Back to Busy - amended

 

After yesterday's big visitor at PSA Halifax's Atlantic Hub, CMA CGM Magellan (13,880 TEU - sorry no photo) the facility was busy again today, with the Oceanex Connaigra in for Newfoundland cargo. While Oceanex Sanderling is in Amsterdam for refit the Connaigra provides RoRo service once every two weeks, as it alternates with Ocean Avalon (no RoRo) on the Montreal / St.John's and Halifax / St.John's routes. There were a lot of truck trailers waiting for the ship this time, in addition to the usual containers. [Oceanex is no longer showing a June 15 return to service of Oceanex Sanderling in its on-line schedule - it now shows July 8 as Voyage 1 from Halifax to St.John's.]

Oceanex carries 53 foot containers aboard ship - a very rare feature.

The PSA Atlantic Hub was also expecting the arrival of MSC Shanghai on an "unscheduled call", so they diverted the MSC Sao Paulo to Fairview Cove, now also under PSA management.

MSC Sao Paulo, built in 1998 by Hyundai, Ulsan, 53,324 gt, 63,537 dwt, has a capacity of 4688 TEU. It was built as CSAV Pyrenees and carried the name Pohang briefly in 2013 (under Laiesz ownership, the once famous "Flying P" line of square riggers) until adopting its current name. The ship serves MSC's Canada Express I service from Italy and is inbound from Gioia Tauro. After off loading some containers to reduce draft, it will head for Montreal. 

Whether these drop offs and top ups will move to Fairview Cove now that both terminals are under common management has not been announced. This may be a once only.

 

The other expected MSC ship arrived in late afternoon, and anchored for CFIA inspection. It is expected to move alongside early this evening.

 

MSC Shanghai was renamed just last year after nearly twenty years as ZIM Shanghai. (The ZIM banner is still visible on the ship's side. Built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2002 it is a 53,453 gt, 66,685 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4839 TEU. It arrived from Malaga, Spain, so may be a "sweeper" or an "extra" to meet added demand. The ship was once a regular caller in Halfax as ZIM Shanghai. See what it looked like June 18, 2011, here: Shipfax 2011

Amendment:The ship is apparenelt on the new service from Turkey and Greece.

 

 

PSA was not the only busy operator today, as Autoport was going full out. Morning Lena (see yesterday's post) sailed late this morning, and its place was taken almost immediately by Supreme Ace.

Supreme Ace took a big loop around number one anchorage to make room for Morning Lena (in the background) to clear Eastern Passage.

The ship was built in 2011 by Minami-Nippon in Shitane and is 59,022 gt, 18,384 dwt. In a reversal of the usual autocarrier routing it arrived from Davisville, RI and sailed for Emden, Germany. It took another loop through number one anchorage outbound to clear the MSC Shanghai.

 

At the same time it made a neat passing arrangement with Oceanex Connaigra which was on its way to occupy the Autoport berth.

 

As if that were not enough business for Autoport, another ship was "lurking" offshore waiting its turn. Lake Wanaka is due tomorrow.

 

Bonus Feature

Now for a complete change of pace: Today was moving day for Sackville, Canada's Naval War Memorial. Each year,  just before the Victoria Day weekend, Sackville moves from its winter berth at HMC Dockyard to Sackville Landing where it is open to the public in the summer. No longer self-propelled, the World War II corvette relies on Dockyard tugs to make the move, which usually involves a short "tour" of the harbour around George's Island.

CNAV Glenevis provided the power, and Listerville stood by for mooring as the last remaining World War II corvette made tthe annual move. Another Dockyard craft, YDT-325 Guardian accompanied the procession.

 

Also on the move this morning was the RCN sailing ketch HMCS Oriole.

 

It has the honour of being the oldest vessel in commission in the RCN (and the longest serving). Built in 1921 it also saw naval service in World War II. It was transferred back to Halifax from the west coast in 2018.

One Last Word

Today was the first really hot day this spring, with temperatures rocketing up to the 20s C (70s F). This brought out the "yachtsmen" - the bane of harbour pilots and other mariners.

