Morning Prosperity

 

Auto carriers carry cars of many models and brands, and those ships that are equipped for RoRo cargo can handle a wide assortment of other cargo. Halifax's Autoport handles mostly automobiles, and sends the imports on to destination by rail (Autoport Ltd is owned by CN Rail) or truck (CN also owns a specialist auto haul truck company).

There is also RoRo cargo that is not handled through Autoport. Some of that traffic is handled by PSA Halifax through their Fairview Cove terminal and the Atlantic Hub (South End Container Terminal). Atlantic Container Line (ACL) is the primary RoRo carrier [see yesterday's post] at Fairview Cove.

Oceanex, with its weekly service to St.John's takes on and discharges RoRo cargo at Fairview Cove and handles cars (generally new cars) at Autoport. 

This week the Oceanex Sanderling remained in port Friday night (October 31) and made a rare Saturday (November 1) departure for St.John's - likely due to the passing post tropical storm.

 TSMI makes its weekly trips to Argentia and St-Pierre et Miquelon from the South End Container Terminal and their ship, the Nolhan Ava, uses the RoRo ramp at Pier 39 / 41 (no longer visible from shore) which was built as part of the original Halterm container terminal. RoRo cargo can include vehicles from France.

Pier 9C in the Richmond Terminal, operated by Logistec, handles the rest of the RoRo traffic which can consist of the proverbial "soup to nuts" of construction, mining, forestry and other industrial machinery and equipment.

Today's (November 2) visitor at Pier 9C was the Morning Prosperity with the usual array of identifiable and unidentifiable cargo. The ship, belonging to the Eukor fleet, is operating on parent company Wallenius Wilhelmsen's North Atlantic route from Antwerp, Goteborg, Bremerhaven and Southampton and on to US east coast ports. 

 Hyundai Samho built the ship in 2017 with a gross tonnage of 66,802 and deadweight tonnage of 22.438, with a capacity of 7400 Car Equivalent Units. It is equipped with a stern ramp of 150 tonnes capacity and a smaller side ramp.

 Aside from the usual JCBs and wheeled cargo, two giant pipe joints or valves arrived secured to a MAFI trailer and were backed down to the pier (which, due to the state of the tide, was nearly level with the ship's main cargo deck.)

 On completion of work at Pier 9C at mid-day the ship moved to Autoport. It offloaded new cars there and sailed early this evening (November 2) for New York.

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PSA Halifax - more

 Following yesterday's (June 16) account of doings at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, I updated the post when the MSC Sagitta III sailed this morning, well loaded. Instead of sailing for Freeport, Bahamas the ship sailed for Montreal. It had also arrived from Montreal - raising more questions about its actual service route. It is still listed as an "Extra Vessel" on MSC's website, with a destination of Freeport, and as Halifax Feeder on the Port of Halifax site.

 

In contrast to yesterday's photo when the ship had no containers on deck, the ship is well loaded today, but not to St.Lawrence River draft.

Arriving today, June 27 the ship ONE Milano is another of the "M" class of ships on the Premier Alliance Asia-North America EC 3 service. It departed from Colombo May 20 and tracked south of the Cape of Good Hope.

Built as the Milano Bridge in 2018 by Imabari Shipyard Co Ltd, Hiroshima yard, it was renamed ONE Milano in 2022. The 150,706 gt, 146,931 dwt ship has a capacity of 13,900 TEU with 800 reefer plugs. It is owned by Japanese investors associated with K-Line, but is managed by Ocean Network Express Pte Ltd of Singapore.

Things have been quiet at PSA's other terminal - PSA Fairview Cove - but they picked up this morning with the arrival of Oceanex Sanderling on its weekly call from St.John's.

The ship appears unusually well loaded. Of note Oceanex containers have been showing up in large numbers on CN Rail trains recently. This may be because one of the two Oceanex ships on the Montreal / St.John's route, Ocean Avalon, was in refit at Méchins, QC from May 25 June 13 and returned to Montreal, arriving May 15. Some of its cargo, which could not be handled by fleet mate Oceanex Connaigra, would certainly have been re-routed by the Oceanex Sanderling to Halifax and sent west by train.
 

