Project Cargo on the Atlantic Dawn - Updated

 The multi-purpose cargo ship Atlantic Dawn arrived today, May 14, from the unlikely port of Bermuda Freeport. The former naval dockyard located on the northern part of Ireland Island has been converted to accommodate dry bulk, break bulk, liquid, RoRo and passenger cargo. Nevertheless Bermuda is not noted for exports. Prior to Bermuda the ship had been in Australia and New Zealand in March and cleared the Panama Canal April 19.

Built in 2013 jointly by Partner Sp in Police, Poland and Shipkits BV in Groningen, Netherlands the 5460 gt, 4476 dwt ship has box shaped holds and is strengthened for heavy cargoes. It has pontoon type hatch covers and removable pontoon tween decks. Its two 150 tonne SWL cranes can work in combination for 300 tonne lifts. It is also set up to carry 261 TEU containers, with 124 TEU in the hold and 137 TEU on deck. It is licensed to carry 62 TEU of explosives on deck. To maximize clear space on deck the superstructure is mounted forward, with only an exhaust stack on the starboard side aft. (It appears to have 49 FEUs / 98 TEUs on deck on this trip). The ship is also licensed for open top sailing (that is without hatch covers in place.)

The Atlantic Dawn is owned by Hartmann Shipping 2 BV of the Netherlands, but is under the commercial management of Ocean 7 Projects, a Dutch project cargo specalist. And it appears that it is carrying a project cargo. The containers on deck seem to be privately owned and do not carry any shipping line or other corporate identity aside from IMO reporting marks (which were illegible from shore). At least one container has a side door, and so may do double duty for storage.

The ship docked at PSA Fairview Cove and is due to sail after dark this evening. It will be interesting to know if it loaded or unloaded in Halifax. I will update this post if further information comes to light.

Update:

By early evening all the deck cargo had been landed and one shore crane was working away on the below deck cargo.

 

 It seems likely then that the entire cargo of some 100 FEU (Forty Foot Equivalents) or more are to be offloaded in Halifax. Reliable sources indicate these containers may be for SailGP, the sailing race that will be happening in Halifax June 1-2.

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