Bahama Spirit, Global Spirt,

Halifax is not haunted, but we did seem to have a coincidence of spirits today.

Bahama Spirit

 1. Bahama Spirit coming to anchor this afternoon.

First in was the bulker Bahama Spirit anchoring for bunkers. Although registered in Vanuatu, the ship is owned by Algoma Shipping Ltd of Sault Ste.Marie, ON, Canada's largest inland shipping company. 
The ship was built in 1995 as the conventional four crane bulker, San Pietro for management by Scinicariello Ship Management SpA of Italy, but registered in the Isle of Man.. It was built by Sanoyas Hishino Meisho Corp of Kurashiki Japan and measured 26.890 gross and 46,606 deadweight tonnes.
In 1999 Marbulk Shipping (then 50% CSL, 50% Algoma) acquired the ship and renamed it Freeport Miner while it was converted to a self-unloader. The cranes were removed and the typical Great Lakes type self-unloading conveyor system and boom installed.. The existing hold configuration was modified to gravity feed the two belt system.Thus the gross tonnage was revised to 26,792, and the deadweight tonnage became 44,389. The loss of carrying capacity is made up for by a discharge rate of 4,200 tonnes per hour.
In 2000 the ship was placed in the CSL/Oldendorff/Klaevenes self-unloader pool under the name Bahama Spirit . One of its first cargoes was a load of 30,000 tonnes of coal unloaded at pier 9 D in Halifax.

 2. On September 20, 2000 the ship was unloading coal at pier 9-D. It was in Marbulk colours at that time. Due to shallow water, the ship was held off the dock by tugs. They also moved it back and forth on mooring lines and anchors while it unloaded.

In 2004 Algoma acquired the ship outright and it has operated under a variety of managers. Currently it is managed by (Bernard) Schulte Ship Management-India. (Algoma partnered with the Schulte on the ill-fated tanker pool mentioned here: http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2012/12/sloman-hera-algoma-says-not-better-late.html.)
The ship is a rare caller in Halifax, but is more often seen in the Strait of Canso or Sydney with coal.

Global Spirit

Today's second spirit is the PCTC (pure car and truck carrier) Global Spirit owned by Nissan.

1. Tugs are making fast to the Global Spirit to prepare for the turn into Eastern Passage.

Getting on in years as car carriers go, the ship was built in 1987 by Hitachi Zosen in their Innoshiima yard.as Tochigi Maru, In 1996 that was changed to Tochigi, becoming Global Spirit in 1999.It has none of the streamlined features of newer vessels and still has the open foredeck typical of older car boats.

Nissan has an owned fleet of about 11 PCTCs, and charters 12 more for its world wide operations.As with most such ships it will also carry vehicles for other companies to avoid "dead head" trips back to Japan. 

The ship is said to carry about 4,000 standard cars and measures 40,500 gross tons. In addition to the usual stern ramp and starboard side door, it also has a port side door.  In some ports this allows the ship to load and unload simultaneously.