The outbound tanker Algoscotia sounded five warning blasts, twice, to warn this sailor to clear the track, but I am not sure it did any good. The sailor blithely kept his course, coming about only after the tanker had passed by. 

Algoscotia had delivered a cargo from Imperial Oil's refinery in Nanticoke, ON. Nevertheless we will be paying world price for fuel at the pumps in Halifax: $190.9 / liter, but likely to go up again tomorrow.

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PSA Double Header - updated

 The Southend container terminal operating as PSA Halifax was quiet all week until late this afternoon (February 19) when two ships arrived in quick succession.

The first arrival was MSC Leigh from Montreal, here to top up cargo before sailing on for Barcelona and Valencia on MSC's CANEX2 Mediterranean service.

Built by Daewoo, Mangala in 2004, the MSC Leigh is a 50,963 gt, 63,410 dwt ship of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers. It certainly appears to be lightly loaded, leaving lots of extra capacity for the trip.

Following soon after, the Canadian flag Oceanex Connaigra arrived from St.John's on the weekly Oceanex service. 

The Oceanex Connaigra and Oceanex Avalon are alternating their weekly Montreal / St.John's trips with Halifax trips while fleet mate Oceanex Sanderling is in refit in Amsterdam. 

The Sanderling refit was initially reported to be a five week operation starting in January, but now appears to have stretched to eight weeks or more. The Oceanex schedule shows the current arrangement continuing until the end of February - that is as far as the schedule shows.   

Update:

See New Post, February 20, 2022.

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Oceanex update - Connaigra arrives

 With Oceanex Sanderling in the mid-Atlantic and with an ETA in Amsterdam of December 29 [not Rotterdam as previously reported] Oceanex's revised schedule is in force. The two ships that normally run between Montreal and St.John's will be taking turns running between St.John's and Halifax in order to maintain a weekly schedule while the Oceanex Sanderling is in refit. Today, December 23, Oceanex Connaigra arrived for the first time on this temporary arrangement. [It has been here before subbing for refits]

 

Although delayed for a few hours by very high winds in the harbour approaches this morning, Oceanex Connaigra made port this afternooon. Normally a Friday departure, Oceanex has also adjusted the schedule around Christmas holidays. The ship will move to Autoport and sail for St.John's tomorrow December 24. It will be at sea on December 25 and arrive in St.John's for work December 27, thus avoiding high overtime rates for longshore workers (and giving them time off of course.)

Built in 2013 by Flensburger Schiffbau - GmbH + Co KG in Germany Oceanex Connaigra is a 26,786 gt, 19,460 dwt ConRo vessel of modern standards for engine and hull efficiency, crew accommodation and comfort. Capable of 23 knots top speed it is fitted with anti-roll tanks and fin stabilizers. The ice class ship was also built to accommodate all sizes of shipping containers, including 53 ft long units which are usually confined to land on trucks and trains. It can carry 900 containers and 540 cars.

The refit for Oceanex Sanderling is expected to take about a month, which means at least two if not three calls by Oceanex Conaaigra. Fleet mate Oceanex Avalon is due next week.

Sanderling Sisterships

I have amended the December 16 post on this subject. An observant reader was kind enough to send along an up to date roster of MARAD ships which continues to show Cape Texas (ex Reichenfels, an Oceanex Sanderling sister ship) still in existance. I had suggested that it might have been scrapped, but that is apparently not the case. As strategic assets, the ships of this class are kept in reserve and can be reactivated on short notice to deploy US military containers and trucks, tanks, etc, anywhere in the world.

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Refit for the Sanderling - amended

 Thanks to a media report, I learned that the Oceanex Sanderling will be going to the Netherlands for a five year survey and refit. The ship arrived in Halifax yesterday, December 15, and after its return to Newfoundland on the coming weekend it will sail for the Damen Shiprepair yard in Rotterdam Amsterdam.  The ship is on Voyage number 52 for the year, so my prediction in Shipfax November 30. that it would make more than 52 trips to Halifax this year will be proven wrong.

