New Year's Tally

Since New Year's day is a holiday for longshoremen, it is usually fairly slow for commercial shipping and today was no exception, with only one arrival and one departure. For many years I have been  taking New Year's Day to search out every identifiable vessel in Halifax Harbour. When I scout the backwaters and coves I usually come up with about 70 names, excluding pleasure craft and fishing boats.

This year did not turn up anything very unusual, but it did take me places I don't often go.

Wright's Cove is an area on the southeastern corner of Bedford Basin, below the Burnside Industrial Park, and includes Navy Island Cove, home of one of the few remaining steel side trawlers of the 1960s.

Navy Island Cove, an undisturbed backwater, is frozen solid. The gypsum stockpile conveyor looms in the background.

Hydra Mariner, the former Cape Mira was built in George T. Davie+Son in Lauzon (Lévis), QC and launched May 27, 1963. Its sponsor was Judith Smith, daughter of Ronald G. Smith, one of the founders and head of National Sea Products. The boat began fishing out of Louisbourg in October of the same year. In 1976, following the upheaval in the Newfoundland fishery, it was moved to Natlake and worked out of Burgeo. Eventually it returned to National Sea and was converted to a scallop dragger working out of Lunenburg. 
In 2001 it was renamed Hydra Mariner with a plan to convert it to a "chase boat" for seismic operations. I suspect this never happened and the boat kicked around various berths in Halifax for several years. In 2009 it found its spot in Navy Island Cove and has not moved since, except for a brief excursion in February 2014. It parted its mooring lines and drifted ashore, but was soon refloated and resecured by the RMI Marine tug Belle-D.. There does appear to be some activity on board from time to time, in the summer, perhaps as a sometime liveaboard/summer camp. It is now considered to be a "yacht".

At the other end of the harbour, at Eastern Passage, the above mentioned RMI Marine has its base.

Its tug Belle-D and one of its landing craft and two dive tender /workboats await the next assignment.

In the background, at the government wharf, the former Province of Nova Scotia cable ferry LaHave 2 and the former HMC Dockyard fire boat Firebird sit idle.
The ferry has been fitted with spuds and has been used for a variety of construction projects since 2010 when it was acquired by Municipal Enterprises. The fireboat on the other hand has not found a new occupation since it was sold as surplus last year.

Just to the north is the Valero dock, (also known as Ultramar, and the former Gulf Oil refinery dock.) It sees very little tanker traffic, but is home to the barge John P. Oxley.
 

Built in 2001 by les chantiers Verreault in Les Méchins, QC, it  is a pollution control and oil recovery barge, operated by the Eastern Canada Response Corp.(ECRC). Since its arrival in tow of the tug Océan Foxtrot on Christmas Day 2001 it has left port only once, for refit in Shelburne, NS in 2011.


One of the only working parts of the harbour today was Autoport where another car carrier was busy unloading. Hoegh Sydney arrived yesterday just after Viking Queen departed (see previous post)

The Japanese shipbuilders Tsuneishi, built the ship at their Cebu yard in Balamban, Philippines in 2007. It carries 5400 autos and measures 51,7631 grt, 17,311 dwt. Operators Hoegh Autoliners is majority owned by the Leif Hoegh group with Maersk as a minority shareholder at 38.75%.

One of the more colourful spots in Halifax harbour, now partly concealed by the King's Wharf development, is the home of Dominion Diving in Dartmouth Cove.

Its fleet of nine workboats and several scows and barges all wear the unique company colour. Located at the mouth of the Sawmill River (which is being daylighted), the recreation of a portion of the Shubenacadie Canal's inclined plane, and the cconflunece of the Shubenacadie Trail and the Trans Canada Trail, one has to wonder how long this prime site will  be able to hold out against the inevitable pressures of development.

As mentioned above, there was very little commercial activity in the harbour. Oceanex Sanderling arrived early at Halterm  pier 41 but appeared to be taking a day off.

At Imperial Oil the Torm Louise completed unloading and moved out to anchorage number 1 to take on bunkers. Once that operation was completed it sailed for Sept-Iles, QC. [Later info: the ship is instead headed for Quebec City.]

Atlantic Bear (see Tugfax) returns to base after assisting Torm Louise to move off Imperial Oil dock #3 to nearby anchorage to take on bunkers.

Of typical Mid-Range size - 29,283 grt, 49,999 dwt, it is markedly different from the Korean built tankers we usually see. It dates from 2009 and Guangzhou International, in Guangzhou China, and is one of Torm Lines' Super Ice class. Its heavy bow and full width bridge are sure indicators that it was built for harsh weather.

