Atlantic Vision - say aaaaaaaaah

Marine Atlantic's Atlantic Vision continues it annual check-up at Halifax Shipyard.

Caporal Kaeble V.C. handed over

The Minister of Fisheries & Oceans has officially taken over CCGS Caporal Kaeble V.C. from Halifax Shipyard. The new patrol vessel was registered in Ottawa on November 8 and moved to the Coast Guard dock at the Bedford Institute.
Launched on a foggy September 22, the boat fitted out at pier Pier 9B, and carried out trials in Bedford Basin. It is the second of the Hero class patrol boats and will leave shortly for station.

Princimar Joy- heads to sea during high winds (and returns)

November 9th update:

Princimar Joy returns to Halifax November 9 to complete discharging her cargo (which may consist of not much more than tank washings) with the tug Atlantic Oak.

Original November 6 posting:

The Suezmax tanker Princimar Joy headed out to sea this afternoon due to high winds predicted for tonight. Although the ship came in on November 1 and appeared to have completed unloading at Imperial Oil on Monday, she remained alongside until noon today. The big tankers are not permitted to stay at the refinery berth during high winds for fear of damage to the ship or the dock, and so must head out to sea or to outside anchorage.
As she passed outbound she had the tug Atlantic Oak on a stern line as tethered escort. This means that she still has some crude oil on board. If she had no cargo she would normally not have had an escort. It might also mean that she had some deficiency in her mechanical or navigational systems and was escorted as a precaution.
The ship was built in 2010 and is 83,850 gross tons, 156,493 deadweight. She is owned by a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management (an NYSE traded investment management company) called Principal Marine Management of Southport, CT, USA.
The ship's operations are entrusted to Northern Marine Management of Clydebank, Scotland, in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of Stena AB, but which also manages ships for outside owners.

Provo Wallis - fifth time maybe lucky

1. Provo Wallis steams out the Narrows in Halifax in June 1981.

The Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender Provo Wallis has been sold-again-provisionally, the fifth try this year.
As reported here on April 4, 2012 and November 29, 2011, the ship was declared surplus and offered for sale a year ago, with a minimum price of $400,000. A bid for $406,000 fell through in January, another for $425,000 fell through in February. Again offered in April for a minimum of $350,000 there was no sale. It was posted again in June for $300,000 and still no sale.
It was most recently offered for sale October 18, with a closing date of October 25, with - wait for it - a minimum asking price of $65,000. Currently a bid of $75,000 is being entertained, but the sale has not been finalized.
I have ranted about this fiasco in the past, where surplus but serviceable government ships are allowed to moulder until they are virtually worthless - or the conditions of sale and removal are so onerous that the bidders cannot hope to comply. If the ship was indeed fairly appraised at $400,000 originally (and I doubted this), then why could they only get $75,000? Surely there is a responsibility for this loss to taxpayers.
The poor old Provo Wallis is not the only example. A tugboat was recently sold by the feds for the paltry sum of $17,500 because it had been laid up and neglected since 1997! Except for exercising the motors once in a while, the tug (and a pair of dredges and several mud scows) had effectively been left to rot. If they had been sold promptly when the feds got out of dredging, the tug would have fetched a decent price.
A military passenger boat, used in Halifax Harbour was also sold recently for only $15,000 after being laid up for years. All its certificates had been allowed to lapse and no maintenance done on it. Both vessels went for little more than the value of their engines (if they could be made to work.)
Appalling government waste it not news, sadly it is all too common, but it is still a shame.

Busan Express - new to Halifax

1. Maersk Pembroke and Zim Panama at Halterm on Saturday- the pier was working flat out.

Both container piers in Halifax are scrambling with extra traffic brought on by the effects of storm Sandy in the ports of New York/ New Jersey. Both Fairview Cove (Cerescorp) and Halterm have been inundated by extra traffic from ships that could not berth in NY/NJ or diverted because of the effects of the storm.

