IT Intrepid to the rescue

 A fast track application was made to the Canadian Transportation Agency on January 14 for a temporary coasting license for IT International Telecom's cable ship IT Intrepid. The ship is needed to replace two damaged fibreoptic cables that run between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 

Normally it requires a month to process and grant a temporary coasting license but due to the importance of these cables, IT International is asking for quicker service in order to mobilize starting January 17 and to begin work on January 31.

One cable, belonging to Bell-Aliant runs 134 km from Searston By, NL to Aspy Bay, NS, was severed approximately December 23. The other, belonging to Eastlink, runs 190 kms from Rose Blanche, NL to New Victoria, NS and was broken about January 10.  It appears that both must be replaced in their entirety, and in a continous operation that buries the cable in a trench using a special Remotely Operated Vessel plough.

Today, January 15, the IT Intrepid moved to Bedford Basin for Dynamic Positioning trials, presumably in preparation for the work.

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MSC goes alone and big small(er) moves

 The Mediterranean Shipping Company is now the world's largest container shipping company and quite likely the Port of  Halifax's largest customer. With nearly daily arrivals, it is hard to keep track of all the ships that come and go. Today's (January 14) arrival however seems to be a first time visit, with this name. MSC Silvana VIII added the the Roman numeral "VIII" in 2024 to signify its capacity classification in thousands of TEUs. Whereas with most MSC ships the Roman numeral indicates the upper limit of  capacity, this one seems to be the lower threshold as most sources indicate a capacity of 8400 TEU. It was built as simply MSC Silvana, and carried that name from new in 2006, and it was under that name that it called in Halifax in November 2021.

 On arrival today it was met by three tugs (one not visible in photo) but all were close tethered, and none was acting as stern escort.

As of February MSC will have removed itself from the 2M Alliance with Maesk and will return to being a stand alone operation. Already the evidence is there as not a single container on deck was not either MSC (mostly putty colour, but some rusty red) or a rental / leasing box. Altough MSC has been said to pick up some slack from Hapag-Lloyd's simultaneous withdawal from the THE Alliance, it is not obvious here, at least yet.

MSC Silvana was built by Daewoo Ship Building + Marine Engineering in Geoje in 2006, and is rated at 94,489 gt, 128,560 dwt and is running on the Indus Express direct from Colombo via the Cape of Good Hope.

Three ships made moves or departed the harbour today, and they ranged in size from relatively large to relatively small.

The largest ship was the bulker Ceci which completed loading its soy cargo at Pier 28 and moved out to harbour anchorage last night, January 13. 

The ship arrived from Quebec City (Sillery specifically) January 9, and was due to sail in the late afternoon today to a port as yet to be designated. but likely Bandar Khomeni, Iran. [see previous post for ship details.]

This morning the tanker Bosporos moved from Nova Scotia Power Corporation's Tuft's Cove power plant to Pier 28, occupying the berth vacated by Ceci. [see also previous posts]

There does not seem to be a reason for the Bosporos to move to Pier 28 - it was certainly not to take cargo - and I did not see any re-fueling trucks on the pier. Perhaps it was to take on stores, which would have been difficult at NSP. It is due to sail this evening too.

The smallest ship to move today was the coastal tanker Algoscotia one of the most frequent callers of the Algoma Tankers' fleet. It moved from Pier 9C- where it had some tank cleaning (possibly after carrying black oil) - to Imperial Oil's number three dock to load refined product. 

The senior member of the Algoma Tankers fleet - it was built in 2004 - it is continues to soldier on, with an upgraded ballast water system fitted last year. It regular route is Halifax to Sydney, Corner Brook and Sept-Iles.

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Cargoes in Quantity

 The Port of Halifax is known as a container port, although not huge on the wortld scale, it did exceed the half million TEU number in 2023 handling 546,143 TEU. This was down significantly from 600,700 in 2022 and 595,755 in 2021. Total figures for 2024 are not in yet, but seem likely to fall below the 500k mark.

The port also ships and and receives bulk cargoes, moslty export gypsum and import fuels.

Today, January 12, there are two ships in the category for bulk cargoes: one export and one import.

The export cargo is a large shipment of soy loading from the grain elevator to the bulk carrier Ceci at Pier 28.

Ship managers Minoa Marine Ltd of Marousi, Greece display the letter "M" on the ship's bow. All thirteen ships in the fleet are owned by single ship companies.

