How Narrow

 The Narrows, the stretch of water joining the main body of Halifax Harbour and the Bedford Basin, is aptly named. It is usually too narrow for ships to meet safely, and was the scene of the collision between the inbound Mont Blanc and outbound IMO that resulted in the horrific Halifax Explosion of  December 6, 1917.

I was therefore surprised to see what was effectively a meet, off Pier 9B this morning (November 27). Granted that area, with Tuft's Cove on the Dartmouth side, is the "widest" part of the Narrows.

The coastal tanker Algoscotia was moving from Imperial Oil's Number 3 dock to Pier 9B - likely due to high winds today. (The oil dock is not suitable in high winds.) The tanker entered the Narrows and with  the tug Atlantic Bear turned off the dock to come alongside starboard side to.

As this was going on the auto carrier Thermopylae was entering the Narrows, northbound. It was heading to Bedford Basin, with two tugs, to turn and re-enter the Narrows and tie up at Pier 9C.

Due to the high ground on both sides of the Narrows, the wind tends to funnel through and accelerate, particulary when it is northerly. White caps are the indicator of those conditions.

With the cable ship IT Infinity at Pier 9B there was little room to spare, when the "meet" took place.

 Once safely clear, the Thermoylae carried on, passing beneath the A. Murray MacKay bridge and into Bedford Basin.

After turnng it returned for Pier 9C.

The Algoscotia was built in 2004 by Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. The 13,352 gt, 18,610 dwt ship has been working out of Halifax delivering product to such ports as Sydney, Corner Brook and Sept-Iles.

The Thermopylae, 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt dates from 2015 when it waas delivered to Wilhelmsen Lines by Hyundai Samho. It has a capacity of 8,000 RT43 cars and comes with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. It has no side ramp. (I note on the ship's hull that the final "AE" in the name is rendered as a dipthong ligature Æ - it is considered a letter of the alphabet in Norway. In the English pronunciation of the ship's name, which is from the Latin, it sounds somewhere between the "a" as in "day" or the "e" on "free".)

When the Thermopylae first began calling in Halifax it wore the traditional Wilhelmsen red hull paint, but as noted in previous posts, either the formulation or the application of the paint was faulty and it faded very badly.

 Although Wilhelmsen and Wallenius joined forces in 1999, each line retained its individual identity with Wallenius ships in green and Wilhelmsen in red hull colours. When they re-organized and  rebranded in 2017 as Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, they abopted the current colour scheme.

Thermopylae will unload RoRo cargo at Pier 9C, and will later move to Autoport when the SFL Conductor sails. (That ship was last here March 29, 2023 [qv] on Vaolswagen charter.)

Another tanker is due at Imperial Oil - conditions permitting - the 50,000 dwt size Silver Ginny, with product from Louisiana -it may discharge before Algoscotia returns to Imperial Oil.

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Sunday traffic jam

With ships arriving and leaving at the same time - normally at the end of the day shift for port workers - traffic can get janmed up a bit. Fortunately, there are two channels that ships can use to avoid close quarters meets.

 

Three ships - two  outbound in the western or deep water channel and one inbound in the main channel.

Today was a very minor jam, with one inbound and two outbound.


Outbound in the lead was the impressive Crystal Symphony. Now considered a classic - not only because it has no unsightly hull graphics - but also because of its graceful proportions and swooping bow. Remarkably unchanged in appearance since it was built by Kvaerner Masa, Turku in 1995, the 51,044 grt ship has a passenger capacity of 922. It has undergone three extensive refits, one in 2006, one in 2009 and another in 2012. During its long career it has cruised in many parts of the world, but only in this area in 2012 and 2013.

The second departure was Hoegh Bangkok built in 2007 by Uljanik, Pula, an autocarrier of 55,775 grt, 16,632 dwt, with a 6500 CEU capacity. It fell in behind Crstal Symphony and took the western channel.

The one inbound ship was Thermopylae operating for Wallenius Wilhelmsen, but owned by Wilhelmsen. Its company theme name, beginning with the letter "T" recognizes the Greek site of the 450 BC battle between Leonidas of Sparta (loser) and Xerxes (winner). The name means "Hot Gates" and it certainly was a hot time for the defenders in one of the most famous "last stands" of all time.  For ship lovers however the name is associated with the famous China tea clipper Thermopylae, built in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1868 and setting a never since broken outbound time to Melbourne and defeating the Cutty Sark in a homebound race from Shanghai.

