Sigma T - taking a rest

 One of the busiest boats in Halifax is called the Sigma T, but it is perhaps not well known. Operated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans from the Bedford Institute, it can be seen in Bedford Basin or out in the approaches on most days.

Built along modified fishing boat lines by Samson Enterprises in Arichat, NS, the boat is equipped with a small gantry and other gear to allow the vessel to carry out water sampling. The boats name represents a quantity used in oceanography to describe the density of salt water at a given temperature.

It is not the first boat to used the name. A previous boat in operation until 1999 was called Sigma-T (with a hyphen).

Sigma-T is seen here in January 1975 in winter layup at Purdy's Wharf with the Great Lakes vessel Northcliffe Hall preparing to sail to the Caribbean, the burned out ship Amvourgon on the south side of the pier and alongside the Fisheries Research Vessel Harengus. The Sigma-T was built in 1963 in Cheticamp, NS as Miss Valerie.

The current Sigma T appears to be in refit at BIO since mid-July, but the water sampling and measuring process goes on, I believe with the Connors Diving Services boat Eastcom filling in.

There seemed to be quite a crowd on deck - perhaps some summer students - while the Eastcom worked not far off the Bedford Institute yesterday. Eastcom was built by Millenium Marine Inc in Escuminac, NB in 2010.

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Ice Point, CLI Pride, and some harbour craft

The tanker Ice Point completed unloading at Nova Scotia Power, Tuft's Cove and sailed at noon time. [See earlier Shipfax post for more detail]

Ice Point in ballast heading for the St.Lawrence River.

The ship is headed for Lévis, QC. By coincidence its 2008 built sister ship Iron Point sailed from Lévis this morning, headed for Boston. The two ships will pass somewhere in the Gulf of St.Lawrence.

One feature of the Tuft's Cove terminal is that ships secure to mooring buoys and use line boats to take the head and stern lines to the buoys. (This is not unique in Halifax - the docks at Autoport and Irving Oil Woodside also require line boats.)

Boats from Connors Diving Services Ltd do the line boat duties for Nova Scotia Power, and their veteran work boat tender Divecom III does the honours, along with a smaller outboard. It also deploys the oil boom around the ship during unloading.

Divecom III heads back to base at the Armdale Yacht Club on the Northwest Arm.

Divecom III was built of wood in 1984 by Roy M. Doucette at Cape St.Mary, NS. That company has since switched to fibreglass and moved to nearby Yarmouth, NS. Present day boats are much larger and beamier - this one is a traditional style.

Connors Diving has other watercraft and by coincidence one of them passed my vantage point a few minutes later. Eastcom is a much newer vessel, dating from 2010 when it was constructed, of fibreglass, by Millennium Marine Inc of Escuminac, NB.

Eastcom returns to its base at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

It offered an opportunity to compare the favoured hull shapes from southwestern Nova Scotia  to those on the Northumberland Strait. 

Eastcom is in almost daily use in the harbour with various diving operations and rescue training. It also heads out to rendez-vous with ships off Halifax with charts, part and sometimes ice advisors.

Also sailing at noon time was a CLI Pride after a very short stay in Halifax. The ship only arrived this morning at Fairview Cove.

This is the ship's second call in Halifax in a month. Its last was January 7 [ see Shipfax post for more details ] when it arrived from Rotterdam. It sailed the same day, directly back to Rotterdam and returned to Halifax. It makes one wonder why they didn't use a larger ship and save a trip!

On departure the ship gave Liverpool, UK as its next port.

 

Freezing Fog

Before the sun penetrated through the sea smoke this morning there were freezing fog conditions in Halifax. Cold steel - particularly on ships - is an ideal surface for attracting frozen fog, but most ships that were visible seemed little effected. After yesterday's very busy day in the port, things are returning to relative calm again.

BW Lynx sailed from number one anchorage. It had been at Valero Eastern Passage until last night when it moved out for bunkers.

Atlantic Conveyor sailed from Fairview Cove on its usual routine, passing Connors Diving's Eastcom off Point Pleasant Park.

