Sunday, May 5, 2024

More Cars and more Fuel

 With spring comes a surge in demand for new cars, and so Autoport has been particularly busy with spring arrivals. To fuel those cars (with summer gasoline formulations) the petroleum companies have also been stocking up.

Over the past few days there have been two ships at Autoport - both familiar ones - with batches of new European cars.

On Saturday May 4 it was Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Don Pasquale from the usual European load ports of Bremerhaven, Goteborg and Southampton.(Skipping Zeebrugge this time.)

The ship was built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in Okpo in 1997 and in 2007 it was lengthened from 219.3 to 227.9 m by Hyundai Vinaship in Vietnam. The reworked ship now registers 67,141 gt, 28,142 dwt with a capacity of 7,194 cars. It sailed for New York.


Today, May 5, it was the SFL Composer in from Bremen (the Volkswagen export facility) with a consignment of VWs, Audis and Porsches. The ship is under charter to VW until the First Quarter of 2027.

It is a 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship with a capacity of 6500 CEU. Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe, it was originally the Excellent Ace becoming Glovis Composer in 2012 and SFL Composer in 2020.

SFL Composer will remain in port over night and is due to sail late tomorrow afternoon.

On the fuel side of things, Irving Oil has been busy.

On Tuesday May 2 there was an unusual caller, Irving Oil's charter tanker Great Eastern arriving from Amsterdam. 


The Marshall Islands flag ship normally operates between Saint John, NB and US east coast ports, and is rarely seen in Halifax. As a foreign flagged ship it is not permitted to trade between Canadian ports. It also rarely sails to Europe, and this appears to be a "one of" voyage. Irving Oil regualry imports refined product from its storage termainl in Amsterdam, but usually with spot charter ships.

Built in 2005 by Hyundai, Ulsan Great Eastern is a MidRange type tanker of 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt and is one of five sister tankers operating under long term charter to Irving Oil. Two of the ships, the Acadian and the East Coast (ex Nor-Easter) fly the Canadian flag and serve primarily Atlantic Canada ports, but sometimes reach as far west as Quebec City and Montreal. The Great Eastern and New England, which were joined in 2014 by a second Nor'Easter (the former Iver Progess, built in 2007), run usually to such ports as Portland and Boston.

All of the ships were retrofitted with exhaust gas scrubber systems (housed in a large white structure abaft the funnel).

On arrival Great Eastern anchored in the harbour until the East Coast had arrived May 3 and completed unloading and vacated the Woodside terminal berth May 4. It is rare to see two Irving Oil tankers in port at the same time. The domestic ship was given priority due to shorter terminal time, and "just in time" scheduling.

Irving Oil has committed to a charter with Algoma Central Corporation for two new 37,000 dwt ice class tankers to be built by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan. The state of the art ships will be ethanol fuel ready and will have numerous other up-to-date features. Delivery is anticipated during the First Quarter of 2025. The ships will be Canadian flagged but will be suitable for trading to the usual US ports,  particularly Boston, which has a beam restriction of 27.4 meters (90 feet) at the Chelsea Street lift bridge on Chelsea Creek to reach Irving Oil's terminal in Revere, MA. 

Disposition of the other tankers, all but one of which will have reached the twenty-year mark next year, remains to be seen.

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Friday, May 3, 2024

New for ZIM

One of a new series of ships for ZIM made its presence known in Halifax today. ZIM Eagle is apparently owned by the Greek company Navios and is on long term charter to ZIM. Why it has adopted a "bird" theme name when ONE has also chosen birds, is a mystery. Could Navios not have found a more original scheme? (I had suggestions ready but never got the call.)

The ship was delivered in January of this year by Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard Co and measures 49,877 gt, 62,857 dwt with a capacity of 5315 TEU. It is on the ZCA (ZIM Container Atlantic) service en route from Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain to the US east coast and return.

Navios, now with 180 ships of various types, has announced some other names in the series. The first ship was ZIM Sparrow, this ship is second, and the next is to be ZIM Hawk. So far I don't know if any others will be assigned to the ZCA.

The ZIM Eagle arrived at PSA Fairview Cove early this morning and sailed at dusk, so a close examination was not possible. however it appeared to be sailing on a very light draft despite a substantial deck load.  

As usual a significant number of visible containers were Hapag-Lloyd and UASC, which may augur well for ZCA when Hapag-Lloyd pulls out of THE Alliance next year. H-L's long standing slot arrangement with ZIM may benefit from additional cargo from the Med. 

