March - in like a lamb

Today, March 1, was a very bright, very spring-like day with temperatures edging above zero Celsius. A brisk sea breeze brought a light mist and a healthy dose of ozone. With lots of shipping activity, the only frustration was the glare from the sun.

An early morning arrival (before daylight) was the Orinoco for Melfi Lines The ship made its debut here November 24, 2024 from Mariel, Cuba and is bound for Europe. By the time I caught the ship at PSA Halifax Pier 42 it had its hatches open and cranes were digging deep for cargo.

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 were several morning departures which meant some skilful coordination so that ships could meet in convenient places.

The self-unloading bulker CSL Tarantau sailed from Gold Bond Gypsum for Portsmouth, NH. 

 

Falling in behind was the auto carier Themis which had arrived yesterday at Autoport and moved to Pier 9C last evening. It completed unloading RoRo cargo this morning.

 

As it was lifting its stern ramp to prepare for sea I noted the crew deploying a small gangway (bottom right in the photo). This was perhaps to be used to board the pilot instead of the usual gangway closer to midships.

Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, it is a 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt ship with a capacity for 8,000 RT43 size cars and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. As with many newer autocarriers, it has no side ramp. It is also fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber, and is emitting water vapour from its scrubber vent.

 Themis took the main channel outbound, leaving the western deep water channel for the next arrival, the much larger APL Sentosa inbound for Pier 41 at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway.

APL Sentosa is a 151,015 gt, 150,936 dwt (or 150,166 dwt from other sources) vessel. At 13,892 TEU. It falls well shy of the current Halifax record for container capacity which is 16,020 TEU by my reckoning.

There was other activity in the harbour with several comings and goings, but the next ship of interest was the Smoke a large bulk carrier.

The ship arrived off Halifax February 25 from Sept-Iles, QC and took up a position in the outer anchorages. Early this afternoon it embarked two pilots (due to its size and an unidentified malfunction) and moved in to #1 anchorage in the lower harbour.

 

The impressive ship was built in 2001 by IHI Kure (Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, now Japan United) and measures 84,448 gt and 170,085 dwt. The largest size of dry cargo ship, it is classed as 'Capesize' meaning that it is too large for the Panama and Suez Canals and must travel via the Cape of Good Hope of Cape Horn to carry iron ore from the Atlantic to Asia. Its dimensions are 289.6m x 45.0m (950 ft x 147.6 ft) [In journalese parlance that is more thsn three footsball fields long and a half a football field from bridge wing to bridge wing.]

Once secure at anchor Dominion Diving's Dominion Rumbler came alongside, likely with a technician or a diver.

Its next port appears to be Las Palmas, but that is a waypoint either for orders, or further repairs, but not a destination for its iron ore cargo.

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Themis - scare

 The Wallenius Wilhelmsen auto carrier Themis has been an on again off again caller in Halifax since it was new. Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, it is a 75,223 gt, 23,786 dwt ship with a capacity of 8,000 cars. It also has a 350 tonne capacity stern ramp for RoRo cargo and no side ramp.

On its first call in Halifax the ship wore the red/orange hull colour of Wilhelm Wilhelmsen. It was later repainted in the colour scheme adopted by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, long after Wilhelmsen and Wallenius Lines joined forces in 1999. 

On the ship's last visit October 5, 2023, it called as usual at Autoport and moved to Pier 9C to offload RoRo, turning in Bedford Basin to come alongside starboard side to the pier.

Yesterday, June 20, the ship followed the same routine, but according to a social media report it may have had some steering issues while moving through the lower harbour approaching the Macdonald bridge en route to Pier 9C. I did not see any of this, but the ship had two tugs alongside, so presumably was able to regain control.

While alongside at Pier 9C it off loaded some RoRo cargo but remained alongside over night and completed unloading, then departed this afternoon, June 21.

Lowering its ramp at Pier 9C in the evening of June 20, before off loading its RoRo cargo.

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Themis - two stops

 The Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean RoRo ship Themis made a two point stop in Halifax today (October 5). Its first call was at Autoport to discharge automobiles, which was accomplished by noon time. It then moved to Pier 9C to off load a variety of other RoRo cargo. This of course gave an opportunity to see the ship from both sides.

 Transiting the Narrows north bound, the Themis approaches the A. Murray MacKay bridge.

Once into Bedford Basin, the ship begins to make its slow turn to port.

The tugs Atlantic Oak (forward) and Atlantic Fir (aft) provide braking and turning assistance.

Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, it is a 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt ship with a capacity for 8,000 RT43 size cars and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. As with many newer autocarriers, it has no side ramp. It is also fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber, and is emitting water vapour from its scrubber vent.

Once the turn is completed, the ship glides back to the Narrows to berth starboard side alongside Pier 9C. [In the background - under the ship's bow - HMCS Montreal is discharging munitions at the Bedford Magazine (Jetty November November) , having returned yesterday from a six month assignment with NATO.]

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Two by Two

 Two PCTCs

The first arrival in Halifax this morning, September 3, was the Pure Car and Truck Carrier Themis, from the usual ports of Zeebrugge, Bremerhaven and Southampton.  A Wilhelmsen ship, it is operating on the transatlantic service of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean. It tied up at Pier 9C and unloaded a vast array of mining, agricultural, forestry and construction equipment and machinery.

