Basin biggie, Maersk disappointed, QM2 draws crowds

Three ships - nothing in common - except their flag state (the country in which they are registered) and the countries in which they operate have a bearing on their activities.

Basin Biggie
The tanker New Conquest spent 24 hours anchored in Bedford Basin to allow another crude tanker, Overseas Shirley, to unload. There's lots of container ship traffic in and out of the Basin, but it's interesting to see a tanker for a change, since these ships are hard to photograph when they arrive at Imperial Oil.
New Conquest is one of six identical tankers managed by Expedo Ship Management, with offices in Mississauga, ON. See www.expedo.com for more. The 41,994 gross, 73,917 deadweight ship is a Marshall Island flagged crude oil tanker, but arrived empty and is still in ballast as far as I can tell. It was built in 2006. Expedo takes advantage of Canadian government policies that encourage ship operators to have their offices in Canada, even if their ships are flagged elsewhere. Teekay Shipping is the biggest and best known of these.
Overseas Shirley is a Canadian flagged ship operated by OSG Overseas Ship Management (Canada) Ltd. I measures 62,385 gross and 112,056 deadweight, built in 2001. OSG is a major US based operator, but they flagged the ship to Canada so that it can carry cargo between Canadian ports.

Maersk Disappointed
Maersk Penang arrived this morning, with fog obscuring its bridge from view. Maersk recently applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency to carry empty containers from Montreal to Halifax on its ships. Citing the high cost of railing or trucking empties to Halifax, they sought a coasting license to use their non-Canadian ships. Both Algoma Central Marine and McKeil Marine raised objections, and the Agency denied the application, stating that Canadian ships were available for the work.
Maersk Penang was built in 1998 as P&O Nedlloyd Jakarta, and is registered in the Netherlands. It can carry 2890 TEU including 400 reefers.

Queen Mary 2 - not the marryin' kind
Queen Mary 2 appears set to assume the mantle of her illustrious predecessor Queen Elizabeth 2. Crowds saw the ship off today despite inclement weather, just as they always did for QE2.
Cunard is reported to be considering the reflagging of some or all its ships to Bermuda so that captains can perform marriages. The masters of ships flagged in the UK are forbidden to conduct such rites, which are apparently quite lucrative, and for which there is a steady demand.