More New Ferries for Newfoundland (and News)

Marine Atlantic’s new ferries Blue Puttees and Highlanders and now both in service, and despite some early controversy, including one death, things may finally be settling down for the long haul on the Strait.(Marine Atlantic seems to be a target-wonder why?)

It is now time to turn the spotlight on the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador’s own intraprovincial ferry service, operated by the Department of Transportation and Works. The department runs 15 ferry routes within the province, and has been suffering for years with an inadequate fleet. There is good news on the horizon however.

First off are two new 80 passenger short sea ferries, just completed by Pieter Kiewit’s Marystown/ Cow Head shipyard. [Perhaps the yard’s experience with these small ships has put them off big shipbuilding - they have withdrawn from the Federal shipbuilding strategy program.] The ships are reported to have cost $27.5mn each.

The two new ships, christened March 11 measure 42m in length and can carry a combination of vehicles, up to 16 cars. The first of these, Grace Sparkes, was registered in St. John’s on April 19. It will run on the St. Brendans route. It is named for the first woman to run for election to the provincial legislature.

Sister ship Hazel McIsaac, which will enter service within the next month, is named for the first woman to be elected to the legislature. It will serve ports in Green Bay.

These are proper little ships with bow doors and stern ramps. Excellent spec sheets, and photos are on line: http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2011/tw/0311n06specs.pdf

In further news, Fleetway Inc was contracted in January to design six more new ferries for a variety of routes around the province. Designs should be completed by early next year, and an expression of interest will be issued soon for construction. These boats will also be built in the province.

See the Newfoundland intraprovincial routes here:

http://www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules/index.html


News:
There is also news about the St. Barbe/Blanc Sablon service across the Strait of Belle Isle. This service is operated by Labrador Marine (part of the Woodward Group) under contract to the Province. During the past winter when the ferry Apollo was in refit in St.John's, the service was operated by the Province's much larger ferry Sir Robert Bond, but its Newfoundland terminus had to be switched to Corner Brook, due to the large size of the ship. That service ended mid-March when Apollo returned to service.
However on or about April 15, Apollo damaged a prop and shaft and had to go to St.John's for emergency drydocking. The ship will return to service next week, using only one prop, until the prop/shaft can be repaired or replaced. It will then go back to drydock for permanent repairs. In the meantime the ancient RoRo vessel Astron (also owned by Woodward) will service the route, supplemented by aircraft, since Astron can only carry 12 passengers.
Apollo will have to operate on one prop for several weeks.

For photos of some of these ships see: http://newfoundlandshipmovements.blogspot.com/

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Noon Whistles?

Ships horns or whistles are heard from time to time in Halifax. In foggy conditions, as the warning for a pleasure craft to get out of the way, for cruise ships when they depart, and to ring in the New Year.

Another event may be added to these if the chair of BIMCO has his way.

What is BIMCO you may ask? To give it its full name, the Baltic & International Maritime Council is a non-governmental agency, with observer status at the UN. It speaks for many ship owners, managers, brokers and agents, and includes in its mandate the promotion of uniform standards and harmony of regulations.

These days one of its main concerns is the flourishing piracy "industry" of the northeast coast of Africa, but with tentacles in other parts of the world too.

As means of drawing attention to the plight of seafarers and ships owners BIMCO's chair has called for ships to sound a 30 second blast on their horns at noon, every day. This may seem about as useful as dogs barking at the moon, but as means of drawing attention to this problem, it may be of some use.

Canada and other nations have sent warships to the area, some pirates have been arrested, tried and convicted, and some attacks have been prevented. However there has been no dent in the piracy. Ships are hijacked, and crews kidnapped for ransom. Even when huge ransoms are paid, there is no guarantee that that the ships or the crews will be returned safely. In fact many have been killed during attacks or in captivity.

Keep your ears pealed.

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Eitzen's tanker

1. Sichem Beijing arrives in drizzly Halifax weather.

Eitzen Chemical is one of the largest chemical tanker operators, with 83 ships currently listed in it fleet: http://www.eitzen-chemical.com/

A firm with deep roots, Eitzen has expanded through acquisitions to world wide operations with offices in Norway, Denmark, Spain, Connecticut and Singapore.