There was also activity at the Coast Guard Base at Bedford Institute. The patrol vessel CCGC Corporal McLaren M.M.V. sailed early in the afternoon, but did not get far before returning to base. It was destined to Cow Bay where a whale stranding was reported. However the whale was "refloated" and lead back out to deep water in very short order by a group of hardy volunteers.

 Corporal McLaren M.M.V. outbound, but soon to turn back. The new pier at HMC Dockyard is taking shape in the background.

Meanwhile sister vessel CCGC G. Peddle S.C. arrived from seaand followed the McLaren in to BIO.

That was not the only CCG activity. CCGS Sir William Alexander arrived earlier from the Sydney area, well encrusted with ice, and carrying a very icy buoy on deck.

Streams of vapour were blowing off her forepeak as ice melting was underway prior to tying up at BIO about noon time. The ship had obviously been in the ice recently as the wear on her boot topping indicates.


Another far reach of Halifax harbour, well outside the normal confines of the port, is at the harbour's entrance. Sambro is home to numerous fishing vessels and is the base for the lifeboat CCGC Sambro.

One of ten Arun class boats in service with the CCG, it was built in 1996 by Hike Metal Products, in Wheatley, ON and is due to be retired. Its replacement, Pennant Bay is currently undergoing trials and training in Dartmouth and will soon be in service. That Sambro was not tied up at her normal dock may signal that this move may be very soon.

Nearby at Sambro Head, Canadian Maritime Engineering operates the former Brenton Gray's boatyard.
Currently it has the harbour tour vessel Silva on the cradle for refit.

Silva (whose official name is Silva of Halifax) dates from 1939 when it was built as a three masted trading schooner by Karlstads Mek. Verk. in Sweden. Working the Icelandic trade it was converted to an auxiliary motor vessel, then a bulk carrier before it was "rescued" by Canadian Sailing Expeditions and converted to a harbour tour boat, closely resembling its original  design.  Passing through Tall Ship Silva Inc to Murphy Sailing Tours Ltd, the boat is a popular waterfront attraction (in summer). Its fleet mates are also in winter layup in various parts of the harbour, although former fleet mate Haligonian III, retired in 2016, remains tied up in Sambro.

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Viking Queen - finally arrives

In the serene surroundings of Eastern Passage, Viking Queen (and its crew) are taking a well earned break from the high seas.

It must have been a relief to the crew when Viking Queen finally tied up at Autoport this morning. The ship had been holding off Halifax since about December 23 in some of the worst weather we have seen this year. Its wanderings took it as far south as Liverpool, NS - but well out to sea. It must have steamed hundreds of miles in the four or five days it was offshore..Once the port re-opened after the Christmas Day shut down, it had to wait its turn after Otello which unloaded at both Pier 31 and Autoport.

Viking Queen is making a small contribution to the thousands of new cars in Autoport. 

It is a wonder there wasn't some damage to its precious cargo, but from what I could see today, it safely delivered a number of BMWs loaded in its last port, Emden, December 13.

Viking Queen was built as Hoegh Delhi by Uljanik, Pula, Croatia in 2007. A big ship of 55,775 grt, 16,870 dwt, it has a capacity of 7,000 cars.It became Viking Queen earlier in 2017.

The ship's owners, Gram Car Carriers, lists the ship's next port as Houston, with an ETA of December 29.  That schedule has obviously been thrown into disarray - it will be a week late at least.

For more on the ship, see Shipfax June 18, 2017

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Augusta Sun - new name

The Augusta Sun arrived this afternoon for Nirint Lines and tied up at pier 31. This is the sixth name for the ship built in 2003 as Atlantic Progress. It was renamed BBC Russia the same year, then in 2008 became Federal Patriot. In 2010 it became HAL Patriot and in 2013 Atlantic Patriot.
During 2017 the ship took up a charter with Nirint Lines and called in Halifax July 7 and November 1, both times with nickel concentrates from Cuba.
Shortly after the last visit it assumed its current name.

 Some frozen spray forward acquired on the way to Halifax in -14C weather.

Tug Atlantic Fir has also acquired some frost while working ships in the cold weather.

Builders of the 12,993 grt, 17,471 dwt ship were New Century Shipbuilding Co of Jingjiang, China. They fitted her out with a pair of 45 tonne cranes. Although mostly a bulk and break bulk ship, it can carry 1118 TEU.