[Due to the sensitivity of issues relating to the situation in Israel, I am being vague about ports and call dates.The ship left China late in January and presumably reached Ashdod via the Cape of Good Hope.]

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Cars from Italy

Most arrivals at Autoport are ships with cars loaded at west European ports. Today's arrival however was from Gioia Tauro, Italy, and presumably carried Italian made cars and trucks.

Grande Sierra Leone is a combination carrier CONRO - container and RoRo - but was carrying only RoRo on this trip. Ships of Grimaldi Lines are infrequent callers here, but Grimaldi owns Atlantic Container Lines, which calls here as often as twice weekly.

Built in 2011 by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan, it is a 47,659 gt, 25,665 dwt ship with a capacity of 3711 CEU, and 1276 TEU. It also carries two 40 tonne SWL cranes.  It is one of five ships in the Grande Marocco class.

In addition to cargo in the enclosed car decks the ship was also carrying a number of cargo vans on the open deck.

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New RTGs for PSA

 In March 2023 the container terminal operators, PSA Halifax, announced the purchase of eight new Rubber Tired Gantries (RTGs) for the South End Container Terminal known as PSA Atlantic Gateway. (PSA also operates the Fairview Cove container terminal.) The new RTGs were scheduled for delivery from builders Konecranes of Finland in the second quarter of 2024.

Today the first four units arrived on the Dutch flagged Sampogracht, indirectly from Rauma, Finland.

The new RTGs, appropriately enough are painted green because they are electrically powered, unlike the nine currently operating orange coloured units that are diesel powered.


 The Sampogracht, part of the Spliethoff fleet, is a 18,321 gt, 23,471 dwt multi-purpose ship that carries three 120 tonne SWL cranes, has box shaped, ventilated holds, removable tween decks and has a capacity of 1273 TEU. It also has sideload doors. It was built in 2005 by Szczecinska Nowa in Poland. On this voyage from Finland, the ship stopped in Jacksonville, FL.

 PSA is in the midst of a major expansion program at the South End Terminal, which included the delivery of new container cranes late last year. New rail sidings are in the works within the terminal, and the extension to the north is underway. 

The new RTGs are numbered 81, 82, 83 and 84.

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Monday, April 29, 2024

Norwegian Prima - you decide

The immense cruise ship Norwegian Prima spent the day, April 29, in Halifax en route from New York to Europe.

 


The ship was built by Fincantieri, Marghera and entered service in 2022. At 143,535 gt, it has a passenger capacity variously reported as 3,099 and up to 3,215 with a crew of 1,506. Passenger accommodation is spread over 16 of the ship's total of 20 decks.

The ship is the first of six Prima class vessels, although subsequent ships will be longer and wider with the final two about 20% larger than this one. (Fortunately you can't get 20% uglier).

From Halifax the ship has planned calls in Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Zeebrugge and LeHavre, arriving in Southampton May 12.

Although very large, the ship does not operate at a very deep draft (8.4 meters / 27'-7" on sailing) so it was able to exit using the main channel, giving over the deep water western channel to the inbound ONE Wren which was reporting 15 meters / 49'-2 1/2" draft. Interestingly the 14,056 TEU ONE Wren has a gross tonnage of 146,409, but like the proverbial iceberg, much of it is underwater.


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Saturday, April 27, 2024

Marine Atlantic

 With news that the newest ship in the Marine Atlantic fleet has arrived in North Sydney, at least one of the long ago former ferries is en route to the scrap yard.

The new ship the Ala'Suini arrived in North Sydney April 20 fresh from the builders, CMJL, Weihai Shandong via Cape Town March 21-22 and Las Palmas April 7-13. The ship replaces the chartered  Atlantic Vision on the North Sydney - Argentia route (seasonally) and will work the North Sydney - Port-aux-Basques route as needed in winter. Atlantic Vision sailed from North Sydney, April 4 and arrived in Lindoe, Denmark April 17 where it will be reconditioned.

A former Marine Atlantic ship that served from 1975 to 1986 has been sold for scrap in Europe. Built by Rickmers, Bremerhaven in 1975, it was launched under the name Stena Atlantica but delivered as Marine Atlantica to Canadian investors for charter through Roylease, to CN Marine (predecessor to Marine Atlantic). 

