The curse of the pylons

 Trying to get a clear photo of a ship, free from background obstructions can be a little tricky. The Narrows between Halifax lower harbour and Bedford Basin presents more than enough of these challenges.

The Nova Scotia Power Corporation has its local electricity generating station at Tuft's Cove on the Dartmouth side of the Narrows, between the two bridges. Its three smoke stacks (it originally had one then added stacks as it expanded) feature prominently  in many of my photos - the trick is not to make them look like the ship's smoke stacks.

In yesterday's (April 7) photo of the BBC Rhonetal at Pier 9C, I managed to squeeze the ship in between some light standards with a bit of an overlap with the stacks.

The power that is generated at the station (by burning natrual gas and sometimes oil) is distributed by high voltage transmission lines, some of which cross the Narrows near the MacKay bridge. The pylons that carry the lines are invariably in the background of my pictures.

As the costal tanker Algoscotia turned in the Narrows to tie up at Pier 9C today (April 8) one of the pylons appeared the background. The ship will be receiving some maintenace at Pier 9C and I believe it may be going to Europe soon for installation of the new ballast water treatment system. It is fully loaded so will likely be headed to its usual destintations of Sydney, Corner Brook and sometimes as far as Sept-Iles, QC.

Only smaller ships can fit between the pylons (photographically) as they pass beneath the MacKay bridge. Today's transit of the Contship Leo on ZIM's CGX feeder service just fit.

There are black balls installed on the transmission lines to make the lines visible to aircraft.

 There are times however when you just have to take the picture no matter what:

...three extra funnels on the autcarrier Morning Peace at Pier 9C and a red and white extra signal mast atop the bridge of the NYK Meteor and another one protruding from a container on deck.

Since I make it a policy never to "photoshop" my pictures (except to crop them and straighten the horizon) I get what I get.

.

Three Car Carriers times Four

 It is unusual to see three car carriers in Halifax in one day, but it happened today April 5. If that was not enough one of them arrived twice.

The Morning Peace arrived first thing yesterday morning at Autoport then moved in the early evening to Pier 9C and unloaded the usual lot of forestry, agriculture, mining and construction machinery.

This was a return visit for the ship, which called here February 28 also on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean transatlantic route. Since then it went to New York, Brunswick, GA, Goteborg, Bremerhaven and Zeebrugge. A 2017 product of Hyundai Samho, the 66,802 gt, 22,438 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,368 (or 7,549 depending on the source) cars. 

It sailed this morning for New York.

 

Another arrival from yesterday was the Grande Marocco, which last here February 24. This time I was able to take a picture without scaring off the local duck and gull population.

 

Built in 2010 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, Grande Marocco is a 47,636 gt, 25,725 dwt ship with a container capacity of 800 TEU and a car/van capacity of 2,000. It has a large number of farm tractors and at least two mobile cranes on the open deck. It arrived from the Vigo, Livorno, Savona, and Gioia Tauro.

It was scheduled to sail at noon time, but in fact did not depart until mid to late afternoon, giving Davisville, RI as destination.(On its last visit it went to Baltimore - so this time it may be a diversion.)

With the Grande Marocco intending to sail at noontime, the next arriving auto carrier made its way in to the harbour. Morning Cindy intended to standby in the harbour anchorages, leaving room for the other ship to clear the berth and head out to sea.

Instead, when the Grande Marocco did not sail on the scheduled time, the Morning Cindy put back out to sea rather than anchoring, and made another arrival later in the afternoon. It then proceeded directly to Autoport.

Built in 2012 by Imabari Zosen in Marugame, Japan, the 59,580 gt 18,735 dwt ship has a capacity of 6,142 cars. Its route to Halifax was a little unusual, which may explain why it has not been seen here before. On January 27 it sailed from the Japanese port of Toyohashi and called at Nagoya, Sagunto the made directly for Portbury, UK (on the Bristol Channel), presumably via the Cape of Good Hope. It then procceded to Zeebrugge, Southampton and Marchwood (in Southampton water), sailing March 27. Marchwood is known as a military port.

There will be a let up in auto carrier traffic for a few days, with the next scheduled arrival, the Morning Lady, due on April 9, also from Southampton.

.

