Sub sandwich

 Today's photo "catch of the day" was the container ship NYK Meteor, but the picture was sandwiched between two semi-submersibles.

The semi-submersible Forte arrived mid-morning from Rotterdam and went directly to anchor deep in Bedford Basin.

A heavy load carrier, built in 2012 by Guangzhou International, it is measured at 36,653 gt and 48,312 dwt. It is semi-submersible to a draft of 26 meters, allowing it to float on and float off large cargoes.

The ship is a fleet mate, but smaller version, of the White Marlin which arrived in Halifax October 25 carrying a topside structure for Vineyard Wind. It sailed November 3 for Sydney, NS arriving there November 7 (and it is still there.)

 White Marlin in Halifax, October 25.

The ships were once at the centre of a major legal proceeding. In 2012 the company Fairstar Heavy Transport had taken delivery of two new semi-submersible heavy load carriers, Fjord and Fjell, with options for two more of the same class on order: Forte, Finesse. Another company, Dockwise, commenced a hostile takeover but some managers of Fairstar had ordered a fifth ship, to be called Fathom, "off book" (that is without financing in place and without the knowledge of the corporate Board of Directors and thus of Dockwise) as a poison pill to saddle Dockwise with more debt. Dockwise upgraded the order for the 'Fathom' and it was completed as the White Marlin. Dockwise took legal action against the four Fairstar managers. (They had also made adjustments in their compensation without the knowledge of the Board of Directors.) In 2013 Royal Bos Kalis Westminster took over Dockwise and continued the legal action. Eventually, in 2019, the Fairstar directors were found jointly and severally responsible and ordered to pay compensation. In 2011 the "Fathom" was valued at $110 million.

The container ship referred to above, the NYK Mercury, is another of the Daedalus class that are regular callers on THE Alliance's AL5 route from North Europe. Built by Hyundai Ulsan 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. 

 The ship kept its escort tug Atlantic Cedar as it made its way through the Narrows outbound for Port Everglades, FL.

The other "semi" in the sandwich was the Boabarge 37. Fresh from its transfer of AOPV 435 to Bedford Basin and its float off. (see previous post, December 9).

The barge left Halifax this afternoon for Sydney, NS in tow of the Atlantic Fir. All the AOPV's cradles and other gear have been removed, and the barge is sailing light.

 The barge was built in 2015 by Nanjing Wujiazu and comes in at 15,185 gt, 29,500 dwt, and is capable of taking a load of 30,000 tons. It is on long term charter to Irving Shipbuilding Inc, but still retains Norwegian registry. Each time it is to be used ISI applies for a coasting license. It has been used to transfer ships components, such as bow and signal mast, from Woodside to the Halifax Shipyard, and has been used as a launch platform for all six Arctic and Offshore Partrol Vessels. 

So far no application has been made to use the barge elsewhere in Canada, but since it is heading for Sydney, I expect it will have something to do with Vineyard Wind. Sydney is the staging area for the construction of that project. (The same may apply to the Forte also).

Footnote:

Another semi-submersible heavy cargo carrier is arriving tomorrow, December 16. There will be more about the Triumph when it hoves into view.

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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.

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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.)

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Narrows News and other notes

There were four ships responsible for six transits of the Narrows today (October 20). The CSL Tacoma counts for two of those transits, arriving in the wee hours of the morning to load at Gold Bond Gypsum, and is due to sail at 2000 hrs this evening.  The Oceanex Sanderling sailing at 1800 hrs from Fairview Cove on its weekly run to St.John's, NL counts for another transit.

The container ship NYK Meteor arrived  in the morning on THE Alliance's AL5 service, heading for PSA Fairview Cove.

Another of the NYK Daedalus class, it was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan. A 55,534 gt, 65,935 dwt ship it has a capacity of 4922 TEU. I expected the ship to sail late this afternoon, but it now has a pilot order for 0030 hrs tomorrow, so will only count once on today's tally.

The ship was very lightly loaded, which became even more obvious when it was visible broadside. It is to be expected as the ship is eastbound, with its last port indicated as Cartagena, Colombia after its west coast port calls and Panama Canal transit.

