Late, late show; Stacked Up; RoRo

 Late, late show

The cruise season for Halifax usually winds up in the last week of October or the fist week of November - and for good reason! The weather is usually cold and windy - not what cruise passengers are looking for - and the hurricane season is usually over in the south where it is still nice and warm. Today, November 19 marks the latest scheduled cruise ship visit in my recollection.  It was the German ship AIDAdiva setting the record.

It tied up at Pier 22 (with the grain leg tower in the background) and lucked into a fine day with a high of 7 ºC [44.6 ºF]. Passengers had the entire day ashore with the ship sailing at 1630 hrs. [Sunset is 1643 hrs AST]
 

The 69,203 gt ship was built in 2007 by Meyer Werft in Papenburg and has a capacity of 2,050 passengers and 646 crew. 

The ship sailed from Rostock Germany November 1 and stopped at most Scandinavian ports before calling in Portland, UK, sailing from there November 12.

It will now go on the Boston and New York then US east coast, Gulf of Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Hawaii, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Sti Lanka, the Maldives, Seychelles, Réunion, Cape Town, Cape Verde, Azores, Portugal and ending up in Hamburg March 23, 2026. If you had the starting price of €17,500 ($27,500 CAN) per person (double occupancy) to drop you could have joined the 133 day cruise. Top end price might be in the range of €24,000 ($38,887.68 at current rate of exchange).
 

Stacked Up Outside

Despite the fact that the PSA Atlantic Hub (southend container terminal) can handle two 10,000 TEU ships at the same time, it cannot, in its present configuration, work three such ships and A smaller ship at the same time. Today there were two ships alongside (one big, one small) and two more big ships waiting in the outer anchorages outside the port limits.

The alongside ships were the 14,414 TEU CMA CGM J. Adams at berth 41 and the 3108 TEU EM Kea at Pier 42.

 The CMA CGM J. Adams came from the Hyundai Ulsan shipyard in 2017 and is shown as 141,950 gt, 148,992 dwt. It arrived yesterday from Colombo on the Ocean Alliance Asia-North America service.

The EM Kea dates from 2007 when it was built  by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland. The 35,824 gt, 42,165 fwt ship is on the regular CMA CGM /Maersk joint North Atlantic service from Montreal and bound for Bremerhaven. It also has 500 reefer plugs.

Stacked Up Outside

Unlike aircraft that circle seemingly endlessly when terminals are busy, ships sometimes have the option to anchor. Conditions were good for that off Halifax in recent days allowing for the unusual sight of two ships waiting outside thus avoiding port charges.

 The two are sister ships, both built by Japan Marine United, Kure. The ONE Wren was built in 2018 and the ONE Hawk in 2017. They were built for NYK Line and carried company names NYK Wren until 2021 and NYK Hawk until 2020. Both have similar tonnages of 145,251 gt, 139,995 dwt and 145,407 gt and 138,907 dwt respectively. They are both rated sat 14.026    TEU.

ONE Wren may have priority for berthing, but it is unlikely that both ships will be  docked at the same time since the smaller cranes may not be able to clear deck load.

RoRo 

The continuous parade of auto carriers continues with today's arrival of the Morning Lisa with both import automobiles and other RoRo cargo.

 

 On arrival the ship went north directly to Bedford Basin, turned then proceeded southbound again to tie up at Pier 9C in order to orient its stern ramp correctly.

 The Morning Lisa dates from 2008 when it was delivered by Hyundai, Samho. A 68,701 gt, 28,084 dwt vessel, it has a capacity of 8,011 Car Equivalent Units.

After discharging the usual mix of machinery at Pier 9C the ship moved to Autoport to unload cars.

