Shipfax never claims to be all-knowing, and this is especially evident today, December 30, when there are events in the harbour that were not at first evident to our all-seeing eye.
Event #1
First was the arrival of the Handysize builk carrier Seahope to Pier 9C.
The ship arrived last night (December 29) from La Baie (Port Alfred) QC where it unloaded a cargo of bauxite from the Alumar terminal in Porto di Itaqui, Brazil. When seen this afternoon, two of the ship's hatch covers were cracked open, indicating that the crew was at work cleaning the holds in preparation for the next cargo. Meticulous cleaning is necessary if the ship is to load food grade cargo, and it is the season to do that. The ship must pass a rigorous inspection before it would be allowed to load a food product.With the ship due to sail this evening, I wonder why they came to Halifax to clean the hold. Perhaps it would be too rough todo the work at sea or maybe the ship was doing some self-maintenance that required its main engine to be shut down.
The Seahope was built in 2012 by Yangfan Group in Zhoushan as the Bufflehead and was on charter to Canfornav (Canadian Forest Navigation) until 2019. Canfornav ships, named for species of waterfowl, are usually painted green and are regular callers to ports on the St.Lawrence River and Great Lakes. Evidence of a hasty repainting is evident about midships where the dark red of the after part of the hull changes abruptly to a faded pinkier tone.
The 19,943 gt, 32,922 dwt ship carries four 30 tonne cranes. Navarone SA, of Athens, manage most, if not all, Canfornav ships and have managed this ship since new. It changed owners and was renamed in 2019. The current anonymous proprietors, Seahope Shipping Inc, may still be carrying cargo for Canfornav, as ships from that fleet are among the few ships to load grain / soy in Halifax in recent years.
Event #2
As container ships go, thirty year olds are rare. With the upcoming predicted glut of new ships coming out over the next two years, ships of that vintage will become even rarer sightings. Although the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has long been known for maximizing the use of older ships. today's (December 30) thirty year old arrival from Montreal on the Canada Express 2 service is old even for MSC.
The MSC Roberta V was built in 1993 by Samsung, Koje (now Geoje) and started out as one of eight sister ships built for Hapag-Lloyd. Named Stuttgart Express it was a 53,815 gt, 67,640 dwt ship with a capacity of 4,422 TEU. (Ships of that class were regular callers in Halifax.)
In 2015 MSC acquired the ship and renamed it MSC Roberta. In 2022 they added the Roman numeral "V" to the name, to indicate a container capacity of less than 5,000 TEU. At some point they also equipped the ship with an exhaust gas scrubber system.
The ship arrived in Halfax to top up cargo that would have increased the ship's draft beyond St.Lawrence River limits. This is a regular occurrence, but what is unusual is that after working PSA Halifax Gateway Pier 42, the ship is due to move to PSA Fairview Cove. It is virtually unheard of that one ship would work cargo at both terminals. The careful pre-arrangement of cargo arriving by truck and rail (and feeder ships) would normally preclude such an unusual event. Perhaps the upcoming holiday, or the late arrival of cargo, from say Newfoundland, by feeder ship, might be the explanation. There would be no way to shuttle the boxes by land from one terminal to the other outside normal hours.
According to most sources the ship's next classification survey is due tomorrow - December 31, 2023 . I assume that such a survey must be done in a shipyard, unless the ship is headed for the breakers, but in any event to have valid classification must be a high priority for any shipowner. Other sources indicate that the current classification is valid until November 11, 2025. It also appears that the ship was re-insured December 21, and may have changed classification society at that time.
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