MSC boxes begin to move

 The great stacks of MSC containers began to diminish somewhat today, November 30, as two ships started to load boxes that were stranded in Halifax during the Montreal port workers strike. The federal government has presumably now issued coasting licenses to the foreign flag ships MSC Baltic III and MSC Sagitta III that will allow them to move the containers from Halifax to Montreal (see previous posts).

MSC Baltic III arrived off Halifax November 21 and entered port this morning, tying up at PSA Fairview Cove.

Fleetmate MSC Sagitta III which had been idle at Fairview Cove since November 19 and may have begun loading last night, moved this morning to PSA Atlantic Gateway.

This photo shows the MSC Sagitta III on a prior visit June 29, 2024:

 

MSC Baltic III dates from 2003 when it was built by Aker MTW in Wismar as Nordbaltic. It was renamed on delivery as CMA CGM Romania. In 2008 it became Nordbaltic again until 2011 when it was economically renamed Baltic but only until 2012. It then took the name Niledutch Gemsbok but reverted to Nordbaltic again in 2015. That lasted until 2021 when it took its present name. The Roman number III in the name indicates MSC's size category. Built to Wismar's MTW 2500 class, various sources rate its actual capacity as 2478 TEU, although some say 2526 TEU. It also has 400 reefer plugs: 300 above deck and 100 below deck. It carries three cranes.

There was a better view of the ship when it was last here October 12:

The ship is normally assigned to the Canada Gulf Bridge service out of Montreal for Freeport, Bahamas and Mexican ports and return via Saint John, NB. It would usually not call in Halifax.

Each ship was expected to make three calls in Halifax between November 24 and December 31 to move the backlogged boxes. Now with nearly a week's delay in issuing the coasting licenses, there may have to be an adjustment in the ship's schedules, such as dropping one or more  port calls in Mexico, or "feedering" Mexico cargo from/to Freeport. 

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Returns

 I usually note ships that are new to Halifax, and don't pay too much attention to return visitors. Today, November 28, however saw the return of two ships that may be worthy of note.

RETURN SHIP 1

The CB Pacific has become a regular caller since February making brief calls at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal.  As previously reported, thanks to a reader, we know that the ship delivers ethanol from the United States.

It seems however that the ship's main job is to carry refined product from Irving Oil's Saint John refinery to the company's US terminals. A look at its recent itinerary shows it at the following ports:

Saint John November 10; Portland, ME November 11-13; Saint John November 14-16; Searsport November 16-17; Providence November 18-19; Saint John November 21-22; Portland November 23-24; Providence November 25-26; Boston November 27, New York November 23-24.

These trips supplemented voyages by ships from Irving's tanker fleet and perhaps other charters. However on this trip it is sailing for Montreal and by appearance still has some cargo on board - likely ethanol sourced in the United States.

The ship is now sporting a powder blue funnel with a white stripe / chevron, representing the Greek letter for "L": lambda which looks like an inverted "V" . On previous visits the ship had a yellow funnel with a stylized red flag with "C.B." and four stars in white.

C. B. stands for Carl Büttner GmbH + Co KG of Bremen, initial owners and which, since October 2022, is part of the Greek shipowner Lomar. Lomar in turn is part of the worldwide Libra Group of aviation, energy, real estate, hospitality and shipping / shipbuilding companies. CB Tankers Shipmanagement continues to manage the ship.

The CB Pacific, built by Jiangsu New Hantong shipbuilding in Yangzhong, China, was delivered in 2020. The 27,250 gt, 37,787 dwt ship is equipped to handle crude oil, clean petroluem products or chemicals in twelve phenolic epoxy coated tanks (plus two slops tanks). The ship is also built to DNV Baltic Ice Class 1B and is fitted with a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber which can be run at zero emissions. As previously noted it has a covered fore deck - a feature rarely incorporated in tankers.

It is similar in size the the Irving tankers, which were built to"Boston" size, allowing them to reach Irving Oil's terminal on the Chelsea Creek.

  

 RETURNING SHIP 2

It is relatively easy to change a ship's funnel colours and thus "rebrand" it to a new identity, with or without a new name. Changing a hull colour is not so simple, and  usually involves a drydocking. Ships don't usually sit still long enough for a new paint job when they are going about their regular business, and it is far too big a job for the ship's crew to undertake. Therefore after ships are sold, or go on a new charter, the owners wait until a regularly scheduled drydocking before repainting the hull. In drydock the old paint can be removed by blasting, the surface primed and new paint applied properly. (Under water and waterline portions of the hull require more specialized treatment that can only be done in drydock.)