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Montreal Strike Fall out

 The large quantities of containers stranded in Halifax due to the recent port workers strike and lockout in Montreal is diminishing somewhat, but by most reports there are still hundreds if not thousands of containers waiting for transport westbound. (There may have been as many as 5,000 containers off loaded here.) The terminals, and CN Rail, are coping with the extra boxes while still serving their regular customers and have pretty much maxed out the ability to move the containers any faster. The limited number of Halifax longshore workers has also been maxed out according to some reports. Fleets of trucks have been brought from Quebec, but each moving one container at a time is a slow go.

MSC has applied for a coasting license to use two foreign flag ships to carry some of the stranded boxes from Halifax to Montreal. (See November 20 post.) Both ships were en route to Halifax and had extra capacity.

MSC Sagitta III moved in to Fairview Cove Saturday, November 23 in hopes of a speedy Ministerial approval of its coasting license application, which may happen today. However when I passed the area late this morning there was no activity on the ship.

MSC Sagitta III alongside as in the background HMCS Ville de Quebec sails into Bedford Basin. (The Port of Quebec City has no container pier and has labour issues of its own.)

The second ship, MSC Baltic III has been standing by offshore since at least November 21 awaiting its turn for a license. There is no ETA in Halifax for it yet.

CMA CGM operates a four ship transatlantic service from Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp to Montreal called St Laurent 1, jointly with Maersk. Because there are draft restrictions on the St.Lawrence River, ships often call in Halifax on the return eastbound leg from Montreal to top off their loads to oceangoing draft. They rarely if ever call in Halifax westbound.

CMA CGM also operates a joint service with Hapag-Lloyd from Mediteranean ports to Montreal called MEDCAN, using seven ships. 

During the recent port workers strike and lockout in Montreal, CMA CGM diverted one of the Medcan ships, the Barcelona Express to the Port of Saint John, NB where it offloaded containers bound for Montreal.

CMA CGM then applied for a coasting license to use one of the St-Laurent I ships, the EM Kea, on its westbound leg, to pickup the boxes in Saint John and take them to Montreal. Some of the boxes were temperature controlled and there was a risk of spoilage if they were deayed too long.

In the end, the New Brunswick Southern and CPKC railways were able to move the 143 containers and the coasting license application was withdrawn.

Meanwhile in Halifax today, November 25, the CMA CGM Paranagua arrived on the eastbound leg of the St-Laurent 1 service to top off.  CMA CGM Paranagua is very similar in appearance to the 2007 built EM Kea, but is two years older, dating from 2005. The ships were built, in series of a dozen or more sister ships, by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland over period of several years. The are readily identifiable by the sloped fairing on the after side of the superstructure.

 

It is a 35,881 gt, 41,801 dwt ship with a capacity of 3091 TEU with 500 reefer plugs. Unlike its younger sister however, it is equipped with three cargo cranes.

Originally named Cosima by the Peter Doehle organization, it was renamed Norasia Atlas in 2005, and Letavia briefly during 2006 becoming Emirates Freedom to 2009 when it was again named Letavia until 2021. CMA CGM then acquired the ship and it took its present name, and placed it under the management of NSB Niederelbe.

Paranguá is a major port in the south of Brazil, and its name comes from the indigenous Tupi language, and means "great round sea".

The other ships on the CMA CGM /Maersk St.Laurent 1 service do not seem to have been held up very much by the Montreal strike, which lasted from October 31 to November 14:

 EM Kea had sailed from Montreal before the strike and called Halifax October 30. It is now en route from Antwerp (November 15) and is due in Montreal November 25. 

The Volga Maersk was in Halifax eastbound October 19 and is now due in Montreal again November 24. It appears to have been slow steaming for a time since it left Antwerp November 9.

Vistula Maersk sailed from Montreal November 1 and was in Halifax eastbound on November 5. It sailed from Antwerp November 22 and is due in Montreal December 6, possibly slow steaming for a time.

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The Line Up

 Today, Monday ,June 24 saw several familiar faces as far as shipping goes, with some a new comer too. Since most are well known I will skip the details here, but the ship's names will form links to previous posts.

