Slo-Mo at Autoport

Railroads issue slow orders when it is not safe for trains to operate at higher speeds. As a CN Rail owned facility, Autoport has had to resort to Slo-Mo orders of late as they continue to be plagued by a shortage of clear storage space. As previously reported, large areas of their storage yards are full of iced-in cars, but ships are still arriving with the spring influx of new cars. The need to find clear storage space has meant that ships cannot be unloaded with their usual dispatch. It takes longer for longshoremen to reach the back-up storage areas, and once there, parking is not as straight forward as it would be in their own facility.
Yesterday Independence II tied up with 2800 cars to off load. Instead of the usual 8 4 gangs of longshoremen, they called out only 4   2 gangs, and it will take three days to unload instead of the usual one day.

New back-up areas are being cleared now that there has been some melting and the snow/ice has softened in places. A bulldozer could be seen at work in one area near the dock today creating a mini-mountain of snow to free up more space.

I am only aware of one ship that has actually been diverted. Most ships seem to be just going along with the routine, as unloading Canadian bound cars in US ports brings about another set of head aches. I hear that some US ports, Baltimore in particular, have similar back-ups, not so much due current conditions, but to winter conditions earlier, and the limited capacity of the rail system to clear up the back log.

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More bunkers and cars

Bunkered and ready to go. I count 13 manifold points (the white dots, high on the hull, aft of midships.)

Tanker Iron Point put in for bunkers today. Another tanker in ballast, this one is owned by PB Tankers SpA of Palermo, Italy, but registered in Malta. The ship was built in 2008 by STX Shipbuilding in Jinhae, South Korea. On the high side of the handysize range, it measures 30,119 grt, 50,922 dwt.

Compariing safety mottos on the bridge front, I see the same sentiments shared by two ship owners, but "Safety First" comes second on the Iron Point.

The US flag autocarrier Independence II arrived 11 months after I last took photos of it.(Shipfax April 30, 2014) This time however, the ship will be going to pier 30-31 first to load or unload some machinery, then moving to Autoport tomorrow. Last time it went to Autoport first.

Indepencdence II slides in close to the Halifax side, to make room to back in to pier 30-31.

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Another ARC

Noah is not seeing double -  Independence II is the second ARC (American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier LLC) auto carrier to call in Halifax within a week. On Saturday Resolve called at Autoport on an eastbound voyage. Independence II is on a more typical westbound route. Its last port of call was Southampton, UK and it is sailing for US ports.

After unloading at Autoport, Independence II moved over to pier 30 to unload RoRo cargo. The tug Atlantic Oak assisted the ship away from Autoport, and Atlantic Willow is joining to assist into pier 30. Note the railroad auto racks in the background waiting to load at Autoport.

 Built in 1994 as Titus for Wallenius Lines of Sweden, by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering of Geoje, South Korea, the ship was here as recently as last month, when it arrived March 24.ARC is a US based company but is owned  on a 50/50 basis by Wilh.Wilhlemsen and Wallenius. As a US based company, with US flag (but not Jones Act) ships, it is entitled to carry certain classes of US government cargo, including military.

Once both tugs were secured, they began to turn the ship to back in to pier 30.

At pier 30 the ship unloaded several Mafis with large crated cargo.

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