Back to the Future and other matters

 There were wintery conditions in Halifax today, February 5, with light dusts of snow. The temperature struggled to reach -10ºC [14º F], there was a biting wind at 26 kph [16 mph] with gusts to 35kph [21 mph] but it was mostly sunny and sea water temperature was still a balmy 1.7 ºC [35.1 ºF]. 

There were two auto carriers in port. The Traviata, which arrived yesterday at Autoport, moved over night to Pier 9C to off load RoRo cargo.

Traviata arriving yesterday, February 4.

 The ship was built in 2019 by Tianjin Xingang, to the HERO class design used by both Wallenius and Wilhelmsen. It must have beeen one of the last - or indeed the last - ship to use the old Wallenius colour scheme [see below]. It was not repainted in the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean  teal/gray until 2024. [Despite a name begining with the letter "T" it is in fact a Wallenius ship, with an operatic name.]

The 73,358 gt, 23,889 dwt ship, has a capacity of 7656 RT43 autos, and mounts a 320 tonne SWL stern ramp. As with most modern autocarriers it has no side ramp.

 

Since its last call in Halifax December 16 the ship has followed the usual WWO route of New York, Brunswick, Charleston, Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge and Southampton and is now bound for New York again.

 The second autocarrier arrived today and docked directly at Autoport.

 The Future Way is a "ship of the future" in many ways, but has reverted back to the traditional Wallenius hull colours of white over green. In this case the green is also symbolic of its several environmentally sensitive features.

It was built by CIMC Raffles, Yantai in 2024 and features dual fuel engines, can sail fully loaded with no ballast water, has a shore power connector and can be converted to add battery power. It reduces fuel consumption by prop design, hull shape and aerodynamic features.

The bow shape and flush mounted cargo ventilation fans are some of the new features in the Sliepner concept of autocarriers developed by Wallenius Marine and naval architects Knud E. Hansen. The vessel's charterer, Volkswagen, has committed to reducing its carbon footprint.

The ship's recent movements are not entirely clear, (suggesting perhaps some military cargo) but it was in Halifax last on December 1 and has since called in Sparrows Point, Freeport, TX, Veracruz and Freeport again. It is not clear where the ship has been since that last Freeport call on December 20. Normally VW charters load in Bremerhaven.

Aside from some light snow in the air, there were other signs of winter. Oceanex Sanderling arrived from St.John's with a thin coat of frozen spray.

 

There was no sign of frozen spray (yet) on the bulk carrier Goodwyn Island. which arrrived last evening and sailed at noon time today.

Fully loaded with bauxite from Gladstone, Australia December 11, the ship sailed across the Indian Ocean,  passing Cape Town January 19 and Las Palmas January 24, and is now headed for  Pointe-Noire in Sept-Iles, QC. Its short stay here may have been to embark an ice advisor (they normally board off Sydney).

Built by Tsuneishi Zhoushan in 2018 it is a Supramax bulker of 35,684 gt, 63,906 dwt, and carries four 30 tonne cargo cranes and 20 tonne grabs (stowed to the starboard side of each crane base.) The ship has a bow "windshield" which has aerodynamic benefits while protecting the foredeck and number one hatch from seas.

The ship's loading port is in Queensland, on the northeast coast of Australia and a more direct route would have been via the Panama Canal, suggesting that the ship might have been re-directed from an original destination in Europe at some point en route. The Alumunerie Alouette in Sept-Iles is the largest aluminum smelter in the western hemisphere, and is powered by electricity from the Churchill Falls hydroelectricity facility.

There was also a haze of freezing spray on the container feeder AS Felicia arriving at PSA Fairview Cove for ZIM.

AS Felicia has been an on and off caller for ZIM's former CFX service since April 3, 2018. Built in 2006 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan, with tonnages of 15,375 grt, 18,291 dwt, it has a capacity of 1296 TEU, including 390 reefers, and has a pair of 45 tonne cranes. It was launched as Medocean but entered service as EWL Cribbean. In 2007 it became APL Managua and in 2014  Medocean and in 2015 AS Felicia. The ship has now joined the ZCX Colibri Express from the west coast of South America via Kingston, Jamaica, Miami, Philadelphia and New York. Quite a weather shock for ship and crew.