2. Busan Express arrived this morning at Fairveiw Cove, followed by Atlantic Concert

In all this bustle there was also the arrival of Busan Express, a new to Halifax post-Panamax container ship. Until now Hapag-Lloyd has been using OOCL's post-Panamax ships (some renamed to Hapag names), but this may be the first in Hapag colours. Built in 2004 by Daewoo, in Koje, South Korea, it is a 75,590 gross tons/ 85,810 deadweight tonnes ship with a capacity of 6,750 TEUs. This puts it at slightly larger than the OOCL class of post-Panamaxes.

3. Atlantic Concert sails up the Narrows this morning bound for Fairview Cove.

4. Italy Express sails Friday as OOCL Antwerp gets underway from anchorage to go into Fairview Cove.

5. OOCL Antwerp sails on Saturday.

Melfi Lines - ships to change

Melfi Marine Corp S.A. a Panamanian company, which operates as Melfi Lines, has been calling in Halifax since the 1992. Founded as an inter-Caribbean shipping service by the government of Cuba in 1981, it has grown considerably over the years, particularly when it took over the failed Coral Lines  in 2003. (They had operated jointly for a time. That acquisition lead to the present transatlantic service which sails from ports in Italy and Spain to Halifax and hence to Cuba. (It has also called on the St.Lawrence River -a hold over from Coral.) Through connecting services it then serves Central and South America.
Currently operating with four ships, it usually calls in Halifax every two weeks. (A scheduled October 17 call by Hansa Catalina did not materialize.)

Melfi does not own its own ships, and has chartered a wide variety of craft over the years. Today's arrival,  Renate Schulte is the fourth ship on the rotation, and carries the name of her owner's Bernard Schulte of Germany. At one time Melfi renamed the ships during the charter period, but that practice seems to have stopped. There was even a Melfi Halifax for a short time.
Now there is about to be a change in ships as two of the older units have been sold for scrap by their owners. Teval and Marwan were built as sister ships by Kvaerner Warnow Werft in Warnemunde (formerly East) Germany in 1994. As they approach their 20th anniversaries, and face extensive refitting to maintain their classification ratings, the owners have opted to sell them for scrap. They are owned by single ship Cypress based companies, but  managed by XSM Cross Ship Management GmbH of Germany,
Both ships are 14,685 gross tons, and carry 1338 TEUs and are fitted with three 40 tonne cranes.

Marwan has carried the following names in its career: Marwan-95, Cabo Blanco-97, Marwan-99, Barrister-99, P+0 Nedlloyd Kildin-03, Marwan-04, Cala Palenque -09, then Marwan again.

Teval was renamed before it left the shipyard as red Sea Emerald-95, Emerald-97, Teval-02, P+O Nedlloyd Camoes-03, Teval-03, Armada Holland-04, Teval-04, Cala Porlamar-06, and again Teval. It made its first call in Halifax for Melfi on November 1, 2006.
Teval is due back in Halifax on November 16, and Melfi's schedule shows Marwan on December 3., however the latter remains to be confirmed.
Melfi Lines ships are often called up on the carry odd cargoes in addition to standard containers. Used vehicles, particularly trucks and buses, usually from Europe are commonly seen on flat 40 foot container frames. However Canadian vehicles are also common, notably old Quebec school buses, and trucks.

The ships have become a bit of a fixture, with Teval in particular as one of the longest serving ships in Melfi's history with Halifax, but time marches on, and there is a glut of more modern ships available at good rates.

It's over... Halifax cruise season ends

Extending from April to November, the Halifax cruise season drew to a halt this afternoon with the sailing of Emerald Princess.
By all accounts a successful one, the season had a few diversions due to weather, but these seem to have been in our favour. The season was originally to end on October 31, but today's ship was delayed a day to avoid storm Sandy.
Several ships that called in Halifax during the season were diverted when the ports of New York were closed due to the storm, and passengers experienced very rough conditions at sea, but there were no serious incidents as far as I have heard.