ZIM meets ZIM

 Today March 19, ZIM had two of its regular callers at PSA Fairview Cove. The early morning arrival was the semi-feeder Box Endurance on the ZCX service from the west coast of South America and the Caribbean.

 

The feeder size ship was delivered in 2015 by Guangzhou Wenchong and is registered at 17,907 gt, 21,667 dwt with a capacity of 1708 TEU. The Liberian flagged ship is owned by Aigli Navigation Inc, which is associated with Allseas Marine of Athens, Greece.

In the early evening the ZIM Virginia arrived on the ZCA transatlantic run from Valencia, Spain.

It made its way through to Bedford Basin with the tug Atlantic Cedar assisting,

it then turned and backed in to the PSA Fairview Cove west berth.

ZIM Virginia is owned by Ymir International Ltd a subsidiary of ZIM and flies the flag of Israel. It was built in 2002 by Hyundai, Ulsan and measures 53,453 grt, 66, 686 dwt and carries 4839 TEU.

.

Crossroads

 Halifax was a cross roads this afternoon, February 9 with ship arrivals and departures all happening in the mid to late afternoon. 

Outbound was the autocarrier Don Carlos (see yesterday's post), After discharging automobiles at Autoport last night it moved over to Pier 9C this morning to unload RoRo cargo. There was the usual mix of industrial machinery - most of it wheeled, but some on trailers.

On leaving this afternoon the ship took the eastern or main channel allowing the inbound ONE Falcon to take the deeper Western Channel.

Arriving on THE Alliance's EC5 service from Colombo. The ONE Falcon made the trip in just over a month sailing from Colombo January 8. To avoid the high risk Red Sea, the ship sailed the long route around Africa, passing the Cape of Good Hope, reported off Cape Town  January 30.

Built by Japan Marine United, Kure in 2017 as NYK Falcon the 146,287 gt, 138,907 dwt ship has a capacity of 14,026 TEU. It adopted its current name (and paint scheme) in 2021.

Making its way slowly inbound to PSA Fairview Cove, the ZIM Virginia allowws the ONE ship time to turn off Pier 41, and for tugs to finish up with the next outbound - the autocarrier Emden which did not get away from Autoport before the light failed.

I was sorry to miss the Emden, just delivered in September 2023, a 7,000 CEU vessel powered by LNG and on long term charter to Volkswagen. A sister ship, Wolfsburg is presently loading in Emden.

ZIM Virginia is owned by Ymir International Ltd a subsidiary of ZIM and flies the flag of Israel. It was built in 2002 by Hyundai, Ulsan and measures 53,453 grt, 66, 686 dwt and carries 4839 TEU. The ship is on the ZCA service and is east bound for the Mediterranean, having called here westbound February 2. It has since called in New York and Norfolk.

.

Unusual preparations

 Hurricane Philippe, downgraded to a post tropical cyclone, inexoribly making its way toward Nova Scotia, and weakening as it does so, has shipping making various preparations for diversions, reroutings, and in the case of ferries, outright cancellations of some crossings.

For the cruise ship industry ships generally prefer to sail as far away from disturbances as possible, and do not like to be in port during major storms. Late this afternoon (October 7) however there was an exception for the small (by cruising standards) Star Pride (ex Seabourn Pride) arriving in Halifax from Eastport, ME.

The ship was in Halifax September 30 and was covered in this blog. The difference this time is that the ship did not tie up at a pier, but instead headed directly for Bedford Basin and went to anchor. 

The unusual sight of a cruise ship in the Narrows and passing beneath the harbour bridges is only possible because the ship is small, and thus has a relatively low air draft.

Some passengers took in the unique experience by crowding onto the open observation bridge above the navigation bridge.

 While the ship was entering the Bedford Basin, the container ship ZIM Virginia was getting underway from PSA Fairview Cove, and held up long enough for the Star Pride to clear.

Hyundai Heavy Industries built the ZIM Virginia in the Ulsan shipyard in 2002. The 53,453 gt, 66,686 dwt ship has a capacity of 4839 TEU, and it flies the Israeli flag.The ship is bound for New York, so may be able to skirt the storm's path by sailing south and keeping to the east.

Bedford Basin is not exceptionallly good holding ground for ships with high windage to anchor, but is is a sufficiently large body of water (8 km x 5 km) that a little dragging in high winds can be tolerated. It does mean that a ship may have to steam ahead on its anchor during sustained winds. Constant monitoring is necessary while at anchor. Both the ship's bridge watch and Halifax VTS have auto alrms as well as human radar monitoring to detect dragging.

Likely due to the downgrade for Philippe another cruise ship, the Seabourn Quest elected to stay in port, tied up at Pier 23. The camber is relatively sheltered, but I would not be surprised to see some waves sloshing in if there is any storm surge. Again the ship will heve to remain vigilant during the night when the highest winds are expected.

The cargo ship Augusta Luna (centre in photo below) in port from Cuba for Nirint Shipping also opted to remain in port, tied up at Pier 27.

The Articulated Tug / Barge (ATB) Leo A. McArthur / John J.Carrick arriving from the Great Lakes with a cargo asphalt (leftmost in photo above) will remain at the McAsphalt jetty in Eastern Passage over night. It will likely have to suspend unloading operations when the wind picks up, because the mooring is partially secured to buoys.

