Some harbour action

After a period of delays due to weather, activity picked up in the harbour this afternoon.
Irving Oil's Acadian sailed for Saint John after delivering is cargo of refined product.

Its place at the Irving Oil terminal in Woodside was taken by the supplier Burin Sea.

It is taking on fuel for its next assignment - which it seems will also be its last. It is due to sail for Turkey towing fleet mate Trinity Sea where both boats will be broken up for scrap. They are due to sail Sunday - see Tugfax for an update.

It was still quite breezy in the harbour, (the camera flattens waves) but there were lots of white caps and even the gulls were "sitting it out".

Things were about the same in Bedford Basin where HMCS Toronto took up position on Jonquiere Bank anchorage.

Things were returning to normal at Cerescorp and PSA with the end of the rail strike and given an improvement in weather, shipping should be returning to normal soon.

The swings and roundabouts

The tanker BW Raven may be glad to see the last of Halifax after an extended visit. The ship is due to sail early this afternoon after several moves to anchorage, Imperial Oil and pier 31. Back at anchor this morning it was swinging round with the tide as harbour traffic goes about its business.

At number 5 anchorage in the lower harbour the ship has the former Coast Guard base, now called The Cove, as a backdrop.

The tug Mister Joe with the split hull hopper barge Pitts No.12 heads southbound with another load of fill for the pier 42 extension.

Standing by off the BW Raven Dominion Diving's Roseway appears to be waiting to disembark someone from the tanker.

At the Cove the suppliers Trinity Sea and Burin Sea await an uncertain fate. Trinity Sea has been laid up since August and Burin Sea arrived this week. The two former Russian suppliers, rebuilt by Secunda Marine may be looking at permanent retirement.

Also alongside the Cove is the research vessel LeeWay Odyssey. It is the former CGS Cape Harrison and Louis M. Lauzier and now calls The Cove its home base. See also:
http://shipfax.blogspot.com/search?q=leeway+odyssey

Both photos taken through window glass, hence the somewhat foggy appearance.

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and more

Some clearing later in the afternoon allowed for a brief outing to catch a traffic jam of one departing and two arriving ships. It was deftly handled and safe passages were had by all, although I did think that perhaps one ship was a little overly eager.

The departing ship was another queen (see earlier post) but this was a more prosaic one. Viking Queen is a Singapore flag autocarrier from the Gram Car Carriers fleet. Built in 2007 by the Uljanik shipyard in Pula, Croatia as Hoegh Delhi it was renamed in 2017.

The 55,775 gt, 16,840 dwt ship has a capacity of 7000 cars (CEUs) and as the largest and least maneuverable of the three ships, it claimed the main channel as its seaward course en route for Davisville, Rhode Island.

The first of the incoming vessels, HMCS Fredericton took the western, or deepwater channel to give Viking Queen some room.

Fredericton emerged from the latest repair session at Halifax Shipyard in November 2018 and for the past few weeks has been seen in Bedford Basin, at the static sound range and loitering offshore. Today's outing may or may not have included a commemoration of the the D-Day landings in Normandy 75 years ago. I could find no reference, to what it was doing, in particular.

As the departure point for thousands of Canadian troops sent to Europe during World War II, the port of Halifax was closer to the war than any other Canadian city. That was recognized today in a special ceremony attended by among others, the Governor General. Although it had to be moved indoors due to the weather - that was nothing new for those who know Halifax! - it was well reported by all news organizations. Attendees included some of the sadly diminishing ranks of those who served in World War II.

Third vessel in the mix was the supplier Trinity Sea returning from the Sable Island area on its regular supply run.

As the smallest of the ships it was able to hug the eastern side of the main channel and gave the outbound 'Queen a port to port passing.

Here is what it looked like as Fredericton emerged from the western channel, Viking Queen carried on and Trinity Sea kept to the eastern side.

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Slow Rush Hour

The end of the workday usually results in a build up of harbour traffic. Hardly a rush hour really, but usually a good time to do some shipwatching in a short period of time.

Today's miniature rush hour saw two departures and an in-harbour move all happening with a few minutes of each other. Before those however the pilot boat set out for the station.

Outbound ahead of the departures, Scotia Pilot catches a sunbeam as does HMCS Ville de Québec at anchor.

The container ship Budapest Bridge sailed from Cerescorp's Fairview Cove container terminal at 1700 but it was a full hour before the ship arrived in the lower harbour.

The sun was disappearing again as the ship made its way outbound.

As soon as the big ship was clear, Trinity Sea moved from the Exxon Mobil dock in Dartmouth to pier 27 in Halifax. This seems to be a popular layby berth for offshore suppliers. They don't usually load or unload there, but could take fuel if the Irving Oil terminal is occupied, as it was today with Irving Oil's East Coast.

A very dark squall chased the vessel across the harbour.

Horizon Star followed, heading for sea trials. The big offshore craft has been idle at the Cove in Dartmouth, since January 25 when it returned from the Yantian Express salvage operation.That ship is still stuck in Freeport, Bahamas with no destination yet revealed to unload its un-damaged cargo.

As the photos indicate the sun was in and out from behind clouds and rain squalls with gusty winds blew through every few minutes. Typical April weather.

Meanwhile dredging continues round the clock off pier 42. Two complete crews work 12 hour 7 to 7 shifts from  1900 Sunday night until Friday.

 Yesterday the dredge Derrick #4 was enshrouded in fog  and looked like it was in outer space.

 Note the water depth, from the height of the 70 foot spuds above the deck of the dredge.

There is still about three weeks of dredging left to do.

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Richmond Terminals, Pier 9

Activity at Richmond Terminals today included the cargo ship Thorco Logos. The Panama flag ship arrived yesterday and almost immediately began loading the components for cable storage. Crews in the holds began to assemble the pre-fabricated shapes into large circular racks (called tanks in the cable world).
This is the third ship from Thorco Shipping of Hellerup, Denmark to be fitted out similarly at Pier 9C in the last year. Thorco Liva was here from October 31 to November 15, 2016. It went to Portsmouth /  Newington, NH to load the cable and returned  to anchor in Bedford Basin January 9 to 22, 2017 then sailed to deliver its cargo. Thorco Luna was at Pier 9 from May 15 to 31, 2017.

 Thorco Logos (the "s" is barely visible) at Pier 9 C

The three ships are sisters, all built by Honda Heavy Industries in Saiki, Japan. Thorco Logos was built in 2015 and is a 13,100 grt, 16,970 dwt general cargo ships, with box shaped holds and removable tween decks. It is fitted with a pair of 50 tonne cranes.

Trinity Sea with Thorco Logos in the back ground.

Meanwhile at Pier 9B the supplier Trinity Sea was waiting standing by for work, which will start tomorrow. It, and sister vessel Burin Sea have been contracted by ExxonMobil to assist the jack-up rig Noble Regina Allen.The rig will be working for up to two years plugging and abandoning 22 gas wells off Sable Island.


The rig is due in Halifax Monday November 6 from Invergordon, Scotland, aboard the heavy load carrier Forte. The ship is semi-submersible, and will float off the rig in the harbour sometime in the next few days. Should I be fortunate enough to get photos of that ship and its cargo, they will be posted here.

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