 The Ceci is a gearless bulker of 42,665 gt, 82,338 dwt same from Oshima Shipbuilding in Saiki, Japan in 2009. Built to the shipyard's J-Max design it is also designated as a Kamsarmax bulker. Due to its dimensions of 224.9m length overall and 32.3m breadth it can load at Kamsar, Guinea, a major bauxite port, which is restricted to ships of 239m overall length. Also the ship fits within the maximum dimensions for the Panama Canal of 294m x 32.31m.

The Ceci was deliverd with the name Fortune Miracle and in 2012 was renamed Magic Argo. It received its current name in late 2023 when it was acquired by its current owner for US$17.75 mn.

A rare cargo of heavy fuel oil arrived overnight at the Nova Scotia Power Corporation's Tuft's Cove generating station on the Narrows, opposite Pier 9. The plant normally burns natural gas, but keeps heavy oil on hand in case of interruption or shortage. This latest cargo arrived from Texas City on the Marshal Islanads flag tanker Bosporos.

The Bosporos is a MidRange 1 tanker of 23,310 gt, 39,590 dwt built in 2007 by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan, South Korea. It is operated by the 100 ship strong Tsakos Shipping and Trading SA based near Piraeus, Greece. The Tsakos Group is involved in numerous shipping related businesses, and with ships of all types. One its companies is Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd (or TEN Ltd) separately listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub

 PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub, had both berths operating the South End Container Terminal for a brief time this morning. The ONE Madrid sailed from Pier 41 soon after the MSC Shannon III arrived ar Pier 42.

The ONE Madrid was built by Imabari Zosen, Mihara, Japan as Madrid Bridge, 152,068 gt, 146,778 dwt with a capacity of 13,900 TEU. The ship's owners, K-Line, joined the other Japanese container Lines, NYK Line and MOL to form Ocean Network Express (ONE) in 2017 and began the process of renaming their ships and giving them them the "cherry blossom" hull colour. Madrid Bridge was renamed in 2023.

Due to its size the ship required two tethered escorts astern. The Atlantic Ash (left) and the Atlantic Maple (right) are positioned to turn the ship into the western, deep water channel.

 

The ONE Madrid is currently on the EC5 Asia to North America service of THE Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd / ONE / Yang Ming / HMM). Next month when Hapag-Lloyd drops out, the remaining lines (ONE, Yang Ming and HMM) will carry on as the Premier Alliance. If you can imagine the ship without any Hapag-Lloyd containers, you will have an idea of how the reduction will effect both the shipping companies and the Port of Halifax. Hapag-Lloyd has joined with Maersk to form the Gemini Cooperation and so far will not be calling in Halifax.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company is the largest container line and will exit the 2M Alliance with rival Maersk as of next month and remain unaffiliated. It operates several services through Halifax, including the Canada Express from the London Gateway, Antwerp and Le Havre to Montreal with an outbound call in Halifax.

MSC Shannon III arrived from Montreal this morning and appears to be new to the Canada Express route. It and was previously running between Antwerp and St.Petersburg, until this trip.

Hiding behind a forest of cranes and RTGS, the MSC Shannon III lies at Pier 42, with the ONE Madrid on its off side (its bow and funnel are visible to sharp eyes) sliding back into berth 41.

MSC Shannon III is another MSC veteran, built in 1991 by Bremer Vulkan AG in Vegesack as Berlin Senator and renamed NSC Shannon in 2004. In 2023 it had "III" added in a company- wide effort to classify ships by size. The 37,071 gt, 56,127 dwt ship has a capacity of 2668 TEU.

 

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HMCS Margaret Brooke - (Exodus from Bedford Basin - Part 2)

 Bedford Basin, that circular body of water at the head of Halifax harbour, has been a sheltering haven for ships for centuries. During the First and Second World Wars it was an assembly area for convoys and was sometimes congested with scores of ships. In recent years it has hosted naval reviews, embargoed ships, ships awaiting orders and more often has provided shelter in bad weather.

Today, January 10, the weather forecast for high winds, light snow and a possible storm surge was not enough to keep several merchant ships at anchor in the Basin (see Exodus from Bedford Basin - Part 1).

That left only one ship in the anchorages, HMCS Margaret Brooke AOPV 431. No stranger to the Basin, the ship was launched there (more accurately floated off) on November 10, 2019, and has conducted various trials and calibrations there. The second ship of the Harry DeWolf class of Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels, built at Halifax Shipyard it was commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy on October 28, 2022.