Current commercial managers MTL (Marine Transport + Logistik of Duisburg, Germany) also manage two sister ships. Augusta Unity was until last October Atlantic Pioneer. It visited Halifax ealry in 2017 in service with Atlantic RoRo Carrier.
Atlantic Power was recently photographed in Curaçao on Nirint Lines service, carrying containers. So far at least it has not been renamed.
Before the recent name change, managers were the Hartmann Group. Another Hartmann subisidiary, Intership is recorded as owner of these vessels. This explains the stylized lower case "h" on the funnels.

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Asterix arrival

It was a blustery arrival for Asterix as it put into Halifax this morning for the first time. The Auxiliary Replenishment Ship is fresh from the Davie shipyard in Quebec where it was rebuilt from a commercial container ship. To be operated by Federal Fleet Services under contract to the Royal Canadian Navy, the ship is intended to provide supply services until new ships arrive sometime in the 2020s.

Stiff winds and freezing spray greet Asterix as it arrives in Halifax. Civilian tugs made up to the ship for berthing at pier 20.

Built by the Nordic shipyard in Wismar Germany in 2010 as Cynthia it was renamed Neermoor then Amorito later in 2010, finally taking the name Asterix in 2013. A ship of 18,199 grt, 26,000 dwt, it had a capacity of 1702 TEU (including 330 reefers) and operated for Briese Schiffahrts.


In 2015 Davie purchased the ship and was successful in convincing two consecutive federal governments to allow the conversion to a 26,000 ton displacement multi-purpose stores / cargo ship and tanker with refueling at sea capability. It also has a hangar for two helicopters and can be fitted with armament. Most of the work was carried out at Davie's Levis, QC yard, although the superstructure was built in Finland, and installed in Levis.

It will be operated by a joint complement of 36 civilians and up to 114 military with an additional 67 person replenishment team.


With continued delays in the navy's new replenishment ships (the former Queenston [Conservative] class, but now Protecteur [Liberal] class), Davie wants the green light to produce another conversion. Based on performance to date, this would be a very wise idea. Contracts for two ships would ensure replenishment capability on both coasts and bridge the gap which placed Canada in the awkward position of having to rely on other nations' ships for resupply. The cost of leasing the ships might also, if correctly allocated, convince the navy to get on with the job of finalizing the design of the new ships, and actually to begin construction. Supposing the ten year window is optimistic, this one ship would certainly need to go into refit at least once during that time to extend its tenure and another ship would be needed.


The second contract would mean the continued viability of the Davie yard and help to ensure that a shipbuilding industry continued to exist outside the confines of the two designated yards of Irving Shipbuilding and Seaspan. Both yards are devoted almost exclusively to the current troubled procurement program but cannot satisfy the demand for other types of ships. These include a new PEI ferry, a couple of new St.Lawrence River ferries, navy tugs, Coast Guard medium and light icebreakers and buoy tenders and even some commercial vessels.


Asterix will be unveiled to the public at pier 20, but will move at some point to HMC Dockyard when it enters service.

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Boxing Day cleanup

December 26, Boxing Day, is a holiday for most people in Halifax, and a day to clean up after Christmas. Shipping began to move again after a fierce windstorm that left many without power. Gusts up to 100 kph were recorded in some parts of western Nova Scotia and ferry services to New Brunswick and Newfoundland were disrupted again as they have been for several days. Temperatures in Halifax rocketed up to +7C Christmas Day as heavy rain accompanied the winds, and dropped again to -7C for Boxing Day.
One can only imagine conditions at sea, as several ships waited out the storm offshore or were delayed in arriving. There was of course the usual pre-Christmas rush as several ships finished up their work and got off to sea before the holiday - and the weather.

December 21
Irving Oil Woodside played host to the tanker British Sailor December 19 to 21. As usual with Irving Oil imports the ship arrived from Amsterdam via the Ijmuiden sea lock and sailed for Saint John.

From this angle, the background is the now denuded Imperial Oil refinery site, but the ship is berthed at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal.

BP, unlike many other oil majors, still operates a fleet of tankers, but they are no longer the elegant and distinctive vessels of the 1950s and 60s. Although nominally British, (it is flagged in the Isle of Man) the ship was mass produced in 2016 by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan, and is of the Mid-Range size of 30,948 grt, 45,999 dwt. The larger gross tonnage is apparently due to an extra accommodation deck in the superstructure. See the following

December 22
Also beating the rush was the tanker Beryl which arrived from Houston with refined product for Imperial Oil.

A more typical Mid-Range tanker, it measures 29,766 grt 49,990 dwt and was built in 2015 by SPP Shipbuilding Co of Incheon. It sailed early Christmas morning for Come-by-Chance, NL.

December 22
A heavy lift cargo arrived at pier 31 on December aboard the Spliethoff "F" class ship Floragracht.