Therefore it is not unsual to see a ship with a new name and the "old" hull colour, sometimes looking scruffy. That is the case with today's arrival at PSA Atlantic Gateway, the MSC Rowan arriving from Montreal on MSC's Canada Express. Its last five year survey was in 2022 so it would not normally be due for drydocking again until 2027.

Built in 2012 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jingjiang, as Balthazar Schulte the 40,542 gt, 52,847 dwt ship has a nominal capacity of 4250 TEU (that reduces to 2788 TEU at 14 tonnes each) It also has 698 reefer plugs.

In 2022 the ship moved from Thomas Schulte Reederei to MSC (whether by owership or by charter is not clear) and its name was changed to MSC Rowan. Interestingly the Roman numeral "III" was not added to the name. Most other MSC ships have added the Roman numeral to indicate size classificaiton. Nor was the ship's hull colour changed from the Schulte green.

After another winter of pounding back and forth across the Atlantic to Le Havre and Antwerp from Montreal and Halifax, that paint will certainly look no better.

The ship is on the eastbound leg on this trip and will top up to ocean draft before sailing over night.

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What's the Hold Up

 The transfer of containers stranded in Halifax from the Montreal lockout and strike does not seem to be happening very quickly. As previously noted trucks and trains have done what they could do, but they also have the normal regularly scheduled containers moving through the port.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company applied for coasting licenses to use the foreign flag MSC Sagitta III and Baltic III as no suitable Canadian ships are available. They made the application to the Canadian Transportation Agency on November 15 and as far as I can tell the Agency made its recommendation to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on November 20 with a proposed start date of November 24. 

As reported the MSC Sagitta III is alongside at PSA Fairview Cove and MSC Baltic III is anchored standing by offshore, but as of today, November 27, there has been no start to load. What is the hold up? Surely the Minister is not so busy that they can't apply a signature. 

As ZIM's H Cygnus (nearest camera) prepares to sail from PSA Fairview Cove this morning the MSC Sagitta III (background) sits idle.

 I wonder if the stranded containers are clogging up the normal flow in the terminals. The truck lanes are certainly chock full and lined up out into the streets at PSA Fairview Cove and there are MSC boxes stored in places that I don't normally see.

 Things appear to be closer to normal at PSA Atlantic Gateway but there are lots of MSC boxes there too, stacked well to the south of the main terminal (left background in the photo) at the Pier 30s.

 

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Comings and Goings

 Among the arrivals and departures today, November 26, were some ships of note:

1  The H Cygnus arrived from Port Newark (New York harbour) for ZIM's newly merged service combining the North America to South America West Coast line, the Colibri Express, with the Halifax / New York/ Kingston, Jamaica feeder ZCX.

As expected the ship is carrying a large number of reefers as temperature controlled and frozen foods form a large part of the trade from South America. The ship was built in 2022 by Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding in Jingjiang, China. It is the first in a series of at least seven ships built by the yard as their 1800 TEU class of feeders. The ship measures 18,848 gt, 24,480 dwt with an actual capacity of 1781 TEU. (I haven't been able to find the number of reefer plugs, but I expect several hundred.) Sister ship and fleet mate H Mercury called here October 9 and November 13.

2   Among departures was a very short term visitor. The Asian Spirit arrived from New York late afternoon yesterday, November 25, and sailed mid-afternoon today for Montreal. I don't know if it loaded or unloaded cargo, but I suspect it was a bunker stop.

It is classed as a "multi-purpose heavy lift" ship, built as part of the Beluga Shipping fleet in 2006. Construction began at the Damen Okean shipyard in Mikolayiv, Ukraine and was completed by Volharding, Foxhol, Netherlands. The 10,899 gt, 12,767 dwt ship can carry 675 TEU and has two 240 tonne SWL cranes that can work in combination. The ship carries a large spreader that is used when the cranes act in combination for an extra heavy lift. (The large black unit is stowed between the two cranes.)

The ship was launched as the Beluga Constitution and delivered as the Beluga Constellation. After Beluga Shipping failed it became the HR Constellation from 2011 to 2017 then Daisy briefly in the same year, settling on Asian Spirit later in 2017.

3   The Undine sailed late this afternoon after spending the day at Autoport offloading cars. The ship arrived in Halifax yesterday, November 25 and docked at Pier 9C to discharge RoRo machinery, then moved to Autoport this morning.

Some of the machinery was hidden from view by a previous cargo of wind turbine towers, but consisted of the usual mix of trucks, tractors and miscellaneous logging and mining equipment. It also had military cargo, in the form of some well worn armoured cars.

