Late in the Day and a Bonus

 Celebrating the days when the sun sets after 5 pm Atlantic Standard Time, I made my way to Point Pleasant Park to see off the MSC Kim on its way to Gioia Tauro on MSC's Med Canadian service. 

Of course the ship's actual pilot order time was 1545 hrs, so I was not expecting to be crowding sunset, but as it turned out the ship was still working cargo at the appointed time and it took until 1720 to finish, let lines go and actually get underway. By that time the PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub terminal was all lit up. That certainly helped the exposure time required for a photo of the cranes.

Despite the ship moving away, my camera was still able to capture it without blurring.

A Mediterranean Shipping Copmany veteran, the MSC Kim was built in 2008 by the Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co in Ningbo, to the SDARI 4250 Pmax design. The 41,225 gt, 56,395 dwt measurements give the ship a capacity of 4254 TEU, with 550 reefer plugs.

The MSC Kim made the headlines when it lost power in the Gulf of St.Lawrence, 40 nmi. South of Anticosti Island and 66 nmi. East of Percé on March 7, 2022 while en route from Halifax to Montreal. It drifted for some distance while CCGS Terry Fox broke out a channel at Stepehenville to allow the anchor handling tug Atlantic Kingfisher to reach the ship, and tow it to Sydney, arriving March 11. See Shipfax March 10, 2022 for more detail.

While waiting for the ship to sail this afternoon I did get a bonus view of the Royal Canadian Navy's Halifax based submarine HMCS Windsor arriving from sea. The sound deadening rubber tiles covering the hull do not get as cold as steel, so there did not seem to be any build up of frozen spray on the sub.

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Twelve more

 Mounting criticism from NATO allies that Canada is not living up to its commitment to the alliance revolves around Canada's failure to meet the figure of 2% of GDP dedicated to defence spending. At the recent NATO meeting in Washington, the Canadian government reiterated its intention to increase spending to that level - over the long term.

Details on how this will achieved are scant, but the Minister of Defence has announced that Canada will be acquiring up to twelve conventionally powered, under-ice capable submarines. Called the Canadian Patrol Submarine Program (CPSP) the process will begin with a search for potential bidders. It is understood that the boats will not be built in Canada, but will come form establish constructors elsewhere in the world.

The project will presumably also require a massive infrastructure upgrade to provide bases and refit capabilities for such a large number of boats. Neither of the two HMC Dockyards, Halifax nor Esquimalt, currently has the space for that many subs, particularly as new large destroyers and supply ships will be added to the fleet in the interim.

Today, July 14, saw Canada's sole east coast submarine, HMCS Windsor move to Bedford Basin for some trials. It is one of four Victoria class subs in the RCN, purchased in 1994 from the Royal Navy's stock of decommissioned Upholder class boats of 1980s vintage. The other three are currently based in Esquimalt.

 

HMCS Windsor ex Unicorn, July 14, 2024.

The subs have been maintenance heavy and have had life extensions that will only see them to the mid 2030s. It is questionable if new subs can be delivered on that timetable. Six year refit intervals may see lmore arge expenditures if they RCN needs to keep them in service for another cycle.

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More variety

 There was more variety in harbour traffic again today, August 3. 

A late morning arrival was the medium endurance USCGC Forward WMEC 911 out of Portsmouth, Virginia. 

It is a Hero class vessel, named for a former Secretary of Treasury 1841-1843, Walter Forward, whose "hero" status is at best questionable. Built by the Robert Derektor Shipyard Inc in Middletown, RI it was completed in 1989 and commissioned August 4, 1990. It appears that it will be observing that anniversary here along with the other Dockyard visitor FS Garonne (see yesterday's post), both of which will be in port for long-weekend holiday celebrations.

Traditionally the founding of Halifax - its Natal Day - was celebrated on June 21, even though the first 2,500 British colonial settlers arrived starting July 2, 1749. In recent years however the first Monday in August has been a civic holiday observed province-wide and not just in the former City of Halifax (which is now part of the Halifax Regional Municipality, formed in 1996 from four different municipalities, each with its own founding date.) Parades, fireworks, road races and other events coincide with the annual busker festival for an extended long weekend of celebration.

As Forward sailed it met the outbound HMCS Windsor which has been seen about the harbour and area in recent days, sometimes exercising with a helicopter.

HMCS Windsor in the Narrows, July 31.

An early morning arrival was the auto carrier Don Pasquale a regular at Autoport on Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic service. Late in the afternoon it shifted to Richmond Terminals, Pier 9C as it has done several times recently, to unload additional RoRo cargo.

