Jona for Melfi

Over the years Melfi Marine has had countless ships on charter - some long term and some short, but ever increasing in size. In the past year the ships have inched up again to break the 2,000 TEU mark.
One of those is Jona now on its third trip for the line.

Melfi operates from Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Lisbon, Halifax to Mariel, Cuba and back to Genoa with four ships, making a call in Halifax every two weeks.

Jona moves from over night anchorage to pier 41 Halterm this morning.

Built by Zhejiang YangFan Shipbuilding Co Ltd in 2007, the ship has a capacity of 2007 TEU, including 510 reefers and is fitted with three 45 tonne cranes. The 23,633 grt ship has a deadweight measurement of 27,245 tonnes.

The ship was built as Rio Stora and in 2010 was renamed CMA CGM Togo, reverting to Rio Stora again in 2012 and was renamed Jona in 2013. It flies the Liberian flag for German owners, managed by MPC Munchmeyer Petersen Steamship GmbH + Co.

Having a "Jonah" aboard is considered to be a very bad omen for a ship - but perhaps omitting the "h" in this case eliminates that concern.

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Fritz Reuter gets away

The Melfi Lines ship Fritz Reuter sailed from Halterm at noon time today, heading for sunny and warm Cuba, a winter holiday destination for many Nova Scotians. Most would not have expected winter to linger this long in Halifax, so it must have come as a relief for the ship's crew to be escaping our climate too.
Regular callers in the port seem to get short shrift on this blog after their fist call or until after their last call, but this ship has made 11 visits to Halifax so far since taking up its charter with Melfi in 2013, rather a long tenure for a line that frequently uses ships on shorter duration arrangements.
More details can be found in this previous reference: December 2013 Shipfax.

From the ship's bridge, the harbour pilot in orange floater coat, flanked by two ship's officers in white shirts oversee the linesmen letting go the last lines.

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A switch for Tasman Strait

Melfi Lines' Tasman Strait arrived on  Monday February 16 and tied up at pier 42 as usual. This is the fourth  voyage for the ship on Melfi's Europe/ Halifax/ Cuba run. By Friday the ship was still at the berth, and with other ships due, it was moved around to pier 26.

Pier 26, with the grain unloading facility, is little used these days since grain now arrives by train, and it rarely sees a container ship.

An unusual berth for a container ship, no cargo can be worked at that berth, so the ship must either be undergoing repairs or waiting for incoming cargo to arrive by train.

There have been delays in rail movements due to weather, and an impending lockout at CN will not improve that very much if at all. No estimated time of departure has been set for the ship.

The ship first called here as Ocean Emerald in March 2014, and was renamed by the time it made its second visit in October.

http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2014/03/ocean-emerald-voyage-1-for-melfi.html
http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2014/05/ocean-emerald-for-melfi.html

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Vera D, Voyage 001 for Melfi

Vera D is on its first voyage for Melfi Lines. Although slightly smaller than the other new ships that have joined Melfi recently, it is similar in most respsects.

Chebucto Pilot accompanies Vera D outbound this afternoon. 

The ship will swing to port to take the western deep water channel, keeping the eastern channel free for the inbound HMCS Montreal (see later post)

Laid down by in 2004 by Daewoo Mangalia it was completed by the German Sietas shipyard. That probably means that the hull was built by Daewoo's yard in Romania and towed to Germany for completion. 
It measures 17,188 grt, 22,613 dwt and has a container capacity of 1719 TEU. It is fitted with three 45 tonne cranes to work containers or other cargo.

It is owned by Peter Doehle Schiffs. of Hamburg and has carried two previous names. Launched as Pyxis it was renamed Maersk Veracruz on delivery. On completion of a five year charter in 2009, the owners saved on paint by renaming it Vera D. Melfi does not appear to be entering into long term charters, so it is seems unlikely that the ship will be renamed this time.

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Amanda for Melfi

The German owned, Maltese flagged Amanda arrived this afternoon for Melfi Lines.

Built in 2000 by New Szcezecin Shipyard in Poland, the ship has carried six names over its lifetime, but has always been owned by Dohle Schiffahrt (Peter Dohle). Of 16,803 gross tons and 16,803 deadweight, it has a capacity of 1730 TEUs, including 250 reefers.

This is its second voyage for Melfi Lines, which seems to be using ships on short term charters, rather than committing to longer term arrangements.

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Heinrich J arrives in ballast

Arriving for Melfi Lines this morning, Heinrich J anchored until Monday morning. The ship is obviously in ballast, and a check of the Melfi schedule on the Protos Shipping website reveals that is not arriving from Europe.www.protos.ca/

 It appearts to have come directly froim Cuba instead, possibly due to the Christmas time  problems with Renate Schulte, previously reported here. That ship made its last call here last week.