Instead the ship will be spending Christmas and most of January getting some major maintenanace. And of course recertification, as is required every five years by its classification society DNV. (Its class certification expires December 31).This is a fairly rigorous process, particularly for a ship built in 1977, and usually involves considerable upgrading and overhauling of systems.

I guess I have told the ship's story several times in this blog, but I will recap anyway, leaving readers to look for archived posts using the Search panel.

The ship's keel was laid March 17, 1977 at Sasebo Heavy Industries in Sasebo, Japan. It was launched in remarkably short order on May 25 and delivered on September 1, of the same year. The ship was named Rauenfels by its German owners DDG Hansa, a long established Bremen/ Bremerhaven based heavy lift and general cargo operator. With a gt of 21,849, its dwt has been variously reported but seems to be 15,195. Its container capacity seems to be about 522 and it has a slewing stern ramp with a 157 tonne capacity. A very versatile ship, it is powered by a reliable MAN main engine.

DDG Hansa had ordered four ships of this class, with one sister ship, Rabenfel delivered in June 1977 by Sasebo and two others, also built in 1977 but by Howaldswerke-DW in Kiel, Germany, the Reichenfels and Rheinfels. The construction costs of these ships and other local and world economic conditions resulted in DDG Hansa's bankruptcy in 1980 and the sell off of all its ships. Read more in the Wikipedia capsule history: DDG Hansa

 Rauenfels passed through a variety of owners and was renamed Essen in 1980, then Kongsfjord in 1982 and Onno in 1983. It was with this background that Halifax first became acquainted with the ship when it was chartered to substitute for Atlantic Container Line ships in refit in 1987.

Onno in the Narrows in 1987 while on ACL service.

 

Later in 1987 the ship was aquired by Atlantic Searoute Ltd and renamed ASL Sanderling it began operating the weekly Halifax to St. John's and Corner Brook service.

 

Demand for the Newfoundland service was such that a second ship was acquired in 1989. The sister ship Rabenfels had also gone through a series of owners, including the Lykes Line of the US before becoming ASL Cygnus. 

The ASL sisters alongside Pier 36 and Pier 34 in Halifax May 12, 1989.

During the ([Persian) Gulf War in 1990 the US government exercised an option on the ASL Cygnus and it was taken over for a time, then returned in 1991, but ASL sold the ship to Wilhlemsen's for its Afrrica service. In 1993 the US Government purchased the ship and placed it in the Marine Administration's reserve fleet. Renamed Cape Taylor it was joined by the two German built sisters. All three have been essentailly mothballed since 2001, and at least one, Cape Texas (ex Reichenfels) is out of documentation, and possibly broken up*. The third ship Cape Trinity (ex Rheinfels) is still listed.

In 1990 Atlantic Searoute Ltd (ASL) joined with Atlantic Container Express (ACE) to form Oceanex. The new company served Newfoundland via Halifax and Montreal (the former ACE route) and eventually built new ships for the St.Lawrence run. 

It is those newer ships that will substitute for the Oceanex Sanderling taking turns through the rest of December and well into January.(Montreal service will thus be reduced to one sailing a week, and RoRo on alternate weeks only.) January is the slowest month for freight to Newfoundland according to the press reports, so inconvenience should be minimal.

The always impressive Oceanex Connaigra will take the December 23 departure from Halifax. It is a 26,786 gt container /roro ship, built in 2013.

Starting with the December 31 sailing, Oceanex Avalon will be serving the alternative weeks. The sleek 14,639 gt ship was built in 2005 and is a container only vessel. To my recollection it has never been to Halifax. It is also somewhat unique in that it has no hatch covers, and its hold is open to the weather. This certainly saves time in port, and seems to have posed no problens at sea.

Both susbstitute ships are speedy (the above photos show the ships at 19 to 20 knots on the St.Lawrence River - well past the right whale zone.)

The question must be asked if this will be last five year certificate for the Oceanex Sanderling. The cost to keep the ship in class at its age must be getting prohibitive. Shipowners usually scrap ships before they reach twenty-five or at most thirty years of age, due to the upkeep cost, so a ship that is forty-four years old and still slogging on a demanding weekly service is almost unheard of. A fifty year old ship seems unlikely. However for Oceanex to spend what is required for this refit must mean they are planning to keep the ship for a while longer.