As usual the ship went to Bedford Basin, turned and re-entered the Narrows to tie up starboard side to the dock. The Don Pasquale was built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in Okpo in 1997 and in 2007 it was lengthened from 219.3 to 227.9 m by Hyundai Vinaship in Vietnam. The reworked ship now registers 67,141 gt, 28,142 dwt with a capacity of 7,194 cars. Its stern ramp is rated for 125 tonnes.

The heavy lift ship Pijlgracht completed its work at the IEL dock this morning and sailed in the early afternoon for Providence, RI. That port is not far from the Vineyard Wind project, so perhaps it has more cargo for that project, in additon to what it unloaded here.

 

 

A late afternoon arrival was the NYK Constellation on THE Alliance's AL5 route from North Europe to North America. 

 The 55,534 gt, 65,919 dwt ship was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan and has a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers. It was certainly carrying a large number of reefers aft (likely empty). It berthed at PSA Fairview Cove.

A ship meeting, which would be interesting to see, was to take place in the late evening and after dark. The outbound ONE Falcon would meet the inbound ONE Apus outside the pilotage area in different traffic lanes where there is lots of sea room.  It is rare that two of the 14,000 TEU sister ships would be in the area at the same time. Normal schedules would have them several days apart.

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Busy Day

 Today, July 28, was a busy day in the harbour with both civilian and military shipping activity. Among the arrivals were a US Coast Guard cutter and a Danish frigate.

USCGC Bear WMEC-901 is a Famous class, medium endurance cutter, based in Portsmouth, VA.

Sun angles and the tug Atlantic Willow conspired to prevent a clear view of  the arriving USCGC Bear.

The famous previous vessel after which it is named had a Halifax conneciton. The US Revenue cutter Bear was a "wooden wall" built in 1874 as a sail/steam sealer, that served in Alaska for many years.It then worked for Admiral Richard Byrd in Antarctica and for the US Navy in Greenland during World War II. After the war it was acquired by Shaw Steamships of Halifax for use as a sealer. In 1963 "Pop" Shaw sold the ship to a restauranteur from Philadephia. It departed Halifax March 16, 1963 in tow of (the first) Irving Birch but sank 90 miles south of Cape Sable after the tow line parted and the ship wallowed out of control.

The current USCGC Bear, fitted with sophisticated sidescan sonar, located the wreck in 2019 and it has since been confirmed and exensively mapped and photographed from an ROV in 2021. (Sea History Issue 178, Spring 2022 has more detailed information.) Since the wreck is in Canadian territorial waters discussions are underway between Canada and the US on how to protect it.

His Danish Majesty's Ship Triton F358 arrived in the early afternoon at HMC Dockyard.

 

The 3500 ton displacement vessel was launched in 1990 by Svendborg Shipyard and commissioned in  1991. It is a Thetis class frigate, one of four in the RDN, tasked with "maintenance of sovereignty, search and rescue, fishery inspection and support to local (mainly Greenlandic) authorities. The operation areas are normally Greenland and the Faroe Islands, but the vessels also operate near Iceland on transit between Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and near Denmark". [quoted from Wikipedia]

 

A third naval vessel movement involved the submarine HMCS Windsor which had been occupying the sound range anchorage below York Redoubt for the last day or two. This morning navy tugs Glenevis, Listerville and Merrickville assisted the sub in getting underway.

 

As the sub got underway, it was clear enough to see the containership One Hangzhou Bay  in an offshore anchorage.

There were two much larger ships in port today - both in the 140,000 gross tons range, and both in excess of 300 meters in overall length.

First in was the Royal Caribbean Cruises ship Adventure of the Seas with a calculated gross tonnage of  138,193 tons and an overall legth of 311 meters. To cater to its 3,807 passsengers and to operate the ship, there is a crew of 1,185. The ship was built by Kvaerner Masa in Turku, Finland and delivered in late 2001.

The topmost of the ship's fourteen decks tower over the Pier 21-22 buildings.

On sailing this evening, the ship made an impressive sight even though there were no nearby objects to give a sense of scale.

 

The other large ship was the late afternoon arriving CMA CGM T. Roosevelt arriving directly from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 Tugs alongside are usually a nuisance to photographers, but the ship is so huge, they hardly matter. The stern tug is "putting on the brakes."

