Bulk and More Bulk

 Aside from the regular stream of bulk carriers that load gypsum in Halifax, other bulk cargoes are realtively rare. At one time the port handled huge quantities of export grain from the Canadian prairies. When the federal railway subsidy called the Crow Rate [Wikipedia reference] was abolished that commodity dried up, with other ports closer to the source handling the commodity. Halifax's grain elevator was largely idle except for local demand.

In recent years the grain elevator has found alternate products such as wood pellets (exported to Europe as bio fuel) and lately soybeans. There seems to be more demand this year for the soybeans, with a large cargo outbound today on the bulk carrier Athina III [see post from January 2]

The 39,037 gt / 73, 305 dwt ship arrived January 2, and began loading soon after. It spent some time spent at anchor (January 6 - 7) to allow another ship to use the pier.[see previous post]

Its destination on sailing today is Bandar Khomeini, Iran.

The next bulker to load is the Norse Ijmuiden which arrived over night January 9-10 from Philadelphia and anchored Bedford Basin. It is due to move to the grain gallery spouts at Pier 28 tonight (January 12) to begin loading in the morning.

 Built in 2012 by Tsuneishi Heavy Industries (Cebu) Inc, Balamban, Philippines, it is a 26,272 gt, 42,469 dwt ship fitted with four cranes. It also has stanchions to support deck cargoes such as timber. It seems to me a likely candidate to load wood pellets.

Another bulker the JY Lake arrived this evening and anchored in Beford Basin. It is a 45,958 gt, 81,146 dwt ship built in 2019 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin. Its last port was Romeville, Mississippi, well upstream from New Orleans, which normally handles grain transfers from barges to ships.

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