Wilhelmsen ships' nmaes begin with "T" and thier hulls are apainted a red-orange colour. However someone needs to change the formula since this one was has faded dramatically in only three years.

This Thermopylae was built in 2015 by Hyundai Samho and measures 75,283 grt, 75,283 dwt with a capacity of 8,000 autos. A post-Panamax ship, it is a member of the HERO (High Efficiency RoRo) class, with significant capacity break bulk and non auto cargoes.

In the background the tanker Ardmore Encounter now at Imperial Oil (see yesterday's post) was continuing to unload and is now high out of the water.

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Some of Each

 It was a sort of smorgasbord of shipping in Halifax today, July 7, 2024, with representatives of most of the various types of ships that call here.

At PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway there were two container ships, ONE Hawk at Pier 41 and Tropic Hope at Pier 42.

The ONE Hawk is a regular on THE Alliance's Asia -North America EC5 service and is one of several "bird class" 14,056 TEU sister ships on the route. It is westbound from Colombo for New York via the Cape of Good Hope.

 

The Tropic Hope and sister Tropic Lissette operate the weekly service for Tropical Shipping. Tropic Hope arrived this morning from San Juan, Puerto Rico, but was not working cargo this afternoon. It has its cranes swung out ready to start work Monday morning, and is due to sail for Palm Beach, FL.

PSA Fairview Cove also had a regular caller, ZIM China, on the the ZIM Container Atlantic (ZCA) service.

ZIM also carries Hapag-Lloyd (and UASC) boxes in addition to its own cargo.

 ZIM China made it first call in Halifax December 27, 2022. Built in 2008 by Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry in Geoje, South Korea, it is a 40,487 gt, 51,733 dwt ship with a capacity of 4275 TEU. It carried the name Hanjin Kenya from 2008 to 2017 then after a brief spell as Seaspan Kenya it became ALS Fauna later in 2017. It became ZIM China as of April 1, 2022. The tug Atlantic Bear escorted the ship beneath the A. Murray MacKay bridge (pictured) and through the Narrows and the Angus L. Macdonald bridge outbound for sea.

Autoport hosted the familiar Wallenius Wilhelmsen Thermopylae from the usual western Europe ports, Zeebrugge, Bremerhaven and Southampton.

The Thermopylae, 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt dates from 2015 when it was delivered to Wilhelmsen Lines by Hyundai Samho. It has a capacity of 8,000 RT43 cars and comes with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. Its famous namesake was a 991 grt extreme clipper and was once the fastest ship in the world. Built in Aberdeen in 1868 for the China tea trade, it outraced the Cutty Sark, and set a record day's run of 380 statute miles. It was Canadian owned for a time (1890-1895) and lasted until 1907 when it was sunk as a naval target.

There were four tankers in port today. Algoscotia returned Friday, July 5, from its refit in Portugal where it was drydocked and received a new ballast water system. Its return voyage was a little unusual. It went to Sewaren, NJ (also known as Cliffside Port Reading) and took on a cargo for Imperial Oil. Algoma tankers rarely make international voyages, and this may be a first.

Algoscotia docked bow south at Imperial Oil No.3 dock.

Irving Oil had their own ship East Coast (not pictured) arriving early this morning, and it berthed at the Woodside terminal on arrival. The foreign flag CB Pacific arrived yesterday and anchored until the East Coast sails.

The CB Pacific has become a more or less regular, calling in Halifax in February, March, and May as it made its way between Boston, New Haven, Albany (twice) , New York (twice) and Montreal. Although it has been carrying product for Irving Oil it has not called in Saint John, NB as far as I can tell. It appears to be in ballast. or very lightly loaded this time.

 The CB Pacific, built by Jiangsu New Hantong shipbuilding in Yangzhong, China, was delivered in 2020. The 27,250 gt, 37,787 dwt ship is equipped to handle crude oil, clean petroluem products or chemicals in twelve phenolic epoxy coated tanks (plus two slops tanks). The ship is also built to DNV Baltic Ice Class 1B and is fitted with a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber which can be run at zero emissions. As previously noted it has a covered fore deck - a feature rarely incorporated in tankers.

The fourth tanker is the heated asphalt carrier barge John J.Carrick with its integrated tug Leo A. McArthur, which arrived yesterday from the Great Lakes for McAsphalt.

 

McAsphalt ordered a 12,000 dwt tanker from China in 2021. It was launched in June 2023 and at last report it appears to have been delivered July 1, but is still in China, with no ETA for Canada.