The Undine was built in 2003 by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co in Okpo and measured 57,112 gt, 22,616 dwt. In 2006 it was lengthened at the Hyundai Vinashin Ninh Hoa yard in Vietnam, by the insertion of a new 12.6m (41.33 ft) long cargo section, thus increasing tonnages to 67,378 gt, 28,338 dwt. Its car capacity then became 7194 cars of the RT43 standard.

The ship followed the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean transatlantic itinerary from Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Zeebrugge, with the addition of the Marchwood military port in Southampton. It sailed for New York.

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Montreal Strike Fall out

 The large quantities of containers stranded in Halifax due to the recent port workers strike and lockout in Montreal is diminishing somewhat, but by most reports there are still hundreds if not thousands of containers waiting for transport westbound. (There may have been as many as 5,000 containers off loaded here.) The terminals, and CN Rail, are coping with the extra boxes while still serving their regular customers and have pretty much maxed out the ability to move the containers any faster. The limited number of Halifax longshore workers has also been maxed out according to some reports. Fleets of trucks have been brought from Quebec, but each moving one container at a time is a slow go.

MSC has applied for a coasting license to use two foreign flag ships to carry some of the stranded boxes from Halifax to Montreal. (See November 20 post.) Both ships were en route to Halifax and had extra capacity.

MSC Sagitta III moved in to Fairview Cove Saturday, November 23 in hopes of a speedy Ministerial approval of its coasting license application, which may happen today. However when I passed the area late this morning there was no activity on the ship.

MSC Sagitta III alongside as in the background HMCS Ville de Quebec sails into Bedford Basin. (The Port of Quebec City has no container pier and has labour issues of its own.)

The second ship, MSC Baltic III has been standing by offshore since at least November 21 awaiting its turn for a license. There is no ETA in Halifax for it yet.

CMA CGM operates a four ship transatlantic service from Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp to Montreal called St Laurent 1, jointly with Maersk. Because there are draft restrictions on the St.Lawrence River, ships often call in Halifax on the return eastbound leg from Montreal to top off their loads to oceangoing draft. They rarely if ever call in Halifax westbound.

CMA CGM also operates a joint service with Hapag-Lloyd from Mediteranean ports to Montreal called MEDCAN, using seven ships. 

During the recent port workers strike and lockout in Montreal, CMA CGM diverted one of the Medcan ships, the Barcelona Express to the Port of Saint John, NB where it offloaded containers bound for Montreal.

CMA CGM then applied for a coasting license to use one of the St-Laurent I ships, the EM Kea, on its westbound leg, to pickup the boxes in Saint John and take them to Montreal. Some of the boxes were temperature controlled and there was a risk of spoilage if they were deayed too long.

In the end, the New Brunswick Southern and CPKC railways were able to move the 143 containers and the coasting license application was withdrawn.

Meanwhile in Halifax today, November 25, the CMA CGM Paranagua arrived on the eastbound leg of the St-Laurent 1 service to top off.  CMA CGM Paranagua is very similar in appearance to the 2007 built EM Kea, but is two years older, dating from 2005. The ships were built, in series of a dozen or more sister ships, by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland over period of several years. The are readily identifiable by the sloped fairing on the after side of the superstructure.

 

It is a 35,881 gt, 41,801 dwt ship with a capacity of 3091 TEU with 500 reefer plugs. Unlike its younger sister however, it is equipped with three cargo cranes.

Originally named Cosima by the Peter Doehle organization, it was renamed Norasia Atlas in 2005, and Letavia briefly during 2006 becoming Emirates Freedom to 2009 when it was again named Letavia until 2021. CMA CGM then acquired the ship and it took its present name, and placed it under the management of NSB Niederelbe.

Paranguá is a major port in the south of Brazil, and its name comes from the indigenous Tupi language, and means "great round sea".

The other ships on the CMA CGM /Maersk St.Laurent 1 service do not seem to have been held up very much by the Montreal strike, which lasted from October 31 to November 14:

 EM Kea had sailed from Montreal before the strike and called Halifax October 30. It is now en route from Antwerp (November 15) and is due in Montreal November 25. 

The Volga Maersk was in Halifax eastbound October 19 and is now due in Montreal again November 24. It appears to have been slow steaming for a time since it left Antwerp November 9.

Vistula Maersk sailed from Montreal November 1 and was in Halifax eastbound on November 5. It sailed from Antwerp November 22 and is due in Montreal December 6, possibly slow steaming for a time.