Following soon after was the autocarrier Don Pasquale from Goteborg, Sweden on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean transatlantic RoRo service. It sailed through the Narrows, turned in Bedford Basin then re-entered the Narrows to tie up starboard side to at Pier 9C. There were several opportunities for photos, but I will only show two - one from each side:

Daewoo Heavy Industry built the ship at the Okpo shipyard in 1997 and it was lengthened 28.7m (94.16 ft) in 2007 at the Hyundai Vinashin shipyard in Ninh Hoa, Vietnam. The revised tonnages are 67,141 gt, 28,142 dwt with a capacity of 7,194 RT43 size cars. The ship retained its 120 tonne capacity stern ramp and small side ramp. The ship unloaded only a few pieces of mobile of mining and construction equipment at Pier 9C, then moved to Autoport to off load cars.

Other Notes:

The tanker High Wind sailed from anchorage giving a destination of Quebec City. It had arrived October18 from Port Arthur, TX and docked at Irving Oil's Woodside Terminal.

Built in 2017 by Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard Co in Ninh Hoa, Vietnam it is a 29,957 gt, 49,990 dwt chemical / product carrier owned and operated by d'Amico Tankers DAC, and arm of the Italy based d'Amico Group. After discharging some product the ship moved out to anchor in the lower harbour yesterday (October 19).

Irving Oil usually services its terminals using its own (chartered) tankers, but I suspect in this instance it is importing product from Texas because its own refinery in Saint John, NB is undergoing a "turn around" (maintenanace upgrade). The High Wind will likely be going to Irving's terminal in the Beauport area of Quebec Harbour.
 
Another rare caller, Rossi A. Desgagnés, arrived October 19 from Saint John (which must have some product in storage) and docked at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal, recently vacated by the High Wind. It is due to sail this evening (October 20). 

(File photo from 2023-03-16)

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New Arrivals and some departures

 Today, September 2, saw three "new to Halifax" arrivals. Predictably two of those were container ships while the third was a genuine oddity. There were departures too, but they were not particularly remarkable, as their arrivals had already been noted in these posts.

The first arrival was the Melina a mid-size container ship of 40,030 gt, 50,716 dwt with a capacity of 4253 TEU. Built in 2009 by Samsung Koje (now Geoje) it was launched as Benita Schulte but renamed for delivery as UASC Samarra for a charter to the United Arab Shipping Co (the majority shareholder in Hapag-Lloyd). On completion of the charter in 2014 it reverted to Benita Schulte and carried that name until 2017 when it became the Melina.

The Melina took up position in number one anchorage in the lower harbour - possibly for Canadian Food Inspection Agency examination. It is scheduled to move to PSA Fairview Cove when the berth is clear there. Fom the look of the containers on deck the ship appears to be a ZIM charter for the ZCA service (with slots for Hapag-Lloyd). Its last port was Valencia Spain.

The next arrival was the MSC Sarah V on MSC's Turkey-Greece service. The ship does not appear to have been in either Turkey or Greece recently (its last ports were Cristobal, Panama, Fort Lauderdale, Baltimore, Barcelona and Valencia.) It may therefore have been transferred from another service and transloaded from another ship in Spain. (Huge delays in the Panama Canal due to low water levels have resulted in the transfer of many ships from service to service.)

 

The MSC Sarah V is also a Samsung Geoje build, dating from 2000 when it was named Saudi Yanbu. In 2002 it was renamed MSC Sarah and took the "V" suffix earlier this year. When the ship moved into Bedford Basin and was at a better angle to the sun, its retrofitted exhaust gas scrubber housing became more visible, adjacent to and abaft the original funnel casing.

As the MSC Sarah V was transitting the lower harbour the USS Oscar Austin DDG 79 was just casting off its lines at HMC Dockyard with the assistance of the tug Atlantic Oak. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer arrived August 29 for a courtesy call from its home port of Norfolk.

The most unusual of the arrivals was the classic Dutch coaster Layla tying up at Pier 9C.

