Bulk Cargoes

 It is not the intention of this blog to cover every ship arrival and departure in the Port of Halifax, but chiefly the noteworthy ones. The arrival and departure of bulk carriers is not particularly unusual, but there have been two recently that are worthy of mention.

The Algoma Mariner arrived on Tuesday May 30 from Thunder Bay, with a cargo of grain. This marks the first arrival of grain from the Great Lakes this season - an unusually late first arrival date. When the St.Lawrence Seaway re-opens in late March or early April, grain for Halifax is often one of the first downbound cargoes.

Unloading was well underway yesterday morning, May 31, as the ship was using its own self-unloading gear to discharge its cargo. The receiving hopper is connected by conveyors to the grain elevator. When the work finished up later in the day the ship sailed for Auld's Cove, NS to load aggregates.

Built in 2011 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China, the 24,535 gt, 37,690 dwt ship flies the Canadian flag.

 As noted in yesterday's post the bulk carrier Lake Pearl arrived to load at Gold Bond Gypsum. It sailed this evening, June 1, for Tampa, FL.

The ship can also discharge its own cargo, but by the more laborious method of cranes and grabs. Members of the ship's crew are qualified to operate the cranes.The grab buckets are lashed down on deck near the cranes. Most ships that load gypsum in Halifax are conveyor belt type self-unloaders from the CSL Pool, but recently there have been some crane and bucket equipped ships from SMT Shipping.

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