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Ijsselborg for Nirint

 Nirint Shipping, a Dutch company, trades between Europe and the Caribbean, with a link in Halifax. One service sails from Rotterdam to the Dutch Caribbean and another called the Europe-Cuba-Canada service sails from Bilbao and Rotterdam to Mariel and Moa, returning to Europe via Halifax. 

Nirint does not own its own ships, but charters ships for multi-year periods. It used to rename the ships with a "Nirint" prefix, but has not done so in recent years.

The latter of Nirint's two services carries bagged nickel sulfides from Cuba. The cargo is off loaded in Halifax and sent by rail to Fort Saskatchewan, AB for initial processing. The ore is then sent to Belgium for refining.

Today's arrival of the Dutch flagged ship Ijsselborg is unusual because the ship is normally dedicated to the Dutch Caribbean route, and thus has not called in Halifax before. However it docked at Pier 27 and appears set to offload nickel. High winds and heavy rains have apparently delayed cargo operations.

Built in 2010, its hull came from the Damen Yichang shipyard in China. It was completed and fitted out at Damen's home yard in Gorinchem, Netherlands to a Damen standard design "Combi Freighter 12000" of 8,999 gt, 12,016 dwt. A multi-purpose dry cargo ship with moveable 'tween decks it has two hatches and two box shaped holds. It is also rated as Finnish Swedish Ice Class 1A and carries two 80 tonne SWL cranes that can work in combination for 160 tonne lifts. It has a container capacity of 686 TEU with 80 reefer plugs.

The ship was built as Ijsselborg, but renamed Onego Houston for a short time in 2011 then reverted to Ijsselborg. In 2012 it was renamed Clipper Alba then in 2015 became Nordana Saran, finally settling on Ijsselborg again in 2015. Wearing the colours and name style of the large Dutch company Royal Wagenborg it is actually owned by Rederij Smith BV with commercial managment in the hands of Royal Wagenborg and in turn chartered to Nirint.

Due to inclement conditions I could not see if the ship is carrying any containers, but it does not seem likely as the nickel cargo is stowed below deck and access is needed through both hatches. According to Nirint's published schedule it is due to sail from here for Rotterdam on completion of cargo work.

Wagenborg ships are frequent callers on the Great Lakes / St.Lawrence in the forestry trade with clay for paper making and finished paper products and bulk cargoes. Their gray hulls with red stripes make them easily identifiable.

Wagenborg ships such as the Albanyborg and Amstelborg load paper at my summertime haunt of Pointe-au-Pic, QC for export to Europe.

The Albanyborg is passing Halifax tonight en route to Baie Comeau, QC, another of its favourite loading ports for paper. The Amstelborg is at anchor near Belem, Brazil.
 

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Algoma Growing

 The Algoma Central Corporation is on another growth spurt, with new bulk carriers ordered for its international operations and new tankers for charter.

The company's ships are often seen in Halifax, and this week was no expception with three of its ships in port, each representing a different area of operations. By this evening, November 21, all had sailed on their ways to wisdespread destinations.

In the international bulk shipping realm, Algoma is a partner in CSL's self-unloader pool, with nine ships including the Algoma Integrity which loaded at Gold Bond Gypsum and sailed November 19 for Tampa. In this file photo taken in January 2024 the ship is transitting the Narrows in Halifax headed for the loading dock at Wright's Cove in Bedford Basin.

The former Gypsum Integrity built in 2009 by EISA-Ilha in Rio di Janeiro, was built to service US Gypsum's Canadian operations in Little Narrows and Hantsport. When those operations shut down the ship was reassigned and Algoma purchasd it in 2015. The 33.047 gt, 46,293 dwt ship has a self-unloading rate of 3,000 tonnes per hour.

In January 2023 Algoma and CSL each ordered two Kamsarmax self-unloaders from Jiangsu Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding Co Ltd. The 72, 250 dwt ships will unload at 5,000 tonnes per hour. The first ship is due for delivery in July 25 and subsequent ships in three month intervals thereafter. They will replace older ships in the CSL pool. (Kamsar is an important bauxite port in the Republic of Guinea. Ships that can load there are considered to be the most versatile.)

In the domestic area, Algoma operates ten self-unloaders and eight gearless bulkers under Canadian flag and took delivery of another new Equinox class ship this year - Algoma Bear. It will likely be restricted to the Great Lakes / Gulf of St. Lawrence iron ore / grain trade.  Some of the self-unloaders can make extended trips to Halifax such as the Radcliffe R.Latimer which delivered a load of grain from the Great Lakes, sailing from Thunder Bay November 9 and arriving here November 19.

