New to Halifax and repeaters

 Arrivals and departures today June 29, included first time and occasional callers. The "new to Halifax" ship was the oddly named Dee4 Dogwood. It is a tanker from Antwerp for Imperial Oil, but anchored first for Asian gypsy moth inspection.

Built in 2008 by Onomichi Zosen in Onomichi, Japan, it is a 26,900 gt, 47,399 dwt MidRange tanker. Originally named Nord Organiser it adopted its current name the same year. Ownership is hidden behind several veils but since 2020 has been listed as Dee4 Vessel Co 4 A/S. The ship is enrolled in the the Danish International Register.

The second arrival has called here before, but the last time was in 2018. The autocarrier Tomar is a 61,328 gt, 22,144 dwt ship with a capacity of 6354 CEU. and built in 2008 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding in Nagasaki, Japan.

When it was here in 2018 it was painted in the traditional Wilhelmsen orange hull paint.

Now that Wallenius and Wilhelmsen have joined forces more formally, they are gradually repainting all their ships in the new scheme.

Note: I generally try to avoid too much foreground "noise" in my pictures, but in this case I was unwilling to wade through waist high grass, and risk exposure to deer ticks.

Another re-caller arrived this afternoon. CMA CGM A. Lincoln at one time held the record for largest container ship to call in Halifax. Built in 2017 by Hyundai, Ulsan, the 141,950 gt (revised figure), 148,992 dwt ship has a capacity of 14,414 TEU.

As the ship emerged from the offshore fog, its exhaust gas scrubber was making its own fog bank.

CMA CGM Marco Polo is the current record size holder for container ships in Halifax at 16,022 TEU. That is still well shy of the largest container ships in the world which are closing in on the 24,000 TEU mark.

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Catching up with a traffic jam

There was a virtual traffic jam in Halifax this morning with no less than  eleven ships waiting off port for their turn to enter. There were also a couple of delayed departures to deal with. By afternoon things settled down, but there were still three arrivals and at least five departures planned.

The only arrival I caught was Pantionio for Eimskip. My last attempt at a photo of the ship was on February 18 when I was barely able to see it. This time I was lucky as the weather closed in very soon after it tied up at pier 42.

The ship arrived with a very slight list of a degree or two to starboard. It made its way slowly in toward Halterm, turned, then backed into pier 42 without tug assistance. This was possible only because conditions were so calm - a radical change from yesterday, when Shearwater - right across the harbour from Halterm - clocked gusts of 78 kph and sustained winds of 52 kph in mid-afternoon.

ZIM Ningbo - one of many ships delayed by weather - arrived at pier 41 earlier in the morning, leaving room at pier 42. Tomar (in the background at pier 31) is due to move to Autoport later this afternoon.

Pantonio has replaced Reykjafoss on the Eimskip rotation, as detailed in Shipfax February 18, 2018.
Meanwhile fleet mate Skogafoss has had its charter extended for year.

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Returning to normal - almost

The port began to return to normal late yesterday and into today. As the seas flattened out a bit and the wind tailed off, ships were able to arrive and depart safely.

APL Phoenix getting underway this morning, with ZIM Alabama also at anchor in the background. The Maugher's Beach lighthouse did indeed suffer damage and its light signal is now considered "unreliable".

Ships that had been trapped in the port were able to sail, starting with Toscana (which was not in for repairs after all, but was waiting out the weather since last Thursday) and Nolhanava (was due to sail Friday) both  left yesterday, and Aniara was able to move from pier 31 to Autoport, a move that had been intended for Friday).

Aniara was then able to get away this morning.

The Maersk/CMA CGM EM Kea arrived form Montreal yesterday and sailed this morning (it would have been a Saturday caller)

YM  Modesty and Altantic Star departed from Ceres in Fairview Cove. They had been scheduled to leave Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Among arrivals today APL Phoenix got in to Halterm, but left Zim Alabama waiting at anchor outside until tomorrow. Zim Ningbo is also at sea waiting for tomorrow - both several days behind schedule.

Tomar arrived for pier 31. It is a sister to Toscana at 61,328 grt, 22,144 dwt, built in 2008 by Mitsubishi Nagasaki, with a capacity of 6354 CEU

The long awaited Pegasus Highway also finally made it in today (was due March 1) and got underway again this afternoon. An interesting ship, it is rather old as autocarriers go, built in 1994 by Oshima Shipbuilding in Oshima, Japan, it is also relatively small by today's standards, at 49,012 grt and 15,553 dwt. On departure it gave its next port as Cristobal, Panama. It is unusual that it would have no USA stops.

Also making it into port today was the Irving Oil tanker East Coast and the Newfoundland connector Oceanex Sanderling.

The pilot boat Scotia Pilot was kept busy today, running in and out with pilots. Some pilots disembarked early and the boat, with pilot aboard, then escorted the ships out to the pilot station area.
 
This was a busy day in the port as a result, but there have been several other delayed arrivals due to the weather to the south. The regular Melfi and Tropical ships, usually here on Monday or Tuesday have extended ETAs. Melfi's Jona is scheduled for tomorrow (but not confirmed). Tropical's Bomar Rebecca has been postponed for a week to March 12, and all subsequent ships are advanced a week.

Numerous other schedules have also been thrown in disarray by weather both in Europe and the North American eastern seaboard.

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