Famous Fog

 Halifax certainly lays no claim to be the foggiest port in eastern Canada (two other ports, which shall remain nameless here, may fight it out between them for the title*.) Never mind, there is often fog in Halifax in June, and if it is not within the port, it is lingering not far offshore and creeps in and out with the tide or the breezes.

Today, June 17, there were lingering traces for most of the day, but they held off enough so that arriving and departing ships were visible.

Among the arrivals was the auto carrier Supreme Ace. When it docked at Autoport the fog had pretty well lifted, but the undergrowth has sprung up to partly block the view.

By comparison. last August 8 when the ship was here, the undergrowth was shorter (and there was no fog).

    The ship was built in 2011 by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe, Japan. It is a 59,022 gt, 18,384 dwt vessel with a capacity quoted at 6,183 small cars, 5,063 medium cars or 4,425 large cars. As it was on its last visit the Supreme Ace is not following the usual trajectory for imports, but is eastbound from Houston, Veracruz, and Davisville, Rhode Island heading for Emden, Germany. Most of the major auto manufacturers build cars in Canada, and although most are exported to the United States, some are presumably exported to Europe.

Another arrival was the familiar MSC Tamara arriving from Sines, Portugal on the CANEX1 service from Italy for Montreal. The ship was delivered by Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co, Ningbo, China in 2008. With tonnages of 41,125 gt and 50,446 dwt, it has a capacity of 4254 TEU including 550 reefers.

The ship was in the clear by the time it reached the PSA Halifax Gateway terminal and tied up at Pier 42 to reduce draft for the St.Lawrence River. The ship certainly looked well laden. (Draft was reported as 12.3 meters / 40 feet 4 1/2 inches).

The early morning arrival at Pier 41 was still in port when the MSC Tamara arrived, but there was lots of room for the two ships, even though the other ship was the Ultra size CMA CGM Chile. Its 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt size and capacity of 15,072 TEU made it the largest container ship to call in Halifax when it began calling here in 2020. It has since been surpassed by the CMA CGM Marco Polo at 176,546 gt, 187,625 dwt and 16,020 TEU capacity.

On departure the ship was quickly swallowed up in the evening fog.

Cruise ship passengers on the Seven Seas Navigator may be in for an unpleasant night of it as high winds are predicted.  

The ship got away from Pier 20 and headed north about George's Island, which was still visible (the fog was still well offshore - that is MSC Tamara docking in the backgound.)

The story of the Seven Seas Navigator may be well known, but is worth repeating. Laid down in 1988 by the Admiralty Shipyard in St.Petersburg, USSR, it was to be the satellite tracking ship named Akademik Nikolay Pilyugin. It was launched in 1991 but not completed, and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises bought the ship as an unfinished hull. Mariotti Shipyard in Italy built a new superstructure and fitted it out as a cruise ship in 1999. It has a capacity of 490 passengers and a crew of 340.

The converison process also included fitting sponsons on the stern to improve the ships behaviour at sea. 

The ship is en route from Montreal, Quebec City, Port Alfred and Sydney to Hamilton, Bermuda. Its four planned calls in CornerBrook, NL in May and June have been cancelled due to lingering ice off the west coast of Newfoundland. 

 * Famous Fog

The Fourchu fog signal in Yarmouth set a record in July 1938 when it blew for a total of 498 1/2 hours out of the 744 total hours in 31 days (it blew 180 hours in 1936 and 457 hours in 1937). At one point it blew 121 hours straight (= 5 days 1 hour). The resident light keeper and others living in the immediate area must have had a ringing in their ears well into August.

I don't know what records are kept these days, but as most signlas are automated perhaps some computer somewhere logs the hours.

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