Slow Boat from China

 The legendary "slow boat to China" of song, will be appearing in Halifax, but in reverse, this fall. The Zhen Hua 23, a Chinese specialized heavy lift ship, is giving an ETA of November 5, having left Shanghai September 13.

The ship will be carrying two new Super Post Panamax container cranes for PSA Halifax's South End Container Terminal. The crane manufacturer, Zhenhua Port Machinery Company, provides its own transportation for the fully assembled cranes. On arrival in port, the ship is able to adjust its draft so that the cranes can be rolled ashore directly from the deck of the ship. Zhen Hua technicians also set up and commission the cranes once they are on shore, which can take several weeks.

Zhen Hua has had several ships over the years, and some of them have been to Halifax delivering previous cranes. As with those ships the expected ship Zhen Hua 23 is a converted tanker. Built in1986 by Kasado Kudamatsu as a 50,285 gt, 79,999 dwt single hull crude oil tanker, it became obsolete when double hull tankers became mandatory. The Rich Duchess as it was called, still had good machinery and sound structure, and so in 2007 it was converted with a new reinforced cargo deck and a sophisticated ballast control system to allow it to load and unload large and heavy cargoes.

Although the ship has not been in Halifax before, the company's earlier vessels were of similar appearance, and generated considerable attention when they called here.

 Zhen Hua 4 had two cranes and two Rubber Tired Gantries (RTGs) for Halifax in 2000. It also had two cranes for another port.

 

Zhen Hua 29 came to Halifax in 2020 with one crane while en route to France and Algeria with four more cranes.

The Zhen Hua 23 cleared Port Louis, Mauritius October 3 and is en route to Halifax via the Cape of Good Hope. (It is too high to pass through the Suez Canal, and is taking the westbound route to avoid a long, and potentially rough, Pacific crossing.)

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New Halterm cranes - coming this summer

1. Halterm as seen from Point Pleasant Park. The new cranes will service the extended pier 42.

It was stated last week that Halterm's newest super post-Panamax container cranes will be arriving this summer.The new cranes will be installed at pier 42 directly from a heavy lift ship operated by the crane manufacturer. This will be essentially a repeat of the 2000 delivery of two such cranes to the same pier.
Shangai Zhen Hua Shipping Company has a whole fleet of converted bulk carriers, rebuilt to carry huge and heavy deck loads. Their decks are situated so that with proper ballasting the cranes can be rolled directly onto the dock from the ship.

2. In May 2000 Zhen Hua delivered two post -Panamax cranes to Halterm.

Halterm has also applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency to use the heavy lift ship Zhen Hua 19 to move the existing crane on pier 42 (at far right in photo#1 and in the foreground of photo#2) to pier 36.As a non-Canadian ship, it must have a coasting license to carry cargo "between Canadian ports".

3. Pier 36 has two cranes now, one of which was built with special dollies to allow it to move back and forth to pier 41. The pier only serves smaller ships, but could handle two at a time given enough cranes.

The old smaller crane will be used at pier 36 since it is not high enough to work the larger ships at pier 42. However it is only smaller ships that can use pier 36.

4. Zhen Hua 4 at anchor in May 2000. It also carried cranes for another port, and straddle carriers for Halterm.

The ship Zhen Hua 4 called in Halifax on two separate occasions. In May 2000 with the two cranes for Halterm, and in February 2002 with one crane for Fairview Cove. In order to pass under the bridges, that crane came on shorter legs, which were extended after the crane was landed. 

5. The new cranes for Halterm will likely come full assembled as the last ones did, since there will be bridges to pass under in Halifax. It does mean however that they must sail from China via the Cape of Good Hope.