The first arrival was the bi-weekly caller Tropic Hope for Tropical Shipping at Pier 42. It was followed soon after by the auto carrier Lake Taupo at Autoport.

 As with previous calls the Lake Taupo is eastbound from Veracruz, Mexico to Emden, Germany for Volkswagen.

There were two cruise ships today, the regular Volendam  is en route from Boston and Bar Harbour to Sydney, NS and on to the St.Lawrence.

 The other cruiser was the Viking Mars on its first call. Built by Fincantieri, Ancona in 2022 the 47,842 gt ship has 464 cabins for up to 930 passengers with 456 crew. It boasts a child-free experience (no one under 18 is allowed) with no amusement park type features. It is en route from New York for l'Anse aux Meadows, Greenland and Iceland.

 

Outbound this evening the Viking Saturn meets the Kawartha Spirit returning from a tour of the Northwest Arm.

Like its sister ship Viking Star that was here June 22 it is a very fine looking ship (by current standards). 

Another container ship arrival today was the EM Kea eastbound on the CMA CGM / Maersk transatlantic service from Montreal to Bremerhaven.

 Built in 2007 by Stocznia Sczecinska Nowa, in Poland, it is a 35,874 gt, 41,850 dwt ship with a capacity of 3108 TEU. Built as Cap Norte it was renamed Cape Egmont in 2012 and became EM Kea in 2015, the same year it joined this rotation. 

Another arrival was the tanker Pyxis Theta from Antwerp for Imperial Oil. No photo was possible so I will try again tomorrow.

Odd man out of the mix was the non-commercial vessel HMCS Harry DeWolf AOPV 430 returning to port after some naval activity.

 Name ship of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship program it was built by Irving Shipbuilding Inc at Halifax Shipyard and commissioned June 26, 2011. Numerous arctic programs are planned for this year, and the ship is likely to be heading north fairly soon.

 

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Weather Watch 3

 The forecast for a relatively fast moving storm proved to be correct, and by late this morning (March 24) the rain had let up and the winds died down. Sea conditions at the pilot station improved as a result and the several delayed arrivals lined up outside for pilots. Then tanker Acadian was first and proceeded to Irving Oil's Woodside terminal.

As they were standing off further out to sea it took some time for the container ships to reach the pilot boarding area off Chebucto Head. In turn were Atlantic Star from Norfolk for PSA Fairview Cove.

 (File photo from a previous visit July 12, 2023)

It was followed in an hour by MSC Cornelia from Sines, Portugal for Pier 41 at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing delivered the ship in 2010. The 54,182 gt, 63,069 dwt vessel has a capacity of 5089 TEU. Originally named RHL Fiducia, it was renamed Cornelia I in 2016 and became MSC Cornelia in 2021. It has a capacity of 5089 TEU including 385 reefer points. The ship is working the Canada Express 2 route and is due in Montreal March 29.

The next arrival was also for PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, and so stood by in the Middle Ground area until the MSC Cornelia had time to get alongside, then, with tugs, moved in to Pier 42.

The familiar EM Kea has been calling in Halifax on the Maersk / CMA CGM St.Lawrence River service since 2015. The ship calls on the eastbound leg from Montreal to Bremerhaven. (Ships on the route sometimes bypass Halifax to make up schedule time.)

Built in 2007 by Stocznia Sczecinska Nowa, in Poland, EM Kea is a 35,874 gt, 41,850 dwt ship with a capacity of 3108 TEU. Built as Cap Norte it was renamed Cape Egmont in 2012 and became EM Kea in 2015, the same year it began to call in Halifax. 

In yesterday's post I mentioned the installation of "wind shields". The EM Kea has had such a turtle back structure over its foredeck for as long  as it has been calling in Halifax. It certainly appears capable of deflecting seas and preventing damage to deck cargo.

The EM Kea is now a veteran of transatlantic trade, but how much longer it will be calling in Halifax may be a question. With Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd participating in competing St.Lawrence River alliances, their proposed Gemini Cooperation, to take effect in February 2025, may mean some changes, in the current arrangements.

