No submarines on the horizon

It came as a surprise to some to hear that the Royal Canadian Navy's four submarines did not spend a single day at sea in all of 2019.  The subs are all are in various states of refit or repair and may not even sail in 2020 depending on how work can be accomplished under COVID-19 requirements for distancing. Distancing for workers inside submarines will be difficult at best, not to mention for crews.

A recent opinion piece by a respected navy observer made some salient points about the current state of affairs and the future of submarines in the RCN. There is  a  necessity for subs as they can perform work no other naval vessels can do. He did not state, but I am sure it is the case, that NATO allies (one in particular) would be very critical if the RCN ditched subs completely as Denmark did. Canada's very long coast line and arctic sovereignty issues warrant submarines, as do political realities in the Pacific and Mediterranean.

He also reckoned that nuclear subs are still politically unpalatable. I would say the practicality is also an issue as we would have to be beholden to another country in a big way if we went nuke, and would require at least one new naval base away from populated areas.

So let's say we need subs, and they would be conventional (i.e. non-nuclear) and they would need to be crewed (as opposed to autonomous or remotely operated or the equivalent of drones.) It takes 15 years to deliver new naval craft in his opinion, so planning should be underway now, as no "used" subs are likely to come on the market. Once bitten the RCN would be unlikely to go for used anyway in light of their experience with the current Victoria class. (Buying them was not a bad idea at first, but they were allowed to deteriorate before we got our hands on them.)

Major refits will be needed again on the current subs in the mid 2020s to extend their lives to 2035 and at a cost of $2.5 billion. Four new subs would come in at $3 to $5 billion. So it is not too soon to begin planning.

HMCS Windsor inbound to Halifax.

Policy decisions are needed now on new subs in order to maintain consistent work flow for our naval shipbuilding industries. However in light of the current crisis, I wonder how it is possible to have a public debate about any topic, let alone a political or parliamentary one. One of the candidates for head of an opposition party is a former minister of defense in a previous government. Who better to raise the issue, but a leadership campaign is an unlikely forum for such a discussion.

Partnering with another country on a design is likely since building a home grown design seems unlikely. Why re-invent the wheel*. Partnering adds a layer of complexity to the whole issue, so the sooner we get on with the project the better. Perhaps a co-operative process within NATO or with another ally would result in interchangeability and other sensible efficiencies.

(* This blog format does not like question marks so I don't use them.)

As a tribute to the Canadian Forces Day

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APL Dublin

Another 10,000 TEU plus container ship arrived at PSA Halifax today - APL Dublin flies the Singapore flag. Unfortunately it was raining and foggy when it arrived, and it is due to sail in the middle of the night, so the only photo I managed was a "through the windshield" view from the road.

Built by Daewoo, Okpo in 2012 it is a 128,929 gt, 131,204 dwt ship with a reported capacity of 10,960 TEU (The classification Society DNV GL however calls it 10,700.]

Of note about the ship is the huge fully enclosed bridge. Open bridge wings, and their exposure to weather were apparently considered undesirable. Although built originally for APL's parent company NOL, it was re-financed in 2019 and is now owned by a Seaspan International company. It is now managed by CMA CGM International Shipping Pte Ltd, part of APL'S current parent CMA CGM.

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We have lift off

The wind farm installation vessel Vole au Vent moved into position alongside Bigroll Beaufort again yesterday, and once spudded down elevated its hull out of the water.

Today it was at work lifting wind turbine components aboard.

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Primary Colours Day

It was an ideal day for colours, with bright sun in a cloudless sky. Ships seemed to take advantage of this with a display of most of the primary colours (or shades thereof). Instead of the drab black and sometimes white of yesteryear, today there were ships with Red, Orange,Yellow, Green and Blue and perhaps shades of Indigo and Violet

Red was well displayed by the Canadian Coast Guard as both CCGS Earl Grey and CCGC G.Peddle S.C. sailed this afternoon.

G.Peddle displays a 'Fisheries Patrol' banner on its bridge rail. 

They sailed past Bigroll Beaufort which had shifted positions end for end at Woodside to off load another wind turbine.

An unusual mint green kayak on the right!

At the adjacent Exxon Mobil dock the supplier   Atlantic Osprey was just in from Sable Island, moving into the orange shade.

Arriving from St-Pierre et Miquelon (by way of Argentia, NL eastbound) Nolhan Ava exhibits both green and yellow to help fill the spectrum.

There were choices for blue:

Vole au Vent has returned to Halifax to load another wind turbine, and was refueling at the Irving Oil terminal in Woodside. Its blue hull can barely be seen, until it is jacked up on its spuds, then it is entirely visible.

Another blue ship, the Pola Imabari arrived this afternoon for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency requires ships that have been in the far east recently to be inspected and cleared before going to ports where the invasive species could hatch and populate Canadian forests.

 The port anchor has been readied for lowering when the ship reaches number 1 anchorage.

The ship was built by Imabari Zosen  in 2016 as Glorious Sunrise, 23,232 gt, 37,718 dwt and fitted with four cranes. I could not see any bucket grabs for handling bulk cargo. However it does carry stanchions to permit deck loads of timber, and is considered to be a general cargo ship as opposed to a bulk carrier.