 The AS Felicia's call coincided with yesterday's ZCA transatlantic arrival ZIM Iberia which sailed at noon time today for New York. 

On arrival yesterday (in photo) it showed many Hapag-Lloyd boxes on deck. The slot arrangement between Hapag-Lloyd and ZIM has presumably survived the new Hapag-Lloyd + Maersk Gemini Cooperation.

The Zim Iberia acquired the name in 2022, but was built in 2009 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jiangyin. It was delivered as Rudolf Schepers and in 2017 became the Arkas Afrika then in 2018 Als Juno. The 40,541 gt, 50,300 dwt ship has a capacity of 4253 TEU including 698 reefers.  

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Still more bulk and container swap

Bulkers

 There was another bulk carrier arrival this morning, January 13, but this one was more typical for Halifax than yesterday's bulkers [see previous post]. The Algoma Integrity is in from Jacksonville for Gold Bond to load gypsum.

The Algoma Integrity is passing the A. Murray MacKay bridge inbound to the Gold Bond dock in Bedford Basin with a tethered stern escort tug, the Atlantic Fir.

 The Algoma Integrity was built in 2009 by EISA- Ilha in Rio de Janeiro for Gypsum Transportation as the Gypsum Integrity. The 33,047 gt, 47,761 dwt ship was meant to service the export facilities in Hantsport and Little Narrows, NS. When parent company United States Gypsum shut down their Canadian mining operations in 2010 the ship and its sister Gypsum Centennial worked globally for Beltship Management. Algoma Central Corp acquired and renamed the Gypsum Integrity in 2015 while CSL acquired the Gypsum Centennial in 2015 and renamed it CSL Frontier. Both ships went to work in the CSL Americas self-unloader pool.

The gravity fed self-unloader system on the ship discharges gypsum at a rate of 2500 metric tonnes per hour, and uses a boom with a 61 meter outreach at 90 degrees from the ship to position the cargo on shore.

As Algoma Integrity made its way to the dock, a more traditional gearless bulk carrier lay at anchor in Bedford Basin. The JY Lake arrived from the Mississippi River grain port of Romeville, LA, yesterday afternoon (January 12).

A very thin skim of ice has formed along the Rockingham shore where the water is calm and is approximately fresh. A small CCG boat did some unofficial high speed icebreaking but the rest of the ice will be gone by tomorrow as a wind and rain storm passes through tonight, with temperatures well above zero C.

The JY Lake dates from 2019 when it was completed by the Changxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China. The gearless ship measures 45,968 gt 81,146 dwt. It is en route to Rotterdam, and is expected to sail over night. 

No particular reason was given for the ship's visit, but a launch did visit the ship, possibly with a repair technician.

 Container Swap

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd operates two services from Halifax. Its "big ship" service is called ZCA: ZIM Container Atlantic and its "small ship" feeder service is CGX: Central America Gulf Express.

One of the ships serving the ZCA is the familiarly named ZIM Iberia (the second of the name in ZIM's history. The first, built in 1997, was scrapped in 2015 - see post dated November 23, 2015).

Zim Iberia in the Narrows with the tethered escort Atlantic Cedar. 

(The tug Atlantic Cedar is usually based in Saint John, with the Atlantic Larch, but both are exchanging places temporarily as Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver are working in Saint John.)

The current Zim Iberia acquired the name in 2022, but was built in 2009 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jiangyin. It was delivered as Rudolf Schepers and in 2017 became the Arkas Afrika then in 2018 Als Juno. The 40,541 gt, 50,300 dwt ship has a capacity of 4253 TEU including 698 reefers. Its Mediterranean / East Coast North America service calls in Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece Italy and Spain en route to Halifax. It then calls at New York, Norfolk, and Savannah before heading eastbound again.

 Today at the PSA Fairview Cove terminal, the ZIM Iberia joined the Pacific Trader one of five ships (along with the Annie B and Contship Leo, Contship Pep and Contship Art) on the CGX - Central America Gulf Express feeder service. The Pacific Trader began calling in Halifax November 17, 2023 on the newly revised CGX, which includes the former CFX - Canada Feeder Express.

The CGX links Halifax with New York, Kingston, Jamaica, Houston and Caribbean ports of Altamira, Mexico, Santo Tomas De Castilla, Guatemala and Puerto Cortes, Honduras.