 I have also heard that the cost of a new, comparable ship is also very high, and the Sanderling's resell price is very low, so presumably the numbers are working in favour of the Oceanex Sanderling at least for now. 

*Thanks to a reader who forwarded more recent informaiotn, the ship Cape Texas is still in the MARAD reserve fleet.

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Sanderliing makes a RORO only trip

 Due to a backlog of automobiles destined for Newfoundland, Oceanex Sanderling made a rare mid-week, RoRo only trip to Halifax today. It usually sails on Friday with container and RoRo cargo. On this special trip it did not carry any container traffic, and docked only at Autoport. It is rare to see the ship with no containers on deck, and regrettably I did not get a photo this time.

Normal appearance with containers on deck.\ (file photo)

For various reasons, Newfoundland car dealers could not get the cars they needed. With manufacturing shutdowns earlier due to Covid-19, there is a general shortage of vehicles. Also Oceanex's other RoRo ship, Oceanex Connaigra, which operates from Montreal, was in a lengthy refit in Belfast. Although some of those cars were brought to Halifax, they could not be shipped in sufficient quantity to meet demand. 

Oceanex Connaigra at speed on the St.Lawrence. (file photo)

Now that Connaigra is back in service, things are expected to return to normal. 

There have been comments recently on the remarkable age of Oceanex Sanderling. Built in 1977 by Sasebo, Heavy Industries in Japan for D.D.G.Hansa as Ravenfels it was renamed Essen in 1980 and Kongsfjord in 1982. In 1983 it was renamed Onno and it was under that name when it made its first call in Halifax, substituting for ACL. 

Outbound in the Narrows as Onno in 1987.

Later in 1987 it came to Canada to stay, as ASL Sanderling for Atlantic Searoute the predecessor company of the current owners, Oceanex, who renamed the ship in 2008 as Oceanex Sanderling. 

For many years the ship sailed from Halifax to St.John's, then CornerBrook and back to Halifax weekly. After CornerBrook was dropped the ship has sometimes made a mid-week call in Halifax to meet demand, but usually shuttles between Halifax and St.John's once per week.

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Newfoundland shortages and Oceanex

Oceanex Sanderling, with a very light deck load, operates weekly from Halifax.

From today's news we learn that Newfoundland is running short of vital supplies from the mainland, and Oceanex is running at an unsustainable level. The reports state that Oceanex has operating costs of about $5 million a week to run its three ships (two from Montreal to St.John's and one from Halifax to St.John's) and is currently losing $1 million a week.

The base traffic of new cars has essentially dried up and combined with the drop in other freight, traffic is down 35%. Newfoundland's oil industry has retrenched as well due to the collapse of the world oil price and many cuts are being made across the economy.

Oceanex will likely have to lay up one of its ships in order to reduce cut costs, but that may not be enough to permit the company to continue to operate without government assistance. Oceanex has a high debt level already and has long claimed that Marine Atlantic's rates are unfair competition, preventing it from being able to renew its fleet.

If you have been reading my series on Newfoundland freight traffic from Halifax, you will be aware that today's Oceanex is the outgrowth of CN's need to deliver new cars to Newfoundland. Both domestic built and foreign built cars are shipped from Autoport and have formed a key segment of the traffic since 1970. Import and export containers and RoRo / trailer traffic form the rest of the cargo.

The Montreal service has deep roots and goes back to pre-Confederation (1949) and subsidized post-Confederation operations. Oceanex was formed in 1991 to operate both Montreal and Halifax services.

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No to Oceanex

The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled against Oceanex in its latest attempt to force Marine Atlantic to charge commercial rates. Oceanex has  long held that the Crown Corporation has an unfair advantage over Oceanex for Newfoundland freight because it charges less than cost. Oceanex, contends that as a private company it must recoup costs in order to stay in business and to reinvest in its fleet.