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Five Ships - one place

 At the the north end of Haifax Harbour, Bedford Basin has been a refuge and anchorage since the earliest days of the European presence in Nova Scotia. Today it is surrounded by insitutional, residential, recreational and commercial activity and there are also numerous parks and some historic sites. A National Historic Site memorial to Duc D'Anville, who landed there in 1746, is located in a tiny park adjacent to the Canadian National Railway's Pace Yard in Rockingham.

A little bit farther north, just before Birch Cove is an even smaller park with two look-off platforms that give sweeping vistas of the entire Basin and a clear view of ships at anchor and at several piers and moorings. 

On a quiet day, such as today, March 7, it was possible to see five ships at once, but there is no camera lens wide enough to take them all in at once. So working from the north and counter clockwise here is what was to be seen. 

Arriving from Montreal this morning the Vistula Maersk is waiting its turn at PSA Fairview Cove terminal.

It is one of four ships on the joint Maersk /CMA CGM transatlantic service that call in Halifax typically on Saturday, while eastbound for Bremerhaven. The Vistula Maersk was built in 2018 by COSCO Zhoushan Shipyard Co, as an ice class ship for Baltic service to Russia. At 34,882 gt, 40,000 dwt, it has a capacity of 3600 TEU including 600 reeefers. In 2022, following the Russian boycott, along with two sister ships, it was transferred to the joint Maersk / CMA CGM St-Laurent 1 / Canada Atlantic Express service. It made its first call in Halifax June 23, 2022.
 

Also at anchor is the now familiar tanker CB Pacific. It has been in Halifax several times in recent months carrying ethanol for Irving Oil. 

 The CB Pacific, built by Jiangsu New Hantong shipbuilding in Yangzhong, China, was delivered in 2020. The 27,250 gt, 37,787 dwt ship is equipped to handle crude oil, clean petroluem products or chemicals in twelve phenolic epoxy coated tanks (plus two slops tanks). The ship is also built to DNV Baltic Ice Class 1B and is fitted with a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber which can be run at zero emissions. As previously noted it has a covered fore deck - a feature rarely incorporated in tankers. 

Once it offloads at Irving Oil's Woodside termainal, it may head for the St.Lawrence River to supply other refiners.

Across the Basin from Rockingham at Wright's Cove, another CSL ship is loading at Gold Bond Gypsum. This time it is CSL Tarantau.

The stockpile of raw gypsum appears to have been replenished somewhat after its last visit February 27 -March 1 and that of CSL Tacoma on March 4 - 5. CNRail delivers gypsum almost daily, with unit trains from the East Milford mine.

The view from the Africville Park on the south of the Basin gives a better look at the ship itself.

The ship was built for the Torvald Klaveness Selfunloaders and operated under the name Balto until 2015 when Klaveness withdrew from the CSL pool and its ships were taken over by CSL and Algoma.  The red painted deck, hatch coamings and self-unloading gear is a carry over from Klaveness days.

The ship was built by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China in 2013 to the ocean version of CSL's Trillium class design, so it was a natural fit in the CSL Americas roster.  At 43,691 grt, 71,405 dwt it is too large to take a complete load at National Gypsum due to draft restrictions at the Bedford Basin pier. 

The other busy spot in the Basin was the PSA Fairview Cove container terminal. At the east berth was NYK Demeter on the newly former Premier Alliance service.

 

Wires paralleling the CN rail main line are inevitable features of the view.

The Premier Alliance consists of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine) and Yang Ming as the survivors of THE Alliance after the withdrawal of Hapag-Lloyd. It is to be noted that the ship is still carrying many Hapag-Lloyd boxes.

NYK Demeter was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, and is a 55,487 gt, 65,965 dwt ship with a capacity of 4922 TEU. It is owned by NYK Line, one of the partners, with MOL and K-Line, of Ocean Network Express.

