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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Big Blow

Mild temperatures mean high winds at this time of year and as the thermometer climbed to 13 degrees C winds clocked gusts of 100 kph along the coast. Naturally this meant that pilotage operations were suspended all day and will not resume until tomorrow morning at the earliest.

There were very high wind gusts in the harbour and the tanker Avon moved from Imperial Oil jetty 3 to an anchorage in Bedford Basin.

Avon at Imperial Oil yesterday.

The ship is less than a year old. Delivered by Hyundai Mipo in January 2019, it measures 29,528 gt, 49,999 dwt.

Tugging at its anchor this morning in Bedford Basin.

The wind driven salt spray restricted visibility somewhat but HMCS Shawinigan was able to carry out some exercises in the same area. It was joined by HMCS Glace Bay.

Ships requiring pilots have been standing by off Halifax until conditions improve. The small container ship Tropical Lissette which sailed yesterday afternoon sought shelter overnight in St. Margaret's Bay, anchoring well up the bay off Fox Point all day today and likely all night tonight. The Bay, just west of Halifax, is not a mandatory pilotage area.

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The Passing Parade

In the space of an hour there were six ships passing the same point in Halifax harbour. This unusual event came late this afternoon.

First along was the Stadt Cadiz returning from (I am presuming) successful sea trails after engine repairs. As reported yesterday, the ship then went to anchor in Bedford Basin to await orders. The ship's place in the Maersk - CMA/CGM service is to be taken by EM KEA ex Cape Egmont, ex Cap Norte, a ship built in 2007 by Stoc. Szczecinska Nowa in Poland. The ship took its present name in April of this year. A gearless container ship of 3108 TEU, owned by Eurobulk Ltd of Athens, the former Hamburg-Sud ship is capable of 22 knots.

Shortly after HMCS Charlottetown came storming in. It did not reduce speed as it neared Ives Knoll and made a high speed sweep into number one anchorage and east of George's Island.

The reason for this rapid arrival was the outbound Dalian Express which needed most of the channel for its departure.

As soon as it was past Zim Luanda sailed from Halterm.

Meanwhile HMCS Glace Bay was making its way in.

It was then that it was possible to see three container ships all at once.

The inbound Zim San Francisco took the main channel inbound to Halterm as Zim Luanda used the western deep water channel, as it headed to sea.

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The Dickens you say............

Yes it was a busy day in Halifax harbour - here is a roundup:

First off the arrival of Charles Dickens for the G6 Alliance PAX service - the latest in a series of one-off ships, on short term charters to fill in for ships on refit or those that have been replaced on the route.

Charles Dickens is the former Maersk Danbury, just off a long term charter late last year, the ship still carries Maersk's colours, but has had the banner name and funnel mark painted over. Registered in Liberia, and owned by Norddeutsche Reederei Schuldt of Germany, the ship was built in 2005 by Hanjin Heavy Industry and Construction of Busan, South Korea. With tonnages of 54,271 gross, 67,601 dwt, it has a capacity of 4944 TEU.

Frio Kyknos was back in Halifax again, this time for bunkers. The ship was here April 1 to 3 for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection. Since then I assume it unloaded a cargo of fish in Newfoundland.

This time the ship is in light condition, and despite sloppy seas outside, the pilot likely had an easier time disembarking. When it arrived April 1, the pilot boat had to lead the ship in. Due to its low freeboard, its decks were awash and the pilot could not board at the pilot station.
The ship gave its destination as Iceland. Since there is still a great deal of ice off the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, the ship will be taking a southerly route to meet up with the Gulf stream, but even so coming to Halifax for bunkers took the ship at least a day or two's sailing off its course.

The ferry Halifax III was back in service after a short disruption yesterday due to a minor breakdown.

Fleetmate Woodside I is already out of service for regular maintenance, and Sunday service was replaced by buses the last two weekends due to repairs in the Dartmouth ferry terminal.

Siem Pilot is gearing up for work offshore. As previously reported, the ship is serve as an accommodation vessels for diving off Sable Island. It has now been fitted with equipment from Dominion Diving, and  yesterday took fuel at Imperial Oil. Last night it did calibration work off the Mobil dock (where the water is too shallow for it to tie up).

This evening the ship moved out into Bedford Basin for further trials. Its original coasting license was from March 24 to April 25, on a charter to Secunda LLP..

The Maritime Coastal Defense vessels HMCS Glace Bay and Kingston returned to Halifax after exercises in southern waters. Kingston had a minor fire on Saturday off the Carolinas, but it was extinguished by the crew without injury. It does not seem to have effected the ship's ability  sail home unaided.

First in was Glace Bay looking quite smart with a stiff gale of wind chasing it along in bright sunshine.

An hour later when Kingston came up, the wind had brought in the fog and the start of light drizzle. The air temperature was about 14 degrees C, but the water temperature was still at 2 degrees C - a perfect recipe for fog. The ship showed no outward signs of any fire.

So with all this activity - what did I miss?

The US flag autocarrier Courage arrived from Baltimore and sailed for Antwerp - going in the opposite direction for most car boats.Built as Aida in 2005 by Hitachi Shipbuilding in Maizuru, Japan, the ship has flown the US flag since 2005. It operates for American Roll-On Roll-Off and is managed by Crowley Technical Management Inc.

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