Big Tanker, Small Cruiser

As the cruise industry continues to expand and as the Esso refinery is no more, we have become accustomed to ever larger cruise ships and an endless parade of handysize product tankers. Today the table turned somewhat as the large tanker Princimar Joy and the small cruise ship Saint Laurent arrived.

Princimar Joy, built in 2010 by Jiangsu Rongsheng in Rugao, China measures 83,850 grt, 156,493 dwt. Princimar Maritime is based in Southport CT, but the ship is managed by Northern Marine Management of Clydebank, Scotland.It flies the Marshall Islands flag.

With stern escort tug Atlantic Oak in close company, Princimar Joy anchors in number one anchorage. Esso's Imperoyal facility in the background no longer refines oil, but there is no sign of the promised dismantling.

The ship was at anchor for little more than two hours- just long enough for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to conduct an Asian gypsy moth inspection. It then sailed for Saint John, NB with is cargo of crude oil.

Following soon after was Saint Laurent:

Saint Laurent began life in 2001 at Atlantic Marine in Jacksonville, FL as Cape May Light, one of a pair of "retro" look pocket cruisers that attempted to recapture the bygone days of the bay, sound and river passengers ships, such as CSL's Great Lakes and St.Lawrence cruise boats.
Cape May Light operated for a few months in 2011 until the 9/11 terror attacks resulted in the bankruptcy of several cruise companies, including its owners American Classic Voyages. Both Cape May Light and the uncompleted sister Cape Cod Light were repossessed by the shipyard and eventually sold by the U.S. Maritime Administration in 2008 to Clipper Cruises Ltd (managers International Shipping Partners). Renamed Sea Voyager the former Cape May Light was chartered by the United Nations to house aid workers in Haiti in 2010.
It received a Canadian coasting license to house construction workers at Deception Bay, Nunavik for Xstrata's Raglan (now called Katinniq) nickel mine's port expansion from July to November 2011.
After another period of layup Fleetpro (formerly International Shipping Partners) announced in September last year that a charter had been agreed with Haimark Line, a UK company. A $3.5 mn refit followed and the ship entered service this spring as Saint Laurent cruising the east coast, St.Lawrence and Great Lakes. It will move to the Caribbean and South America for the winter.

Saint Laurent is dwarfed even by the modestly sized Maasdam as it nestles up to pier 21.

Fleetpro are the technical and hotel services managers, as they are on the Nova Star ferry among numerous other ships:
https://www.fleetpro-psm.com/press-release/ms-saint-laurent-proudly-sailing-fleetpro
Haimark are the cruise operators:
http://www.haimarkline.com/

Designed by Guido Perla & Associates, for 227 passengers and 77 crew, it is now marketed as 105 staterooms and all new expedition type amenities.It is powered with azimuthing stern drives, driven by two main engines at 1970 bhp each and a 1,000 bhp bow thruster.

During some refit it lost its forward dummy funnel, but its prominent steering pole was extended, and it received some cranes to handle expedition boats, bridge awnings and other minor adjustments.

In its only season of operation as Cape May Light it visited Quebec City and tied up at the Pointe-à- Carcy sea wall astern of Queen Elizabeth 2. Note it has a forward dummy funnel and short steering pole.

This may be the look they were trying to achieve in the original design. I will let you be the judge.

Canada Steamship Lines' Quebec and its fleet mates were the epitome of  gracious cruising on the St.Lawrence, while also carrying some freight and vehicles.

 This photo was taken about 100 yards from the photo immediately above it.

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Colour commentary

The herring seiners were not the only colourful ships in harbour today. An early arrival was the autocarrier Suzuka Express.

Suzuka Express has taken its tugs on the way in this morning.

Wearing the colourful livery of  Vroon BV of the Netherlands, the ship was built in 2010 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Shimonoseki, Japan. It has a capacity of 3,930 cars on 10 decks, and measures 43,810 grt, 15, 154 dwt.It flies the Panama flag Unusual for car carriers, its owners publish a spec sheet on their web site: http://www.vroon.nl/  (Look under fleet)

Passed Indian Point outbound this afternoon.

Later in the day the Marshall Islands flag tanker Torm Ragnhild came to anchor for Asian gyspy moth inspection before it moved to Imperial Oil to unload.

Dominion Diving's launch Halmar has taken the pilot off the ship because the pilot boat is outside working another ship.

A fairly typical handysize tanker of 30,018 grt, 46,168 dwt, it is a stand out due to its owner's colour scheme, and the rare sight of a hull banner on a product tanker..

Built by STX Shipbuilding Co in Jinhae, South Korea, it is operated by Torm A/S: http://www.torm.com/
The well known Danish company has been experiencing heavy financial weather since 2010, and has been restructured. It has just shown its first profitable quarter thanks in part to an increased demand for tankers.

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And they're off

Like the start of a horse race, the herring seiners headed for sea starting at 1400 hrs this afternoon. They had been in port for several days due to foul weather which prevented fishing.
First off was Lady Janice II - this time in clear weather.

It was followed by Silver Harvester 1, which began to deploy its paravnes almost as soon  as it was off the dock., with Lady Melissa  following behind.

Going fishing for the first time, Dual Venture was the next to go.

Leroy and Barry No.II also sailed, but carried out a compass adjustment before it left port.

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Shuttle changes in Newfoundland

A new deal between Teekay Offshore Partners and the operators of the Newfoundland offshore oil complex will see the replacement of Canada's four largest tankers.
The new deal, effective June 1, 2015 sees three of the present shuttle tankers remaining in service for a time, and three new tankers to be built to serve a 15 year contract.

