Fairviewmax and bridge ready

 Fairviewmax?

With the proliferation of "max" ships, such as Panamax, post Panamax, Suezmax, Kamsarmax and others, I imagine today's visit of Dalian Express at Cerescorp's Fairview Cove container terminal  may represent the largest type of ship that can reach the facility in Bedford Basin. Air draft would seem to be the controlling factor as opposed to length, breadth or even draft, since ships must pass beneath two bridges, the A. Murray MacKay being the lower of the two. So would this be a Fairviewmax?

Yes, Dalian Express managed to squeeze beneath the MacKay bridge as it sailed from Fairview Cove on THE Alliance's EC5 service today.

Built in 2001 as Hamburg Express the 88,493 gt, 100,006 dwt ship has a container capacity of 7506 TEU, including 700 reefers. It has carried its current name since 2011 and has been a regular caller in Halifax for several years.

Bridge ready

The latest bridge for a large Toronto Island project is now loaded onto a barge and ready to leave Halifax. The second of four bridges in a $100 million project, it was built by Cherubini Metal Workers of Dartmouth at their waterfront plant. Yesterday it was rolled out onto the barge Glovertown Spirit.

Late today workers were doing final securements and the tug Lois M had refueled and repositioned the barge at Cherubini's dock, ready to sail. There is a tentative pilot order for 2200 hrs tonight, unlike the last bridge that sailed last October in daylight.

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Biggish and Smallish

Today's container ship arrivals included a ship that is about the largest that Cerescorp's Fairview Cove terminal can handle, and a feeder ship for PSA Halifax, that is considered small by current standards.

Dalian Express at 88,493 gt and 100,006 dwt measures 320.4m long and 42.9m breadth, with a container capacity of 7506 TEU including 700 reefers. Built in 2001 by Hyundai, Ulsan, it was called Hamburg Express until 2011 when the name was appropriated for an even larger ship, a 13,196 TEU vessel. Dalian Express and sister ship Yantian Express (famous for its January 2019 fire) are currently the largest ships to call at Fairview Cove.

Dalian Express took three tugs inbound due to windy conditions.

Cerescorp could conceivably handle larger ships if they could fit under the two bridges across Halifax harbour, but so far that has not happened. THE Alliance continues to serve Halifax, on its EC5 service, both eastbound and westbound, but it seems we have the most restrictive air draft of the other east coast ports on the route. (New York, Savannah, Jacksonville and Norfolk.)

At the other end of the harbour PSA Halifax greeted the first time caller Fouma on what is now ZIM's Canada Feeder Express (CFX) replacing the Tampa Trader. See this post for more on that ship.

Fouma was built in 2007 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan, and at 15,375 gt, 19,288 dwt has a capacity of 1296 TEU (reefer capacity not published) and carries a pair of 45 tonne cranes. It was delivered as Maersk Recife and carried that name until 2010. The ship's capacity rivals that of some of the first generation container ships that were considered giants in their day, and its gross tonnage exceeds the last generation of general cargo ships of the 1960s and 1970s.

ZIM's weekly feeder schedule shows Taipei Trader (1102 TEU) and Fouma handling the CFX until August.

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An Ill Wind

 High winds and rough seas continue to cause delays to harbour traffic. Movements within the harbour are possible, but conditions are too rough at the pilot station to embark or disembark pilots.

CSL Thunder Bay completed loading at National Gypsum, then  rather than staying at an exposed berth overnight, moved to anchorage position number 1 in the lower harbour.

The ship will remain there until pilotage operations resume - perhaps this evening. Number one anchorage is for short term visitors, and it can accommodate large ships. I suppose Thunder Bay chose this anchorage to leave lots of room for other ships in Bedford Basin.

Dalian Express completed its cargo work at Cerescorp, Fairview Cove and moved to anchor in Bedford Basin yesterday, allowing Budapest Bridge to tie up. Dalian Express, 88,493 gt, 100,006 dwt, built in 2001 by Hyundai, Ulsan has a capacity of 7506 TEU (including 700 reefers).