This battle has been fought before, and both sides have had victories, dating back for many years to  when Canadian National Railway, then a crown corporation, operated the Gulf service. The Canadian Transportation Commission found it guilty of predatory (non-compensatory) pricing, through its Terra Transport operation on at least two occasions.

Oceanex formed in 1991, brought together the Montreal/ Newfoundland and Halifax/ Newfoundland services of ACE (Atlantic Container Express) and ASL (Atlantic Searoute Limited) respectively. Original equal share owners Clarke (then owned by Newfoundland Capital), CSL (then owned in part by Fednav), Fednav and A. Harvey took the company public in 1998. Since 2007 the company has been privately owned.

The Montreal service continues year round with two modern ships.

Oceanex Avalon  built in 2005 by J.J.Sietas, Neuenfelde, Germany is a container only ship.

Oceanex Connaigra built in 2013 by Flensburger is a Con-Ro, that has been used on the Halifax run to cover refits.

The Halifax / St.John's weekly service is maintained by the now venerable Oceanex Sanderling.

Built in 1977 by Sasebo Heavy Industries, the 21,849 gt, 15,195 dwt CoRo can carry 1127 TEU. Originally named Rauenfels it was renamed 80: Essen, 82: Kongsfjord, 83: Onno, 87: ASL Sanderling, 08: Oceanex Sanderling.

A particularly fine ship, Oceanex Sanderling has served the route exceptionally well, but is overdue for replacement. Oceanex's Chairman (and reportedly principal if not sole owner) has been adamant that the noncompetitive environment with Marine Atlantic precludes that.

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Oceanex Connaigra

The container RoRo ship Oceanex Connaigra suffered a fire in its cargo hold at 22:30 hrs August 16. The ship was on its regular weekly run from St.John's to Montreal when the fire broke out near Bécancour, QC.

 Oceanex Connaigra was built in 2013 in Flensburg, Germany, and is the largest Canadian ConRo ship. With a capacity of 1300 TEU, the ice class vessel maintains a year round weekly schedule.

According to a press report the ship put into Trois-Rivières at 05:30 hrs the next morning where local firefighters extinguished the fire. The ship was able to resume its voyage by 10:16 hrs.

I have not been able to locate more detail than this, but from the description the fire would not seem to have been serious, and had minimal effect on the ship's schedule. Oceanex maintains a 99% reliability on its weekly services to Newfoundland.

Oceanex operates Oceanex Connaigra and Oceanex Avalon on the Montreal / St.John's service and Oceanex Sanderling on the Halifax / St.John's.

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Schedule disarray - Quebec Report #8

The temporary speed restriction in the Gulf of St.Lawrence is having an effect on the whales it is intended to protect and on ship schedules.

No ship strikes have been reported, and no dead whales have been found since the ban was instituted. The fallout for shipping has been predictable.

Some inane suggestions about helicopter escorts, special sonar and other speculations on how to speed up ships and save whales have been proposed by some in the shipping industry. If these geniuses would turn their minds to the environment instead of the bottom line for a few moments, they might realize that they and their customers will just have to pay for the privilege of sharing this planet with whales.

Oceanex Connaigra used to be a daytime Saturday sighting, now it passes at night.

The effect on domestic shipping has seen Oceanex introduce a temporary fuel charge to pay for the higher speeds required in other areas to make up for the five hours of slow steaming in the Gulf. Oceanex competes with trucks and Marine Atlantic on what is a far from level playing field, and any change of schedule or costs would certainly hurt them.

 CTMA Vacançier is back to early Thursday mornings.

C.T.M.A., which serves the Magdalen Islands, has curtailed stops in Gaspé in order to keep their cruise ferry CTMA Vacançier on schedule. After a couple of weeks of trying to maintain the schedule, the ship is now reaching Quebec and Montreal on close to the old timetable.

MSC Kim was hurry up then wait on Tuesday afternoon.