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Lee update

 Although there was coastal flooding and shore erosion due to the storm surge, Post Tropical storm Lee did not create the widespread damage to boats and harbours that last year's Hurrucane Fiona did. That is not to belittle the impact of the storm - it was severe - but perhaps it was as much due to wise precautions as to the somewhat less powerful distrurbance.

As previously noted ships vacated Halifax harbour and went well offshore to the east as the storm tracked across mainland Nova Scotia on Septmber 16. For instance the container ship ZIM Iberia which cleared Halifax on Friday September 15 and was destined for New York, instead headed northeasterly and was spotted on AIS well offshore. Similarly the cruise ship Zaandam which sailed on the 15th got ahead of the storm and made for CornerBrook, NL after a day or more at sea.

The heavy load ship GPO Sapphire, which had been anchored off Halifax made for the shelter of Chedabucto Bay. It likely did not anchor because with its Dynamic Positioning capability, it was able to keep station. The huge windage of its deck load of six wind turbine tower components could have put unbearable strain on conventional anchors and chain.

GPO Sapphire anchored off Halifax on September 13.

Speaking of anchors however, the stress was too much for one of those red white and blue navy trot buoys off Macnab's Cove (on the right and left of the photo above.) It and a green navigation buoy were spotted adrift in the harbour, but were later coralled by tugs.

Coastal tankers sought shelter too with Acadian off Lismore and Big Island to the eastern of the Northumberland Strait. (It was bound for Charlottetown.)

Algoscotia and Mia Desgagnés were in St.Ann's Bay (northeast coast of Cape Breton) and not far away the cruise ship Norwegian Joy (which had been due in Halifax September 17) stood by off Wreck Cove (an inauspicious name under the circumstances.)

That made today (Monday, September 18) a double header Norwegian day in Halifax with both Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Pearl in at the same time. They were joined by the Pearl Mist which must have had a rough time of it en route from Portland, ME.

 Wind gusts of 117 kph (72 miles per hour) were recorded at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (well inland) and there were power outages all over NovA Scotia and New Brunswick. Ship Centreal Eastern (- the home of Shipfax) was without electricity for 28 hours from roughly 0715 hrs ADT Saturday, September 16 to 1100 hrs Sunday, September 17.

The storm was well passed by Sunday, Septemeber 17, but the only commercial activity in the harbour was the arrival and departure of the EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St-Laurent 1 service. It would normally have been here on Saturday en route from Montreal to Bremerhavem but can quite likely make up the time on the long transatlantic leg.

By today harbour activity had returned to normal (ferry service had been suspended on Saturday for example) with comings and goings at both container terminals. 

CMA CGM Mexico (15,000 plus TEU) made its call (westbound from Tanger Med) at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, along with Tropic Hope...

 ... and Atlantic Sky at PSA Fairview Cove (west bound en route for New York).

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CMA CGM Paranagua

Another new to Halifax container ship showed up today on the CMA CGM / Maersk St-Laurent 1 / CAE (Canada Atlantic Express) service. CMA CGM Paranagua is very similar in appearance to another ship on the service, the 2007 built EM Kea, but is two years older, dating from 2005. The ships were built, in series of a dozen or more sister ships, by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland over period of several years. The are readily identifiable by the sloped fairing on the after side of the superstructure.

It is a 35,881 gt, 41,801 dwt ship with a capacity of 3091 TEU. Unlike its younger sister however, it is equipped with three cargo cranes.

Originally named Cosima by the Peter Doehle organization, it was renamed Norasia Atlas in 2005, and Letavia briefly during 2006 becoming Emirates Freedom to 2009 when it was again named Letavia until 2021. CMA CGM then acquired the ship and it took its present name, and placed it iunder the mamagement of NSB Niederelbe.

Paranguá is a major port in the south of Brazil, and its name comes from the indigenous Tupi language, and means "great round sea".