Naval vessels also came in from sea to anchor, including HMCS Fredericton, which has been exercising offshore for several days.

Fredericton's helicopter sits on the flight deck as the ferry Vincent Coleman makes its way from the Halifax terminal to Woodside.

Yesterday's self-piloted departure from Imperial Oil, the Algoscotia [see: post ] left number 3 dock free, and Irving Oil's Acadian moved in there from Irving's Woodside terminal.

Irving and Imperial Oil used to share terminal and tank space, but it is now rare to see an Irving tanker at an Imperial dock. Irving Oil also used to be the only source for furnace oil in the region, so there may be a similar reason for this visit.

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Full Astern

It seems that all the photos I wanted to take today had to be from astern. Not my favorite angle for a ship photo, but that's just the way it turned out.

Ethan tied up at pier 31 and spent the day fueling from RST trucks.  RST is a company owned  by the J.D.Irving side of the Irving family, and not the Irving Oil side of the company. However the trucks generally do carry Irving Oil.

The Togo flag flies from the stern of the Ethan.

The ship may sail tomorrow, with Freeport, Bahamas as its destination. [see previous posts for more on this ship.]

The only vantage points I have to get photos of Fairview Cove result in stern shots, and so it was with Dalian Express and Atlantic Sun.

There was no cargo work on Dalian Express but there was a dive tender along side (believed to be Captain's Pride).

The tanker East Coast made a late afternoon arrival at Irving Oil, Woodside, with the tugs Atlantic Willow forward and Spitfire III.

And at pier 25 the tug/supplier Siem Commander remains idle after towing in the oil rig Noble Regina Allen.

Note in the background, under the spouts, the bulk carrier Federal Churchill due to sail this evening.

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Yantian Express fall out continues

The saga of the Yantian Express fire will be a long one and it is by no means over. HAPAG-Lloyd has declared General Average, meaning that all cargo interests will be required to post surety before retrieving their cargo. The surety is to cover the cost of saving the ship. This ancient custom of the sea has proven to be the best way to pay for salvage costs.

Meanwhile the ship itself is still en route to Freeport, Bahamas and may arrive on the coming weekend - a month after the outbreak of fire in its deck cargo. Until the ship is docked and adjustors get to have a look round, the extent of damage to cargo and ship will not be known with certainty.

Reports that the ship is underway on its own power, with tugs escorting means that some parts of the ship have apparently not been damaged seriously, if at all.

Meanwhile in Halifax two ships from THE Alliance have sailed. Shanghai Trader, the interim replacement for Yantian Express, sailed at noon time today, bound for Jebel Ali, UAE, the next port in the EC5 service eastbound port rotation.

A time worn Shanghai Trader sails this afternoon. It seems to be drawing a bit more water than it did yesterday, so perhaps some repairs were being made.

The second Alliance ship sailed yesterday. Dalian Express gave its next port of call as Port Said. That is not a normal call for the EC5 service, but is a call for the IEX India East Coast Express (which does not call in Halifax). Dalian Express was also four days late on this leg of its trip, so may be somehow "dragging its feet" to spread the schedule out to return to weekly calls at the scheduled ports.

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More Yantian

One reason I shifted from my paper version of Shipfax to a blog nearly ten years ago, was that I could reduce the amount of correspondence required to answer questions. All that letter writing took away from valuable ship watching time!

But the questions keep rolling in - now by e-mail. However I can also answer those via the blog.

1. The mysterious arrival of the crew.

Press reports announced the arrival of the Filipino crew of Yantian Express in Halifax on January 14. They were welcomed in Halifax by the Mission to Seafarers, and were flown home. Glad to be alive no doubt, but sadly out of work at least for a time.

However there was no mention of how they actually got to Halifax from mid-ocean. We know they were evacuated from the Yantian Express by the SMIT Nicobar but that tug was on scene until recently (it has since been relieved and is en route to Veracruz, Mexico).