ZIM does a substantial reefer business on both routes, and their white boxes are much in evidence on the Pacific Trader and on the dock. Hapag-Lloyd has a "slot charter" or other such arrangement with ZIM for space on the ZCA route, and orange H-L boxes are easy to see on the ZIM Iberia.

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Lee update

 Although there was coastal flooding and shore erosion due to the storm surge, Post Tropical storm Lee did not create the widespread damage to boats and harbours that last year's Hurrucane Fiona did. That is not to belittle the impact of the storm - it was severe - but perhaps it was as much due to wise precautions as to the somewhat less powerful distrurbance.

As previously noted ships vacated Halifax harbour and went well offshore to the east as the storm tracked across mainland Nova Scotia on Septmber 16. For instance the container ship ZIM Iberia which cleared Halifax on Friday September 15 and was destined for New York, instead headed northeasterly and was spotted on AIS well offshore. Similarly the cruise ship Zaandam which sailed on the 15th got ahead of the storm and made for CornerBrook, NL after a day or more at sea.

The heavy load ship GPO Sapphire, which had been anchored off Halifax made for the shelter of Chedabucto Bay. It likely did not anchor because with its Dynamic Positioning capability, it was able to keep station. The huge windage of its deck load of six wind turbine tower components could have put unbearable strain on conventional anchors and chain.

GPO Sapphire anchored off Halifax on September 13.

Speaking of anchors however, the stress was too much for one of those red white and blue navy trot buoys off Macnab's Cove (on the right and left of the photo above.) It and a green navigation buoy were spotted adrift in the harbour, but were later coralled by tugs.

Coastal tankers sought shelter too with Acadian off Lismore and Big Island to the eastern of the Northumberland Strait. (It was bound for Charlottetown.)

Algoscotia and Mia Desgagnés were in St.Ann's Bay (northeast coast of Cape Breton) and not far away the cruise ship Norwegian Joy (which had been due in Halifax September 17) stood by off Wreck Cove (an inauspicious name under the circumstances.)

That made today (Monday, September 18) a double header Norwegian day in Halifax with both Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Pearl in at the same time. They were joined by the Pearl Mist which must have had a rough time of it en route from Portland, ME.

 Wind gusts of 117 kph (72 miles per hour) were recorded at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (well inland) and there were power outages all over NovA Scotia and New Brunswick. Ship Centreal Eastern (- the home of Shipfax) was without electricity for 28 hours from roughly 0715 hrs ADT Saturday, September 16 to 1100 hrs Sunday, September 17.

The storm was well passed by Sunday, Septemeber 17, but the only commercial activity in the harbour was the arrival and departure of the EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St-Laurent 1 service. It would normally have been here on Saturday en route from Montreal to Bremerhavem but can quite likely make up the time on the long transatlantic leg.

By today harbour activity had returned to normal (ferry service had been suspended on Saturday for example) with comings and goings at both container terminals. 

CMA CGM Mexico (15,000 plus TEU) made its call (westbound from Tanger Med) at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, along with Tropic Hope...

 ... and Atlantic Sky at PSA Fairview Cove (west bound en route for New York).

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Zim Iberia arrives off Chittagong

The end is near for a one time Halifax caller. Zim Iberia arrived at the Chittagong anchorages today, and will soon be headed to the scrappers. It was reported in October 2014 that the ship had been sold to Indian breakers for scrap, and so it is a little surprising that it would take this long to get there. Of course Chittagong is in Bangladesh, so it is possible that the ship has been bought and sold several times over the past year.

Zim Iberia approaches Halterm ion a foggy day in 2003.

Built in 1997 by Howaldswerke Deutsche-Werft in Kiel, Germany, the ship was a good size for its day, at 41,507 grt, 45,850 dwt with a capacity of 3429 TEU. We are told that 3500 TEU ships are no longer efficient since ships of twice or more the size can be operated with about the same crew and the price to carry per box is dramatically lower, even with the larger engines required for bigger ships.

Zim Iberia called in Halifax from the time it was new (replacing another ship of the same name) until August 12, 2006 when it was reassigned. It operated for its entire career for Zim, initially under the Israeli flag but since 2008 under the Liberian flag.

It is certainly a sign of the times that an 18 year old ship would be sent to the breakers.

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