 The ship will sail this evening for Auld's Cove on the Strait of Canso to load aggregate. I have recounted the ship's history here before, but briefly again: built in Collingwood in 1978 as Algobay, upgraded to Caribbean class in 1987-88, chartered to CSL as Atlantic Trader 1994 to 1997. Towed to China where new forebody and engine were installed - redelivered in 2009 and renamed in 2012. Now a 26,102 gt, 37,257 dwt Seawaymax ship, can unload at up to 5440 tph; "Coastal Class" with restricted sea voyages.

Algoma Tankers Ltd has also been busy increasing and renewing its fleet, with several additions added this year. In the last week three of its fleet have called in Halifax: Algoscotia, Algoberta, and Algonova. The last of which (see yesterday's post) sailed today for the Esso refinery in Nanticoke. Algoma Tankers was formed with the takeover of the Imperial Oil (Esso Canada) fleet and has been Imperial's dedicated carrier. 

However in 2023 Algoma Tankers announced that they had ordered two Ice class, 37,000 dwt  Mid Range 2 tankers from Hyundai Mipo for delivery in 2025. The ships will be chartered exclusively to Irving Oil and will sail under Canadian flag. They will replace two older ships, the Acadian, and the Esst Coast [see yesterday's post], both built in 2005 and chartered from Iver Ships BV, the tanker operating arm of the Dutch Vroon Group. 

The new ships have not been assigned official names yet, but are listed by builder's hull numbers as Hyundai Mipo 2900 and Hyundai Mipo 2901. The first delivery is due in January so an announcement can be expected soon. The second ship is due in March.

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Busy Day

 There was a lot of activity in Halifax harbour today, November 20, mostly container ships.

An over night arrival anchored in the lower harbour. MSC Sagitta III is on the Mediterranean Shipping Company's Canada Gulf Bridge route and does not normally call in Halifax. Because of the large number of containers landed in Halifax during the Montreal longshore workers strike MSC has applied to use this ship and the MSC Baltic III to transfer the stranded boxes to Montreal. (Some have already been dispatched by train and truck, but there were reportedly 5,000 boxes left off in this port.) Canada's cabotage law restricts shipping between Canadian ports to Canadian ships, unless no suitable Canadian ships are available. In such cases a coasting license may be granted to a foreign ship, and I expect the MSC Sagitta III is waiting for the Minister of Public Safety to grant the license  in the next few days.

MSC Sagitta III was built by Nordseewerker, Emden in 2010. The 36,519 gt, 42,614 dwt ship was a capacity of 3428 TEU and has a large nuber of reefer plugs, noted as "392 + 108". [I'm not certain what that means but may describe the number below and above deck or vice versa.]

Initially named Frisia Brussel it was renamed Sagitta in 2010 and MSC Sagitta III in 2021.

The ship is northbound from Freeport, Bahamas, and is expected to top up at PSA Fairview Cove on the first of three trips once the license is granted.

Arriving at PSA Fairview Cove, the NYK Nedula held off the dock allowing Ophelia to sail (see yesterday's post.)

At the same time the Oceanex Sanderling was arriving from St.John's and it also held off in Bedford Basin before coming alongside.

Container activity at PSA Atlantic Gateway got off to a slow start as there was no acitivity in the morning.

With the coastal tanker Algonova at anchor in the foreground waiting its turn at Imperial Oil, there was a backdrop of the South End Container Terminal with all its cranes inactive. Two cranes were in the "down" position. The northmost crane (at right in the photo) is rarely raised. It is one of the new cranes at the facility and may have a problem. One other crane was also down and it certainly did appear to be U/S as traveller wires were sagging and the spreader appeared to be on the ground. (Not sure why the adjacent crane had chains hanging from its spreader.)

 Things picked up at the SECT as the day wore on.

A noontime arrival was the MSC Don Giovanni another Canada Gulf Bridge ship arriving from Montreal, likely to top up to salt water draft. This is another "classic" from MSC, built in 1996. It is a hatchless design of the revolutionary Eco Box 42 class, from the Flensburger Shipbuilding Company in Emden. The 29,181 gt, 41,590 dwt ship has a capacity of somewhere between 2480 and 2604 TEU (depending on sources.)

It was launched in 1996 as the Jean Lykes but delivered as Jean and very soon sold to MSC and renamed. The famous US shipping company Lykes Line was bankrupt in 1995 and may have defaulted on this ship. CP Ships bought Lykes in 1997 and CP in turn was bought by TUI in 2006 and melded into Hapag-Lloyd.