At the east berth and RoRo ramp the Oceanex Sanderling is loading for its weekly trip to St.John's Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

More lines add to the view which is well above the rail lines.

 Although I have told it several times before, it seems an appropriate time to repeat the history of the Oceanex Sanderling:

Built in 1977 (!) by Sasebo Heavy Industries in Japan, it served the now defunct DDG Hansa as Ravenfels until 1980, then became Essen briefly for a Hapag-Lloyd subsidiary. In 1981 it was renamed Kongsfjord by S.E.A.L RoRo, a Norwegian American Line service in East Africa/ Indian Ocean. That only lasted until 1983 when it went to Amasis Rederei of Germany (Heyon-Janssen) as Onno.

It was under the latter name when it made its first appearance in Halifax as a substitute on the ACL Line service on April 12, 1987.

Later the same year Atlantic Searoute Ltd bought the ship and it became ASL Sanderling and a Halifax regular. It entered service January 10, 1988, running Halifax / Newfoundland, which it has done pretty much continuously ever since, aside from refits.(Corner Brook was later dropped and the ship now only runs between Halifax and St.John's.)

It was renamed in Oceanex Sanderling in 2008, although Oceanex had succeeded ASL in 1991.

 

The ship was given a major refit in 2022 and is currently listed at 21,489 gt, 15,195 dwt, with a capacity of 522 TEU. Its next major survey is due in 2026. With the limited number of ConRos availabe as a replacement, it is expected to be renewed for continued operation.

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Back to the Future and other matters

 There were wintery conditions in Halifax today, February 5, with light dusts of snow. The temperature struggled to reach -10ºC [14º F], there was a biting wind at 26 kph [16 mph] with gusts to 35kph [21 mph] but it was mostly sunny and sea water temperature was still a balmy 1.7 ºC [35.1 ºF]. 

There were two auto carriers in port. The Traviata, which arrived yesterday at Autoport, moved over night to Pier 9C to off load RoRo cargo.

Traviata arriving yesterday, February 4.

 The ship was built in 2019 by Tianjin Xingang, to the HERO class design used by both Wallenius and Wilhelmsen. It must have beeen one of the last - or indeed the last - ship to use the old Wallenius colour scheme [see below]. It was not repainted in the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean  teal/gray until 2024. [Despite a name begining with the letter "T" it is in fact a Wallenius ship, with an operatic name.]

The 73,358 gt, 23,889 dwt ship, has a capacity of 7656 RT43 autos, and mounts a 320 tonne SWL stern ramp. As with most modern autocarriers it has no side ramp.

 

Since its last call in Halifax December 16 the ship has followed the usual WWO route of New York, Brunswick, Charleston, Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge and Southampton and is now bound for New York again.

 The second autocarrier arrived today and docked directly at Autoport.

 The Future Way is a "ship of the future" in many ways, but has reverted back to the traditional Wallenius hull colours of white over green. In this case the green is also symbolic of its several environmentally sensitive features.

It was built by CIMC Raffles, Yantai in 2024 and features dual fuel engines, can sail fully loaded with no ballast water, has a shore power connector and can be converted to add battery power. It reduces fuel consumption by prop design, hull shape and aerodynamic features.

The bow shape and flush mounted cargo ventilation fans are some of the new features in the Sliepner concept of autocarriers developed by Wallenius Marine and naval architects Knud E. Hansen. The vessel's charterer, Volkswagen, has committed to reducing its carbon footprint.

The ship's recent movements are not entirely clear, (suggesting perhaps some military cargo) but it was in Halifax last on December 1 and has since called in Sparrows Point, Freeport, TX, Veracruz and Freeport again. It is not clear where the ship has been since that last Freeport call on December 20. Normally VW charters load in Bremerhaven.

Aside from some light snow in the air, there were other signs of winter. Oceanex Sanderling arrived from St.John's with a thin coat of frozen spray.

 

There was no sign of frozen spray (yet) on the bulk carrier Goodwyn Island. which arrrived last evening and sailed at noon time today.

