A Double Play

 Autocarriers are common sights in Halifax, but it is rare to have two in port at the same time, and even rarer to be able to see two at the same time. That event did occur today, June 27, for the first time that I can recall.

Autocarriers discharge import cars at Autoport, which is located on the Eastern Passage at the far south end of the harbour on the Dartmouth (east) side. It can only handle one ship at a time. Auto carriers can also offload non-auto RoRo cargo at Pier 9C which is at the far north end of the port on the Halifax (west) side. The two berths are almost as far apart as possible and still be in Halifax Harbour.

Last evening, June 16, the Titania arrived from Southampton, UK and went directly to Pier 9C.

 It then unloaded a variety of wheeled mining and construction equipment and some unidentifiable large objects on roll trailers (commonly called MAFI).

Built in 2011 by Daewoo SB+E Co, Okpo it comes in at 74,255 gt, 30,907 dwt with a capacity of 7934 CEU. It also has facilities for oversize RoRo, with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp and a small side ramp. It is a Wilhelmsen ship (its name begind with a "T"). As noted and shown in this blog when it called here January 20, 2025 it originally wore the Wilhelsen red/orange hull colour.

It is working the Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatantic service, and will likely be heading for US east coast ports next.

Late this morning, June 27, the ship was cleared to move to Autoport to offload cars. (Autoport is a specialized facility owned by CN Rail, which imports, stores and forwards automobiles primarily by train, but also by truck and sometimes by driveaway. They also have facilities to repair transit damage, clean, prep and accessorize vehicles.

 

Meanwhile another auto carrier, the SFL Composer, arrived at Autoport early this morning. It had been anchored offshore since June 25, and was finished its cargo work by noon time today, and was cleared to sail.

The movement of the two ships was nicely coordinated so the SFL Composer could clear the confined waters of the Eastern Passage and the Titania could slip in right after.

From the Halifax side of the harbour, it was possible to see the Titania moving along east of George's Island while the SFL Composer came into view south of George's Island- a rare shot.

 The SFL Composer dates from 2005 when it was delivered by Minami-Nippon, Shitanoe as the Excellent Ace. In 2012 it became the Glovis Composer and in 2020 took its current name. It is a 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship with a capacity of 6500 CEU.

 

The ship was here last on April 29 and since then has called in Davisville RI, Vercruz and Tuxpan MX, Freeport TX, Sparrows Point MD, then made a transatlantic hop to Barcelona before heading again for Halifax. It has now sailed for Freeport TX again. The ship is chartered exclusively to Volkswagen and distributes its many brands of cars and trucks.

The ship's owners, SFL Composer Inc, are part of the SFL Corporation (formerly Ship Finance International Ltd), a Norwegian based company, publicly traded on the NYSE. Once primarily tanker owners, SFL now owns more than sixty ships of all types, mostly container ships, but also seven autocarriers. It is connected with such companies such as Frontline, Golden Ocean and other interests of John Fredericksen, Norway's richest person. 

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More Cars and more Fuel

 With spring comes a surge in demand for new cars, and so Autoport has been particularly busy with spring arrivals. To fuel those cars (with summer gasoline formulations) the petroleum companies have also been stocking up.

Over the past few days there have been two ships at Autoport - both familiar ones - with batches of new European cars.

On Saturday May 4 it was Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Don Pasquale from the usual European load ports of Bremerhaven, Goteborg and Southampton.(Skipping Zeebrugge this time.)

The ship was built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in Okpo in 1997 and in 2007 it was lengthened from 219.3 to 227.9 m by Hyundai Vinaship in Vietnam. The reworked ship now registers 67,141 gt, 28,142 dwt with a capacity of 7,194 cars. It sailed for New York.

Today, May 5, it was the SFL Composer in from Bremen (the Volkswagen export facility) with a consignment of VWs, Audis and Porsches. The ship is under charter to VW until the First Quarter of 2027.

It is a 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship with a capacity of 6500 CEU. Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe, it was originally the Excellent Ace becoming Glovis Composer in 2012 and SFL Composer in 2020.

SFL Composer will remain in port over night and is due to sail late tomorrow afternoon.

On the fuel side of things, Irving Oil has been busy.

On Tuesday May 2 there was an unusual caller, Irving Oil's charter tanker Great Eastern arriving from Amsterdam. 

The Marshall Islands flag ship normally operates between Saint John, NB and US east coast ports, and is rarely seen in Halifax. As a foreign flagged ship it is not permitted to trade between Canadian ports. It also rarely sails to Europe, and this appears to be a "one of" voyage. Irving Oil regualry imports refined product from its storage termainl in Amsterdam, but usually with spot charter ships.

Built in 2005 by Hyundai, Ulsan Great Eastern is a MidRange type tanker of 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt and is one of five sister tankers operating under long term charter to Irving Oil. Two of the ships, the Acadian and the East Coast (ex Nor-Easter) fly the Canadian flag and serve primarily Atlantic Canada ports, but sometimes reach as far west as Quebec City and Montreal. The Great Eastern and New England, which were joined in 2014 by a second Nor'Easter (the former Iver Progess, built in 2007), run usually to such ports as Portland and Boston.