Considered to be very elegant when new, the ship is looking a tad seedy now.

Soon after it was a new to Halifax caller for Melfi Lines. Orinoco is northbound from Mariel, Cuba.

Built in 2010 by Fujian Shipbuilding Co in Fuzhou, the 9994 gt, 12,306 dwt ship has a capacity of 880 TEU and carries two cranes of unknown capacity. The ship was launched as E.R. Helsinki but completed as Friesdijk. It was renamed X-press Tajumulco in 2013 and became the Orinoco in 2020.

There was also tanker activity in Halifax today. As noted above the Algonova arrived and anchored in the lower harbour. It has cargo from Nanticoke, and in the early evening moved to Imperial Oil on the departure of the Al Reem (see previous posts).

There was also a mid-afternoon departure from Irving Oil's Woodside terminal. The East Coast is headed back to Saint John to load after its latest trip to Charlottetown.

The ship makes regular trips to Halifax, Charlottetown and St.John's but also to Boston and Providence from time to time.

The only ship not photographed today was CSL Kajika arriving to load gypsum. The ship made its first call in Halifax on April 19, 2022 and full details are provided in my post of that date.

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Ophelia for ZIM

 As reported November 4, ZIM has joined the former CFX (Canada Feeder Express) with its ZCX Colibri Express west coast South America service. The service operates to numerous North and South American ports from ZIM's Kingston, Jamaica hub.

 Today's arrival on that run is the Ophelia on charter from the long standing German operators Leonhardt + Blumberg (founded in 1903).

 Leonhardt + Blumberg now operates 27 feeder container carriers and five product tankers. Ophelia is fairly typical at 17,907 gt, 21,700 dwt. Dating from 2018, it was delivered by Guangzhou Wenchong. Its capacity is 1717 TEU with 362 reefer plugs, 202 of which are in the holds. South America is a major exporter of produce to Canada, as is ZIM, so the number of temperature controlled boxes on deck is not surprising. The number of loads of course is unkown.

Just below the starboard bridge wing the world "Buss" appears with a red symbol. According to available references Buss were listed as managers for a short time in 2018. The Buss company is multi-faceted with interests in shipping, resources, real estate and terminal operation and is a shareholder in Leonhardt + Blumberg.

The name Ophelia is an odd one for a ship, as the character in Shakespeare's Hamlet (and subsequent operas and movies) lost her mind and drowned. The name is not Danish however but is Greek, as are two other L+B feeders, Octavia and Olympia.

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Cars, Boxes and Propane

There were ships in port today, November 18, with the usual mix of cargoes - containers and automobiles, but there was also one for an unusual commodity.

Among the usual container ships there were two sister ships at PSA Atlantic Gateway - the South End Container Terminal (aka SECT). The ONE Monaco, which arrived yesterday (see previous post) was a late morning departure on the eastbound leg of THE Alliance's EC5 service. The ship is destined for Singapore via the Cape of Good Hope.

With three tugs to assist, the ONE Monaco prepares to get underway.

Meanwhile the sister ship ONE Minato was approaching Halifax on the west bound leg of the same service, passing Cape Town November 6. The two ships met well offshore beyond camera range.

As the ONE Minato arrives, a previous departure, the CMA CGM Rigoletto is visible at an outer anchorage. It went to anchor there after sailing on November 16, and departed for New York later today.

 ONE Minato is the tenth and last of the series of ships in the Milau Bridge class. Built in 2018 it did not carry a "Bridge" name but was delivered as a ONE ship (Ocean Network Express) to partner K-Line. Built by Imabari Zosen in Mihara, the 152,180 gt, 146,696 dwt ship has a capacity of 13,900 TEU.

 Three tugs turn the ship to back in to Pier 41. It appears to be loaded to capacity.

While all this was going on today's Autoport visitor was also getting underway with two tugs (there are currently seven harbour tugs operating in Halifax). Unlike its previous visit on April 28, 2023 the Grand Pavo will not be discharging machinery at Pier 9C.

Built in 2005 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding in Japan, the 59,217 gt, 18,376 dwt ship has a capacity for 6400 cars.  The Pure Truck and Car Carrier (PCTC) operates for the Hong Kong-based Korean company CIDO Shipping and is not related to the Grimaldi Ocean RoRo operator which has ships with the "Grande" prefix. CIDO is set to be a major player in the shipping scene with 72 ships in its current fleet and 40 more on order.