It has been many years since a ship of this type has been seen in Halifax, especially after a transatlantic crossing (from Amsterdam). The tug Atlantic Willow was almost as big as the ship, and did a good job of blocking a clear view.

 The Barkmeijer Shipyards in Stroobos, Netherlands built the ship as long ago as 1975. It was then measured at 945 gt, but has since increased to 1010 gt as the ship was modified as a cable layer. Its deadweight tonnage remained at 1599 tonnes. Sheaves have been installed at the bow and the ship carries some packaged workshops in containers and other equipment on deck.

Operators Mertech Marine, based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, have two more similar ships for submarine telecommunications cable work. They are also associated with WIND BV in the Netherlands which has more cable ships. This leads me to believe that the ship may be involved in the Vineyard Wind project, as Halifax is the staging area for the work off Massachusetts. The offshore wind turbines will be connected with an offshore electrical substation all of which will be connected by a subsea power and communications cable networks. See September 6 post.

The Layla was originally the general cargo ship Elisabeth Holwerda becoming Elina B. in 1987, the Elina in 1990, Blue Moon in 1997 and Layla in 2004.

Back to full size ships the NYK Meteor (see yesterday's post) sailed this morning, 

A solitary loon shared the view of the NYK Meteor making its way toward the Narrows, outbound.

 

The ship appeared even more lightly loaded than yesterday as it cleared for Port Everglades on THE Alliance's AL5 service.

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Contship Art - Friday sailing

 The ZIM feeder Contship Art got underway this afternoon, Friday, September 1, on its regular CFX run to Kingston Jamaica. The ship, and its companion Contship Leo, normally sail weekyl on a Monday or Tuesday, but on Tuesday, August 29 iContship Art moved out from the PSA Fairview Cove terminal to anchor in Bedford Basin.

 The ship was built by Jangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard in Jiangyin in 2014 as Taipei Trader. It was renamed Cap Avatele on delivery and renamed Taipei Trader in 2016. It is a 9932 gt, 13,063 dwt vessel with a capacity of 1102 TEU including 220 reefers and carries two 45 tonne SWL cranes. As Taiepi Trader it called in Halifax for the CFX service in 2020 -2021. It was renamed Contship Art in 2022.

Had the ship sailed on its usual day it could have crossed the predicted paths of two hurricanes off the US east coast, Franklin and Idalia.

With those storms now downgraded or expired, the trip will be a much safer one.

As the Contship Art was making its way toward the Narrows it kept to the eastern side of the channel to allow the inbound NYK Meteor lots of room to clear the last bridge and make its turn around the Seaview Point buoy. It appeared to be a much closer pass than it actually was, due to foreshortening by the camera lens.

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. It appeared to be well under capacity.

The Port of Halifax is reporting a drop in tonnage so far this year. In common with the slackening in world trade, this does not come as a surprise - particularly after last year's record, when the port passed the 600,000 TEU for the first time. For the second quarter of 2023 container traffic was 137,774 TEU, down 11.9%  from last year giving a year to date tally of 265,108 TEU, down 6.3% from last year.

Transatlantic traffic has been hard hit, so the lighter load could be expected on the NYK Meteor which was arriving from Antwerp on THE Alliance's AL5 service. 

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The Switch

 When PSA took over the lease on the Fairview Cove container terminal recently it was expected that certain rationalizations would occur.

 

Some Lines that had been using the Fairview Cove terminal are expected to move to the PSA Halifax / South End, Atlantic Hub terminal and vice versa. There are a number of reasons for this, including faster cargo handling for large ships with more and better cranes at the South End, and reduction of truck traffic through downtown. Smaller ships could be equally well handled at Fairview, and would not be concerned with bridge clearance issues. There are virtually no restrictions at the South End, and even ships larger then the current record holder 16,000 TEU size can be accommodated..
 