Today's arrival, Sichem Beijing, is fairly typical of the fleet - modest sized, 8,537 gross tons, 13,086 deadweight, relatively new, built in 2007, and highly specialized for carrying chemicals in epoxy coated tanks.

The ship is registered in Singapore, but operated by Seelandia Ship Management, based in Mumbai.

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Genco Pioneer lost a boom

1. Boomless #2 crane remains in position, while the other three turn out to clear the hatches.

2. Cranes #1 and #2 face each other in the stowed positon, and it is hard to notie that #2 has no boom.

It was not noticeable when the ship arrived or sat at anchor in Bedford Basin for hold cleaning.

It was also not immediately noticeable when she moved to pier 28 on Sunday to position herself under the grain spouts.

However as soon as Genco Pioneer swung her cranes outboard to open her hatch covers it became obvious that the #2 crane does not have a boom.

This is not an issue when she is loading, but perhaps some day when she needs to unload, it will certainly slow things down. A replacement boom may well be waiting at a subsequent port of call.

I also noted that the grain spouts were in use today as she started to load. The last ship in however, African Dahlia, did not use the spouts, but instead relied on shore cranes and buckets to transload from trucks. Surely the slowest imaginable way to load a grain ship!

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Princess Danae kicks off the cruise season (brrr!)

One normally associates cruise ships with warm weather. It was far from warm Saturday as the cruise season kicked off in Halifax, with snow flurries in the air and a bitter wind coming in from the sea.

Nevertheless Princess Danae arrived with the sun shining. By the time she was tied up and the passengers cleared to look around it had clouded over and was a typical Halifax April day.

Not one of the newer floating apartment blocks, this one was a real ship. It even has shear to its decks!

When I say, was a real ship, I mean that it was built way back in 1955, by the venerable Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland (builder of the Titanic, and many other significant ships.) It was not built as a cruise ship however. It started life as the refrigerated and general cargo ship Port Melbourne for Port Line (a Cunard subsidiary) and plowed the waves between the UK and Australia/ New Zealand, returning with fruit and mutton, among other things. It also carried twelve passengers, and was considered to be high speed ship, since it cruised at 17 knots.

Built along traditional cargo ship lines, it had a delightful shear to the hull, but was fitted with two 6 cylinder H&W engines and twin screws. Her overlapping plates hark back to the days of rivets and cast iron, but it was those everlasting engines and twin screws that ensured her longevity.

She lasted in cargo trades until 1972 when Greek owners bought her to convert to a ferry, but by 1976 she has become a cruise ship. Since then she has been rebuilt once after a disastrous shipyard fire in 1991, and upgraded in 2006 to her present hydrid appearance. I am not so sure how successful the wheelhouse and funnel are, but she still shows some nice features in the hull.

She arrived in Halifax from Boston, with previous ports of call listed as New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Key West, Tampa and Galveston (March 23.)

Remarkably, she still has a sister ship, Princess Daphne (built as Port Sydney) also still sailing. It was also built in 1955, but by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend on Tyne.

The ship remained in port overnight and passengers enjoyed a rainy and windy Sunday in Halifax. In fact the wind kicked up such swells in Halifax that linesmen stood by the ship, and she may even have parted a line during the worst of it. She is schedule to sail late Sunday, conditions permitting.

There are several potted histories on line, and some fine photos of the ship as built:

http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/port_melbourne_1955_b_1.htm

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/ItalyDanae.html

Federal Progress - long time no see

1. A skiff of snow pellets in the air, gives a hazy look to Federal Progess, taking bunkers from Algoma Dartmouth at noon today.

2. It was a little clearer earlier this morning.

3. December 22, 2001, the same ship in different colours.

4. Obviously not the same ship, October 20, 1969 at pier 36. Read down and see the connection.

The gearless bulker Federal Progress put in for bunkers today - not an unusual event in the last few weeks, when we have seen a steady stream of bulkers for the same reason. The ship however has not been in Halifax for a few years, but was once a very regular visitor.