All of the ships were retrofitted with exhaust gas scrubber systems (housed in a large white structure abaft the funnel).

On arrival Great Eastern anchored in the harbour until the East Coast had arrived May 3 and completed unloading and vacated the Woodside terminal berth May 4. It is rare to see two Irving Oil tankers in port at the same time. The domestic ship was given priority due to shorter terminal time, and "just in time" scheduling.

Irving Oil has committed to a charter with Algoma Central Corporation for two new 37,000 dwt ice class tankers to be built by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan. The state of the art ships will be ethanol fuel ready and will have numerous other up-to-date features. Delivery is anticipated during the First Quarter of 2025. The ships will be Canadian flagged but will be suitable for trading to the usual US ports,  particularly Boston, which has a beam restriction of 27.4 meters (90 feet) at the Chelsea Street lift bridge on Chelsea Creek to reach Irving Oil's terminal in Revere, MA. 

Disposition of the other tankers, all but one of which will have reached the twenty-year mark next year, remains to be seen.

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Cars and More Cars

 Autoport has hosted ships for two days in a row and expects another tomorrow. The inventory of cars at the facility has appeared thin lately, so this will allow them to build up their inventory of imports. Autoport is owned by CNRail and customarily holds cars and light trucks in storage until they are called for by dealers, then sends them out by truck or train. CN also owns at least one of the large truck companies that specializes in auto transport.

Yesterday, January 17 it was the 7,194 CEU Don Pasquale, a regular caller on Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic loop. It called here in June, August and October of 2023. When it completed offloading at Autoport yesterday and was moving to Pier 9C to offload RoRo cargo, the next auto carrier, Lake Wanaka was making its way inbound.

 Don Pasquale (left) exits Eastern Passage with Lake Wanaka taking a wide turn round Ives Knoll off PSA Halifax.

Lake Wanaka. a smaller ship with a capacity of 4902 CEU has also been here before, most recently in March and August 2023, and is apparently dedicated to carrying Volkswagen products, loaded in Emden, Germany. The ship remained alongside Autoport over night and sailed late this morning heading for Jacksonville, FL.

A third auto carrier, the 6500 CEU SFL Composer is drifting offshore and is due tomorrow, January 19. It is also arriving from Emden, Volkswagen's export port.

European auto makers are experiencing production problems due to parts shortages from Asia. Some manufacturers have shut down completely as shipments through the Red Sea / Suez route have been delayed or curtailed due to the hostilities. It is therefore inevitable that there will be noticeable shortages of some kinds of cars in North America.

China on the other hand is building new auto carrying ships as it shifts to building entire automobiles. For example Ford is building some new Lincoln models in China for the North American market. With assembly closer to the component manufacturers some of the recent "supply chain" issues may be resolved. 

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Busy

 It was a very busy day today (September 30) in the Port of Halifax, with ships at most berths. Dense fog early in the day had mostly burned off by mid-afternoon, but there was still a noticeable haze of forest fire smoke from western Canada.

There were four cruise ships- two arriving in the early morning; the familiar Jewel of the Seas and Silver Shadow; the Star Pride arriving at noon time and the Crystal Serenity in the early evening (it will stay over night).

The Star Pride is the former Seabourn Pride built in 1988 by Schichau Seebeck in Bremerhaven. Originally 9975 gt with a passenger capacity of 212 maximum and 164 crew, it was lengthened by Fincantieri, Palermo in 2021 with a new 25.6m mid-section and re-powered with four new engines and generators. The addition of 50 suites upped the passenger capacity to 312.

Star Pride at Pier 23 with the tug Dominion Rumbler and barge collecting waste.

Autoport had the SFL Composer with import Volkswagens loaded in Emden.

It is a 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship with a capacity of 6500 CEU. Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe, it was originally the Excellent Ace becoming Glovis Composer in 2012 and SFL Composer in 2020.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company had two ships in port - one for each container pier.

MSC Carmen on the Turkey-Greece service, westbound from Sines, arrived at PSA Fairview Cove.

Launched as the Buxcity it was delivered in 2008 by Daewoo-Mangalia as MSC Carmen. The 50,963 gt, 63,359 dwt ship has a capacity of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers.

MSC Esthi arrived at the Southend terminal, PSA Atlantic Hub, in the late afternoon from Baltimore on the eastbound leg of the Indusa service to India.

Built by Samsung, Geoje in 2006, it is a 108,930 gt, 132,035 dwt ship with a capacity of 9178 TEU including 700 reefers. Predictably eastbound ships are more lighly loaded and the MSC Esthi had topped off its deck load at four boxes high, and had a lot of empty space aft.

Tomorrow (October 1) will also be a busy day, with five cruise ships including the Queen Mary 2.

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Working on all cylinders

 The two container terminals and Autoport were busy today, April 24, and the second cruise ship of the season arrived.

At the Southend Container Terminal PSA Atlantic Gateway there were two ships: Tropic Lissette on Tropical Shipping's regular weekly service to the Caribbean at Pier 42 and MOL Courage back again on the eastbound leg of its EC5 voyage for THE Alliance. The 9060 TEU ship arrived on the westbound leg April 6, and again docked at the Pier 41. Due to its size, it would not be docked at PSA Fairview Cove. It sailed late afternoon for Suez.