 

Weather (again)

 Another spell of high winds (accompanied by snow and rain) has delayed some harbour activity today, April 4. The tow out of the fire-damaged MSC Sao Paulo V has been postponed until tomorrow, April 5 when the wind is expected to die down and make towing a dead ship a little more manageable. The MSC Shristi is at Pier 41 taking on some of the containers from the Sao Paulo V destined for Sines, Portugal and beyond. 

Following up on yesterday's observation, since amended, the large crane at the north end of the Pier 41was operating today, so it may only be its ability to raise the boom that is (or was) impaired.

 When the tow does depart, vacating the berth at Pier 42, the Vivienne Sheri D will move alongside. The Canadian owned Eimskip charter anchored on arrival this morning.

In the teeth of a stiff breeze in the Narrows, the NYK Meteor arrived and made its way through to PSA Fairview Cove in Bedford Basin.

The ship is sailing for Ocean Network Express on THE Alliance's AL5 service from Antwerp. The NYK Meteor is another of the familiar Daedalus class built by Hyundai Ulsan - this one in 2007. The 55,534 gt, 65,935 dwt ship has a capacity of as much as 4922 TEU (some sources report 4888) and 330 reefers.

Over at Autoport, the 230 members of Unifor have accepted the latest contract offer and returned to work. Replacement workers were brought in during the five week strike and handled numerous ships. There is now pressure to ban replacement workers. A bill to do so in federally regulated work places was introduced in the Canadian parliament last November. A motion by the opposition to ban replacement workers across the board has been introduced in the Nova Scotia legislature.

Today's arrival at Autoport, the Morning Peace, was due to move to Pier 9C late this afternoon to offload machinery, with another autocarrier the Grande Marocco to take its place and the Morning Cindy is due tomorrow. Press reports state that Autoport handles 185,000 cars per year. (By comparison, the Dundalk termonal in Baltimore - currently blocked due to the bridge collapse, handles more than 850,000 cars per year.)

.

Clear up then close in

Following a storm with very high winds last night, things began to clear up and calm down this morning, March 16, allowing most lingering ships to resume their interupted voyages, and a return to normal arrivals and departures. However by late afternoon things began to close in again with fog, strong gusts and periods of rain.

One of the two MSC ships anchored in Bedford Basin, the MSC Brianna moved in to PSA Fairview Cove this morning and completed shedding weight to reach St.Lawrence River draft. With the ships Oceanex Sanderling and Tropic Lisette at the Southend terminal, PSA opted to send the ship to Fairview to unload. Once the operation was completed the MSC Brianna sailed in the early afternoon, leaving fleetmate MSC Rosella at anchor. (It has no ETD yet, but is due in Barcelona March 22.)

As the ship moved past my position I noted some interesting features:

When the ship was built in 1996 by Daewoo, Okpo it was equipped with Japanese style radio masts at each bridge wing. In those days ships carried morse code marine radio, and a radio operator. That type of communication was on the way out by then, and the last official broadcast was in 1999. But even in 1996 few ships still carried it. Although the aerial wires that were slung between the towers have been removed, the towers remain as supports for lighting and some wires and wire stays remain.

A more modern touch is the exhaust gas scrubber system retrofitted to the ship , and highly visible as a large high yellow/orange box on the after deck. There is exhaust coming from the regular exhaust pipe in the ship's funnel as the ship is likely using low sulfur MDO (Marine Diesel Oil) while in port and maneuvering. Once at sea it will switch to HFO (heavy fuel oil) and the exhaust gasses will be diverted to the scrubber.

As the ship squeaks under the A. Murray MacKay bridge, it gives bridge users a smoke bath.

A delayed arrival due to weather was the coastal tanker Algotitan. Since acquired by Algoma late last year, the former Chantaco was renamed and brought under Canadian flag January 11. It has now settled in to regular coastal voyages between Imperial Oil's Halifax depot, and Sydney, NS, CornerBrook, NL and Sept-Iles, QC.

It must have had a fairly lumpy ride along the eastern shore last night. It arrived at the Halifax pilot station at 0800 hrs ADT this morning, but pilot boarding was put off until 1500 hrs, perhaps due to sea conditions from the lingering effects of the storm.

The autocarrier Morning Peace put off its arrival from Southampton, UK, until 1030 hrs this morning when it made for Autoport. By the time it was ready to sail at 1800 hrs rain had moved in again and it was touch and go for a photo as it passed the Mauger's Beach light outbound for Manzanillo. 

