Halifax and Hamburg, and weekend catch up

At the recent Port Days event in Halifax, much was made of the similarity between the ports of Halifax and Hamburg. In fact one of the keynote speakers at the event was the president of the Port of Hamburg. He emphasized that in addition to meeting the needs of  Hamburg itself, the port of Hamburg serves a vast "hinterland" of north and central Europe. Because the Alps block easy access to much of northern Europe to Mediterranean ports, Hamburg is a much more efficient gateway to those areas.

Similarly Halifax is positioned to serve the "hinterland" of (geographical) mid-America, bypassing the congestion of ports such as New York and even west coast ports. To bolster this point an executive of Loblaws, a massive food and retail conglomerate, said that his corporation has shifted some of its shipping through Halifax instead of the west coast ports. As an importer of myriad products from Asia, it found that the dependability of west coast ports did not meet its needs.

As if to support the Hamburg connection, today two ships bearing the name of that important port visited Halifax.

 Hamburg glides away from pier 20....

First in was the small German cruise ship Hamburg. After a season of touring the Great Lakes it is now repositioning. Built in 1997 as c. Columbus (yes the first "c", for Christopher,  was small), the ship sailed for Hapag-Lloyd until 2012, also visiting the Great Lakes with stops in Halifax.

 ...and threads the needle between numerous pleasure craft, some of whom remain oblivious to the consequences of getting in the way of a ship. (The motor boat off the bow did not change course or move off. The ship gave a whistle warning that it was turning to starboard, but the motorboat operator would have no idea how tight a turn the ship could make.) The kayakers and sailboat kept a respectful distance.

With a capacity of 420 passengers, it provides a very different kind of cruising experience, catering mostly to Germans.

Later in the afternoon OOCL Hamburg arrived and tied up at Halterm, berth 41.

Note how light the ship is laden, despite having a lot of containers on deck. Most of those are empty.

 The ship called here September 15 on its westbound leg (with import cargo) and went on to discharge at US ports. It is now on its eastbound, return leg to Asia. The woeful trade imbalance to that part of the world is evident by the ship's light draft. That draft is the reason the ship called at Halterm, because it would not have clearance under the bridges at higher tides. (We are having extra low tides this week, so it might have made it today).

The stern portion of the ship is loaded to the top with empties, and looks like an old time punchboard.

The ship has little connection with Hamburg, except to recognize the name of that port. It was built in Korea and is owned and registered in Hong Kong. At 80673 TEU (1400 reefers) it is among the larger container ships to call in Halifax, although it will soon be eclipsed by 10,000 TEU vessels.

On its westbond visit, September 15, the ship was still deeply laden despite unloading many boxes at Fairview Cove. 

Catching up with some other weekend activities in Halifax::

Perhaps to confirm some claims that Halifax is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here, we did see the "end of The World " on Friday. That is, we saw the end of an overnight visit from the residence ship The World. Built in 2002, it was a unique concept, wherein, like condos ashore, its suites (and the entire ship) is owned by the residents. There are 165 residences, and on average 150 to 200 people are on board at any time. There is a crew of 260.

The ship has visited Halifax several times, including in its first year of operation, and on October 5, 2012, after completing its record breaking Northwest Passage from Nome, AK, to Nuuk, Greenland. It was the largest passenger ship to have done so. It returned to Halifax on October 28 of the same year on an unscheduled call when it was diverted by Hurricane Sandy.

The (sharp) end of The World on September 25, 2015.

The (blunt) end of The World in 2002.

For those more interested in ordinary merchant ships, there was another visitor for bunkers on Friday. The Panama flag United Harmony, although a conventional bulker of 24,328 grt, 38,994 dwt, with four 30 tonne cranes, it is something new for its owners.

 United Harmony airs it holds as it takes bunkers on a windy Friday afternoon.

The improbably named Hiong Guan Navegaçeon Co Ltd of Hong Kong, provides ships to the better known Dowa Line America Co Ltd, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, and carrying the Balsa and Century names. Previously specializing in small bulkers of under 10,000 dwt, its ships trade mostly in eastern North America and the Caribbean. This ship is much larger, and was delivered earlier this year by Shin Kurushima, Toyohashi, Japan. The bulker market is in the doldrums, but Dowa Line has carved a niche for itself. The ship sailed for Port Cartier, likely to load grain.

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Hamburg - really the last

Hamburg is really the last scheduled cruise ship of the season after all. Its arrival this morning, finally brings to the end one of the longest cruise seasons in memory. Usually the last ship is in late October or very early November. When last week's visit of Legend of the Seas was cancvelled due to weather, I thought that was it.
Had I consulted the Port's excellent cruise schedule, I would have seen that there was another visit scheduled all along.

 

Hamburg made a glorious arrival this morning as the sun rose behind a dense bank of cloud. Air temperature in Halifax was well below freezing, with snow on higher ground, and icy puddles on the streets in town, but sea temperature was well above freezing, hence the dense foggy clouds offshore.

The ship eased in to pier 22 for 0800 and is scheduled to sail at 1400. Visitors will get a chilly reception - from the weather at least, but a warmer one from businesses. However seasonal businesses catering to tourists and cruise passengers have been closed for weeks.

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Hamburg - second last cruise ship

It has often been German ships that have wound up the cruise season in Halifax. This year Plantours' Hamburg is the second last ship. Despite the fact of missing out on the honours, it is certanily a ship worth a second look.
Built in 1997 by the MTW shipyard in Wismar, Germany for operation by HAPAG-Lloyd, it carried the unusual official name of  c.Columbus. The small "c" was usually omitted in marketing the ship, and it was known simply as Columbus. In 1997 there was already a Columbus registered in the Bahamas, a tanker, the former Maersk Javelin ex Jakob Maersk, and regulations prevented name duplication for official purposes.
A relatively small cruise ship, with a capacity of 420 passengers and 170 crew, it was built with several unusual destinations in mind, including the Great Lakes. To fit the St.Lawrence Seaway locks, the ship was built with no projections beyond the ship's sides. Therefore it has no bridge wings but does have small hinged platforms that allow for one person to see the ship's side when berthing. Also all lifeboats are accommodated completely inboard, and there are no rub rails. 
After periodic Great Lakes visits until 2011, HAPAG decided to redeploy the ship when they ordered a newer vessel.
In 2012 operation shifted to Plantours, and the ship was renamed Hamburg.
It first called in Halifax the year it was built, 

c.Columbus arrived on a beautiful fall day in 1997, in HAPAG-Loyd colours..

Its 2014 visit as Hamburg was on a much less pleasant day, with driving rain on and off. I noted the addition of another communications "golf ball" just forward of the funnel, and perhaps a larger one over the bridge.  Other than the colour change, and new funnel mark, the ship looks to be otherwise unchanged.

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