Anchored in the main harbor British Integrity awaits its turn for bunkers.

And George's Island remains anchored in its usual position, with a nice coating of snow.

The orange buoys have been set out to mark the anchors for Waterworks Construction's barge that is working on the new cruise ship bollard at Tall Ship Quay.

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Zim Luanda - arrives early, greeted by flare

Container ship Zim Luanda arrived in port early today. Due to high winds the ship could not anchor outside the harbour to wait her scheduled arrival time at Halterm, so instead came into port and dropped the hook at anchorage number 1.

Built in 2009 by Samsung SB+HI at their Koje, South Korea yard, the ship was delivered June 26,2009 to owners Seaspan Ship Management. It was immediately sold to Danaos Shipping of Greece, complete with its long term charter to Zim.  Seaspan has arranged for finance/construction/charter/management arrangements with many companies, and now manages about 70 ships for major shipping lines.

This ship measures 40,030 gross tons and 50,800 deadweight and has a capacity of 4253 TEUs.

A pyrotechnic flare, in the air at about midships, was part of a survival training exercise being conducted  near Ives Knoll, not related to the Zim Luanda. 

Connors Diving's boat Eastcom stood by during the exercise, which may have included lifeboats, rafts, survival suits and people in the water (intentionally).

Earlier this week Eastcom returns to base following another assignment. In the right background is a survival training installation at Woodside.

Corporal McLaren MMV - safely launched at HSY

 1. With the tug Atlantic Willow standing by, a pre-launch conference takes place between yard workers and harbour pilots. The stern of the next ship, A. LeBlanc is just visible behind them, on the left.

Today Halifax Shipyard added another safe launch to its growing list  when Corporal McLaren MMV floated into Halifax harbour for the first time.
The launch was conducted in slow stages - it was not the old fashioned run down the ways with a big splash! 
The first stage was to slide* the ship down to the water's edge where a riding crew, including two harbour pilots, boarded the ship and checked it for seaworthiness. It was then allowed to slide a bit further into the water to "wet its feet" so to speak. This was really to permit a water tight integrity test, making sure that all through hull fittings were tight. Divers from Connors Diving then went down to release the cables that connect the ship to its cradle. The final stage was to allow the cradle to run out to its full length, and for the ship to float off. The whole process took roughly two hours. The new ship was then moved to pier 9B for final fitting out and trials.

2. Just before getting its feet wet for the first time, the ship is stopped on the ways to allow the riding crew and pilots to get aboard. At this point in the process, fog arrived with the incoming tide and socked in the Narrows.

 Unlike previous occasions when two tugs towed the ship to pier 9, this time the work was done by one tug, Atlantic Willow, and Connor's dive boat Eastcom. The latter has shallow enough draft to work over the end of the launch way, which is not deep enough for the big tugs, even at high tide. A pair of outboard motor boats also assisted in the proceedings.
(As a new ship, its engines are not yet operational, nor its auxiliary generators, and it carries no fuel, so it is totally without power and cannot move on its own.)

3. Eastcom has a stern line from the new ship, assisting it alongside pier 9B.

4. Corporal McLaren MMV shows off its attractive lines as it nears pier 9B. (The barely visible bow line leads off to the tug Atlantic Willow.)

5. The boat will undergo builders trials over the next month or so.

* Footnote:

To control the movement of the ship on the launch way, the luanch cradle is connected by a cable system to a large truck, heavily counter-weighted with concrete blocks. The truck's great weight (and brakes) are enough to keep the launch cradle (with ship aboard) stationary. When it is time for the ship to move, the truck releases its brakes and inches forward, until ordered to stop again. If it is necessary to pull the ship back up the launch way for any reason, the truck has enough power to pull it back.   

6. This is the truck- a very large, all-wheel drive Kenworth. Once the launch was completed, the counterweight body was removed and the truck was loaded aboard a trailer for the return trip to J.D.Irving Equipment. The Kenworth drwarfs the Western Star truck which will tow the trailer.