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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