I have taken better pictures of the cruise ship Island Princess on previous visits, such as this one in 2023: 

The best I could do today was a hazy "going away" shot - not its best aspect:

 

It is a rare day when I catch every ship arrival and departure. The only one I seem to have missed today was the 0130 hrs departure of the Oceanex Sanderling, making is rare second trip to St.John's during the past week.

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ZIM moves

 Another shoe dropped today (August 4) in the rationalization of container lines between the two container terminals in the Port of Halifax. Under common management of PSA, previous shifts saw some MSC ships moving from the South End Container Terminal (SECT) to PSA Fairview Cove and some Alliance ships moving from Fairview to the SECT. Then there was SPMI moving its Nolhan Ava on its weekly service to St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia from Fairview Cove to the SECT. 

Yesterday (see post) it was the long expected Oceanex move from the South End  to Fairview Cove. Predictably there were many more trucks at the Fairview gate today, and at one time they were lined up outside the property.

Most of these trucks were for Oceanex and therefore would have been diverted from going through downtown (to the relief of the truck drivers and the rest of the population) but some of the boxes were likely interchanges from the South End that had to travel the length of the peninsula to reach Fairview. Planned changes to the nearby Windsor Street Exchange, and better truck access to PSA Fairview Cove are in the planning stages, but so far, from the truck traffic point of view, this is just relocating the congestion. (I even noticed one the SECT yard tractors on a flat bed, possibly also moving north!)

This afternoon the next big shoe began to drop (the analogy is not a great one, since it is a two step drop!)

ZIM's CFX feeder service from Halifax to Kingston, Jamaica (and way ports), currently operated by two ships, the Contship Art since July 28, and the Contship Leo since October 2011 had the latter ship at the South End terminal this morning. This afternoon it moved to Bedford Basin anchorage.

This is the first sign of ZIM's move to Fairview Cove with its ZCA service. Presumably the Contship Leo cleared out empties and waiting boxes at the SECT and will await tomorrow's arrival of ZIM Vancouver which will now dock at PSA Fairview Cove (the second part of the shoe to drop).

This is a major shift, since ZIM was an early (and for many years the largest) customer at the South End Container Terminal - the former Halterm, now PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. The move is partly due to expansion and other changes at the South End that will disrupt normal operations. Demolition, construciotn of new buildings, additional rail sidings, worker parking and truck gate changes are in the works). Also, since ZIM uses relatively small ships, it can move whereas other lines use ships that are too large to reach Fairview.

This June 19, 1977 view of the Halterm facility, shows the grey hulled ZIM New York approaching Pier 41. This view has already changed considerably, but is due to change even more in the near future. All of the buildings in the picture are or will be gone when the expansion is completed.

Built by Italcantieri SpA, Genoa in 1972, the ZIM New York was launched as the Thermopylae, but it never sailed with the name of the famous China tea clipper as it was immediately chartered by Schiffs. Meyer KG to ZIM Israel Navigation Company. (ZIM bought the ship in 1980 and it was scrapped in 1991.) The 25,831 gt, 25,200 dwt ship had a capacity of 1426 TEU, and dimensions of 208.1m LOA x 30.6m. It was considered sizeable at the time.

By comparison the ZIM Vancouver is a 39,906 gt, 50,532 dwt vessel, built in 2007 by Dalian #2 Shipbuilding Industry and has a capaciity of 4250 TEU, with dimensions of 263.23 m LOA x 32.20 m. Hull shape and deck load height have been maximized for containers since 1972! Even so ZIM Vancouver would be considered inefficient in certain trades.

ZIM's debut at Fairview Cove may have been delayed somewhat as the ship NYK Constellation, which was supposed to sail late this afternoon, and free up the berth, has been rescheduled for late tonight. (See yesterday's post for more on that ship.) This caused Contship Leo to anchor and ZIM Vancouver to change its pilot order from 1630 hrs today to 1530 0530 hrs tomorrow. An 23 12 hour delay is certainly an inauspicious start to the new arrangement.

As a matter of record, PSA Fairview Cove was also working the Oceanex Sanderling at the west berth (at the RoRo ramp) on its usual Friday schedule, and SECT was working the Nolhan Ava at Pier 42, on its Friday schedule, and the ONE Grus (see today's earlier post) at Pier 41.

 Nolhan Ava at Pier 42 (it was at Pier 31 from yesterday for maintenance.) Not sure where it will work RoRo traffic - if any (I saw two cars on flat deck containers).