The Grand Pavo appears to be on a round-the-world trip leaving Singapore June 25 it has called in Korea, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and back to Japan and Singapore then to Sagunto (Spain), Avonmouth (UK), Zeebrugge (Belgium), Rya Harbour (Goteborg, Sweden) and Marchwood Military Port (Southampton, UK). It is now headed for New York.

Rounding out today's arrivals is the small Dutch cargo ship Frisian Octa on its second call in Halifax. 

The ship was first here October 22 to October 30 bringing in 30 containers. After several days at anchor the ship moved alongside PSA Fairview Cove where it took on a quantity of containers carrying propane and sailed for Moa, Cuba. This was the first of a possible six month charter to call in Halifax every two weeks for propane and possibly other cargo. [My post of October 25 called it a "mystery ship" - thanks to a reader I now know why it was here.]

Cuba has been in an energy crisis due to a deteriorated power infrastructure, coupled with an unreliable fuel source (namely Venezuela). On top of that the country had two hurricane strikes - Oscar on October 20 and Rafael on November 7, plus a 6.8 Richter scale earthquake on November 10. The entire nation was blacked out on October 18 and there have been periodic outages since. Propane is a useful alternative fuel for vehicles and various appliances. Due to continued uncertainty of fuel supply, propane from Canada would seem to be more dependable,at least for now. US policy toward Cuba may well become more restrictive in the coming months.

Construction of the ship started at Zaliv in Kerch, Ukraine, and was completed by Damen Bergum, in Friesland in 2010. The Ice Class 1 ship has ventilated box shaped holds with pontoon type tween decks. It carries two 40 tonne SWL cranes. The 5425 gt, 8284 dwt ship was built as Beauforce and took its present name in 2021. It is also licensed to carry dangerous cargoes.

At some date the ship was fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber system. The ship's normal exhaust stack was re-routed to the scrubber housing in a sort of Frankenstein arrangement. It appears that exhaust from the ship's auxiliary engines may not be diverted to the scrubber, since the two small stacks are still visible atop the funnel housing.

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A newcomer, among others

 A new to Halifax ship showed up in Halifax today, November 17, along with a pair of previous callers.

ONE Monaco arrived at PSA Atlantic Gateway on THE Alliance's EC5 Asia / North America service, this time east bound from New York. It was here October 14 westbound from Colombo, Sri Lanka, via the Cape of Good Hope, and has since called at the US east coast ports of New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Jaksonvillle, Charleston and New York again.

The seventh of ten ships in its class, it was built in 2018 by Imabari Zosen, Mihara as Monaco Bridge for K-Line. The 150,706 gt, 147,021 dwt ship has a capacity of 13,900 TEU. K-Line joined with the MOL and NYK to form Ocean Network Express (ONE) in 2017 and some of  the ships have been rebranded and repainted to ONE livery. The name change in this case came in 2023. Sister ship ONE Minato is due tomorrow on the westbound leg of the EC5.

The new to Halifax ship is the Spyros V on ZIM's ZCA route from the Mediterranean. Its last port was Messina, Italy and it is bound for New York.

Built in 2011 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jingjiang, it is a 40,542 gt, 49,891 dwt ship with a capacity of 4250 TEU including 698 reefer slots. It operated as the Bella Schulte for the Thomas Schulte Reederei until 2015 when it was acquired by affiliates of the Greek operator Technomar Shipping Inc, and renamed. The "V" presumably is the Roman numeral, representing the capacity class, similar to MSC's new naming policy.

A repeat visitor, but not a regular one, is the auto carrier Morning Cindy at Autoport on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen North Atlantic route from Bremerhaven and Zeebrugge for New York.

Morning Cindy was built in 2012 by Imabari Zosen in Marugame. The 59,580 gt, 18,735 dwt ship has a capacity of 6,142 Car Equivalent Units. Despite operating for EUKOR (a partnership of Wilhelmsen, Wallenius, American RoRo and United European Car Carriers), ostensibly to carry Korean made auotmobiles, the ship is owned and managed by Japanese interests through a Panama corporation: Excel Marine Co Ltd of Fukuoka.

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MSC Diversion fallout

 Short term work stoppages followed by an indefinite longshore workers strike in the Port of Montreal started on October 31. The employers then declared a lock out as of November 10. The strikers were ordered back to work, by government edict, effective today, November 16, with binding arbitration to follow. As a result of the Montreal shutdown The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) diverted ships to Halifax. The scale of the diversions was apparent from the number of MSC boxes piled up at the two container terminals. [see previous posts]

It is also apparent that clearing those boxes and sending them back on their way to Montreal now that the strike is over will be a major operation. CN Rail has added extra trains, but that is apparently insufficient to move the large number of stranded containers on top of the normal amount of cargo moving through the port at the height of the consumer goods season.