Yesterday's [see May 12 ] caller at Fairview Cove, the MSC Sao Paulo was the first of those changes. En route to Montreal, it was in port for only a short time, and offloaded a few containers to reduce draft. It could be handled just as effectively at Fairview since it did not need extra large cranes, and it was small enough to transit the Narrows with ease. These top off and decant visits by MSC are now expected to be served by Fairview.

Today, May 13,  the "other shoe" dropped as you might say, as THE Alliance's MOL Charisma on the EC5 service, docked at The Atlantic Hub / South End terminal. Both THEA services, EC 5 and AL5 have until now used Fairview Cove. (Occasional shifts were accommodated.)

MOL ships are noted for their blue hulls, and the MOL Charisma  is no exception - in fact it appears to be in pristine condition, hinting at a recent shipyard visit.

Built in 2007 by Mitsubishi Heavy Inustries, Nagasaki, it is an 86,692 gt, 90,390 dwt vessel with a capacity of 9060 TEU including 630 reefers. It would have been nearly the maximum size that could access Fairview Cove, but can be handled with ease at the Hub. (The ship did anchor until mid-afternoon, but this was likely for CFIA invasive species inspection, rather than this morning's thick fog.) Launched as MOL Charisma it was immediately renamed APL France for a charter until 2010 when it reverted to its original and present name. Now on the EC5 route, its last port was Colombo, Sri Lanka.

While the MOL Charisma was docking the NYK Meteor arrived from Antwerp on the AL5 service and headed for Fairview Cove.

 Another of the twelve ship Daedalus class, it was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, and at 55,534 gt, 65,935 dwt, has a capacity of 4922 TEU. The benefit of two terminals under common management was immediately obvious as this ship would have had to wait at anchor had the MOL Charisma been alongside Fairview Cove.

It may also be that strict assignment to one terminal or the other will be eliminated, and ships will be handled at the first available berth. This may cause headaches for railroads, trucks and cargo planners in the terminals, as considerable advance notice of berthing is needed, particularly for exports.

Both terminals are owned by the Halifax Port Autority, a federal crown corporation, and are operated under lease by PSA. PSA owns the cargo handling equipment within the terminals, and some supplier/contractors, such as reefer maintainers, also have facilities within the terminals.

 

The next step in the rationalization process will be to move some of the smaller lines from the South End Hub to Fairview. Oceanex, Tropical and Maersk /CMA CGM Canada Atlantic Express are all expected to make the move at some point. Whether or not these are "permanent" remains to be seen. The South End is about to embark on another expansion of ground space and rail lines. That is a multi-year process however, during which there may be disruptions. When it is completed in five years or so the shipping "landscape" may have changed considerably.
 

Long range planning for the Port is underway, and several major issues will be under consideration. Rising sea levels and autonomous vehicles (including trains) are among the big elephants in the room, but there are many others including a new bridge (or two) and further port expansion, such as a third terminal (in Dartmouth). Enough parentheses already.

The advantage of crown corporations is that they can see beyond the five year lifespan of current governments. So the pressure is on this particular corporation to stay ahead.

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Quiet weekend -edited

 With Easter and Passover coinciding this weekend, shipping traffic was predictably quiet. Container ships however come and go as usual. Today (Saturday April 16) it was NYK Meteor at Fairview Cove and MSC Mirella Michaela at the Southend. The latter ship I did not see as it arrived at dawn and will sail over night. 

NYK Meteor has been a regular caller off and on over the years. One of twelve ships of its class, all with "celestial" names, it still carries its NYK name and colours but is now sailing on ONE's schdule for THE Alliance.

Built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, it is a 55,534 gt, 65,935 dwt ship with a 4922 TEU count according to some sources. Others give it as 4888, then give it at 2413 FEU (Forty foot equivalants) with 330 FEU refrigerated. Go figure. [There are presumably no 20 ft reefers]

The ship is not actually owned by NYK Line as far as I can tell. It is likely working out a charter with NYK, and thus has been chartered to ONE and has not been "translated" to a ONE name and colour scheme. ONE is gradually building up a fleet of ow ned ships as charters from member companies expire. Since this ship is due for a major class inspection in 2022 or early 2023, I imagine its charter will be up then, so repainting would not be done for a short term deployment.