Fully loaded with bauxite from Gladstone, Australia December 11, the ship sailed across the Indian Ocean,  passing Cape Town January 19 and Las Palmas January 24, and is now headed for  Pointe-Noire in Sept-Iles, QC. Its short stay here may have been to embark an ice advisor (they normally board off Sydney).

Built by Tsuneishi Zhoushan in 2018 it is a Supramax bulker of 35,684 gt, 63,906 dwt, and carries four 30 tonne cargo cranes and 20 tonne grabs (stowed to the starboard side of each crane base.) The ship has a bow "windshield" which has aerodynamic benefits while protecting the foredeck and number one hatch from seas.

The ship's loading port is in Queensland, on the northeast coast of Australia and a more direct route would have been via the Panama Canal, suggesting that the ship might have been re-directed from an original destination in Europe at some point en route. The Alumunerie Alouette in Sept-Iles is the largest aluminum smelter in the western hemisphere, and is powered by electricity from the Churchill Falls hydroelectricity facility.

There was also a haze of freezing spray on the container feeder AS Felicia arriving at PSA Fairview Cove for ZIM.

AS Felicia has been an on and off caller for ZIM's former CFX service since April 3, 2018. Built in 2006 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan, with tonnages of 15,375 grt, 18,291 dwt, it has a capacity of 1296 TEU, including 390 reefers, and has a pair of 45 tonne cranes. It was launched as Medocean but entered service as EWL Cribbean. In 2007 it became APL Managua and in 2014  Medocean and in 2015 AS Felicia. The ship has now joined the ZCX Colibri Express from the west coast of South America via Kingston, Jamaica, Miami, Philadelphia and New York. Quite a weather shock for ship and crew.

 The AS Felicia's call coincided with yesterday's ZCA transatlantic arrival ZIM Iberia which sailed at noon time today for New York. 

On arrival yesterday (in photo) it showed many Hapag-Lloyd boxes on deck. The slot arrangement between Hapag-Lloyd and ZIM has presumably survived the new Hapag-Lloyd + Maersk Gemini Cooperation.

The Zim Iberia acquired the name in 2022, but was built in 2009 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jiangyin. It was delivered as Rudolf Schepers and in 2017 became the Arkas Afrika then in 2018 Als Juno. The 40,541 gt, 50,300 dwt ship has a capacity of 4253 TEU including 698 reefers.  

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Where the Action Is

 Once again today, Friday December 13, much of the activity was in the far north end of Halifax Harbour at Pier 9C and in Bedford  Basin.

In chronological order: it was the movement of the offshore installation vessel Symphony from Pier 9C to Pier 9A. The ship has been idle (with some fitting out) in Halifax for months, with fleet mate Connector, awaiting the call to work on an undisclosed project, likely the Vineyard Wind project in the United States. Yesterday it moved from Pier 9A to Pier 9C to make room for the cable ship IT Integrity. In order to make the move the Symphony went out into Bedford Basin, turned, then when the traffic cleared (see below) it came back in alongside Pier 9A.

 The impressive ship belongs to the Dredging + Maritime Management division of the Jan De Nul Group of Belgium. The ship is registered in Luxembourg.

It was built in 2011 as the Fugro Symphony and was renamed Global Symphony in 2017, then becoming Symphony in 2022. The 11,324 gt, 6500 dwt ship is equipped for trenching work, with an onboard ROV, a 150 tonne crane, and can accommodate 105 persons.

Next along in the Narrows was the auto carrier Mignon a familiar caller on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean transatlantic service. It went to Bedford Basin to turn before coming alongside at Pier 9C while the Symphony stood by well north in the anchorages.

Mignon is owned by Wallenius Lines AB of Sweden and was built in 1999 by Daewoo Heavy Industres, Okpo, South Korea. Originally it measured 57,018 grt, 14,841 dwt. In 2005 it was taken in hand by Hyundai-Vinashin Shipyard Co Ltd in Ninh Hoa, Vietnam and lengthened 29 meters by inserting a new section amidships. This 12 deck structure increased tonnages to 67,264 grt, 28,126 dwt and the car carrying capacity from about 3,000 to 7,194 units (Lane length increased from 5700m to 6840m). The ship's stern ramp is rated at 120 tonne capacity. There is also a small side ramp.

