Look what the wind blew in

A first arrival for Irving Oil took place on Sunday November 1 with the arrival of the tanker Nor'easter from Ijmuiden, Netherlands. The ship is one of five on charter from Vroon BV of the Netherlands, but is the "odd man out" in that it was not one of the original four. Those four ships consisted of the Acadian to be Canadian flag, Nor'easter, Great Eastern and New England to be Marshall Islands flag.  All were built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan in 2005 and were 23,356 grt, 37,515 dwt more or less.

After Esso closed its refinery and Irving Oil withdrew from the common storage facilities it shared with Esso, they had an increased demand for a Canadian flag tanker and transferred the first Nor'easter to Canadian registry. However the name was already taken by another ship and so it was renamed East Coast in 2014.

In the meantine Irving Oil had been using another Vroon ship, Iver Progress and in 2016 it was folded into the fleet as the second Nor'easter. Also a product of Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, it was built in 2007 , and has tonnages of 23,421 grt, 37,412 dwt so is essentially the same size. It was also refitted with the same exhaust gas scrubber system as the other four ships, and in profile looks quite similar.
There are differences in its appearance however, most notable is the black trim around the wheelhouse windows. It also appears to have a slightly more raked bow.

Nor'easter anchored in the harbour yesterday, and will await the arrival and departure of Acadian (expected tonight) before unloading at Woodside. Interestingly the ship is carrying a cargo from the Netherlands. It usually trades along the US east coast.

A sixth ship, Iver Prosperity, a sister to Nor'easter is also dedicated to Irving Oil work, but has not been renamed. Also it has not been fitted with the SOx scrubber sytem.

A Friday arrival anchored in Bedford Basin due to high winds and remained there until yesterday when it moved to Imperial Oil #4 dock.

Jinan was last here in June ( see http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/06/early-riser-rewards.html, ) and as noted then it is a rare Qatar flagged ship. On that visit is came from Port Neches, TX. Port Neches, Beaumont and Port Arthur are all ports on the Neches River, which at its mouth forms the border with Louisiana.

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Early Riser Rewards + supplement

All of today's scheduled arrivals happened in the early morning. The first, CMA CGM Thames was due at the pilot station at 0430 and Heritage Leader at 0530. These were well before first light, but I did manage to catch them after they were alongside.

CMA CGM Thames is an impressive split superstructure vessel of 9365 TEU, built in 2015 by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., measuring 95,263 grt, 113,800 dwt.

It made its first call here on June 17, 2017, and is one of 17 ships that maintain the Columbus JAX service. Some ships have been replaced in the rotation recently and the new ships are expected in early July. CMA CGM Cochin and CMA CGM Chennai are fresh from the builders, and measure in excess of 112,000 grt.

Heritage Leader tied up at Autoport. The 6700 CEU ship is owned by Ray Carr Carriers and is on charter to NYK Lines.

 The 58,767 grt, 20,434 dwt ship was built in 2011 by Hyundai, Mipo. According to my records this is the ship's first call in Halifax since 2015.

Next in, after sunrise, was the coastal and bunkering tanker North Atlantic Kairos for Wilson's Fuels at pier 9. In addition to supplying its local service stations and furnace oil customers, Wilson's also provides fuel to the supply vessels supporting BP's offshore exploration. (Whether for their own use or for the drill rig West Aquarius I am not sure.)

 From its base at the North Atlantic Petroleum refinery in Come-by-Chance, NL the tanker provides a bunkering service to in Placentia Bay and makes occasional coastal trips.

A first arrival in Halifax is the container ship Arica for Maersk / CMA CGM's Canada Atlantic Express. As the usual ships go into major inspections and drydocking, the operators have introduced this ship to try to keep up the schedule (which has been in disarray in the past month).

Zhejiang Yangfan Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan built Arica in 2007 , but soon after delivery it was renamed Maersk Jakobstad for a five year charter. In 2012 it reverted to its original name for owners, part of Reederei NSC Schiffahrts of Hamburg.
 

The 32,901 grt, 35,359 dwt ship has a capacity of 2797 TEU, including 746 reefers, and is fitted with a trio of 40 tonne cranes. Unusual for container ships of its size, it has no cargo space aft of the accommodation.

Also arriving this morning was East Coast for Irving Oil. Since it is all I can do to be in one place at a time, I did not photograph this ship - this time.

For this morning's only departure - see Tugfax

Supplement:
Not all arrivals were early. Late this afternoon, when the tanker Mahadah Silver  sailed another ship with Arabian roots arrived to take its place at Imperial Oil dock #3. Jinan flies the flag of Qatar for its owners Qatar Shipping Co. Its cargo for Imperial however was loaded in Port Neches, Texas. Jinan is an island off the western coast of the Qatar peninsula.

The handysize tanker of 25,408 grt, 40,232 dwt was built in 2003 by ShinA Shipbuilding Co, Tongyeong, South Korea. Judging from its immaculate condition however, it must have been drydocked very recently. Note also the symbols for no less than 15 cargo manifolds painted on the hull amidships.

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