What's in a name

 The naming of ships is a fascinating topic. With an endless variety to choose from, why owners select certain names can sometimes be puzzling. [Warning: I have decidedly conservative or traditional opinions on the matter.]

Today's arrival (October 26), the mini-cruise ship Hanseatic Inspiration, needs very little sleuthing to figure out. Operator Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is quite obviously German, and the Hamburg-based company recalls the medieval Hanseatic League of North European city states and its bands of merchants that monopolized trade until the late 1660s.

 

Hanseatic Inspiration at Pier 23 with a refuse barge alongside and the Emerald Princess at Pier 22 as a backdrop.

 The ship is one of three Expedition class vessels that cater to an adventurous German clientel by visting remote ports. Built in 2019 by Vard, its shell was launched at their Tulcea Yard in Romania, then towed to Norway for completion. The 15,651 gt ship has 120 cabins, including 18 suites, and carries no more than 230 guests at a time. (A far cry from its neighbour this morning, the Emerald Princess with 3,080 passengers.)

The Hanseatic Inspiration is completing an 18 day cruise from Milwaukee, WI with 15 port calls en route including such improbable ports as Parry Sound and finally the Magdalen Islands and PEI. (The ship exited the St.Lawrence Seaway on October 17, well in advance a strike that started October 23 and shut down the St.Lawrence Seaway and the Welland Canal.) 

Halifax is the terminal port for that cruise and a new cruise starts here today. It is an eight day non-stop run to Colon, Panama. 

The other part of the ship's name - the word "Inspiration" is harder to understand. However with its two Expedition class sister ships, Hanseatic Nature and Hanseatic Spirit, the names seem to fit into the pattern of present day ship names with supposedly "evocative nouns". They have more to do with marketing than with shipping - as they seem aimed at selling the "sizzle not the steak." 

A perhaps not unusual name is carried by the tanker Joyce which arrived Wednesday, October 25, at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal from Amsterdam.

The use of women's names is very traditional, and such lines as MSC are well known for the variety of unsual ones. However these days ships often have a prefix to the name that identifies the owner or manager (as MSC does). To give a ship a simple individual name is now rather rare.

Onomichi Zosen, in Onomichi, Japan built the ship as Nord Observer in 2007. The 26,900 gt, 47,344 dwt ship carried that name while it operated in the Norient Product Pool of tankers until 2016. It was then acquired by the Galatea Shipping Corp (Product Shipping + Trading SA, managers) and took the present name - perhaps related to someone in the ownership group.

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