Heinrich J - outbound - but

Melfi Lines' Heinrich J got away for Cuba this afternoon after taking on a large cargo of containers, and the customary second-hand school buses and trucks. Not long after leaving the berth it was apparent that the ship was not going to be making much speed. In fact the pilot boat, which was following it along, made a u-turn and came back to its dock.
I hear that Heinrich J had a "cold fuel" problem, and was operating at reduced efficiency. The pilot boat returned to the dock to pick up a pilot for another inbound ship, and caught up with and passed Heinrich J  well before reaching the pilot station.
After disembarking her pilot Heinrich J proceeding to Anchorage Bravo to rectify matters.
Temperatures of minus 10 degrees C and more for the last two days have slowed down a lot of things in the Halifax area. Ships burning heavy fuel need to heat the fuel to give it enough viscosity to flow properly through fuel filtering systems which remove water and impurities and into the engines.Even diesel fuel can suffer from cold temperature, degrading its quality and trapping impurities and solidifying wax and other impurities.
One aspect of the ship noted on its departure is its asymmetrical appearance.The superstructure looks very different from the the starboard side, with a large forward extension at deck, which I assume to be part of the engine room ventilation system. Also it has a sloped edge to the house on this side only, due to the offset funnel and free fall lifeboat.

Renate Schulte - finally sails, Heinrich J too,

 1. Renate Schulte sailing at noon time today.

Renate Schulte sailed today after spending twelve days in Halifax, instead of the usual one day visit. Sailing for Melfi Lines, the ship arrived on December 21 with hull damage. [see previous posts] (Rumours persist that she acquired some more damage while berthing.) Cutting out the old hull plate, making necessary internal repairs and welding in the new plate took time, and the ship was caught up in the Christmas shutdowns.
Although the repairs were completed before the New Year's Day shutdown, cargo work was not finished and so she was held up again, until loading and unloading was completed today.
She took two tugs on departure, signalling to me that repairs to the bow thruster are yet to follow at a later date. 
All this time meant that the next ship in the Melfi rotation, Heinrich J caught up with Renate Schulte, arriving December 30. It was also held up for a time due to weather and came alongside Halterm on December 31. Its cargo work was also not completed  before the New Year's break, but should be done today, allowing it to sail more or less on time.
There is not a lot of "slop" built into these schedules, so some adjustments will have to be made to allow things to return to normal. Some shipyard time may be needed for Renate Schulte.

 2. Heinrich J arriving on December 30.

Heinrich J. was built in 1998 and is German owned, flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda. It measures 5850 gross tons, 6770 deadweight.It is rated for 647 TEUs and has two 45 tonne cranes. Interestingly it was built in Portugal by Est.Navais de Viana do Castelo S.A.

Melfi Lines - ships to change

Melfi Marine Corp S.A. a Panamanian company, which operates as Melfi Lines, has been calling in Halifax since the 1992. Founded as an inter-Caribbean shipping service by the government of Cuba in 1981, it has grown considerably over the years, particularly when it took over the failed Coral Lines  in 2003. (They had operated jointly for a time. That acquisition lead to the present transatlantic service which sails from ports in Italy and Spain to Halifax and hence to Cuba. (It has also called on the St.Lawrence River -a hold over from Coral.) Through connecting services it then serves Central and South America.
Currently operating with four ships, it usually calls in Halifax every two weeks. (A scheduled October 17 call by Hansa Catalina did not materialize.)

Melfi does not own its own ships, and has chartered a wide variety of craft over the years. Today's arrival,  Renate Schulte is the fourth ship on the rotation, and carries the name of her owner's Bernard Schulte of Germany. At one time Melfi renamed the ships during the charter period, but that practice seems to have stopped. There was even a Melfi Halifax for a short time.
Now there is about to be a change in ships as two of the older units have been sold for scrap by their owners. Teval and Marwan were built as sister ships by Kvaerner Warnow Werft in Warnemunde (formerly East) Germany in 1994. As they approach their 20th anniversaries, and face extensive refitting to maintain their classification ratings, the owners have opted to sell them for scrap. They are owned by single ship Cypress based companies, but  managed by XSM Cross Ship Management GmbH of Germany,
Both ships are 14,685 gross tons, and carry 1338 TEUs and are fitted with three 40 tonne cranes.

Marwan has carried the following names in its career: Marwan-95, Cabo Blanco-97, Marwan-99, Barrister-99, P+0 Nedlloyd Kildin-03, Marwan-04, Cala Palenque -09, then Marwan again.

Teval was renamed before it left the shipyard as red Sea Emerald-95, Emerald-97, Teval-02, P+O Nedlloyd Camoes-03, Teval-03, Armada Holland-04, Teval-04, Cala Porlamar-06, and again Teval. It made its first call in Halifax for Melfi on November 1, 2006.
Teval is due back in Halifax on November 16, and Melfi's schedule shows Marwan on December 3., however the latter remains to be confirmed.
Melfi Lines ships are often called up on the carry odd cargoes in addition to standard containers. Used vehicles, particularly trucks and buses, usually from Europe are commonly seen on flat 40 foot container frames. However Canadian vehicles are also common, notably old Quebec school buses, and trucks.

The ships have become a bit of a fixture, with Teval in particular as one of the longest serving ships in Melfi's history with Halifax, but time marches on, and there is a glut of more modern ships available at good rates.