Eastern Passage is relativeley well sheltered, so sea conditions will likely not be too severe, but there will still be high winds and strong gusts.

The heavy load ship GPO Emerald is due to move back out to anchor this evening. It has been berthed alongside the crane ship Orion (with the barge Atlantic Swordfish between them). 

It is due to move back alongside tomorrow to continue the transfer of six monopiles (in sections) and other gear for the Vineyard wind project offshore Massachusetts. Once loaded the Orion will return to the Vineyard project site and use its 5,000 tonne capacity crane to install the monopiles.

Two other ships that remained in port over night last night sailed today, having given the storm time to move away from their tracks. (Both ships were covered here yesterday)

Balmoral may be able to skirt the storm to the east and south on its way to Portland, ME but there may still be rough seas to contend with.

  CMA CGM Andromeda will likely be following a similar route, but heading farther south for New York.

The Volga Maersk, which arrived from Montreal this morning sailed early this evening for Bremerhaven, so will probably be ahead or well to the east of the storm.

Permanent residents of the port are accustomed to rough weahter by now, so are likely well buttoned down for the night, and will wait to see what the morning llight reveals.

.

 

 

 

Saturday Round Up and spring may be here

It was a busy day in the south end of the port at least, with all berths filled (sometimes twice) at Halterm.
Zim Alabama arrived at pier 42 early and sailed at noon time, with its place taken immediately by fleet mate Zim Virginia.

Zim Alabama completes work at pier 42.

Zim Virginia works its way in. 

 As Zim Alabama clears the berth, ZimVirginia is already swinging round to take its place.

Tugs swing Zim Virginia.

 

Within minutes it is alongside.

Zim Alabama is chartered to Zim from Marown Nav Ltd and managed by Rickmers Ship Management (Singapore) Ltd under the Marshall Islands flag. Built by Jiangsu in Jiangyin, China, the ship measures 40,542 grt, 50,158 dwt and carries 4256 TEU.
Zim Virginia is owned by Ymir International Ltd a subsidiary of Zim and flies the flag of Israel. It was built in 2002 by Hyundai, Ulsan and measures 53,453 grt, 66, 686 dwt and carries 4839 TEU.

Meanwhile at pier 36, yesterday's occupant Fusion, moved out to anchor for the night and sailed this morning, freeing up the berth for Maersk Palermo. The ship came in bow first, then was heavily ballasted down by the bow, probably to make prop repairs. The ship arrived from Montreal, and likely tangled with more than a little ice en route.

Barely visible at pier 41, the small container/general cargo ship Sina

Also squeezing in at pier 41 was the newcomer for Mefli Lines, Sina. Built in 2004 by Qinshan, Wuhan, the 4462 grt, 5608 dwt ship carries 502 TEU (including 84 reefers) and has two deck cranes. It is small for Melfi Lines by today's measure. It has changed name eight time since it was built, indicating a likely short term charter.

Meanwhile in anchorage number one, the Maersk Line container ship Quadriga stopped in for its Canadian Food Inspection Agency checkup for Asian gypsy moth larva. This is surely a sign of spring when there is a concern about moths hatching. As far as I can tell this is the first ship to arrive for such an inspection this year, but there will be many more to come. Ships heading into Quebec and the Great Lakes region will all be subject to these inspections if they do not have recent certificates.

Quadriga gave Montreal as its destination, so the ship has apparently been assigned to Maersk's transatlantic service
Rare among container ships, it was built at Thyssen Nordseewerke in Emden in 2008 for Maritime Reederei, a 14 ship fleet based in Elsfleth. Measuring 36,087 grt, 42,566 dwt it is a substantial ship with a TEU rating of 3426 (including 500 reefers). However on close inspection the TEU rating lowers to 2410 if all boxes are loaded to 14 tonnes each, with centre of gravity at 45% of container height.
In 2013 it came off a five year charter as CSAV Romeral.

Also in port, but idle today was the cargo ship Capri

It is tied up at pier 27 to unload rails. It was last here October 2014 and twice in 2013 with the same cargo.

Autoport Update
Boheme sailed this evening making way for Harmony Leader tomorrow and Artemis Leader to follow. Today's air temperature rocketed to +12C, so the glacial melt must soon free up iced in cars.

.

Containers come, containers go

The constant movement of containers in and out of Halifax seems relentless. Almost every day of the week there is one ship or more arriving with containers. Most are in port for eight hours or less (one shift for the longshoremen.)

The ships of Zim Integrated Shipping are among the most regular, with one ship eastbound and one westbound every week. Zim Virginia is typical - one of six sister sips, all built in 2002 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea. Of 53,453 gross tons, it has a capacity of 4839 TEUs. It is registered in Israel.

Not all ships arrive and depart seamlessly however. Yesterday morning the K Line ship Suez Canal Bridge arrived, but had to put back out to sea for repairs. Apparently there was a malfunction with the hydraulicas for its winches up forward, and so it was not possible to tie up and tension its mooring lines. This may have been due to freezing spray and cold weather. The ship will try again this morning.

.