 

The truly large ship of 140,872 gt, 148,992 dwt and 366.96 m overall length, has a capacity of 14,414 TEU. It was built in 2017 by Hyundai, Ulsan, and is one of six sister ships operating for the Ocean Alliance of CMA CGM, COSCO, Evegreen and OOCL from Asia to North America via the Suez Canal. CMA CGM acquired Neptune Orient Lines, owners of American President Lines, in 2016. They have retained the presidential naming scheme and still operate a US branch now called APL with US flag ships.

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Big RCN Day (number one)

 Today, Friday June 25, was the first of two big days for the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS Sackville, Canada's World War II Naval Memorial, returned to its summer station at Sackville Landing on the Halifax waterfront (coincidentally at the foot of Sackville Street). The ship is fresh from a major refit at HMC Dockyard where a new skin of plating was added to the hull. The ship's original plating had deteriorated and was dangerously thin. The new plate will ensure that the ship remains afloat and safe for many years to come.

With the tugs Glenevis (partly visible) and Merrickville (not visible), Sackville completes a sail past.

Powered by tugs, Sackville did a grand tour of the harbour from the Dockyard to the Narrows, back to the lower harbour,  circumnavigating George's Island. 

The submarine HMCS Windsor , with the Admiral aboard, made a trip to Bedford Basin and returned to the lower harbor  to take the salute.

Displaying the Admiral's pennant, and missing several acoustical panels from the hull, Windsor is southbound in the Narrows.

Also in the harbour for the ceremony, were numerous naval small craft, and the RCN's oldest vessel Oriole, under sail (but also using its engine due to light winds.)

As Sackville approached its berth, the Stadacona band stuck up "Heart of Oak", accompanied by McNally Construction on the tenor chain saw, hard at work on the adjacent new piers.

Later in the day HMCS Fredericton was noted taking fuel from Asterix and HMCS Toronto headed to Bedford Basin anchorage.

Big Day 2 will be tomorrow, Saturday, June 26 when the RCN's newest ship, HMCS Harry DeWolf  AOPV 430 is commissioned. The first of the Arctic Offshore Patrol vessels built by Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax, was handed over to the RCN eleven months ago and has been busy with post-acceptance trials at sea.

 

Repeats and a bonus

 The harbour was busy today June 12, with several ships at the container and breakbulk piers. All are repeat visitors, although one is under a different name.

At Irving Oil the European Product Carriers Ltd tanker Elka Bene arrived after unloading a part cargo in Saint John, NB, likely from Amsterdam.

The ship was last here April 6, 2021

At Fairview Cove it was the MOL Empire . Its last call (which was its first in Halifax) was November 20, 2019 

The ship is on THE Alliance's AL5 service , and will be skipping all the usual US east coast ports and sailing direct for Port Everglades, FL, then for the Dominican Republic and so on to the Panama Canal and the Pacific coast. If it does not get snagged in west coast congestion, it may be back in Halifax August 3 on its return leg to Europe.

Also a familiar sight in Halifax is an ACL ship, ploughing its usual furrow back and forth transatlantic. However it is always good to see one pass west of George's Island for a change, to give a slightly different angle of view.Atlantic Sun doesn't appear too heavily loaded.

At National Gypsum it was the familiar Algoma Integrity ex Gypsum Integrity, which loaded for Baltimore.

The one arrival which may not sound familiar is the bulker Helena G which arrived from Jebel Ali, UAE, with a cargo of reinforcing steel (rebar). It tied up at Pier 9C, where it began to unload using its own cranes and shore based forklifts.

The ship first called here December 25, 2103 and again November 2014, both times under its original name Garganey . The ship was named by its operators CANFORNAV (Canada Forest Navigation) for a species of duck, and on those trips loaded grain.

CANFORNAV ships are regular users of the St.Lawrence Seaway and primarily import steel products and export grain. Garganey was built in 2007 for charter to CANFORNAV and on completion of a ten year term was sold to Olof Brodin Shipowning AB of Sweden. Renamed Helena G it has continued trading to the Great Lakes.

Bonus

The bonus ship today was HMCS Windsor which has been conducting surfaced operations in Bedford Basin for the past several days.

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Bonus Round

 Today's earlier post concentrated on activity at the south end of the port. There was also activity at the north end, some of which was late in the day.

Following the spring time theme, HMCS Windsor moved out of HMC Dockyard to the newly refurbished trot buoys on Jonquière Bank in Bedford Basin.

HMCS Windsor at anchor with CSL's Baie St.Paul loading gypsum in the background (see earlier post).

The sub has been alongside in HMC Dockyard all winter, but remains in active service.

At the Fairview Cove container terminal it was all change as MOL Maestro got underway and Yang Ming Modesty arrived to take its place. Both ships are sailing for THE Alliance. 