Foreign flag container ships are making up the time at sea, but there has been some increase in speed on the river too. I note reported speeds in excess of 18 knots, which is a pretty good clip.  Schedules however seem to be in some sort of disarray, as the MSC Kim, charged past my place at 18.6 knots, but then anchored off Pointe-au-Pic for about four hours. Perhaps they were overly enthusiastic about opening up the throttles and had to back off so as not reach Montreal too early.

 OOCL Belgium made up its time at sea, but was still moving at a good rate this afternoon.

Non-scheduled Great Lakes ships are effected too. Even though the speed reduction does not bother many of them, since they do not go that far into the Gulf (the zone extends as far west as the eastern tip of Anticosti Island) their speed would only be reduced by a knot or two.

 Algoma's newest ship, Algoma Strongfield does not venture far enough east to be effected by the speed limit.

However with a limited shipping season, they need to get in as many trips as possible. Salarium carries salt from the Magdalen Islands, right in the middle of the zone, and it would be difficult to make up lost time in its relatively short trips.

Salarium transits the zone on every trip with salt.

So far I have not heard of any violations of the speed limit.

To add the container shipping misery however, the container carrier Maersk Pembroke was disabled by fire west of the Lizard Point, in the Celtic Sea, August 21. It appears that the ship, which was en route from Antwerp to Montreal, will have to be towed to back to a European port. That will certainly throw a wrench in the weekly service operated by Maersk and CMA CGM.

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Oceanex Connaigra and Dinkeldiep - soon to be replaced.

Oceanex Connaigra will go back to its usual St.Lawrence River regular run after Friday's visit [June 3]. The normal Halifax / St.John's Oceanex ship, Oceanex Sanderling is due back from an extended refit in Gibraltar. Its first sailing from St.John's will be June 7, with an arrival in Halifax on June 9 and departure on June 12. It will then go on a twice weekly schedule that Connaigra has been maintaining.
 

Oceanex Connaigra has been making two trips a week to St.John's for most of the time it has been running to Halifax.

Oceanex Connaigra's return to the St.Lawrence will mean that the chartered Stena Carrier will return to Europe. It has been filling in on the St.Lawrence while Connaigra had a refit, and while Connaigra has been filling in for Sanderling.

Stena Carrier trots along at 21 knots on the St.Lawrence.

Meanwhile the small cargo ship Dinkeldiep, which has been maintaining the service to St-Pierre et Miquelon for nearly a year, will soon be replaced by the regular ship on the run, Nolhanava. That ship (the former Shamrock) has been in China for the installation of an exhaust gas scrubber system. It made the long trip, via Papeete, Tahiti, both ways, and is due in Halifax June 8.

 Dinkeldiep may have one trip left on the St-Pierre run.

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CSL Tacoma and Oceanex Connaigra - starboard to starboard

 

The simultaneous passing of the CSL Tacoma departing and Oceanex Connaigra arriving resulted in a rare starboard to starboard passing in the Middle Ground area between Meagher's Beach and Ives Knoll.

CSL Tacoma, a Trillium class self-unloading bulk carrier was built in 2012 at Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin City, China. At 43,691 grt, 71,552 dwt, the ship is too large to take a full load at National Gyspum due to limited draft alongside the pier.  However it did take a part cargo and was sailing for the US. After rounding George's Island it kept to the east of the main channel leaving lots of room for the inbound.

In the background the pilot boats exchange crews and boats at the end of a shift. Chebucto Pilot remains as the outside boat with the fresh crew, and A.P.A.No.1 returns to base with the off duty crew.

The inbound Oceanex Connaigra was heading for the Halterm container pier and it was more convenient for it to stay on the western side of the channel to make its approach to the pier, hence the starboard to starboard meet. It is a 26,786 grt 19,500 dwt ConRo built in 2013 by Flensburger Shiffbau in Germany.

Oceanex Connaigra has shifted from its usual St.John's / Montreal run to the St.John's / Halifax service to cover for the refitting Oceanex Sanderling. Starting March 31- April 1, it is expected to continue until May 13 when Sanderling returns from Gibraltar. Since coming to the Halifax route it has made two extra mid-week trips in addition to the weekend calls - with the exception of last weekend when it did not show up.