 

ONE Grus with the big cranes at Pier 41. 

Not a ZIM box in sight for the first time in 50 plus years.

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Arrivals of Note (and Footnote)

 Among the arrivals in Halifax today, January 2, 2024, there were some notable ones.

The tanker Harbour Pioneer was noteworthy on a couple ofcounts. Firrst was that it arrived at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal from New York. By far the majority of ships that arrive at that dock are Irving Oil's own (albeit long term chartered) tankers, doing their rounds delivering product for local consumption from Irving's own refinery in Saint John, NB. Irving Oil also receives refined product at that dock from its own sources in Europe, shipped out of Amsterdam, but those shipments have been relatively rare lately.

Second point of interest is the ship's size. Instead of the usual MidRange ship of about 50,000 deadweight tonnes coming from Europe or the 37,500 dwt of its own tankers, the Harbour Pioneer is a mere 13,239 gt, 19,122 dwt. Built in 2010 by Yangfan in Zhoushan, China, it is owned by Vierte Nordtank of Hamburg. Ships of that company are well known Great Lakes callers but are seen here only once in a long while. I note the ship has enclosed bridge wings so it is likely Ice Class, as the prefix "Nord" in the company name implies.

I can also assume that the ship is carrying some small "package" of needed component such as winter fuel additive for local blending or some less commonly used product.

Another arrival has been the subject of some speculation (mine).

The Athina III is a 39,037 gt, 73,305 dwt Panamax bulk carrier, built in 2004 by Namura Shipbuilding Co Ltd at the Imari Shipyard + Works in Japan. It was delivered as the Ioannis Zafirakis and renamed Athina III in 2018 by the current owners Salvia Shipping, and the management of Eastern Mediterranean Maritime.

The ship arrived in Quebec City December 25 having departed Al Fujayrah, UAE anchorage November 19. It transited the Suez Canal November 28-29 and bunkered in Gibraltar December 7. After unloading in the Sillery section of the Port of Quebec (which has bulk cargo storage and distribution facilities) it departed December 29 and anchored off Halifax January 1.

When spotted from shore yesterday (see previous post) the ship appeared to be loaded, but that was a view from sea level, and was misleading. From closer up today, the ship appears to be in ballast and therefore will take a full load in Halifax, not just a top-up. The ship has a history of carrying soybeans, and that is likely what it will load here.

 As you will have noticed from today's two photos, the angle of view and focal length of the camera lens can distort the appearance of the ship, exagerating its proportions.

The autocarrier  Thermopylae made a return visit today. The ship made a quick turn around after it last visit on November 27, 2023. It sailed from here on November 28 and called at Baltimore December 1, Gothenburg December 15, Bremerhaven December 17-18, Zeebrugge December 20 and Southampton December 22-24. On this trip it is carrying only cars for Halifax, so went directly to Autoport, without dropping RoRo cargo at Pier 9C as it did last time.

The first ship of the HERO class (High Efficiency RoRo). it was delivered in 2015 by Hyundai Samho, Mokpo. The 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt ship can carry 8,000 RT43 class cars and uses a 320 tonne SWL stern ramp.

With port operations now back to normal after the holidays, two container ships arrived from offshore where they had been idling. ONE Wren tied up at Pier 41 and MOL Experience at PSA Fairview Cove. I expect the Atlantic Sail, arriving later today, will have interchange cargo for the idle Nolhan Ava which has been "parked" at Pier 9C. Tropic Lisette at Pier 42 resumed cargo operations today too and is due to sail at the end of the working day.

 Footnote

It is a good time to thank everyone who has supported this blog during the past year with comments including the always welcome corrections, and to add Best Wishes for 2024.

I do not monotize this blog, so I receive no financial reward for readership totals. But I do welcome readers to sign up as followers. 

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Flashback Zim New York

Halterm had all four post-Panamax cranes in operation yesterday working the Zim New York.

Back in 1975 Halterm had three cranes available to work a ship of the same name.

 The first Zim New York was built in 1972 by Italcantieri Spa of Genoa as Thermopylae, but was sold to Zim while fitting out. It measured 25,831 gross tons. In those days the TEU capacity was not published in Lloyd's Register.  Soon after the ship went into service, Zim added a secondary wheelhouse above the main bridge, to allow for additional container stacks on deck. Its capacity was then listed as 1426 TEU. It was also a steam ship, powered by a 38,000 shp steam turbine. The ship lasted until 1991 when it was broken up in Kaohsiung.