The offshore owners have banded together to arrange for the shuttle tankers to serve the Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron oil fields. These owners are Exxon Mobil Canada, Chevron Canada, Statoil ASA, Husky Energy, Suncor Energy and Murphy Oil.
Teekay is a world wide tanker operator, but for tax reasons, its headquarters is in Vancouver. To serve the Newfoundland offshore, they are establishing an office in St.John's.They have announced that they will order three new Suezmax DP2 tankers from Samsung Shipbuilding in South Korea for delivery Q4 2017 to Q2 2018.

Of the existing four tankers, Kometik is apparently not involved in the deal. Even though it is currently owned by a consortium of the oil field owners (Chevron 21 shares, Exxon Mobil 27 shares, Mobil Canada Hibernia Co Ltd 5, Chevron Hibernia Holding Co Ltd 5, and Murphy Atlantic Offshore Oil Co Ltd 6 shares) and managed by Canship Ugland.
It was built by Samsung in 1996 and measures 76,216 grt, 126,646 deadweight.

Kometik was built for offshore loading over the bow, and winter navigation.

It was also built with twin screws to help manouevering around the Hibernia gravity structure.

Rumours published on Halifax Shipping News last week are apparently true that the ship will be sold.


Sister ship Mattea will remain in service but only until September when it will be replaced by Teekay's Navion Hispania, built in 1999 by Astileleros Espanol SA, in Puerto Real, SpAin, measuring 72,753 grt, 126,183 dwt.

Mattea was built in 1997 by Samsung and measures 76,216 grt, 126,360 dwt.  It is owned by Penny  Ugland, a joint venture between Pennecon of Newfoundland and JJ Ugland of Norway.

Two never ships, which were built for a 15 year charter to Husky for the White Rose offshore project, will remain with Teekay until the new ships arrive. Both came from Samsung in 2005 and measure 80,918 grt, 148,706 dwt. They initially operated under Norwegian flag, but were transferred to Canadian in 2009.

Jasmine Knutsen and Heather Knutsen are owned by entities in the Knutsen company of Haugesund, Norway and managed by Canship Ugland.
Teekay however will be taking over direct operation and management of the ships, which will continue to sail under the Canadian flag with Canadian crews, with perhaps a change of name.

All these ships have called in Halifax from time to time for repairs, bunkers and maintenance.

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Helmut answers the call for CMA CGM

CMA CGM's troubled history with the Maersk's Transatlantic service, recounted here before, has taken a new turn. Stadt Cadiz, the designated ship on the run, pulled up lame in Halifax May 5, and appears to be in for a long repair time, since CMA CGM has called in three spot charters to fill in.
The first of these to arrive is Helmut , a 9981 grt, 11,272 dwt ship of 868 TEU. Built in 2006 by the J.J.Seitas shipyard as Helmut, but carrying the name Livland from 2006 to 2009, the ship could best be described as a "short sea feeder" ship. It is in fact a smaller version of Oceanex Avalon built in the same yard in 2004. Normally found on short routes within Europe it must have been picked on the basis of availability.

 

Helmut's most striking feature is that it is hatchless over its main hold. There have been a few hatchless transatlantic container ships, but they have been few and far between. High bulwarks, special stability and drainage systems allow the centre hold to be open to the elements. The forward hold has conventional hatch covers, and the stacks immediately forward of the superstructure are on deck over the engine room.


I am informed that CMA CGM will follow up with AS Palatia 2602 TEU on June 11 (it is currently in Montreal) and Partici 3534 TEU on June 27. In effect they are putting more ships on than the usual once per month to catch up. (Maersk has been providing their own ships for the other three weeks, but this appears to be in for a change.) 

The Canada Atlantic Express service runs Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp to Montreal and Halifax.

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Resolute at Pier 25-26

The cable layer Resolute put in to pier 25-26 last night, likely to avoid the bad weather passing through the area. Rain and fog don't count as bad weather for ships - only for ship photographers - but high winds and high seas make cable laying (and herring fishing) difficult if not impossible.

Finally we get to see the impressive stern of Resolute with its multiple sheaves, and the highly visible graphics. They seem to mark the angle to which the cable is being fed from the ship, measured in degrees from the horizontal.

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Dual Venture - new seiner- UPDATED

The first new herring seiner built in many years arrived in Halifax today fresh from the shipyard. Built by Chantier Naval Forillon in Gaspé, the 105 foot long boat is largest fishing vessel built by the shipyard. At a cost of $6mn it is the result of a joint venture between Lunar Fisheries of Scotland and a Nova Scotia operator, incorporated under the name Lunar Fisheries (New Brunswick) Ltd, but headquartered in Halifax.
The Scottish partner, based in Peterhead and Fraserburgh, is noted for its modern fleet of six vessels and also operates freezing, cold storage, transportation and other divisions. 

The new Dual Venture has several innovations including a prominent bulbous bow, and a unique stability system consisting of two paddle-like blades that are lowered at sea. Other smaller seiners rig paravanes and rely on them due to the extreme top hamper of their fishing gear. However they are awkward to deploy and their failure has lead to disastrous results.
The ship also does without the large mast and boom systems of other seiners, relying on an articulated crane to handle the seine.

This is the second boat of the same name. A previous Dual Venture built in 1977 in North Vancouver, was sold late last year.

Update:
Thanks to a reader we learn that the new Dual Venture replaces two older seiners, not just the namesake, but also Island Pride No.1 built in 1978 in Vancouver.

Island Pride No.1 and its  near sister Tasha Marie were among the most stylish of seiners.

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