Container lines are trying to deal with the aftermath of the longshore workers strike in the United States and the current strike in Montreal. There are stranded boxes in ports such as Halifax and it seems that additional ships have been brought into fetch them and get them back in service, and to pick up mountains of empties in the terminals.
It also seems that ships are being diverted from Montreal and that Halifax will be handling both import and export containers from that port. Unlike Halifax, Montreal is a terminal port, so ships generally unload completely before loading. When those ships are diverted to Halifax it results in a major increase in truck and train traffic to and from the port, not to mention the additional loading and offloading work. It also means that we see container ships in ballast (i.e. without any visible cargo.)
MSC Levina III at anchor in Bedford Basin since October 31, is on MSC's Canada Express service from Le Havre, Antwerp and Zeebrugge. It initially arrived in Halifax on October 30, and in anticipation of the Montreal strike was completely unloaded. It was then sent to wait for export cargo to arrive by train, or perhaps by truck. It moved back alongside the PSA Fairview Cove terminal yesterday, November 4 and sailed today, November 5. [ For details on the ship see my post of July 11, 2024.]
Also at anchor in Bedford basin and in ballast, MSC Nahara arrived November 2 and unloaded.
As mentioned in a previous post, the ship is designed to operate without hatch covers, and as a result the stowage cells extend above the level of the main deck as lashing frames. This will greatly reduce the likelihood of boxes being lost overside.
The ship was to move alongside PSA Atlantic Gateway (South End Container Terminal) today to load.
Meanwhile at PSA Fairview Cove the MSC England arrived from Freeport, Bahamas, on what MSC's schedules shows as an "extra vessel". So far no departure time has been scheduled.
The ship was built as CMA CGM Vega by Hyundai, Ulsan in 2001. The 39,812 gt, 51.020 dwt ship has a container capacity of 4132 TEU. It adopted its current name in 2007.
(That is a Dominion Diving tender and crew boat, Dominion Pursuit, passing the ship. It has been assigned to take a pilot out to the anchored MSC Nahara. Dominion Diving has the contract for that service when the pilot boat is busy elsewhere.)
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