In those days the breakwater had a small lighthouse on the end and was a gathering spot for fishermen and ship watchers. It also extended out beyond the Halterm pier face.

 A June 1975 view of Halterm with Zim New York approaching pier 41.

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Old Tricks - updated

 Forward visibility on container ships can be a problem if the deck load of boxes is too high. The International Maritime Organization (the IMO) which sets standards for ship design, construction and operation, has a guideline for visibility, with several clauses. The most basic one is that the view of the sea surface ahead from the conning position is to be two ships lengths or 500 meters, which ever is less, and within 10 degrees both sides of the centre line.

It was found that early container ships could carry many more containers than the orginal design allowed, but that the visibility would be compromised. Because of the variable weights of loaded containers, and the number of empties in the cargo, ships could be loaded safely (within the regulations for freeboard), but did not have the forward visibility because of the high deckloads.

The solution was to build a second, supplementary, navigation bridge above the original bridge. The second bridge did not duplicate all the facilities of the original bridge, but did have a helm and thus the desired visibility from the conning position. How much it was actually used in practice, remains a question.

One early container ship with such a modification that I remember seeing was the ZIM New York, built in 1972 by Italcantieri, Genoa Sesti. 

 As Zim New York departs Halifax in 1978, it is staying well clear of the Bluednose II. The extra added bridge structure is just visible, and the ship is loaded to its marks.How many TEUs could the ship carry? - see footnote

The high bridge is just visible as the ship prepares to leave Pier 41, Halterm in 1975. I think I was within the two ship's length but outside the 10 degrees margin. The tugs Point Viking (foreground) and Point Vim are pulling the ship clear with tow lines. (They were the ship's lines.)
 

In those good old days, the breakwater extended out beyond the end of pier 42 and had a lighthouse at the end. Here the ship has a much smaller deck load - and a noticeably lighter draft.The miniature second bridge is just visible.

Even with more historical information available on cargo, and sophisticated computer calculated mathematical models for determining ships' deadweight capacities these days, the actual weight of cargo at any one time can vary greatly. So some "modern" ships have also been fitted with one of these supplementary bridge structures. Such a ship appeared in Halifax today.

 ONE Hangzhou Bay, built as Hangzhou Bay Bridge in 2012 by IHI, Kure is a 96,790 gt, 96,980 dwt ship with a capacity of 9120 TEU.

Leaving Fairview Cove this afternoon, the ship would have had virtually no visibility from is original bridge, and so the small upper bridge was certainly required to meet the visibility standard. Was it added after the ship was built?

The ship is owned by K-Line and operates for Ocean Network Express, the Singapore based combination of the three major Japanese container lines (NYK, MOL, K-Line). It was renamed in 2021 and painted in ONE's magenta theme. ONE is a partner in THE Alliance and the ship is on the Asia-North America EC5 route.

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Footnote

The Zim New York, launched as Thermopylae measured 25,831 gt, 24,815 dwt and was rated for 1436 TEU according to Lloyd's Register of 1982-83. LR  did not publish TEU numbers in the 1970s, so I don't know what its original capacity might have been.

The current ZIM New York built in 2002 is a 53,453 gt, 66,766 dwt ship with a capacity of 4839 TEU.

Update: Thanks to a reader with better reference material than mine, I can say that the 1436 TEU capacity was the original capacity for the ship when built.

After thought

I did not call the added structure a "wheelhouse". That might have been correct terminolgy - but not all ships have wheels anymore. I also did not call it a "monkey's island", a term used for open helm positions, left over from the days of sail.The hardy tars that manned those positions on early steamships deserve great credit for being exposed to all weathers, where they could supposedly see and hear other ships. Fortunately modern seafarers do not have to put up with those conditions, and can still control a ship from the shelter of a proper navigating bridge.

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Record Day...a bell rings...and a new autocarrier

RECORD DAY

It was a record day for cruise ship passengers in the port of Halifax despite or because of weather. It would have been busy enough with the regularly scheduled Anthem of the Seas (4,905 pax) and Carnival Sunshine (3,006 pax) but there was also the arrival of Disney Magic (2,400 more) to contend with.
The Disney Magic was diverted from its usual route out of New York to avoid Hurricane Matthew, and instead headed for Saint John and Halifax.The passengers probably thought they got the worst of it anyway as a fierce storm passed through the area last night with extreme high winds and torrential rain, and certainly very rough seas.

