Carnival Legend and Container Piers

 Legend

Most cruise ships arrive at the break of day to provide for a full day ashore. With three ships due in port today September 8, one ship had to be the last and that was Carnival Legend, arriving at the pilot station as late as 1000 hrs. This ship also tied up at Pier 31 which has been cleaned up and fenced off for the cruise season. (Zaandam tied upat Pier 20-21 and Adventure of the Seas at Pier 21-22.)

Built way back in 2002 by Kvaerner Masa, Helsinki, the ship somehow survived the purge of older ships in recent years. The 85,942 gt ship has a capacity of 2,124 passengers and 930 crew.

It is the first Carnival ship I have seen with the big blue "swoop" on the bow. It might be interesting to see this feature from a distance, which resembles the disruptive colour patterns used in war time. The new paint scheme, which includes a red and white stripe the full length of the hull, was introduced in 2021, and is in celebration of the company's 50th anniversary.

HMCS Moncton carries a disruptive paint pattern in commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic. (September 3 photo)

 Containers

 There has been considerable activity at the container piers recently, which may explain an unusual move. 

CMA CGM Marco Polo sailed this morning after a 48 hour (approximately) stay at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. 

The current record holder as largest container ship to call in Halifax, and any other Canadian port, was not the only ship served by the terminal in the past few days, it surely taxed the capacity of the facility.

With CMA CGM Marco Polo at Pier 41 and Tropical Lissette (left) at Pier 42 and Oceanex Sanderling at Pier 36 (barely visible at right) there was no more room at the Southend Terminal.

The MSC Sandra which had been at the southend terminal, was "bumped" Sunday September 4, and went to to anchor in Bedford Basin (see previous post). First thing this morning,instead of going bac=k to the southend terminal, it moved alongside PSA Fairview Cove where there was an available berth.

It seemed to be that the cranes were working the after deck, which is usually reserved for empties. MSC ships do dock at Fairview from time so this is not a unique event, except that the ship used both terminals during its stay in Halifax. The ship will sail this evening (September 8) for Europe.

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