The only explanation I can offer is that the sister ship Dalian Express, en route to Halifax, must have deviated slightly from its normal course and conducted a mid-ocean transfer. Dalian Express arrived in Halifax on Sunday January 13.

Why this operation was not explained by the press is certainly mysterious. However news is controlled this days, so we only learn what we are meant to learn.

The ships officers were not included in the evacuees that landed in Halifax. They have remained with the ship - mostly to control machinery I would say, to preserve refrigerated cargo and perhaps to steer  the ship.The officer alone would not able to rig a long distance tow line - that would be the work of the salvors.


2. Why is the ship's position always referenced to Halifax

Yes the ship may be closer to Bermuda but Halifax was the destination  of the ship and some proportion of its cargo. Salvors and shipowners, not to mention cargo owners, would like the ship to land at its destination port if only to simplify matters. Landing the ship and cargo in Bermuda would be a massive headache, if only due to the space and equipment needed to unload.

Ships in distress often want to get into the nearest port before they breakup or sink, but in this case there is not the same sense of urgency as far as we can tell. The first concern is to control and contain the fire. When that is done, the ship will be safe to tow anywhere.

Looking at prevailing winds and currents, and the effort required to tow a very big ship, a decision may be made to go to a port other than Halifax but that decision may not need to be made for a while. As long as the ship is generally headed northwest (that is toward eastern North America) they are making progress. It does not take much course deviation from that far out to shift to New York or Halifax.

3. What is with the tugs?

This what I know:

Atlantic Enterprise is en route back to Newark. I have no explanation of what its role might have been. If the plywood over the winch control house windows indicates damage to the winch controls themselves, that damage was not repaired in Halifax, and it returned to sea still with the plywood panels over the windows.

SMIT Nicobar was en route to Mexico when it was called in to assist. It has been released to continue on its way now that fleet mate Sovereign has arrived.

Maersk Mobiliser has exceptional capabilities and as the most powerful tug would be the most likely tug to tow the ship, but it is hired at a daily rate. Sovereign on the other hand is a SMIT company tug, and might be more economical. Then Maersk Mobilizer could use is greater  firefighting capability and be a base for firefighters, salvors, etc., There might also be less expensive resources available or if Mobiliser has other commitments, it could be relieved.

Horizon Star has additional resources aboard to assist. Its helicopter platform might be of use when it is closer to land, but as of now they are way beyond the flying range of any shore based helicopters.

Firefighting is the primary effort now. That would be followed by controlling drift if the wind is hampering fire fighting. Only then would towing to destination become a priority.

As I stated in the first post on this topic, fires on container ships are notoriously difficult to fight - particularly if they are deep seated within the ship.

End of Question Period.

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Waiting it out - again

The third major storm to sweep through the area in as many weeks has once again disrupted arrivals and sailings. As today brightened up from last night's snow and rain, there was still very high wind and breaking waves in the harbour. Conditions outside are no doubt much worse.

0nce again a Wilhelmsen ship took up a position at pier 9C. Titania is a 2011 product of Daewoo, Okpo. The 74,255 grt, 30,907 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,934 CEU. It is also much larger, by about 1,000 cars,  than the last two Wilhelmsen ships, Tomar and Toscana that waited out weather at pier 9C.

Also at pier9C, Stellaprima unloaded the Multicat Dominion Warrior. See today's Tugfax.

At pier 27  BBC Ganges in from Baie-Comeau for a brief stopover - and no cargo work - is stuck in port until conditions improve outside.

Built in 2010 by Tianjin Xingang it is a 12,974 grt, 16,943 dwt ship has two 250 tonne cranes and one 80 tonne crane. The big cranes can work in tandem for a 500 tonne lift. The ship originally intended to stay in port for only a few hours yesterday.

At the adjacent pier 31 Hollandia had completed unloading nickel from Cuba for Nirint, and is waiting its turn to leave port.