Today marked the official send off for the ship on an ambitious mission entitled Operation PROTECT 2025. As is frequently the case with these "send offs", the ship leaves the confines of HMC Dockyard, but still has some work ups, calibrations, trials and drills to do. It may also have some technicians on board to carry out work before the ship actually outs out to sea. Compass swings and dynamic positioning trials are among the adjustments that can't be done while the ship is still alongside.

Margaret Brooke off Africville Park this morning as the BBC Tarragona prepares to get underway in the background.

HMCS Margaret Brooke is expected to be away from Halifax until May, by which time it will have visited several South American ports, recorded the first ever visit of a Canadian naval vessel to Antarctica, conducted various research projects and diplomatic events. It will also be the first Canadian naval vessel to circumnavigate South America, returning to Halifax via the Panama Canal.

Bon Voyage!

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Exodus from Bedford Basin - Part 1

 It was a day of departures from Bedford Basin as several ships put out sea despite storm warnings. After several weeks of up to three ships at anchor in the Basin at any one time, the anchorages cleared of merchant ships (with one naval vessel remaining - see Part 2). Not surprisingly for the time of year, all the ships headed south.

CSL Tacoma arrived January 8 and anchored in Bedford Basin until fleet mate and sister ship Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin completed loading yesterday, January 9, and sailed for Baltimore. It is not often that the two ships are in port at the same time, and due to positioning it was diffficult to get any kind of photo with the two ships in the same frame.

CSL Tacoma back, left and Rt.Hon Paul E. Martin front, right, December 9.

CSL Tacoma then moved in to Gold Bond Gypsum, loaded overnight and sailed today, January 10 for for Burlington, NJ. Both ships are Trillium class self-unloaders, are for all intents and purposes identical, and were built by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China. Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin was completed in September 2012 and is a 43,691 gt, 71,406 dwt vessel. CSL Tacoma came out in October 2013 with the same gross tonnage, but 71,552 dwt. Unloading rates range from 4,200 tonnes per hour (tph) for coal, 4,500 tph for gypsum and 5,000 tph for aggregates.

CSL Tacoma outbound this morning.

Next away was the UBC Tarragona, a ship that has been in port since December 22. After unloading containers at PSA Fairview Cove it moved out to anchor December 23. As noted here December 24 , the ship is a general cargo vessel, with no provision for carrying containers in celluar guides as dedicated container ships do. 

UBC Tarragona outbound with the Nord Logos at anchor in the background.

(Number one crane is stowed in such as way that its boom is not visible from this angle)

The last merchant ship anchored in the Basin is the Nord Logos and it is due to sail this evening. It has been in port since December 29 when it arrived from Portsmouth, NH. 

 Nord Logos usually carries fibreportic cable, as does its sister ship Nord Ling which is  being fitted for cable racks at Pier 9C. The racks are fabricated in sections and assembled in the ship's holds.

The cable racks (or tanks in cable parlance) are used to stow the cable in a circular pattern for ease of loading and deployment.

 There was more activity in Bedford Basin, but that is for Part 2 - to follow.

Algotitan at Pier 9C

 The Canadian flag coastal tanker Algotitan moved today, January 9, from Imperial Oil to Pier 9C for a maintenance period.

The ship looks a bit rugged, having worked intensively in and out of the Great Lakes even before its acquistion by AlgomaTankers Ltd.

Built by R.M.K. in Tuzla, Turkey in 2007, the 11,793 gt, 18,734 dwt ship carried the name Chantaco and traded under the Maltese and French flags until purchased in late 2022 by Algoma and reflagged and renamed in Halifax in January 2023.

On its most recent trip it sailed from Sarnia, ON to Sept-Iles, QC then on to Halifax arriving January 8. With the St.Lawrence Seaway now closed for the winter, the ship will take a breather for some needed maintenance. I noted four large tank trucks and a pumper truck waiting for the ship to arrive at Pier 9C, so some of that work will involve tank cleaning and removal of slops.

One interesting feature of the ship is its bridge wings. They appear to protrude beyond the hull, which is unusual for ships using the Seaway. Some previous Algoma acquistions had the bridge wings trimmed back to avoid damage to the ship or to lock walls.

Algotitan's bridge wings appear unscathed however, so perhaps they will remain as is.

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