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Oceanex Connaigra pinch hits for Oceanex Sanderling

A baseball analogy seems appropriate as spring is here and the baseball season will soon be in full swing.
Spring is also a good time for ship refits after enduring the rigours of winter. Oceanex is taking this opportunity to send two of its ships in turn for refits in Gibraltar. First to go was Oceanex Connaigra. Its place on the St.John's / Montreal run was taken by the chartered Stena Carrier. On its return from the shipyard, Oceanex Connaigra shifted to the Halifax run, arriving here yesterday morning, tying up at pier 36. It shifted to pier 41 this morning.

Linehandlers have singled up the headlines as the ship prepares to leave pier 41 for Autoport.

This afternoon it shifted again, this time to Autport to take on a load of cars for Newfoundland. It will move back to pier 41 this evening and to complete loading containers and RoRo trailers tomorrow.

Showing off its fresh paint, the ship moves through number one anchorage on its way across to Eastern Passage. High winds are picking up some spray and creating a mist.

According to the Oceanex schedule the ship will serve Halifax until mid-May when Oceanex Sanderling is due back from its refit in Gibraltar. Stena Carrier will continue to operate to Montreal until that time, when Oceanex Connaigra will return to its customary route.

Oceanex Connaigra was built in 2013 by Flensburger Shiffbau Gesellschaft in Germany especially for Oceanex to operate on either the Halifax or Montreal runs. The 26,768 grt ship can carry 10,000 1,000! TEU and has 5 RoRo decks with a capacity of 95 trailers or 500 autos. After some initial teething problems that kept it out of service for lengthy periods in late 2013 and early 2014 it settled in to the Montreal run, maintaining close to its 20 knot service speed.

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Oceanex plans refits

Oceanex has made application to the Canadian Transportation Agency to bring in an as yet unnamed foreign flag ship to operate between January 1 and July 31, 2016. The application states that the ship will operate Montreal / St.John's and Halifax / Corner Brook / St.John's. (however Oceanex dropped Corner Brook from its rotation several years ago.)

It appears that Oceanex will be sending some or all of its ships for refit, and will need a temporary replacement.

The ship will be a RoRo LoLo so it could stand in for Oceanex Connaigra or Oceanex Sanderling, but it could also stand in for Oceanex Avalon, which is LoLo only.

Oceanex Sanderling last had a major refit in 2011. It was out of service from January 29 to March 12, but was in the shipyard at Gibraltar for one month, February 5 to March 5. Dating from 1977 the ship must be near the end of its service life, so it may be in for a major refit this time.
It maintains the weekly (twice weekly this past summer) Halifax /St.John's service singlehandedly.
 

Oceanex Avalon, pictured above doing a solid 19.9 knots on the St.Lawrence was delivered in May 2005. Built new for Oceanex by J.J.Sietas KG in Germany, it has no RoRo capability.

Although Oceanex Connaigra, built in 2013, had serious teething problems early in its career, requiring shipyard work on its propeller hub, it appears to have settled into its routine over the past year and regularly maintains 20 knots on its Montreal / St. John's service.

In past years when a replacement was needed Oceanex (or its predecessor company) has used a variety of craft, ranging from the mighty midget Astron (which amazingly is still operating for Coastal Shipping seasonally.)

In 1988 Astron was called in as a substitute.

In 2004 however they brought in the Swedish Stena Foreteller. This impressive RoLo was built in 2001 by Dalian Shipyard in China and measured 24,688 grt, 12,4300 dwt. With 3,000 lane meters capacity it was certainly able to handle Oceanex's RoRo traffic. I suspect it was less handy for LoLo.

It is unlikely we will see Stena Foreteller this time around. Since January 2015 Stena Foreteller has been operating a weekly Stena/Mann Lines service between Harwich, Cuxhaven, Tallinn (Paldiski), Turku and Bremerhaven. At times the ship reaches its maximum speed of 24 knots on this run to meet the aggressive schedule. It also has a passenger capacity for 12 drivers, which would not be needed by Oceanex.

With more than 50 RoRo ships in its fleet it seems likely that Oceanex might turn to Stena once again.

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