The joint CMA CGM and Maersk service has been using the EM Kea since 2015 and since earlier this year three "V" class Maersk ships, Volga Maersk, Vistula Maersk and Viyenga Maersk which were displaced from a Baltic / Russia service. The latter of these now appears to have returned to the Baltic and its place taken by the CMA CGM Paranagua.

The route taken by these ships is Bremerhaven / Rotterdam / Antwerp / Montreal / Halifax (optional) / Bremerhaven.

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Two Hours of Activity

 There was quite a bit of activity compressed into a short period of time this afternoon June 23. Between 1715 hrs and 1915 hrs (ADT) there were five ships underway in the harbour.

The first ship was an arrival, the tanker Quartz from Montreal. It is a peculiar arrival as most handysize tankers come to Halifax to deliver refined product to either Irving Oil or Imperial Oil (Exxon mobil). This ship however is in ballast.

Built in 2015 by SPP Shipbuilding Co in Sacheon, it is a 9,767 gt, 49,990 dwt ship, running for Sinokor Petrochemical Co Ltd. It had arrived in Montreal on June 18 from Milford Haven, Wales, site of a large storage and distribution terminal. (The refinery there closed in 2014), and sailed for Halifax June 20. Presumably it unloaded refined product in Montreal.

Inbound soon after was HMCS Glace Bay returning from the Titanic wreck site where it was involved in the search for the submersible "Titan". Glace Bay was carrying a decompression chamber and medical personnel.

The Quartz went to anchor in the lower harbour in the same position as the Eimskip vessel Bakkafoss which got underway as the Glace Bay was passing.

 The Bakkafoss is new to Eimskip, and is on its first trip in a new charter arragement with Ernst Russ. As reported here in March, Eimskip is reducing the number of ships on its transatlantic service from four to three, but by increasing the size of ships will keep its container capacity the same. See: March News

Built in 2009 by Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Co in Fuzhou, the 11,550 gt, 14,669 dwt ship has a capacity of 1025 TEU, including 231 reefers. Built as JMS Brisbane it was renamed JRSPollux on delivery, becoming Pollux in 2013 and Elbsummer in 2020. It received the name Bakkafoss in May.

It joins Lagarfoss and Vivienne Sheri D on the Green line service, joining Reykjavik, Halifax, Portland, ME, Halifax, Argentia, NL, Reykjavik. (Halifax and Argentia are optional).

 

Bakkafoss headed for PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub to dock at Pier 42 as soon as the EM Kea cleared. One of the St-Laurent 1 service regulars (operated by CMA CGM and Maersk) EM Kea arrived early in the morning and sailed for Bremerhaven.

The final ship was CMA CGM Hermes sailing from Pier 41 for New York on the Columbus JAX service from Singapore and Malaysia via Suez and Tanger Med.

 The CMA CGM Hermes was built in 2021 by Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Shipuilding. It is registered at 154,995 gt, 156,055 dwt with a capacity of 15,000 TEU.

There will be some departures over night, with arrival activity resuming early at daybreak tomorrow morning.

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Morning Lynn, EM Kea

 Autoport hosted the auto carrier Morning Lynn today (May 26) on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Europe / North America route. It called in Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Zebrugge and Southampton en route to Halifax and sailed this afternoon for Manzanillo, Panama.

The ship was built in 2009 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industry Co Ltd and is registered at 68,701 gt, 28,092 dwt with a capacity of 8,011 CEU. Eukor is the former car carrier divison of Hyundai Merchant Marine acquired by Wallenius Wilhelmsen to gain control of Korean auto exports (and fend off thew Japanese car carriers). It is still a South Korean company, but is now jointly owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, American Roll-on-Roll-off Carriers (ARRC) and United European Car Carriers. Ships of Eukor and ARRC are integrated into Wallenius Wilhelmsen trade routes and can often be seen in Halifax.