Arriving yesterday, the ship took the precaution of using two escort tugs.

On departure today it also used two tugs, to assist in making the swing into the western,, deep water channel.

A smaller fleetmate the MOL Experience arrived at Fairview Cove this morning and sailed this afternoon for Port Everglades on the AL5 service.

The 54,098 gt, 62,953 dwt ship was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan. It has a capacity of 4803 TEU including 330 reefers. From 2008 to 2010 it carried the name APL Experience before reverting back to its original and current name.

Autoport hosted the SFL Composer. It was last here June 24 last year and is still on dedicated Volkswagen service.

 

Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon, Shitanoe, the 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship was named Excellent Ace until 2012 then Glovis Composer until 2020. It has a rated capacity of 6500 CEU. It arrived from Emden and sailed for Houston.

It was a chillly day for cruise ship passengers, but the Zaandam's passengers were well prepared.  The Holland America ship has been a regular here for several years, and is accustomed to early season trips. 

 

Tied up at Pier 22, with a container crane in the distant background, the Zaandam was preparing to sail late this afternoon.

 Starting in Fort Lauderdale April 18 the Zaandam called in Newport RI April 21, Boston April 22, Bar Harbor April 23 and is due in Sydney tomorrow, followed by Charlottetown April 26, Quebec City April 28 and Montreal April 29. It will be making seven and ten day trips from Boston to Montreal / Montreal to Boston through Halifax until late September.

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Busy, Busy, Busy - updated

 Halifax has now joined many other ports in the world with container ships waiting for berths as the terminals seem to be working full out. It is still nothing like the west coast US ports of Los Angeles / Long Beach or Chinese ports such as Shanghai. But to see ships anchored offshore for days, the terminals stretched for space, and CN putting on extra trains is virtually unheard of here.

PSA Halifax, operators of both container terminals, Southend (Atlantic Gateway) and Fairview Cove have been sharing the load between the two facilities, with big ships docking at the Southend and (relatively) smaller ships at Fairview Cove.

At the Southend the14,414 TEU CMA CGM J. Adams, (see yesterday's post) occupied berth 41 today (June 22).

That left berth 42 for the MSC Pratiti  on the Turkey-Greece service.

An interesting ship, MSC Pratiti was built in 2004 by Hyundai, Ulsan, and is a 53,453 gt, 66,597 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4814 TEU including 330 reefers. It was a frequent caller in Halifax under its original name, ZIM Pusan. It was renamed simply Pusan in 2014, then Kowloon Bay in 2017 and MSC Pratiti in 2021. 

I also noted that the ship was refueling while at Pier 42. This is not something I have seen much of as most container lines arrange bunker stops overseas.

As soon as CMA CGM J.Adams sailed this evening Navarino docked. It is MSC's Indus 2 route from North India. I will cover that ship tomorrow.

Back in 2017 Shipfax speculated that the ZIM Pusan was going for scrap. See February 7, 2017 , but it was apparently saved by the huge upswing in demand for even "uneconomic" sized ships, and MSC's buying spree.

Interestingly another MSC ship on the service from Turkey and Greece, MSC Matilde, which was due yesterday, has opted to bypass Halifax. In fact it just cleared Sines, Portugal June 21 and is giving a June 30 ETA for Freeport, Bahamas.

Heading for Fairview Cove, the MSC Alyssa is on the Canada Express 1 service from the Mediterranean. It will stop over long enough to unload boxes to reduce draft to meet St.Lawrence River restrictions.

On the way in it passed the Vistula Maersk, also bound for Montreal, which has been anchored offshore since June 20 awating its turn at the Southend.

 

Built in 2001 by Hyundai, Busan, MSC Alyssa is registered at 43,575 gt, 61,487 dwt with a capacity of 4340 TEU, including 150 reefers.

The ship took the tug Atlantic Oak as stern escort, as required by harbour regulations, to make its way through the Narrows to Bedford Basin where it anchored untill its berth was clear.

Fairview Cove was also working the Humen Bridge. It moved out to Basin anchorage in the evening to allow MSC Alyssa alongside.

 Humen Bridge, built 2007 by IHI, Kure, 98,747 gt, 98,849 dwt, with a capacity of 9040 TEU, settling in at anchor in the Basin. It sailed later in the evening.

Not to be left out, Autoport has been very busy too, with a great many cars originating from Volkswagen's port of Emden. Today's arrival was a first time caller I believe, SFL Composer.

Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon, Shitanoe, the 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship was named Excellent Ace until 2012 then Glovis Composer until 2020. SFL Corp is a NYSE listed ship investment company with ships of all types, including six auto carriers, four of which (including this one) are dedicated to Volkswagen. It has a rated capacity of 6500 CEU.

On sailing this afternoon, the ship gave its destination as Davisville, RI. That port has recently expanded its auto piers and will now be able to handle more than its previous totals of 300,000 cars per year. By comparison Autoport in Halifax handles about 185,000 vehicles per year and is the sole new car import facility in eastern Canada.

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