On February 19 in Oranjestad, Aruba, while hoisting a mobile truck crane from its hold a sling parted and the unit was dropped on the tween deck and heavily damaged. Apparently the ship incurred minimal damage, but the truck crane was in a sorry state.

Once again at anchor in the lower harbour Nolhanava is repeating its performance of the past few weeks. On arrival from its St-Pierre et Miquelon run, its normal berth is occupied by Oceanex Sanderling and it will await its time either at anchor or at pier 9B.

The ship was registered in Canada September 1, 2017.  The Canadian registration show its name as Nolhan Ava and that is how it will be shown here. For some reason the ship's registration is still shown in Transport Canada's online listings, but is also shown as closed, and the ship still carries Briidgetown (Barbados) on its stern. I understood that it was moved to Canadian flag to allow it to call in Newfoundland as well as St-Pierre on its weekly trips, but whether this has happened yet I am not sure. I believe it does carry a Canadian crew. 

In Bedford Basin CSL Tacoma is waiting out the weather with its cargo of gypsum bound for the US.

Also at anchor is the tanker Silver Millie Built in 2015 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, it is a typical mid-range (MR) product tanker, of 29,327 grt, 49,642 dwt.

When conditions improve, it will dock at Imperial Oil. Interestingly its last port was Vondeling, Netherlands (within the port of Rotterdam). It is the first foreign tanker at Imperial Oil in several weeks - ever since Algoscotia began shuttling product from Lévis, QC. Prior to that Imperial was getting refined product from the US Gulf.

 Harbour ferries were battling it out against wind and some swell as they maintained their regular schedules.

Woodside I was doing some rolling as it lined up for arrival in Halifax from Woodside.

Craig Blake was doing some splashing on its way to Halifax.

And at Fairview Cove, YM Epress moved under the big cranes to work cargo after Dalian Express had finished. Dalian Express then moved to the east end of the pier to await an improvement in sailing conditions.

Wind driven salt spray in the Narrows almost blots out the Dartmouth shore, despite bright sunshine.

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Dalian Express - big ship in the Narrows, and small ship repairs

Dalian Express ran the Narrows this afternoon in a stiff breeze as it made it way to Fairview Cove. Ably assisted by the tugs Atlantic Willow and Spitfire III (see Tugfax) the ship made quite a sight as it made a seemingly effortless passage.

The Dalian Express was built in 2001 as Hamburg Express by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd in Ulsan. The 88,493 grt, 100,006 dwt ship has a capacity of 7506 TEU (including 700 reefers). It was renamed in 2011 to free up the name for an even bigger Hapag-Lloyd ship. The new Hamburg Express carries in excess of 10,000 TEU.

As a reminder that driving ships is not always trouble free, Nolhanava is still tied up at pier 9c but repairs to its crumpled bridge wing have now begun.

 The crumpled bridge wing as it appeared on the weekend.

By today the damaged portion had been cut off.

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Fairview Cove - back in business

The Fairview Cove container pier was back in business at 0800 today after a lockdown of over 30 hours due to a radiation scare.

 

Fairview Cove terminal from  above the Rockingham rail yard.

At about 2200 hrs Thursday, the bottom "fell out" of a container carrying uranium hexafluoride canisters. The container dropped about 20 feet onto the deck of the Atlantic Companion and became wedged between some other containers.

Atlantic Companion from Memorial Drive 

Cerescorp, operators of the terminal, instituted emergency procedures and halted all work. Halifax Fire + Emergency Services responded and tested workers and the work area. When no workers were found to be contaminated, they were sent home and the terminal was locked down. Cerescorp also halted work on the adjacent ship, London Express.

Emergency teams from New Brunswick (where there is an atomic reactor near Saint John) and from Ontario were also called in.

A small work area around the dropped canisters was sealed off and found to have higher than normal radiation levels, but the levels were well below danger levels according to the experts. The canisters were not ruptured, and there was no release of radioactive material.