Ships of Wallenius Line and Wilhelmsen have been given a common colour scheme, but they are still owned and managed by the individual component companies. There are still traces of the old colour schemes, such as this ship's name board in the gold and green of the old Wallenius funnel colours.

The ship is flying the flag of Canada as a courtesy, the flag of Sweden, where the ship is registered, and, barely visible, the Wallenius flag -  green with a gold W. Normally ships fly the red and white "Hotel" flag when they have a pilot aboard, but I could not see one this time.

When the Mignon was safely alongside the Symphony came back from the Basin to Pier 9C, which had by this time been vacated by the IT Integrity.

 Built in 2001, its hull came from Aker Tulcea and it was completed by Soviknes Verft, Sovik. The 2244 gt, 3200 dwt supplier was named Highland Fortress and worked for several Tidewater operations in Europe until 2020 when IT International Telecom acquired the ship and converted it for cable work (including laying, repair, plough burying and ROV splicing). It is based in Halifax but spends extended periods away from port depending on cable work. It is now headed for Rose Blanche, NL according to AIS.

 If all of this was not enough activity, the container ship MSC Baltic III departed PSA Fairview Cove, headed for Montreal. 

 The ship is working between Halifax and Montreal on a coasting license in order to move the large number of containers stranded in Halifax from the port workers strike in Montreal. With fleet mate MSC Sagitta III, also with a coasting license, they have until December 31 to move the boxes. Both ships were taken off MSC's Canada Gulf Bridge service but the MSC Baltic III is scheduled to sail from Montreal December 24 on that service, so this may be its last call in Halifax.

There are still lots of MSC containers in Halifax, but they are mostly regular traffic by now.

 Once the MSC Baltic had cleared the west berth at Fairview Cove, the Oceanex Sanderling moved in from anchorage #7 to finish loading for Newfoundland. The ship usually anchors over night after working cargo at Autoport.

It is due to sail for St. John's early this evening.

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Busy Day

 There was a lot of activity in Halifax harbour today, November 20, mostly container ships.

An over night arrival anchored in the lower harbour. MSC Sagitta III is on the Mediterranean Shipping Company's Canada Gulf Bridge route and does not normally call in Halifax. Because of the large number of containers landed in Halifax during the Montreal longshore workers strike MSC has applied to use this ship and the MSC Baltic III to transfer the stranded boxes to Montreal. (Some have already been dispatched by train and truck, but there were reportedly 5,000 boxes left off in this port.) Canada's cabotage law restricts shipping between Canadian ports to Canadian ships, unless no suitable Canadian ships are available. In such cases a coasting license may be granted to a foreign ship, and I expect the MSC Sagitta III is waiting for the Minister of Public Safety to grant the license  in the next few days.

MSC Sagitta III was built by Nordseewerker, Emden in 2010. The 36,519 gt, 42,614 dwt ship was a capacity of 3428 TEU and has a large nuber of reefer plugs, noted as "392 + 108". [I'm not certain what that means but may describe the number below and above deck or vice versa.]

Initially named Frisia Brussel it was renamed Sagitta in 2010 and MSC Sagitta III in 2021.

The ship is northbound from Freeport, Bahamas, and is expected to top up at PSA Fairview Cove on the first of three trips once the license is granted.

Arriving at PSA Fairview Cove, the NYK Nedula held off the dock allowing Ophelia to sail (see yesterday's post.)

At the same time the Oceanex Sanderling was arriving from St.John's and it also held off in Bedford Basin before coming alongside.

Container activity at PSA Atlantic Gateway got off to a slow start as there was no acitivity in the morning.

With the coastal tanker Algonova at anchor in the foreground waiting its turn at Imperial Oil, there was a backdrop of the South End Container Terminal with all its cranes inactive. Two cranes were in the "down" position. The northmost crane (at right in the photo) is rarely raised. It is one of the new cranes at the facility and may have a problem. One other crane was also down and it certainly did appear to be U/S as traveller wires were sagging and the spreader appeared to be on the ground. (Not sure why the adjacent crane had chains hanging from its spreader.)