Although not visible on the vessel itself, the AIS signal for the supplier Siem Hanne has changed name to  PSV  Hakan. It had been rumoured for some time that the Secunda 'Canada's Norwegian parent company Siem Offshore was going to repatriate the supplier. The name change seems to indicate that in fact they have sold the boat. It has been alongside at Pier 9C for a few weeks, perhaps undergoing some re-commissioning work. [see also Tugfax on this topic.]

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No submarines on the horizon

It came as a surprise to some to hear that the Royal Canadian Navy's four submarines did not spend a single day at sea in all of 2019.  The subs are all are in various states of refit or repair and may not even sail in 2020 depending on how work can be accomplished under COVID-19 requirements for distancing. Distancing for workers inside submarines will be difficult at best, not to mention for crews.

A recent opinion piece by a respected navy observer made some salient points about the current state of affairs and the future of submarines in the RCN. There is  a  necessity for subs as they can perform work no other naval vessels can do. He did not state, but I am sure it is the case, that NATO allies (one in particular) would be very critical if the RCN ditched subs completely as Denmark did. Canada's very long coast line and arctic sovereignty issues warrant submarines, as do political realities in the Pacific and Mediterranean.

He also reckoned that nuclear subs are still politically unpalatable. I would say the practicality is also an issue as we would have to be beholden to another country in a big way if we went nuke, and would require at least one new naval base away from populated areas.

So let's say we need subs, and they would be conventional (i.e. non-nuclear) and they would need to be crewed (as opposed to autonomous or remotely operated or the equivalent of drones.) It takes 15 years to deliver new naval craft in his opinion, so planning should be underway now, as no "used" subs are likely to come on the market. Once bitten the RCN would be unlikely to go for used anyway in light of their experience with the current Victoria class. (Buying them was not a bad idea at first, but they were allowed to deteriorate before we got our hands on them.)

Major refits will be needed again on the current subs in the mid 2020s to extend their lives to 2035 and at a cost of $2.5 billion. Four new subs would come in at $3 to $5 billion. So it is not too soon to begin planning.

HMCS Windsor inbound to Halifax.

Policy decisions are needed now on new subs in order to maintain consistent work flow for our naval shipbuilding industries. However in light of the current crisis, I wonder how it is possible to have a public debate about any topic, let alone a political or parliamentary one. One of the candidates for head of an opposition party is a former minister of defense in a previous government. Who better to raise the issue, but a leadership campaign is an unlikely forum for such a discussion.

Partnering with another country on a design is likely since building a home grown design seems unlikely. Why re-invent the wheel*. Partnering adds a layer of complexity to the whole issue, so the sooner we get on with the project the better. Perhaps a co-operative process within NATO or with another ally would result in interchangeability and other sensible efficiencies.

(* This blog format does not like question marks so I don't use them.)

As a tribute to the Canadian Forces Day

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More Boister

Another boisterous day on Halifax harbour, and there was only one commercial arrival and no departures. Some ships that were due today have delayed arrival until tomorrow when things are expected to calm down.,

In the harbour traffic was limited to the usual ferry crossings between Halifax and Dartmouth, with Halifax Transit's newest vessel Rita Joe doing the honours. The boat was completed by A.F.Thériault in late September and arrived in Halifax ca. September 30. Although it entered service about October 22, it was not officially welcomed into the fleet until a ceremony on October 26.

Passengers enjoy a splashy trip from Dartmouth to Halifax. 

 

It is the last of the five boat replacement fleet built since 2014, and means that Woodside I, built in 1986, has been removed from service. Both Dartmouth III and Halifax III have been sold to Toronto Island Transit Services Inc, with the first named delivered to Toronto last year, and the second still sitting in Sambro, NS awaiting delivery. 

In the murky reaches of anchorage number 2, at the entrance to Eastern Passage, CCGS Sir William Alexander and CCGC Sambro, with a number of CCG RHIBs were conducting a Search and Rescue exercise, well beyond clear camera range from Halifax.

At HMC Dockyard HMCS Windsor was enjoying shore leave so to speak, on the synchrolift. The sub was away from Halifax all summer and is no doubt in need of some maintenance.

A white tent structure erected astern may be related to prop work.

Today's one arrival, San Adriano appears to have moved up a day, to allow for tomorrow's arrival at Halterm, CMA CGM Amazon, a 9288 TEU ship that would be unwieldy to berth in today's windy conditions.