 A 2017 product of Hyundai Samho, the 66,802 gt, 22,438 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,368 (or 7,549 - take your choice, depending on the source) cars.

 

An arrival of note was the new to Halifax CMA CGM Nouga from Montreal on the joint CMA CGM/ Maersk St-Laurent 1 service  (Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Montreal, Halifax, Bremerhaven).

 

A dark and rainy arrival, but not as dark as it will be on departure at 0230 hrs.

 

CMA CGM Louga dates from 2018 when it was built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan County, China.The 29,316 gt, 34,694 dwt ship has a capacity of 2462 TEU and was built to the heavy 1A Baltic ice class. Until last year it was employed on a service to St.Petersburg, Russia and was expected to transit the Baltic Sea without icebreaker assistance. Its bridge wings are fully enclosed, and it no doubt has other features for winter navigation.

It is not clear if the ship will be replacing the EM Kea on the St-Laurent 1 service or if it has been added to Maersk's two ships Vayenga Maersk and Vistula Maersk to increase voyage frequency.

.

 

All systems go

 The port was bustling again today, December 28, after a few slow days during the Christmas break.

Fairview Cove completed working the Atlantic Star this morning. It arrived last night on the westbound leg of its regular crossing.

 Sailing outbound this morning Atlantic Star had near perfect conditions.

(Sunny, +1 C and no wind.)

Fleet mate and sister ship Atlantic Sun made the headlines when its anchor winch brake slipped and the ship started to drift off Almwch, North Wales on Christmas Day. The ship called for a pilot and stood off until December 27 when it was able to dock safely in Liverpool. It will be on its way to Halifax when the windlass problem has been rectified. The press report noted that the ship was in direct contact with the winch manufacturer while attempting (without success) to correct the problem. 

After Atlantic Star cleared the berth at Fairview Cove the Conti Contessa was in position to back in alongside.

The Port is gradually filling in a large area adjacent to the Fairview Cove terminal to enable a pier extension. The facility also needs more backup space on land and some new cranes.

PSA Halifax was also full out busy with ships coming and going. MSC Angela was alongside, topping up on its Canada Express 2 service from Montreal. MSC Naomi arrived on the Indus 2 service.

On its way inbound MSC Naomi passed the anchored ZIM Qingdao which is scheduled for PSA Halifax when MSC Angela sails.

MSC Naomi is a first time caller as the new Indus 2 service works its way through the roster for the first time. Built in 2015 by New Times Shipbuilding Co Ltd  in Jingjiang, China, it is a 96,333 gt, 109,510 dwt vessel with a container capacity of 8800 TEU.

The ship's exhaust gas scrubber was working away leaving a large plume of water vapour which was eventually absorbed by the cool dry air.

Scrubber retrofits no doubt take considerable ingenuity, but are usually clumsy looking. This ship's "side saddle" unit is no exception, but it did not take up any valuable cargo space. 

 

Autoport was also busy with another visit from the Morning Peace which was here as recently as November 19. It sailed late this afternoon, as did the bulk carrier Sheila Ann with a load of gypsum for Tampa FL. (see yesterday's post).

.

Sunday Departures

 Weekends are frequently busy times in Halifax Harbour. At one time that was due to excessive weekend overtime rates for longshoremen in New York. Ships would clear out of New York on Friday and come to Halifax, or would time their arrivals and departures in Halifax so as to arrive in New York for Monday morning.

That may or may not be the case anymore, but things were certainly busy in Halifax this weekend. Among the visitors was the auto carrier Morning Peace.

Built by Hyundai Samho in 2017 it is 66,802 gt, 22,438 dwt pure car and truck carrier, with a capacity of 7,368 car equivalent units. Operator EUKOR is combined operation of Wallenius, Wilhelmsen, American RoRo and European Car Carriers, established to transport Korean built cars.

At Fairview Cove the YM Evolution called for THE Alliance's AL1 service. It has been a regular since May 2018. 

The 47,952 gt, 57,320 dwt ship, with a capacity of 4662 TEU was built in 2014 by China Shipbuilding Corp in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Due to its relatively small size it was an easy fit under the bridges, but still employed the tug Atlantic Fir as tethered stern escort to line up its course through the Narrows

.

.