EM Kea arrived from Montreal on the jointly operated CMA CGM, Maersk St-Laurent 1 route to Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp.The ship has been on the route since 2015, and is a regular in Halifax on the weekly service. (Halifax is an optional port, so ships do not always call here every week). Oddly there were two ships this week, with CMA CGM Louga in port yesterday.

EM Kea was built in 2007  by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland and measures 35,824 gt, 41,859 dwt with a capacity of 3108 (or 3091) TEU with 500 reefer plugs.

The roster of ships on the St-Laurent 1 service is flux with yesterday's visitor being dropped in favour of CMA CGM Paranagua a 2005 near sister of the EM Kea, but equipped with a pair of 45 tonne SWL cranes. It is expected to call in Halifax in early August. Vistula Maersk and Volga Maersk are expected to remain on the roster with Vayenga Maersk also possibly reassigned (It appears to be in drydock in Setubal.)

CMA CGM Louga was well concealed yesterday when it was tied up at mid-berth Pier 41-42. It has onlty been on the St-Laurent 1 service for a short time, making its first call in Halifax March 15. It also called April 21. CMA CGM Louga was built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan, China in 2018. It is a 29,316 gt, 34,694 dwt ship with a capacity variously quoted as 2462 TEU or 2487 TEU including 747 reefer plugs. It is a Baltic 1A ice class vessel.

The ship sailed in daylight April 21, but on its last call in Halifax it sailed at 0330hrs this morning May 26.
 

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Sunday Report

 There was considerable activity in the port spread out over the day today, April 30, 2023.

Early morning arrivals at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway were the two regulars EM Kea on the St-Laurent 1 service (CMA CGM + Maersk) from Montreal.

... and ONE Helsinki on the EC5 service for THE Alliance.

Built in 2012 by IHI, Kure the 96,801 gt, 96,980 dwt ONE Helsinki has a capacity of 8930 TEU. This is its first call at the Southend, but now all the larger ships on this service will no longer be calling at PSA Fairview Cove due to their size. The ship was built as Helsinki Bridge and renamed in 2020 when it was chartered by K-Line to the Ocean Network Express (ONE).

With all that activity at the Southend, the arriving Tropic Hope went to anchor in the lower harbour. Tropical Shipping's vessels are usually worked on Mondays, so this does not represent a delay.

 At Fairview Cove, and sailing in the early afternoon it was NYK Rumina on the AL5 service.

Another of the Daedalus series of ships it was built in 2010 by Hyundai, Samho. The 55,487 gt, 66,171 dwt ship has a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers.

Autoport had another caller today - the spring increase in demand for cars is in full flood!

The Morning Capo arrived from Southampton after calling at all the usual continental ports. Built in 2013 by Hyundai, Kunsan* it is a 59,615 gt, 20,139 dwt ship with a capacity of 6,674 CEU.
 

[* Kunsan, also translated as Gunsan, is a new shipyard built by Hyundai in 2008. Due to a slump in demand for ships it was closed in 2017, but re-opened in October 2022. It is located 179 km southwest of Seoul.]

 There was also a different arrival of sorts. The Dutch flag multi-purpose type general cargo ship FWM Atlantic tied up at Pier 25. This is not a pier for working cargo, but more often used for ships in layup or for repairs.

The ship is virtually brand new - it was delivered January 6, 2023 by Ferus Smit (I am not sure which shipyard) in the Netherlands. It was built as Symphony Atlantic but was renamed FWN Atlantic as of January 1, 2023. The 8360 gt, 12,575 dwt ship is built to the open hatch, box shaped hold pattern and carries two cranes. However it may be fitted with travelling pipe handling gantries in the holds. The devices unstack large diameter pipes, placing them one at a time on a platform where the ship's deck cranes then lift them off. (The process works in reverse for loading).The ship is also equipped with Dynamic Positioning 2 which indicates offshore gas pipeline activity.