 Things picked up at the SECT as the day wore on.

A noontime arrival was the MSC Don Giovanni another Canada Gulf Bridge ship arriving from Montreal, likely to top up to salt water draft. This is another "classic" from MSC, built in 1996. It is a hatchless design of the revolutionary Eco Box 42 class, from the Flensburger Shipbuilding Company in Emden. The 29,181 gt, 41,590 dwt ship has a capacity of somewhere between 2480 and 2604 TEU (depending on sources.)

It was launched in 1996 as the Jean Lykes but delivered as Jean and very soon sold to MSC and renamed. The famous US shipping company Lykes Line was bankrupt in 1995 and may have defaulted on this ship. CP Ships bought Lykes in 1997 and CP in turn was bought by TUI in 2006 and melded into Hapag-Lloyd.

Considered to be very elegant when new, the ship is looking a tad seedy now.

Soon after it was a new to Halifax caller for Melfi Lines. Orinoco is northbound from Mariel, Cuba.

Built in 2010 by Fujian Shipbuilding Co in Fuzhou, the 9994 gt, 12,306 dwt ship has a capacity of 880 TEU and carries two cranes of unknown capacity. The ship was launched as E.R. Helsinki but completed as Friesdijk. It was renamed X-press Tajumulco in 2013 and became the Orinoco in 2020.

There was also tanker activity in Halifax today. As noted above the Algonova arrived and anchored in the lower harbour. It has cargo from Nanticoke, and in the early evening moved to Imperial Oil on the departure of the Al Reem (see previous posts).

There was also a mid-afternoon departure from Irving Oil's Woodside terminal. The East Coast is headed back to Saint John to load after its latest trip to Charlottetown.

The ship makes regular trips to Halifax, Charlottetown and St.John's but also to Boston and Providence from time to time.

The only ship not photographed today was CSL Kajika arriving to load gypsum. The ship made its first call in Halifax on April 19, 2022 and full details are provided in my post of that date.

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Friday

 High winds coupled with rain, may have slowed the work at container terminals again today November 15, but ships were still coming and going. Photos as a result are bit fuzzy due to the rain.

Yesterday the Oceanex Sanderling and ZIM Asia (photo above) joined the tanker Al Reem (see November 13 post and below) at anchor in Bedford Basin, awaiting their berths. When Atlantic Sail sailed later yesterday afternoon they both moved alongside PSA Fairview Cove.

Oceanex Sanderling is expected to sail late afternoon today on its usual departure for St.John's.

ZIM Asia sailed at noon time today, taking a wide turn out into Bedford Basin before lining up for the Narrows. 

A rather bedraggled Africville park asill looked green, thanks to recent mild weather. Canada geese, rather than migrate, have been feeding on the grass and making a mess. The flags were set up to discourage them, but also make effective wind indicators.

The inbound Delphinus C on THE Alliance's AL5 service arrived from Antwerp to take the ZIM Asia's berth.

Another of the seven ship Daedalus class ships built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2007, it was originally the NYK Delphinus, fifth in the series. The 55,487 gt, 65,950 dwt ship has a capacity of 4,888 TEU including 330 reefer plugs. In 2003 the ship was renamed Delphinus C by Cosmoship Management SA of Piraeus, but remains on the AL5 route.

Once again it is worth noting the large number of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC boxes on deck. In February 2025 when the new Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd Gemini Cooperation comes into effect Hapag-Lloyd will withdraw from THE Alliance. MSC may take up some of the slots but Gemini will form other services some of which will no doubt call in Halifax. New schedules will be posted in December.

At PSA Atlantic Gateway it was an unusual ship for the Ocean Alliance (CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen, OOCL.) 

The CMA CGM Rigoletto is quite a bit smaller than the usual 15,000 TEU ships on the route from Asia via the Cape of Good Hope. (Last port Colombo.)

