Weekend catch up

Yesterday's weather meant that today was a catch up day for several ships, and for Shipfax too.

The tanker Acadian made it into port last evening, and apparently has not resolved the engine problems it had last week. It tied up at pier 27, not at the Irving Oil Woodside terminal.

The Nirint Lines charter Atlantic Pioneer arrived after dark last evening and worked its nickel cargo all


 day today. It has called here with three different names, Atlantic Pioneer, Ongeo Pioneer and now Atlantic Pioneer. I have covered the ship before and the interesting connection one of the those names has with Halifax:

http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2011/03/federal-pioneer-fourth.html
http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2015/11/bumper-to-bumper-at-piers-27-and-28-and.html

The 9034 TEU container ship UASC Zamzam arrived this morning (it would normally have called on a Saturday) and sailed late this afternoon. It held the record for largest container ship to call in Halifax for a brief time this year, but was soon eclipsed by CMA CGM Tage at 9365 TEU - both running for the CMA CGM Columbus Loop service, with COSCO. Owners of UASC (United Arab Shipping Company) saw an opportunity to cash in and  sold the line to Hapag-Lloyd for $5.6 bn earlier this year. It is expected that OOCL will join this loop and UASC will exit early in the new year.

As UASC Zamzam was leaving, the Panama flag auto carrier Oregon Highway was arriving. It was due yesterday, but held off until today.The Panama flag ship, built in 2007 by Toyohashi Ship Building in Japan, measures 57,147 grt, but only 17,699 deadweight.

Meanwhile at anchor, with divers working, Energy Panther made its second call in Halifax in as many weeks. It appears to be in ballast.

There was also an exodus of offshore suppliers today, with Siem Hanne and Scotian Sea sailing.

I normally cover tug, supply and workboats in my Tugfax.

I also recognize that I have been neglecting the Royal Canadian Navy of late. That is not intentional.

I have not mentioned that HMCS Iroquois weill be scrapped in Liverpool. That is not news now, but it is a a sad end to plans that Sorel-Tracy had to use the ship to interpret their lengthy shipbuilding history. It is amazing to think that a ship that so recently been decommissioned was in such deplorable condition that it was not safe to use for public display.

I hope that HMCS Athabaskan is in better condition. It certainly still looked impressive, when it arrived and made a graceful turned around George's Island and put out to sea again last Monday.

I also failed to mention that HMCS Preserver paid off officially October 21. No mention has been made of where it will be scrapped, but there has been talk that some of its cargo transfer gear might be transplanted onto HMCS Queenston, the "interim" supply ship under conversion at Davie Quebec. It was also reported that the gear from HMCS Protecteur would be used, but I have heard no more on that topic. It seems to me however that any such equipment would be easier to relocate directly ship to ship.

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Full House container traffic, not to mention more cars and product tankers

There were four container ships in port on Saturday and three more on Sunday, making for a very full house.

Saturday's arrivals for Fairview Cove were Herma P for Hapag-Lloyd on the G-6 service and Atlantic Compass for ACL.

The big Lift project, to replace the roadway of the Angus L. Macdonald bridge got underway on Saturday, with the first old section lowered to a barge and continued on Sunday with the raising of the first new section. In all 46 sections will be replaced in this way, working across the centre span of the bridge. There were no ship traffic restrictions this weekend (except the cautionary for ships to make a low wake in the area). As the project continues however, there will be over night stoppages for harbour traffic. The process of roadway replacement will take until 2017 and will be done in this way to allow for normal bridge traffic during the day.

 The first new section of roadway was lifted into place on Sunday. It was hoisted from a barge by the yellow gantry unit.

See also Tugfax: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2015/10/big-lift-small-tugs.html


Meanwhile on Saturday at Halterm EM Kea (under charter to CMA CGM) made another call for the Maersk /CMA CGM transatlantic service. First time caller UASC Zamzam called on the other CMA CGM far east service operated jointly with United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) and China Shipping Container Line (CSCL) called Ocean Three.

 UASC Zamzam was here for the first time. Renamed this year from Asiatic Summer it is a 94,784 grt, 112,171 dwt ship with a capacity of 9034 TEU - the largest yet to visit Halifax. It flies the Singapore flag for owners Asiatic Lloyd and was built in 2014 by Hyundai Samho.
It arrived and sailed in the dark.
 
 On Sunday Fairview Cove was full again with NYK Demeter and NYK Rumina  Halterm had 'only' Berlin Express on its east bound call. [The later ship has eluded my camera on several occasions, including today.]

 
Autoport was chock a block once again, with Pleiades Spirit on Saturday, Grande Napoli early Sunday and Hoegh Bangkok later, staying until Monday.

Pleiades Spirit was built in 2008 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding and measures 60,330 grt, 17,424 dwt. It is owned by Mizuho Sangyo and flies the flag of Panama. It is operated by World Wide Marine but its commercial activities are managed by Nissan.

Product tanker traffic was busy too, with BW Panther arriving Friday, STI Seneca sailing Saturday, via anchorage, and Star I  arriving Sunday.

STI Seneca stopped at anchorage for a few hours to pump out something into containment units on a Dominion Diving barge, with tug Roseway in attendance.

Diehards got in some of their last sailing on Saturday as BW Panther  occupies number 4 berth and Algoma Dartmouth uses number 3 berth at Imperial Oil.

BW Panther was launched by SPP Shipbuilding Co of Goseong, South Korea in 2014 as Elandra Panther, but was renamed on delivery to BW Maritime of Singapore. It has typical handysize dimensions of 29,737 grt, 49,999 dwt.

If that wasn't enough the offshore supply boats seemed to be busy with all three Shell charters gearing up for work, as the drill ship Stena Icemax is finally on its way toward the Shelburne Basin to begin drilling for Shell Oil. The ship is off Florida now and will be in position in a few days. It not expected to call in Halifax.

See also Tugfax for more on the suppliers.

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