By the time I caught up with her, the green object in the foreground had been unloaded and the ship was
loading what looked like reinforcing steel, using Logistec's mobile crane. The ship's last port was Baltimore, but the cargo could have originated almost anywhere, since these ships trade world wide.

On December 23, the ship was re-stowing tween decks, using its own gear, which consists of three 80 tonne cranes.It sailed later in the day giving Aberdeen. Scotland as its destination.
The 8620 grt, 12,178 dwt ship was built in 2011 by Jiangsu Changbo Shipyard in Jingjiang China, one of six multi-purpose ships of the class in the Spliethoff fleet.

December 23
The impressive autocarrier Grande Baltimora made its second appearance in Halifax in as many months. Owned by the Grimaldi Group it was delivering cars to Autoport (likely Fiat products). Unusually however, it then moved to Fairview Cove to unload more RoRo cargo.

Since the Grimaldi Group also owns Atlantic Container Line, it is possible that the ship was carrying some ACL cargo. After that the ship went to anchor to wait out a big blow, and sailed early December 24.
Built by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, the ship was delivered in July of this year, and measures 62,134 grt, 18,447 dwt and has a capacity of 6700 autos. It also has a 150 tonne stern ramp for other RoRo cargoes.

December 24
The tanker Alhena arrived from New Orleans for Imperial Oil, but did not spend long at the dock. It moved to anchor in Bedford Basin early on Christmas morning.

A slight variation in the usual run of handy size tankers, this one was built in 2012 by Guangzhou International in China. Tonnages of 30,240 grt, 52,420 are on the high side for Mid-Range. The Bahamas flag ship is managed by Super-Echo Tankers Management Inc for the obscurely named Nightingale Seacarriers Ltd.

Meanwhile three container ships left port, all delayed by high winds the night before. Since all three were scheduled for about the same time, I chose to go after Dalian Expres, one of the few HAPAG-Lloyd ships on the THE Alliance services, which is almost exclusively carried out in Halifax by Yang Ming and K-Line. ships.

Dalian Express makes the dogleg turn in the Narrows, as the cable ship IT Intrepid lies at its winter base at Pier 9A.

The former Hamburg Express to 2011, is a 7506 TEU vessel of 88,493 grt, 100,006 dwt, built in 2001 by Hyundai, Ulsan, and is about the largest size ship able to transit the two harbour bridges to reach the Ceres terminal in Fairview Cove. 

CMA CGM Ivanhoe and Maersk Patras sailed from Halterm at about the same time

December 25
After an almost springlike December 24, high winds picked up again Christmas morning, bringing rainy and squally conditions off and on. The tanker Alhena made for Bedford Basin anchorage, since its berth at Imperial Oil was exposed to the brunt of the winds.

 

Alhena in blustery conditions with the cargo ship Thorco Logos in the background, joined Fagelgracht, another of the Spleithoff "F" class ships, that arrived the night before from Liverpool. UK. There was an afternoon sunny break but it could not cut through the salt laden spume blowing in from sea.

Fagelgracht has some containers on deck forward, but otherwise appears light. The ship may be the first of the winter callers for Spliethoff. The company has a regular schedule to Great Lakes ports such as Cleveland and Chicago in season, but with the St.Lawrence Seaway closing December 31, this ship would not have time to make those calls and exit before shutdown. Last winter the ships called regularly in Halifax until the Seaway re-opened in spring.

December 26

With conditions returning to fairly calm, it was a very different picture in Bedford Basin.

Thorco Logos, with its holds fitted for cable transport, has been idle in the Basin since mid- November (aside from a brief stores replenishment visit to Pier 9C December 12 to 14) . Alhena does not appear to have dragged much, and is ready to take bunkers later in the day from Algoma Dartmouth.

Aboard Fagelgracht a crew member attends to some maintenance. He is just visible in orange trousers and yellow coat atop the open hatch.

Among the arrivals today is the impressive research ship Fugro Discovery. It has been hired by Fisheries and Oceans for the Newfoundland Oceanography Monitoring Program normally carried out by CCGS Hudson. That ship's interrupted refit, now due for completion sometime in the spring of 2018 (a year late) has resulted in millions of dollars spent on chartered ships to do its work.
FugroDiscovery's charter alone will be in excess of $880,000 (not including taxes).

Built by the Marynaki naval shipyard in Gdynia, Poland and completed by Mykleburst MV in Gurksen, Norway in 1997, as Tromso the ship served out a ten year charter to the Norwegian Coast Guard as an offshore patrol vessel. It was armed with a 40mm/L60 Bofors cannon and carried out EEZ patrols, fisheries inspections, search and rescue missions and pollution control.
In March 2007 it ended the charter and was sold to the Dutch survey company Fugro and converted to a research vessel, flying the Panama flag. It was fitted with a 16 tonne capacity A-frame and other gear to support a ROV. It has accommodation for 24 persons.

