THE Alliance's AL5 service. 

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Contship Art - for ZIM and Tarifa for WWO

ZIM

ZIM's CFX service - a weekly Caribbean feeder line from Halifax to Kingston, Jamaica via New York, has been opearting since April 2018 using short term charters.

Today (July 28) saw the arrival of Contship Art for the first time, with this name.

 The ship was built by Jangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard in Jiangyin in 2014 as Taipei Trader. It was renamed Cap Avatele on delivery and renamed Taipei Trader in 2016. It is a 9932 gt, 13,063 dwt vessel with a capacity of 1102 TEU including 220 reefers and carries two 45 tonne SWL cranes. As Taiepi Trader it called in Halifax for the CFX service in 2020 -2021. It was renamed Contship Art in 2022.

It replaces Warnow Master which took up the service in May of this year. Contship Art will join  Contship Leo which has been on the service since October 2011.

WWO

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean operates a regular North Europe / North America service delivering automobiles and other RoRo cargo. The automobiles are handled at Autoport, and most of the RoRo at Richmond Terminals, Pier 9C. As usual today (July 27) the RoRo brought in by the Tarifa consisted of mostly construction, agriculture and forestry machinery with some miscellaneous objects such as small boats and crates.

 

Built in 2007 by Stocznia Grynia in Poland, the ship was launched as Tarifa but renamed Morning Charisma on delivery for EUKOR, but was soon renamed Tarifa. The 57,692 gt, 21,120 dwt ship has a capacity of 6400 RT43 cars.

An amazing quantity of RoRo cargo form previous ships has been cleared from the Pier 9C area in the past few days, but the space was soon filled up again today. (The photo above was taken early in the morning.)

The heavy lift ship Pijlgracht (see previous post - updated)  moved out to anchor in Bedford Basin last evening to make way for the Tarifa and is expected to move back alongside again.

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