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Meteoric Return

 THE Alliance's AL5 service had another returnee today. NYK Meteor, one of twelve sister ships that used to be regular callers here for the previous G6 Alliance.

Interestingly, the ship appears to have recently been repainted in traditional NYK colours (it was drydocked in January). It was not repainted in ONE magenta or given a ONE name even though NYK is one of the partners in Ocean Network Express.

The ship was built by Hyundai, Ulsan in 2007 and is registered at 55,534 gt, 65,935 dwt with a capacity of 4922 TEU.

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Sunday roundup

Perhaps unusual for a Sunday, there was a fair amount of traffic in the harbour today. Aside from the asphalt sailings this morning (see previous post) there were the following:

 A well worn Atlantic Conveyor made a very brief call at Fairview Cove. On its eastbound leg it was alongside for little more than three hours.
 

 The seismic ship Ocean Odyssey arrived early this afternoon. Soon after tying up at pier 30, the bunkering tanker Algoma Dartmouth was alongside for refueling.

There was also a brief visit from the cruise ship Pearl Mist. It arrived this morning and sailed early this afternoon, on a sunny and hot day.

  Like an old time coastal schooner, it slings a skiff off its stern. Unlike those boats, this one, named Launch 7, has a landing craft type bow door.

 Arriving for the G6 Alliance, NYK Meteor made its way to Fairview Cove with the assistance of tugs Atlantic Spruce on the bow and Atlantic Oak on the stern. Built in 2007 by Hyundai Heavy Industries of Ulsan, the 55,534 grt ship has a capacity of 4922 TEU.  The port of Halifax seems to have been added to its usual Asia / US East coast route of NYK ships.

Other comings and goings included the departure of suppliers Scotian Sea (for Shell seismic ships) and Atlantic Condor (for Deep Panuke) and the wood chip carrier Taiho Maru dropping off its pilot on return from Sheet Harbour. The tug Atlantic Willow had gone to Sheet Harbour yesterday to berth the ship and unberth it today. It also returned to port this afternoon.

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G6 alive and well but P3 now dead

The G6 Alliance of container lines which call in Halifax, is still bringing in a variety of ships from its several partners.

Sunday's arrival was OOCL Vancouver a post-panamax type, measuring 66,462 gross tons and carrying 5885 TEUs, it has been an off and on caller here since the Alliance was formed on 2011. Built in 2006 by Koyo Dockyard Co of Mihara, Japan, it carried the name OOCL Italy from 2010 to 2013. It now flies the Panama flag and is owned by Shoei K.K of Japan and chartered back to OOCL.

Today's arrival, NYK Meteor is a first timer to Halifax.  Built in 2007 by Hyundai Heavy Industries of Ulsan, South Korea, it carries a modest 4922 TEUs on 55,534 grt. It came from HHI in 2007.

Other members of the G6, Hapag-Lloyd (now merged with CSAV), APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine, and Mitsui OSK, along with OOCL and NYK, have 29 different combined trade routes around the world.

Not so rosy is the future for the proposed P3 Alliance of the world's largest container lines Maersk (15% of world's container capacity),  MSC (13% of capacity) and CMA CGM (9%). The ship-sharing plan was developed to deal with a huge over capacity of ships, ordered during boom times and delivered during the recent slow shipping market.
Approved by US and European regulators, the P3 plan was canned by China last week, much to the surprise of the proponents. Citing the need to protect smaller lines (some of which, not coincidentally are Chinese state owned) China denied permission for the P3 to start up. The three partners have thus scrapped the idea - and will soon have to start scrapping ships.

An example of the over capacity built by the P3 proponents is CMA CGM Marco Polo, delivered in 2013 by Daewoo, Okpo, it has a container capacity of 16,020 TEU, with a grt of 175,343 tons.

I spotted the ship last week in Hamburg, with seven cranes working cargo.

Smaller lines have also over built, and they must be heaving a sigh of relief with the death of the P3, but over capacity will continue to be a problem for some time.

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