Visitors

 Ships visit Halifax for commercial purposes - to load or off load cargo. Ships also call for clearance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to ensure that they are free of noxious species. Occasionally they call for repairs and (more rarely) to disembark crew members for medical assistance or to change crew at the end of contract.

One of the more pleasant reasons for a visit - and one that is more noticed by the public at large - is  the arrival of cruise ships to give passengers time ashore in the area. There is another reason which may also include the public and that is what is commonly termed a "courtesy call." Today, May 17 there were both of these sorts of calls and they were all together at the "Seawall" commonly called Piers 20 to 22.

Cruise

The mega cruise ship MSC Meraviglia arrived this morning for its second Halifax call this season. (The first was May 11). The 171,598 gt ship, was completed in 2017 by STX France at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire. At full capacity it can carry 5,642 passengers (although at normal double capacity the total is 4,428) and 1536 crew on ten decks. It was the eighth largest cruise ship in the world when built, but now shares twenty-first place on the list of the largest cruise ships.

MSC, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, is perhaps better known as the world's largest container shipping company, but it is also owner of MSC Cruises, with a substantial cruise fleet of more than twenty ships in its stable and at least eight under construction or on order.

The Vista class, of which MSC Meraviglia is lead ship, is noted for having the highest number of passengers per available space of any other cruise ship.  One description states "the ship overall has less passenger space and more passengers onboard than other similar cruise ships." (Reports that the class was to be called the Sardinia class are untrue.)

MSC Cruises has gained its own notoriety, with this ship in particular making headlines several times. The most recent was on its arrival in New York May 4 with the corpse of a 44 foot long Sei whale draped on its bulbous bow. A necropsy revealed soft tissue injury to the 25 ton mammal, indicating ship impact.

Courtesy Call

Naval vessels make courtesy calls as part of normal diplomatic communication with other countries, often in connection with joint military exercises. Today's arrival of two German naval vessels is a little unusual as the ships berthed at Pier 20 (one outboard of the other) instead of at HMC Dockyard. This would indicate that they may be open to limited public visits.

The first Federal German Ship (FGS) to arrive was the Berlin class replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main A1412. It was met by three tugs from Atlantic Towing Ltd.

 

Passing east of George's Island, it swung round and tied up bows south at Pier 20, more or less "under" the bows of the MSC Meraviglia making something of a contrast.

The Berlin class of ships are the original pattern for the Royal Canadian Navy's adapted version of Joint Support Ships (JSS) or Protecteur class under construction at Seaspan. The Frankfurt am Main is the second ship of the class and was commissioned in 2001.

One of the pup tugs from the Dockyard (Listerville I believe) moved in and deployed some "Yokohama" fenders to the ship so that the next ship could tie on safely.

The second arrival was FGS Hamburg-Württemburg F222, a heavy frigate, - name ship of its class of four, and commissioned in 2019.

The two ships of the Deutsche Marine are on their Indo-Pacific deployment, which is in fact a round the world trip, starting earlier this month and extending to December. The trip will involve exercises with NATO partners Canada and the United States and other countries en route. German aircaft will also be participating.

The next port is New York, then it will transit the Panama Canal and go one across the Pacific with more visits in Asia, including Tokyo and exercises with Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

All three of the subject ships in the same photo this evening. Trivia time: The Ocean Sanderling in the background sailing on its weekly run to St.John's: Do you suppose anyone cares that the Sanderling was built for and operated  by D.D.G.Hansa in 1977 and operated under the German flag, with various names until 1987, when it became a Canadian ship?

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