Last year the ship assisted in the unsuccessful search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.
This year Fugro applied for a coasting license to survey the Flemish Pass, Orphan Basin and Carson Canyon off Newfoundland for Nalcor Energy. So far I have been unable to find a record that the license was granted. The application covered the period from mid-August to December 31.
 

 In the background the idle CCGS Hudson lies alongside the Bedford Institute, its refit not yet complete. Also alongside is the decommissioned survey vessel Matthew which has been for sale off an on for several years, without any takers.

Also at the Bedford Institute, two new long range SAR lifeboats, Baie de Plaisance and Pennant Bay are undergoing trials and training before entering service in the spring.

Baie de Plaisance will be stationed in Cap-aux-Meules, Magdalen Islands, replacing Cap-aux-Meules  and Pennant Bay in Sambro, NS, replacing Sambro. They are part of a large order for twenty craft replacing boats on both coasts.

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Christmas Greeting

Unless something extraordinarily exciting happens in Halifax harbour, Shipfax will be taking a Christmas break for a few days.
In the meantime, best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Atlantic Cartier, built in 1985 and lengthened in 1987, traded for Atlantic Container Line (under various ownerships) for its entire service life. Its first call in Halifax was May 29, 1985 and its last was June 30 to July 1, 2017. Aside from refits (and a fire and a few other incidents) it maintained a monthly rotation through Halifax for all those years.It is unlikely that its record of service (and that of its four sister ships, particulary Atlantic Conveyor which served a few month longer) will ever be broken.
It arrived in Alang India in August and was beached for scrapping September 22.

A word of explanation:
Halifax is noted as an ice free harbour.  This means that it does not freeze over. Although ice can form in the Northwest Arm and in some coves and backwaters, the main harbour does not freeze. The reason is that air temperatures rarely remain cold enough for long enough (see my Tugfax Christmas Greeting for a very, very cold day). In 1962 after a prolonged cold spell slush ice made going  difficult for the pilot boat, but only inconvenienced shipping for a brief time.

Sometimes however broken ice drifts into Halifax harbour. The ice originates in the Gulf of St.Lawrence and is carried by winds and tides and is drawn along the coast and into the harbour. It can quite quickly be drawn out again by the same forces. It is a very rare event however that sufficient ice comes in to effect shipping.

In fact it has only happened twice in the last 100 years. March of 1948 was quite severe, when Gulf  ice was the heaviest in 22 years and a 100 mile wide band of ice extended well past Halifax.
The photo above shows the second time when the harbour was clogged with ice for several days, cleared, then returned for a few days.

Icebreakers were called in, not to break ice, but to move it aside to clear paths for ships. Atlantic Cartier was one of several ships that coped quite well with the novel experience.

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Endeavor returns

The (United States) National Science Foundation research vessel Endeavor returned to Halifax this afternoon after completing the first 23 day scientific charter from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Bedford Institute.

Built by Peterson Builders in Sturgeon Bay, WI in 1976, the 784 long ton displacement, 298 grt vessel is operated by the Graduate School of Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island and is based in Narragansett, RI. It had a major mid-life refit in 1993, during which the hull was lengthened from 177 ft to 185 ft loa and modified. Its single GM EMD delivers 3,050 shp to a controllable pitch prop in a steering nozzle. 

  According to figures published by the CBC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (aka DFO) hired the vessel at a cost of $1,041,044 for work that CCGS Hudson was slated to do. Because Hudson's $4mn refit was still incomplete in November, the ship was yanked from the Heddle Marine in Hamilton, ON and returned to Halifax. DFO has said that the work will be finished alongside BIO by April 2018.

However the University of Rhode Island's web site reports that Endeavor has been hired again for continuation of the work for 23 days in April / May 2018 for an additional $(US)649,632. The Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program on the Scotian Slope and Gulf of Maine is a continuing process and requires fall and spring surveys.Perhaps DFO scientists do not believe their own department's press releases.

Meanwhile at the old Coast Guard base in Dartmouth Coriolis II is in winter layup after also chartering to Fisheries and Oceans for work that Hudson could not do. That expedition to the Gulf of St.Lawrence cost $721,568.

 Leeway Oyssey at left and Coriolis II at right in winter layup at the old Coast Guard base.

Off Newfoundland the Fugro Discovery (Panama flag) was also hired for work that Hudson could not do at a cost of $822,000.

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