As Northern Progress, she was one of three ships owned by Alcan, and built in 1989 by Nippon Kokan KK in Japan, to carry alumina to the smelters in Quebec. They were built to Lloyd's Ice class 1A so that they could reach La Baie (formerly Port Alfred) on the Saguenay River year round. The port had previously seen only very limited winter traffic, and thus required huge stockpiles of ore to keep running for the winter.

The ships called in Halifax on most trips and usually sailed from here to Brazil or Jamaica.

In 2001 Alcan made the decision to sell their ships, and to charter them back to carry on with the same work, as they were so specialized. On January 25, 2002 this ship arrived in Halifax as Northern Progress and on January 29 sailed as Federal Progress. In the interim she spent an overnighter in the Novadock for a pre-purchase survey, followed immediately by sister ship Northern Venture, which became Federal Venture as a part of the same deal. (The third Alcan ship, Northern Enterprise, became Lowlands Saguenay.) The newly renamed ship sailed for Camsar, Guinea for the next load.

The distinctive Alcan funnel marking is now gone from the high seas, and of course as Rio Tinto took over, even the tugs in La Baie got the very business like Rio Tinto-Alcan wordmark.

Alcan had been in the shipping business for many years, and following World War II operated Saguenay Terminals, a major shipping operation that carried general freight and passengers between Canada and the Caribbean and South America. Halifax was a major port of call (especially in winter, when they did not attempt to navigate in the ice) and there were often two in at a time. The ships were a distinctive green colour, and their names were prefixed with "Sun". They were among the first ships with large banner lettering on their sides, proclaiming ownership and had aluminum painted funnel bands.

At first most of the ships were Canadian built and Canadian flagged. Over time Saguenay chartered in foreign ships. Some of the ships were also fitted to bring back bauxite in bulk , but others brought back general cargo including perishables. With the advent of containers, those activities wound down, and Saguenay Terminals ceased operations in the 1990s. Therefore the three bulk carriers were the last Alcan owned ships.

So today's arrival was significant, due to its links with a long gone era. Typical of that era was Sunpolynesia, a 8,970 gross tons general cargo vessel, built in 1957 at Eriksberg MV A/B in Gothenburg, Sweden for Einar Rassmussen of Norway, for a long term charter to Saguenay Terminals. It sailed for Saguenay until 1971 and carried the names Stella, and Alkmini A until broken up at Gadani Beach in 1984. She is shown tied up at pier 36 (Saguenay later used pier 9 extensively.) The pier is now within the Halterm container terminal area, and the sheds are long gone. Something rarely seen anymore, is a man working overside. October is a little late for painting, so he may be doing some sort of repair.

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First grain from the Lakes

Atlantic Huron once again arrived with the first load of grain from the Great Lakes.

The ship was in winter layup at Quebec City, but went down river first to Sept-Iles for a load of iron ore. On March 31 it was upbound on the Seaway for Toledo, OH to discharge the iron ore. It then headed up light ship to Thunder Bay to load grain, passing through the Soo Locks upbound April 4 and downbound April 7. It was again downbound through the Seaway on April 11.

Built in 1984 at Collingwood as a gearless bulk carrier, it was first named Prairie Harvest. In

1989 it was converted to a self-unloader at Port Weller DD and renamed Atlantic Huron. From 1990 to 1992 it was registered in the Bahamas and worked internationally, but still calling in Halifax for gypsum. In 1994 it was renamed Melvin H.Baker II and worked on a contract for National Gypsum, mostly from Halifax. By 1997 it returned to the Canadian flag and reassumed the Atlantic Huron name. During 1997 it was temporarily fitted with equipment to carry magnetite slurry for ballasting the Hibernia gravity base. On completion of this work the equipment was removed, and the ship returned to its usual trades.

In December of 2000 it arrived at Halifax Shipyard to start a multi-year rebuild program. The work included extensive bottom replacement and bow repairs. Over the winter of 2002-2003 the work was completed at Port Weller DD, which involved new mid-body steel, which widened the ship from its original 75 foot width to the new Seaway maximum width of 78'-1".

Despite rumours of a sale in 2009, the ship remains in service, and like most Lakes ships lays up for three months or so during the winter. During that time the ship is not entirely idle, but is usually the scene of considerable maintenance activity.

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