Queen Sapphire - neither here nor there?

The autocarrier Queen Sapphire arrived today for the Wallenius-Wilhelmsen line. The ship is neither a Wallenius nor a Wilhelmsen however, but a charter from Japanese owners, Meikai Shipping Services. That concern is part of the larger Meiji Shipping Group, which has a modest fleet of ships of all sizes, all chartered out to various other operators. The ship is registered in Singapore.

It is not unusual for ship owners to charter out their ships. It allows line operators to expand without buying ships, but also saves shipowners from the expense of finding work for the ships.

Queen Sapphire was built in 2009 and has a capacity of 6400 cars. It measures 60,213 gross tons. Meanwhile the autocarrier Camellia Ace which was due yesterday, was delayed and anchored offshore until this evening when it will take Queen Sapphire's place at Autoport.

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Cadillac - new boat in Sambro

Newly registered on January 31, the Cadillac will be fishing out of Sambro, NS at the mouth of Halifax Harbour. The Boat measures 48.75' x 19.75' and was built by Bruce M. Atkinson of Clark's Harbour, NS.

In 1905 Ephraim Atkinson is credited with building the first Cape Island type boat, and in the intervening years, the Cape Island type has become standard for inshore fishing, but many ventire farther out. This boat appears to be from the new 45' x 20' mold developed by Atkinson for working offshore, and the boat is rigged for longlining. It is hull number 99 for Bruce M. Atkinson, but there were many hundreds built before the numbering system started.

The Cadillac is operated by Morgan Fisheries Ltd of Sambro.

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Maersk Pembroke - hard driven ship

1. Maersk Pembroke passes Herring Cove outbound for sea.

The Maersk Line is noted for its hard driving and today's visitor Maersk Pembroke certainly shows the signs. On of four ships maintaining a weekly transatlantic schedule for Maersk, the ship earns its keep.

Built in 1998 as P&O Nedlloyd Sydney (Maersk took over P&O Nedlloyd) the ship has a capacity of 2890 TEU in a hull of 31,333 gross tons. A relatively small ship by container ship standards today, it caters to refrigerated cargo, with its essentially identical sisters Maersk Patras, Maersk Palermo and Maersk Penang.

The ships maintain the following rotation: Halifax, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Le Havre, Montreal, Halifax. Spending only a few hours in any given port, there is a ship in Halifax each Saturday. As foreign flag vessels, the are not permitted to carry cargo between Canadian ports.

In an interesting turn of events, CMA/CGM, which has ceased calling in Halifax, but has a slot arrangement with Maersk, has 100 empty containers in Montreal, which it wishes to transport to Halifax. It has applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency for a coasting license to use Maersk Penang to transport the boxes to Halifax February 15-18. It remains to be seen if any Canadian shipping companies have ships available for this work. If not, we may see a number of CMA/CGM boxes arrive next weekend on the regular Maersk ship visit.

In September of last year Maersk Line Canada made similar application to carry 100 empty containers from Montreal to Halifax, but was not granted a coasting license because two Canadian shipping companies were deemed to have ships available. The two objectors, McKeil Marine and Algoma Central Corp do not own container ships. McKeil has barges that could carry containers. Algoma would have to use bulk carriers that have no container fittings on deck.

Now that it is winter, and McKeil's barges and Algoma's bulkers are in seasonal layup, it will be interesting to see what happens.

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Seapike [revised]

The oil products tanker Seapike arrived this afternoon and went to anchor. The ship has a cargo for Woodward's Oil to be delivered to Lewisporte, NL, from Philadelphia. However the ship is in Halifax to take on additive for the cargo. This will be done at anchor, apparently from barrels, brought out to the ship on a barge.

The 28,449 gross ton/ 43,550 deadweight tonne ship is owned by German Tanker Shipping GmbH of Bremen and flies the German flag.

It is a frequent caller at east coast ports, and has made several trips to the St.Lawrence River since it was built in 2009.

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Ojibwa update

1. Ojibwa at her berth at Jetty Lima. (photo added 2012-02-04)

2. Ojibwa (right) YD 253 and YC 601 at Jetty Lima January 3, 2012.
With the departure last summer of Olympus and Okanagan the last remaining floating O-boat, Ojibwa, rests at Jetty November Lima awaiting events to unfold.
Plans for the Oberon class sub to be transported to Port Burwell, ON last summer did not work out. The community still has to prove a business case to the federal government before the sub is released into their custody, but a glimpse at their website gives hope this will all fall into place soon.
See: http://www.projectojibwa.ca/
Onondaga is a tourist attraction and B&B near Rimouski, QC:
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1485701
Olympus and Okanagan have now been broken up for scrap at Port Maitland, ON.
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Transit Strike Ties Up Ferries

1. Halifax III sets out for Woodside on January 23. As of today it is tied up with transit workers on strike. Its first day of operation was September 10, 1979.

2. Dartmouth II and Halifax II were idled in September 1979 awaiting sale.

3. Halifax was a double ended steam ferry and ran from 1911 until 1956 when a bridge across the harbour brought an end to car ferry service.

A strike by transit workers in the Halifax Regional Municipality means no bus or ferry service for thousands of commuters. The ferry system has been a part of Halifax life since 1752. There have been four ferries named Halifax over the years, the first, a former Brooklyn, NY boat was acquired in 1890 and was lost to an arson fire in 1909. The next Halifax, built by Napier & Miller in Old Kilpatrick, Scotland, sailed on its own to Halifax, arriving in the autumn of 1911. It served until 1956 when car ferry service was ended.

The next to carry the name was called Halifax II and it was built of wood by Smith & Rhuland in Lunenburg. It served until 1979 when the current Halifax III entered service.

The present ferry fleet consists of Halifax III, Darmouth III and Woodside I. Design work is underway for a new ferry, but no details on construction dates have been released.

The former City of Dartmouth owned and operated the ferry fleet for many years, and it was not until 1994 that the service was folded in with Metro Transit, which operates the bus service.

The last such strike in 1998 lasted five weeks, but this one is promising to cause more gridlock than the last one, due to an increase in population and greater reliance on transit.

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Statengracht arrives

The Dutch vessel Statengracht arrived this morning to pier 27. Owned by the Spliethoff company, it is one of 11 versatile vessels in the company's "S" class. For more details: http://www.spliethoff.com/Fleets/S-type.aspx?objectname=FleetShow&objectId=6&pgeId=232

It was built in 2004, and is deceptively large at 16,676 gross tons and 21,250 deadweight.

On deck forward are two power boats on delivery to North American owners. In te holds is some special project for Halifax.