Carnival Sunshine inbound for pier 20, with Anthem of the Seas already occupying pier 21-22, frame the bow of Disney Magic at pier 30-31.

By the time they put in to Halifax however, it was a bright and shiny fall day. Not so last afternoon and evening (Thanksgiving Day) when the southwest bound Norwegian Gem sailed more or less on time, but the northeast bound Rotterdam opted to stay in port until 0230 hrs this morning. It ended up hove too off the eastern shore of Nova Scotia as the storm rolled on. It was scheduled for Charlottetown, but near hurricane force winds in the Cabot Strait and Gulf may change those plans.
Both Newfoundland and PEI ferry routes were shut down for at least 24 hours, and wide spread flooding and power outrages ravaged the Sydney area, which has been declared a disaster zone.
The Canso Causeway was closed to traffic due to boulders washed up on the road by high seas. Car traffic was permitted later as snow plow escorts cleared the boulders for a path.

A LITTLE BELL RINGS

My short term memory may be playing tricks on me, but when a ship named Common Venture was scheduled to arrive today for bunkers, a little bell went off in my head. The name sounded familiar.
It was in March - April 1987 when drift ice from the Gulf of St.Lawrence was blown in to Halifax harbour for few days by a strange combination of wind, tide and the Gulf Stream. This rare occurrence was certainly noteworthy and it did play some havoc with shipping, and even brought the icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent into the port to escort ships.

One ship that was in port at that time was called the Common Venture. It arrived to load grain, and was in port for the week long duration of that event.

 On arrival March 27, 1987 a small chunk of ice alongside the Common Venture (i) was the precursor of more to come. There was a ten mile wide band of ice along the coast outside the port at that time.

Once the ship moved to pier 28 to load on March  31, the port was choked with ice and closed to traffic. The ice eventually departed on the tide and the harbour was clear again April 5, 1987.

That Common Venture (i) was built in 1971 as the Kurushima Maru by Kurushima Dockyard in Hashihama, Japan. It was sold and renamed Wealth Venture in 1972 and became the Common Venture in 1974. Her Greek owners retained the ship until 1993 when it was sold and renamed Odysseas and again in 1994 became Valeria R. under the Cyprus flag. In 1997 it sold again becoming Pearl of Dammam under St.Vincent flag.
On June 9, 1998 it broke its moorings during a cyclone and grounded in the port of Kandla in western India with a cargo of sulphur. The ship was refloated by Smit Tak on July 24 and towed to Alang where it arrived September 12, 1998.
The ship was a bulk carrier of 15,589 grt, 26,000 dwt and carried five derricks of 10 tonne capacity.

Today's Common Venture is owned by the same Greek company, Common Progress Compania SA of Athens. Also a bulk carrier, it was built in 2011 by COSCO Dalian in China.

This ship carries four 36 tonne cranes (and four bright blue bucket grabs) and measures 32,987 grt, 57,002 dwt. It is one of  six identical sisters in the owner's current fleet.  See: http://www.commonprogress.gr/fleet.htm

October 11, 2016

March 27,1987

The Dartmouth shore is almost unrecognizable after 29 years, and the ships are quite different too. The newer one is 20m longer, 10m wider and 4m deeper, with more than twice the carrying capacity. It would also have a significantly smaller crew and will operate more efficiently as well.

NEW AUTO CARRIER

Wallenius-Wilhelmsen is in the midst of a fleet upgrade, bringing in new larger and more efficient ships. Today's arrival Theben is the third of the new ships, with an 8,000 car capacity. Sisters are Thalatta and Thermopylae.
The new HERO (High Efficiency RoRo) ships are built to neo-Panamax dimensions, but so far have been working Asia / Europe via Suez.

Theben measures 75,283 grt and was built by Hyundai Samho and delivered in April of this year.

The large funnel structure contains an exhaust gas scrubber.

On entering harbour Theben idled in the anchorages until another ship cleared Autoport. That was Triton Leader a 60, 876 grt ship built in 2010 by Imabari Zosen in Japan. It has a 7,500 car capacity, and is one of more than 120 auto carriers in the NYK fleet.

In one of those strange twists of the shipping business, Theben is not actually owned by Wallenius-Wilhelmsen. It is owned Orix Corp of Tokyo and managed by Eukor Car Carriers Inc, a Wilhelmsen partner company that specializes in carrying Korean cars.

Triton Leader,  although owned by competitor NYK Line, is actually managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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