Catch Up

 There have been several noteworthy ship movements in Halifax over the past several days.

Acadian

  Irving Oil's Acadian arrived in Halifax on August 24 after a refit in Setubal, Portugal. It returned to Saint John August 21, several days earlier than anticipated. Fleet mate, but foreign flagged,  Nor'Easter was granted a coasting license to cover the Acadian's expected refit period July 12 to August 26.

Acadian at Irving Woodside, August 24.( Imperial Oil's tank is on the adjacent property.)

After loading at Saint John it sailed August 22 for Halifax, and once it had discharged its consignment here it sailed in the early hours of this morning (August 25), apparently for Bucksport, ME.

Maersk Kaya

When Acadian arrived in Halifax it could not berth immediately at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal, but went to anchor until the tanker Maersk Kaya sailed.

The Maersk Kaya was built in 2011 by Guangzhou International to 24,481 gt, 39,738 dwt tonnages. It arrived August 22 from Amsterdam with product and sailed later on August 24 for Saint John. We do not often see Maersk tankers in Halifax, but they do operate a sizeable fleet, with 150 tankers under management (but none are owned). A subsidiary, Maersk Product Tankers, operates 52 ships in a consortium with Mitsui Co Ltd. Both tanker companies are owned by A.P.Moller Holdings, a family investment group which is completely separate from A.P.Moller-Maersk - owners of the Maersk Lines container line. Both however have the right to use the "Maersk blue" hull colour and seven pointed star funnel mark.

Sandra Mary

Another August 24 arrival was the tug Sandra Mary with the Derrick No.4 and a mud scow, to set up for removal an old timber pier and construction of a new concrete caisson pier at the Bedford Institute. For detailed info see Tugfax August 24

Oberon

On August 25 it was the arrival of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean auto carrier Oberon.It first went to Autoport to unload cars then moved to Pier 9C to offload RoRo cargo. 

The 71,673 gt, 30,134 dwt ship was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Okpo in 2008. It is rated for 7620 cars of RT43 size and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. The ship called here just over year ago and made the same two point visit on August 8, 2022.

The Oberon was built for Wallenius Lines before the formal joining with Wilhelmsen, and was originally painted with a green hull, and called here from time to time. In those days it offloaded RoRo cargo at Pier 31 or sometimes Pier 27-28 as in this photo:

Valeria

The last arrival on August 25 was the bulk carrier Valeria en route from Providence, RI. The ship appears to be fully loaded, so its call at Pier 27 is likely related to a repair of some sort.

 

The ship was built in 2011 by the Taizhou Maple Leaf Shipbuilding Co in Linhai, to the account of its parent company Taizhou Maple Leaf Shipping Company. [As far as I can tell the Maple Leaf  company name has no connection with Canada.]

A handysize bulk carrier of 20,954 gt and 32,391 dwt it is equipped with four cargo cranes. Until July 1 of this year it carried the name Taizhou Pioneer but was renamed and is now managed by Theomar Shipmanagement Corp of Greece for Solymar Shipping SA.

X-Press Sagarmala

A new ship on Melfi Marine's MEDCAN service arrived August 25 [no photo] The X-Press Sagarmala dates from 2021 when it was built by COSCO Guangdong, Dongguan, as Feeder 1. It was renamed in 2022 . A 19,235 gt, 23,250 dwt ship, it has a capacity of 1762 TEU and is gearless [meaning: no cranes].

It replaces X-Press Irazu which took up the service in May 2021. That ship dates from 2007 when it was built by Guangzhou Wenchang Shipyard Co Ltd. At 18,480 gt, 23,716 dwt, it has a capacity of 1732 TEU including 379 reefers and carries a pair of 45 tonne capacity cranes. It is now operating a feeder service between Portugal and Spain, not associated with Melfi.

Melfi is subject to restrictions by the United States government because it is Cuban owned. It does not call in US ports en route from the from Livorno, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Setubal (for Lisbon), Halifax, and Mariel, Cuba. It does sometimes call in Halifax in the return (eastbound) leg.

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