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Back on Watch

After a week away from Halifax, Shipfax is back on watch. (More on my Quebec trip in later posts)

The autocarrier Hoegh Transporter arrived at noon time today. Although it was built as far back as 1999 I had never seen the ship before. Originally it was named HUAL Transporter for then owners Hoegh-Ugland Autoliners. The ship came from Stocznia Gdynia in Poland and measures 57,757 grt, 21,400 dwt with a capacity of 6500 CEU.

Hoegh bought out Ugland's 50% of the joint venture in 2000 but the ship was not renamed renamed Hoegh Transporter until 2007. Since 2008 A.P.Moller (Maersk) has held a minority share in Hoegh Autoliners.


HMCS Windsor sailed early this afternoon. It had only returned to port June 20th after a five month deployment to the Mediterranean with NATO.

According to press info at that time it had largely been used for training with other navies, but also did patrol and tracking work. It has a crew of 59.Canada's small fleet of four subs will be kept running until the 2030s with major refits planned as a cheaper alternative to replacement.

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A high level view of proceedings

There was concentrated activity in the harbour for a short period late this afternoon, and I took a high level view.

Outbound at the time was HMCS Windsor:
 

The cruise ship AIDAdiva cleared her berth at pier 20 and moved out into number one anchorage for a compass swing.

Windsor was able to squeak in between the ship and George's Island. (That is Oceanex Sanderling in the background at Autoport, loading for a mid-week trip to St.John's.)

All this activity caused NYK Deneb (Panama flag) to proceed inbound west of George's Island. Although not a large ship by current standards, it did make an impressive sight.

I have not been paying enough attention to the NYK ships of this class. No less than a dozen, all named for heavenly bodies, are NYK's contribution to the G6 Alliance. 
NYK Deneb was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan in 2007. The 4922 TEU ship measures 55,487 grt, 65,600 dwt. It is owned by Sumitomo Finance SMFL and operated by NYK Line.

Once AIDAdiva had completed its compass swing, it remained in the anchorage, but backed north, until the inbound Agios Minas (Liberian flag) had passed en route to Fairview Cove. It was able to take the usual path east of George's.

Built in 2001 as CMA CGM Ravel by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Ltd in Okpo. It is a 73,059 grt, 79,465 dwt ship with a 6627 TEU (including 500 reefers) capacity. It took its present name in 2014 when it returned to International Maritime Enterprise of Athens, after the CMA CGM charter.

Back at ground level again, the Norwegian Dawn was tied up at pier 22 (not pictured) and Celebrity SUMMIT stern in at pier 31.

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Mei Hua Hai

The Chinese flag bulker Mei Hua Hai arrived this morning for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection. The big ship came in via the western (deepwater) channel, which comes very close to the shore below York Redout.

The reason for the variation from the standard eastern channel was the arriving HMCS Windsor. To avoid having to overtake the Windsor in the narrow eastern channel, the bulker swung out into the western channel. Because of the dogleg in that channel around Middle Ground it is longer, and so Windsor was able to gain some ground and remain ahead.

It was a placid morning and the eider ducks moved away from the incoming sub,

and the bulker.

Mei Hua Hai was built in 2013 by Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing for Cosco Bulk of Tianjin. It measures 64,564 grt, 115,198 dwt. The ship remained in Number one anchorage for the inspection and sailed at noon for Port Cartier, QC to load iron ore.

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HMC submarines at strength

The news earlier this week that HMCS Victoria was operational and had fired a test torpedo in February, and that HMCS Chicoutimi was also back in the water - both on the west coast- and frequent sightings of HMCS Windsor on this coast is the first good news on the subject for some time.
The story of Canada's ex Royal Navy subs has not been a happy one generally, but now that three of the four are up and running that focuses attention on the fourth sub. HMCS Corner Brook is probably facing a total rebuild or possibly scrapping after it grounded while submerged. Politically, scrapping would not be good news, so expect that it will be rebuilt - unfortunately draining needed resources from other navy activity.

HMCS Windsor sets out past snow covered Mount Hope, the site of the Nova Scotia Hospital.

For now at least we can enjoy seeing Windsor working out in the Halifax area, as it was this morning putting out to sea.

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HMCS Windsor - heading south perhaps

We hear that HMCS Windsor is heading south for winter exercises and some repairs in the balmy climes of Florida. Today would be the perfect day to go - sunny, cold, with a major snow storm due tomorrow.

This morning Windsor was out in the midst of Bedford Basin, with the remnants of sea smoke lingering around her. I assume she was doing compass calibration in preparation for sea.

 
By mid morning Windsor was outbound for sea, still with a ring around the collar of frozen spray on her hull and tail fin. If she is heading south that will not last for long.

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