Loaded rail cars were held in the terminal, and inbound cars were held in the Rockingham yard.

By 0800 Saturday March 15 workers were called back and work resumed. The dropped canisters still had to be recovered but once that was done, the Atlantic Companion could resume normal loading and unloading.

Because work on London Express was delayed, the next due ship, Dalian Express anchored in Bedford Basin, ready to move into the west berth when London Express sails this afternoon.

Dalian Express anchored in Bedford Basin. 

The canisters, called type 30B, consist of a flask carrying the granular uranium hexaflouride, surrounded by concrete and encapsulated in a cylindrical steel shell. Four of the cylinders are secured in a container called a PCP3 platform or flat rack. It is similar to a standard container, but without a top or side walls. The end walls are hinged to fold flat to save space when empty.

These particular cylinders are en route from an enrichment facility in the UK to South Carolina for use in a nuclear power plant. They were to be trucked from Halifax by specialist carrier RSB Logistic of Saskatoon.

In October 2013 a driver from RSD Logistic affixes radiation warning placards to a container carrying radioactive material. This is the same type of container and cylinders involved in Thursday night's accident.

One might well ask why these cargoes cannot be landed in the US, closer to their destination.  I suspect it is because the US does welcome such cargoes arriving by sea, but much prefers them arriving by land where they can be more closely monitored.

London Express sailed early in the afternoon (in heavy rain and fog) with Dalian Express taking its berth immediately. Atlantic Companion sailed at 16:30.

Atlantic Companion passing east of George's Island, seen from a high building in Halifax

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Dalian Express gets away

Hapag-Lloyd's Dalian Express finally got away from Fairview Cove at 0600 today. The ship arrived on Friday January 3 but had to wait out the day's blizzard, and the snow clearing operations which followed.  

It kept its escort tug Atlantic Oak until it was well down into the main harbour, and slowed to a stop to let it go at 0730 just as the sun was about to rise.

Meanwhile at the Svitzer Canada wharf the launch Halmar was disembarking the pilot and ice adviser from the tanker North Contender which had just arrived at anchor. Halmar, operated by Dominion Diving, is contracted to fetch and carry pilots when the duty pilot boat is otherwise engaged. The pilot boat was outbound to stay ahead of the Dalian Express.

As I observed yesterday, the regular pilot boat Chebucto Pilot is out of service and the back-up boat A.P.A. No.20 is working.

• Dalian Express was built in 2001 as Hamburg Express. A post-Panamax container ship of  88,493 grt, 100,006 dwt, it has a capacity of 7506 TEU (including 2700 reefers) and acquired its present name in 2011. Its first call in Halifax was on May 27, 2013. 

• Halmar was built by Halifax Shipyards in 1960 as a workboat for use in the main shipyard and at Dartmouth Marine Slips. It was sold to Dominion Diving in 1992 and rebuilt by them in 2009.

• A.P.A. No.20  was built in 1974 by Breton Marine of Point Tupper, NS and has worked in Halifax and Placentia Bay over the years.

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Bigger ships on the way for H-L

Think this is big?  Wait 'til next month.

 1. Los Angeles Express squeezes through the Narrows, March 29.

There will be bigger ships arriving on the Hapag-Lloyd - OOCL Atlantic Express service starting next month. Transferred from the Pacific Northwest services, where even bigger ships are now being introduced, these ships will be significantly larger than the current post-Panamax ships we see now.
The new ships, Dalian Express and Yantian Express will be 20 meters longer and carry up to 2750 more TEUS.
Here are the numbers:
Los Angeles Express 75,590 gross tons, 85,930 deadweight tonnes, 6750 TEU, 300m long x 40 m wide.
Yantian Express 88,493 gross tons, 100,006 deadweight tonnes, 7506 TEU, 320m long x 42m wide.

With the Narrows now even narrower, due to the pier 9C extension work (about 30 meters narrower I reckon) will we soon be reaching the limit?