See tomorrow's report for more on the FWN Atlantic and related activity.

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What is going on

 There is some confusion about what is going on with the Maersk (Canada Atlantic Express) CMA CGM (St-Laurent 1) weekly service between North Europe and Montreal, with a customary eastbound stop in Halifax. As per my November 9 post a new ship appeared on the route, namely Maersk Idaho, and oddly it arrived on the westbound leg.

Maersk Idaho arriving November 9.

Earlier this year Maersk replaced two older ships on the route with ships displaced from a Baltic / Russia service. The ice class Vistula Maersk and Vayenga Maersk began regular calls, but the Vistula Maersk now seems to be running between Rotterdam, Antwerp and Denmark. Vayenga Maersk sailed from Montreal November 2, but sailed directly for Bremerhaven, by-passing Halifax. 

CMA CGM also replaced their long time ship on the route, the EM Kea with the CMA CGM Montreal. It sailed from Montreal October 29 and also bypassed Halifax eastbound. Today however the EM Kea arrived in Halifax from Montreal. (It had sailed from Bremerhaven October 17, Rotterdam October 19-20, and Antwerp October 20-21.)

The stylish EM Kea at Pier 41 this morning.

In looking at the arrivals list for tomorrow (November 12) I see the Maersk Idaho again. When it sailed from here in the early hours of November 10, it just went out to sea and has been standing off ever since. It seems unlikely therefore that it will be heading for Montreal, but we will have to wait and see.

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Sunday Report

 I have been spending a lot of time on posts in the last few days, so I am abbreviating this one somewhat so that I can get on with other things [i.e. I do have a life.]

 

This morning's arrival was USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul LCS 21, the latest in the ill-starred series of Littoral Combat Ships built by Fincantieri's Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin. The ship's delivery was delayed by a year in order to correct a propulsion system problem. It was commissioned May 21 in Duluth, MN - as close as they could get to its namesake twin cities - and made its way down through the Lakes and St.Lawrence Seaway with a few stops on the way including Quebec City. 

 The ship will spend the weekend at HMC Dockyard before heading off to its new homebase of Naval Station Mayport, FL.

Ships of this Freedom class have had numerous performance issues of the ships themselves, and the towed array sonar that they were supposed to tow. Now the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) role has been assigned to another class of ships. The nine Freedom class ships currently in service are scheduled to be decommissioned next year. The oldest one is barely ten years old. Most of those ships called in Halifax on their delivery trips from the Lakes.

Another one of those carefully orchestrated "meets" between arriving and departing ships took place this afternoon as the outbound auto carrier Don Carlos [see yesterday's post] encountered the inbound Atlantic Sky.

Don Carlos took the western channel leaving the eastern channel clear for the ACL ship.

The Atlantic Sky was showing some large rust streaks, evidence of the hard service these ships maintain on the North Atlantic.

Reports that the Fairview Cove terminal is stuffed full of containers, and that there are long lines of rail cars with ACL and other containers waiting to leave Halifax has apparenely caused a backlog of ships, with Atlantic Sky forced to wait off Halifax for a time, along with NYK Rigel.

PSA Halifax's Atlantic Hub terminal in the southend is also filling up, however it has more overflow space, particularly for RoRo trailers in the Pier 29 area. Its arrival today was on the Maersk and CMA CGM's CAE / St-Laurent 1 service, arriving from Montreal.  

Three older Maersk ships have recently been replaced on the service by two newer Maersks - Maersk Vayenga [see June 6 ] and Maersk Vistula and one newer CMA CGM ship CMA CGM Montreal [see June 1 ] . The question remained about the fourth ship, and that may have been answered today with arrival of the EM Kea, the ship that has been on the run for some time, but is newer (although 2007 is not exactly new.)

The stylish EM Kea appeared to be at quite a light draft as it made its way inbound today, even though it seemed to have a large deckload. It will take on some more cargo here before heading for Europe.