Montreal is a terminal port, where ships unload completely then load new cargo. Halifax in the other hand is usually a waypoint, handling only a portion of the cargo aboard any given ship. When Montreal is unavailable the ships that divert to Halifax must offload all their cargo here. It is fortunate that the Port of Halifax has the additional capacity available so that ships can keep moving instead of being stalled at anchor for the duration of a strike.

MSC has applied for coasting licenses to use two foreign flag ships to move the stranded boxes from Halifax to Montreal. There are no Canadian ships able to handle the amount and type containers, so it is expected that permission will be granted. Trade between Canadian ports is restricted by law to Canadian flagged ships. If no suitable Canadian ships are available a coasting license may be granted to a foreign flag ship by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness upon recommendation by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

In their application to the CTA, MSC requested permission to use the MSC Baltic III 2526 TEU and MSC Sagitta III 3426 TEU for three trips each between November 24 and December 31 from Halifax to Montreal. The ships normally operate on the Canada Gulf Bridge route from Montreal to Mexico, so may be calling in Halifax on their northbound legs and adding the diverted boxes to whatever cargo they may already have on board or they may be making special trips. They also have relatively large reefer capacity - in excess of 300 TEU each.

In its application to the CTA MSC noted the names of ships that were diverted to Halifax while en route to Montreal: MSC Nahara, MSC Levina III, MSC England and MSC Jordan III [see previous posts]. The application suggests that in excess of 5,000 containers are involved, both loads and empties. There are several hundred temperature controlled containers included, that must be maintained in operation.

Readily identifiable MSC boxes, and others that may have been carried on MSC ships, are stacked in all available space in the two terminals sharing space with the regular number of containers from other lines.

A letter from the Port of Halifax supporting the CTA application states that yard utilization stands at 60% for PSA Fairview Cove and 92% for the PSA Atlantic Gateway. Plug in space for temperature controlled boxes stands at 95% for Fairview and 65% for the Atlantic Gateway.

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Friday

 High winds coupled with rain, may have slowed the work at container terminals again today November 15, but ships were still coming and going. Photos as a result are bit fuzzy due to the rain.

Yesterday the Oceanex Sanderling and ZIM Asia (photo above) joined the tanker Al Reem (see November 13 post and below) at anchor in Bedford Basin, awaiting their berths. When Atlantic Sail sailed later yesterday afternoon they both moved alongside PSA Fairview Cove.

Oceanex Sanderling is expected to sail late afternoon today on its usual departure for St.John's.

ZIM Asia sailed at noon time today, taking a wide turn out into Bedford Basin before lining up for the Narrows. 

A rather bedraggled Africville park asill looked green, thanks to recent mild weather. Canada geese, rather than migrate, have been feeding on the grass and making a mess. The flags were set up to discourage them, but also make effective wind indicators.

The inbound Delphinus C on THE Alliance's AL5 service arrived from Antwerp to take the ZIM Asia's berth.

Another of the seven ship Daedalus class ships built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2007, it was originally the NYK Delphinus, fifth in the series. The 55,487 gt, 65,950 dwt ship has a capacity of 4,888 TEU including 330 reefer plugs. In 2003 the ship was renamed Delphinus C by Cosmoship Management SA of Piraeus, but remains on the AL5 route.

Once again it is worth noting the large number of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC boxes on deck. In February 2025 when the new Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd Gemini Cooperation comes into effect Hapag-Lloyd will withdraw from THE Alliance. MSC may take up some of the slots but Gemini will form other services some of which will no doubt call in Halifax. New schedules will be posted in December.

At PSA Atlantic Gateway it was an unusual ship for the Ocean Alliance (CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen, OOCL.) 

The CMA CGM Rigoletto is quite a bit smaller than the usual 15,000 TEU ships on the route from Asia via the Cape of Good Hope. (Last port Colombo.)

The CMA CGM Rigoletto comes in at 107,711 gt, 114,004 dwt with a capacity of 9415 TEU including 700 reefers. It would be among the largest ships with all superstructure aft. Most ships of that size have an "island" bridge well forward. It was built in 2006 by Hyundai Ulsan.

Still anchored in Bedford Basin, the tanker Al Reem (see above) awaits a berth at Imperial Oil.

Today the Algoscotia moved back from Pier 26 to Imperial Oil as winds died down sufficiently for safe operation. The Al Reem appears to have quite a bit of product yet to unload.

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