The ship was built by Hyundai Samho in 2016, and is a 75,223 gt, 23,786 dwt vessel with a capacity of 8,000 RT43 cars. It has a 320 tonne stern ramp, and is exhaust gas scrubber equipped. It will move to Autoport tomorow to offload cars.

Later in the morning another autocarrier arrived and went directly to Autoport.     

The Violet Ace was here as recently as July 26. Since then the ship has called in Houston August 2-3, Veracruz August 6-8, and Emden August 25-26. As noted in the July post, it is a somewhat smaller PCTC of 49,708 gt, 13,370 dwt but with a respectable capacity of 5,000 CEU. It was built in 2011 by Ha Long Shipbuilding Co in Ha Long, Vietnam.

 

Two Container Ships

Sailing again late this afternoon for Davisville, RI, the ship passed the Humen Bridge which has been anchored offshore since September 1. Another container ship MSC Esthi had also been anchored offshore, but it moved in to PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway this morning (sorry no photo except yesterday's silhouette in the background).

Two Tankers

An unusual morning arrival was the crude oil tanker Sonangol Namibe.

 The ship tied up at Pier 27-28 to take on bunker fuel.

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co, Okpo, delivered the 83,469 gt, 158,425 dwt ship in 2007. The Sonangol Group is the multi-faceted state owned oil company of Angola. They have partnered with Stena to operate the Stena Sonangol pool of twenty-one Suezmax tankers.

 Sonangol Namibe sailed from Ras Tanura July 6, and stopped in Walvis Bay anchorage, Namibia, July 31 and the Girassol Terminal in Angola August 9-10. It then proceeded to Point Tupper, NS, anchoring August 29 then moving to the Everwind Terminal (formerly NuStar) August 31 to September 1. It presumably offloaded a storage cargo in Point Tupper.

On sailing this afternoon for New York the ship did not appear to be carrying much if any cargo. 

Later tonight the Bangladesh flag product tanker Banglar Agrajatra (see yesterday's post) will move from Irving Oil's Woodside terminal to Pier 27-28, also to take on bunker fuel, delivered to the ship by truck. 

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New and not new

There was one new ship to Halifax today, and several return callers.
New to Halifax ship is the X-Press Makalu making its first voyage for Melfi Lines.

Built in 2008 by Stocznia Gdanska/Gdynia, it is a 2714 TEU ship with three 45 tonne capacity cranes. Built originally for the Peter Doehle company it was built as Arelia but immediately renamed Maruba Victory until 2010 when it became Arelia again. In 2013 it joined X-Press Feeders and took it present name. X-Press Feeders bills itself as the world's largest common carrier, with more than 110 ships of all sizes, and all chartered out to various shipping lines. The 32,161 gt, 38,629 dwt ship will load and sail tomorrow for Cuba.

Among the return callers is the tanker Elka Angelique, from Amsterdam for Irving Oil.

When it was here in 2013 it loaded some remainder cargo from the old Imperial Oil refinery.
http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2013/10/elka-angelique-arrives-to-load.html

At Autoport MSC Cristiana has been here many times. However since its first visit in 2016 it has received a new paint scheme.

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2016/02/msc-cristiana-something-different-for.html

Speaking of paint schemes, Wilhelmsen's Themis continues to fade. Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, the 75,283 gt, 23,783 dwt car carrier has a capacity of 8,000 cars. It is also one of the HERO class of environmentally advanced ships.

The normally bright Wilhelmsen red/orange colour is now only visible on some touched up areas near the waterline. This is surprising in a barely three year old ship.
Themis unloaded cars at Autoport yesterday and moved to pier 31 this morning to off load some other RoRo cargo.

Due to sail sometime tonight the French cable ship Ile d'Aix has been loading (or maybe unloading?) cable at 9B IT Telecom.

Cable is fed to or from IT Telecom's warehouse by means of a conveyor bridge, through a hatch in the ship's side.

Built in 1992 by Far-East Levingston (Keppel Fels) in Singapore, the 12,384 gt, 8,373 dwt ship has some of the classic cable ship lines with bow sheaves. Many new cable ships work only over the stern, but this ship maintains the traditional function.

The ship made the headlines last year after a lube oil spill in Halifax Harbour.

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/06/ile-daix-back.html

It's last assignment as far as I can tell was in the Irish Sea where it was doing early work for a new cable linking the US to Europe.

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Themis ramps it down

The large autocarrier Themis made its first call in Halifax today, on a very gloomy morning. It stopped first at pier 31 to unload some wheeled machinery and in the afternoon moved to Autoport to unload cars.

As soon as the ship was made fast it began to lower its giant stern ramp.

Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, the ship has a capacity of 8,000 cars, but can carry a variety of RoRo cargo too. Its 320 tonne capacity stern ramp allows for some very heavy loads. The ship is owned by Toda Shipping and managed by MMS Co Ltd. It sails for Wilhelmsen Lines under the Wallenius Wilhelmsen banner. Its gross tonnage is 75,283 with a deadweight tonnage of 23,786.

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