The ship begins to swing round in a very light wind, but the crew seems to be having trouble deploying the pilot ladder.

Oceanex Sanderling is in the background at Autoport, taking on its weekly consignment of cars for Newfoundland, and providing a bit of red/blue contrast.

Its last port was Vila do Conde, Brazil, so the ship is likely carrying bauxite or alumina, bound for one of the Quebec ports such as La Baie, Sept-Iles or Baie Comeau. The ship is registered in Panama, but is owned by GTLK Asia Ltd, a large international leasing company, based in Russia, usually associated with aircraft. Mangers are INOK NV, also a large Russian concern, based in St.Petersburg.
The significance of the letter P (Cyrillic for "R") on the funnel is a mystery.

For the remaining blue range of colours the sky and water will have to do in providing those hues.

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Ships that pass in the Basin

Cerescorp's terminal at Fairview Cove was host to two ships today, one after the other. First in was Atlantic Container Line's Atlantic Sail, berthing at the west berth to discharge RoRo cargo. When it completed work the inbound MOL Emissary was inbound to take its place.

Atlantic Sail made a very wide loop out into Bedford Basin to give the inbound ship lots of room. Once MOL Emissary was clear of the MacKay Bridge, Atlantic Sail had a clear shot at the Narrows.

Once into the Basin the stern escort tug Atlantic Beaver was able to brake and begin to turn the ship.
MOL Emissary, 54,940 gt, 67,170 dwt, 5087 TEU (including 330 reefers), was built in 2009 by Hyundai, Ulsan.

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Dartmouth Trip

Although I live on the Halifax* (southwest) side of Halifax harbour, the best views of ships are sometimes from the opposite, Dartmouth** side of the harbour. Fortunately there are bridges and ferries that make it easy to get back and forth. So depending on the position of the sun and the scene of the "action" I go to Dartmouth frequently.

Today there was an unusual ship move that would be difficult to see from Halifax, so off to Dartmouth I went.

The Algoma tanker Algoscotia was set to move from the Irving Oil dock to Imperial Oil. Built in 2004 by Qiuxin, Shanghai the 13,352 gt, 18,610 dwt ship has been calling in Halifax since new. Algoma took over Imperial Oil's own tanker fleet and gradually went about replacing the ships with new ones. Algoma tankers usually carry Imperial product, so seeing the ship at the Irving Oil terminal is rare although not unheard of.

In Dartmouth, and at the next dock, the heavy lift shift Bigroll Beaufort is still at IEL Woodside waiting to offload the next wind turbine. The first of the four has been dispatched to the Virginia coast for installation. I had the chance for a new angle on the ship.

Is there something about Nova Scotia where utility poles are never vertical?

* The name "Halifax" is now applied to the Halifax Regional Municipality [HRM], a huge geographical  area formed of dozens of smaller communities in the year 1996. Among them were the cities of Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford and the largely rural Halifax County. Its population of just over 400,000 plus resides in an area of 2,120 square miles, strung along a ragged coastline.

**The City of Dartmouth was formed in 1961 with the amalgamation of several unincorporated neighbourhoods, each with a distinct identity. Woodside, South Woodside and Imperoyal (named for the Imperial Oil refinery) were among them, along with the town of Dartmouth. "Dartmouth" is still an official geographical name, even though it is part of the Halifax Regional Municipality. In 1996 when the HRM was formed the City of Dartmouth had a population of about 65,000. The name "Halifax" has now come to include Dartmouth when referring to the Halifax Regional Municipality. However Dartmouth residents usually make the distinction, and others extend the term Dartmouth to a huge swath of the eastern portion of the HRM that was never part of the old City of Dartmouth.

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Cruise Ban

The Canadian government has extended and expanded its ban on cruise ships in Canadian waters, effectively ending the 2020 cruise season before it can begin. Ships with overnight accommodation for more than 100 people (includes passengers and crew) are now prohibited in Canada until October 31. That day marks the usual end of the cruise season in Halifax (give or take a day or so). A previous ban imposed in March restricted ships with more than 500 persons until July.

A harbour tour boat kiosk on the Halifax waterfront exhibited this sign at the end of the 2019 season on October 28. 

Pre-pandemic, Halifax had been expecting  more than 200 ship visits with 350,000 visitors, in 2020. Nearby ports such as Saint John, Charlottetown and Sydney predicted in the range of 90 calls.

Last year was a banner year with 179 cruise ship calls in Halifax. The Port Authority reported 324,828 passengers and crew in 2019. That number exceeds the urban population of the Halifax Regional Municipality, reported to be 316,701 in 2016. (total population was 431,4769 in 2017).

Many businesses that depend on cruise visitors (and tourists in general) will be forced to scale back or close. The cruise ship industry as a whole has been dealt a tremendous blow by Covid-19 and it will take several years to recover, and even then it may appear radically different.

A footnote to the main ban is the restriction to ships of less than 12 passengers in Arctic waters until October 31. That virtually eliminates "expedition" type cruises, since the northern navigation season rarely extends beyond the end of October.

October 31, 2019: Anthem of the Seas was the last cruise ship to call in Halifax.