The CMA CGM Rigoletto comes in at 107,711 gt, 114,004 dwt with a capacity of 9415 TEU including 700 reefers. It would be among the largest ships with all superstructure aft. Most ships of that size have an "island" bridge well forward. It was built in 2006 by Hyundai Ulsan.

Still anchored in Bedford Basin, the tanker Al Reem (see above) awaits a berth at Imperial Oil.

Today the Algoscotia moved back from Pier 26 to Imperial Oil as winds died down sufficiently for safe operation. The Al Reem appears to have quite a bit of product yet to unload.

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Friday - big rush

 The end of the work week is usually a busy time in the Port of Halifax as ships complete their work and time their departures to be at sea on weekends. However today Friday, June 28, was a little unusual as there were also several arrivals. 

One notable arrival was the CMA CGM Leo on the Ocean Alliance from Colombo (June 4) via the Cape of Good Hope. Ships of this line usually call in Halifax on Saturday, but the ship began working on arrival at Pier 41, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. 

There was a stiff breeze so the ship took four tugs on arrival, with the Atlantic Larch far forward. (I suspect the ship had a faulty bow thruster). Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver tethered aft and Atlantic Willow on the port side well forward. [Atlantic Larch is based in Saint John and considered to be the "outside tug" for work away from that port. It has exchanged places with the Halifax based Atlantic Fir for the past few weeks.]

CMA CGM Leo is a 131,332 gt, 131,236 dwt ship built in 2010 by Hyundai, Ulsan. It has a container capacity of 11,388 TEU. It is another of the largest type of container ship with the bridge aft. Many ships of its size have the bridge structure well forward.

Also at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway was the Vega Vela arriving yesterday from Valenica, Spain and sailing this afternoon for Mariel, Cuba for Melfi Marine Corp. It is a new ship to the route, and was previously reported in Tunisia.

Carrying the usual deck load of containers, the ship also had a truck with a stainless steel tanker body just forward of the superstructure, likely secured on a platform or flat rack container. The ship also loaded an unusual piece of unknown function. Spreaders and slings were used to hoist the unit aboard.

Vega Vela is a 9931 gt, 13,879 dwt ship with a container capacity of 1118 TEU. Most of the ships running to Cuba carry cargo cranes, but this ship does not. It was built in 2005 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing as Ulrike F and became TS Singapore in the same year, but reverted to Ulrike F in 2007. In 2012 it was renamed Paola and in 2015 E.R.Hobart. In 2019 it settled in as Vega Vela.

PSA Halifax's Atlantic Gateway also worked the Nolhan Ava which vacated Pier 41 and sailed for St-Pierre et Miquelon as CMA CGM Leo  arrived.

PSA Fairvew Cove was also active with ZIM Iberia arriving early a.m. and sailing for New York late afternoon.The ship is a regular on the ZCA service from the Mediterranean.

While it was outbound the ZIM feeder ship Contship Art was inbound.

It will pick up containers dropped off from ZIM Iberia and take them to ZIM's hub port of  Kingston, Jamaica for Caribbean desintations. It appears to be returning empties to Halifax.

PSA Fairview Cove also had the Oceanex Sanderling on its weekly run to St.John's, NL

 

And yes that is the Mi Cabana of Tiki Tours motoring alongside, thatched roof and all, lending a tropical touch to the scene. This is the boat's second season of operation. See my opinion from last year: July 29, 2023.

Once the Sanderling was clear the arriving Atlantic Sail took its place at the Fairvew Cove west berth RoRo ramp. (No photo of the ACL this time.)

Autoport was not to be left out as it had the SFL Conductor from Emden with a load of Volkswagen products.

 Find out more from my March 29, 2023 post. Its charter to VW has been extended to the fourth quarter of 2026.

SFL Conductor carries a side ramp. It would be interesting to know when the ship uses this ramp. Many newer auto carriers don't have side ramps at all, so it is likely that very few ports use them. Autoport cannot accommodate side ramps as they would project over the opposite side of the jetty.

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