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Maersk and CMA CGM - all change

Since 2010 Maersk and CMA CGM have called in Halifax on their jointly operated weekly North Atlantic service, named CAE (Canada Atlantic Express) and St-Laurent I respectively. The normal route is:

Westbound: Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Montreal, Halifax, and 

Eastbound: Montreal, Halifax, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp.

However Halifax seems to be an optional port, perhaps depending on weather, ice or cargo offering. Ships sometimes sail directly from Montreal for Bremerhaven. By my unofficial count this has happened 11 times in the 22 weeks so far in 2022. The most frequent misses were in January, February, March, when ice likely delayed progress on the St.Lawrence, and Halifax was skipped to maintain a weekly schedule. In addition to the skipped calls, what was once a dependable Saturday call has also slipped to Tuesday in the last month.

For most of those years the service has been operated by the 2890 TEU veterans Maersk Palermo, Maersk Patras and Maersk Penang and the 3108 TEU EMKea (a CMA CGM charter), but that is about to change. 

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, June 1, the CMA CGM Montreal (2553 TEU) will arrive in Halifax from Montreal for the first time. In the coming weeks Vayenga Maersk and Vistula Maersk (both 3600 TEU) will be taking up their slots. A fourth ship - yet to be named may be added or the much newer EM Kea may continue for a time. The older "P" class ships are nearing the dreaded 5th special survey and may be short listed for the scrap yard - or resale in a hot tonnage market.

I will provide more detail on the new ships when they arrive, and when I learn the fate of the others.

But to look back on the familiar ships that we will likely see no more:

Maersk Palermo is scheduled to sail from Montreal on June 2, but does not show up as a Halifax caller. It was here last on Tuesday, April 26:

 Maersk Palermo April 26, 2022.

All three "P" ships were built by Kvaerner Warnow Werft, Warnemunde in 1998. This one was orginally P+O Nelloyd Auckland and operated as Lykes Pioneer from 2000 to 2002. It then reverted to P+O Nedlloyd Auckland and was renamed Maersk Palermo in 2006 when Maersk acquired P+O Nelloyd.

Even when somewhat scruffy after a hard winter's work, the Maersk blue still looked good in bright sunshine.

 Maersk Palermo October 4, 2016.

Maersk Patras was built as P+O Nedlloyd Marseille and was renamed in 2006. Its last call in Halifax was on March 19. On its December 22, 2021 visit it was certainly showing signs of wear and tear.

When fresh from refit it looked good even in low light:

 Maersk Patras December 22, 2021.

Maersk Penang was orginally the P+O Nedlloyd Jakarta until 2006. It was last calls in Halifax were on Saturday, April 2, 2022 and Tuesday, May 3, 2022:

Maersk Penang, April 2, 2022

Maersk Penang May 3, 2022

Odd man out in the current rotation is CMA CGM's contribution, EM Kea. Built in 2007 by Stocznia Sczecinska Nowa, in Poland, it is a 35,874 gt, 41,850 dwt ship with a capacity of 3108 TEU. Built as Cap Norte it was renamed Cape Egmont in 2012 and became EM Kea in 2015, the same year it joined this rotation. Its last call in Halifax was on Tuesday, May 10. It is due in Montreal again on June 6.

EM Kea, June 7, 2019

As with most Polish ships, it is much more stylish than its businesslike German counterparts.

EM Kea June 23, 2018.

 My favourite view of the EM Kea was not taken in Halifax, but on someone's million dollar front lawn August 15, 2018. (I am sure no clues are needed as to location.)

...

A previous member of the rotation was the Maersk Pembroke, the former P+O Nedlloyd Sydney Also built in 1998 by the same yard to the same dimensions as the other three "P" ships, it was sold for scrap in 2017 after an engine room fire in the Celtic Sea.

Maersk Pembroke January 26, 2015

Maersk Pembroke January 26, 2015

There have been a few short term substitutes on this service over the years, but noting them would make this post unbearably long.

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