 It operated year round on the North Sydney-Port aux Basques run as a passenger / car / truck ferry.

In 1986 the charter was terminated and as Marine Atlantic was formed as a crown coporation, the ship was old to Italian owners. It was renamed Corsica Vera in 1986, but was again renamed in 1987 as Sardinia Vera. In 1995 its gross tonnage was revised from  5441 gt to 12,107 gt. This was likely due to its car deck re-designated as a watertight deck under new regulations. Also sponsons were added to the hull, but above the water line. These would not be large enough to account for the entire tonnage increase, but may be related to buoyancy requirements.

It has now been reported sailing from Vado Liguri, April 26 and is due in Aliaga, Turkey May 2 where it will be scrapped.

Sister ship Marine Nautica, with a similar history, is also reported sold for scrap - details to follow in another post.

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Cruise, Cruise, Cruise and More

 Although it is still early in the season, there were three cruise ships in the Port of Halifax today, April 27: Viking Polaris, Volendam and Norwegian Pearl.

Viking Polaris was back for its second visit. After its first visit April 10 it has covered a lot of territory:  Trois-Rivières April 25, Montreal 16, Toronto 17-18, Montreal 20, Trois-Rivières 21, Quebec City 21, Port Alfred 22, Sept-Iles 23, and Charlottetown 25. It is now off to New York City and will not be back again until August 17.

The 30,114 gt ship, built in 2022 by Fincantieri carries 378 passengers and 256 crew. It sister ship Viking Octantis was here April 18 [qv] en route to a summer's cruising on the Great Lakes.

While in port, the ship discharged some refuse to a barge and exercised its Zodiacs. The workboat / landing craft Tidal Runner was doing tug duty with the barge.

 

Volendam


 
A ship that will become a familiar sight in Halifax this year made its first ever call in Halifax today. Volendam, built in 1999 by Fincantieri, Marghera is a member of the Rotterdam class, measuring 60,906 gt with a capacity of 1432 passengers and 647 crew. It replaces sister ship Zaandam which had been calling in Halifax since 2019. The two ships have exchanged routes with Zaandam now doing Alaska tours.

Volendam will take up the east coast run out Boston to Portland, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Magdalen Islands, Quebec City, Montreal. The latter is a terminal port also. From there, with a new contingent of passengers the ship retraces its way back to Boston via the same ports including Halifax. In all it will make 20 calls in Halifax between now and October 15 when it will make a Mediterranean round trip from and to Fort Lauderdale, its winter base.

Norwegian Pearl was today's first arrival but I did not catch a glimpse of it until it was outbound and then as it was "going away."


 A 2006 product of Meyer Werft, Papenburg, it is a 93,350 gt ship carrying 2,394 passengers and 1,099 crew. (It was refurbed in 2017). Unusual for a cruise ship, it is eastbound transatlantic, sailing from New York April 25. After Halifax it is scheduled to stop in Reykjavik, Belfast, Cobh-Cork, Isle of Portland (Weymouth), Le Havre and finally Southampton May 9.

It was interesting to see how much smoke the two older ships made as they picked up speed outbound.  I don't know if either ship used shore power when they were in Halifax, but I hope they weren't making that much particulate when in port.

And More 

There was other activity in the port today too:

At Autoport the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean auto carrier Tijuca arrived from Southampton and sailed for New York.

Dewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd built the ship in 2008 at Okpo. A 71,673 gt, 30,089 dwt ship, it can carry 7620 RT43 cars and is equipped with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp and a small side ramp. It has the usual rounded superstructure forward, but its bridge structure is elevated three decks above the weather deck, which is at least one deck, if not two decks, higher than most autocarriers. While this must improve forward visibility, it is not a feature taken up on newer ships.

Both container terminals were working today. At the South End Container Terminal it was EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St.Lawrence route from Montreal for Bremerhaven.


 At Fairview Cove it was an 0900 hrs departure for the overnight caller Delphinus C, the former NYK Delphinus. A Dedalus class ship of 55,487 gt, 65,950 dwt, it has a capacity of 4922 TEU. 

One of several sister ships on THE Alliance's AL5 service it arrived yesterday afternoon from Saint John, NB after its usual string of calls from Port Everglades, Panama, Los Angeles, Oakland and back to Panama, Cartagena and Saint John.

 

The tug Atlantic Bear worked the ship all the way through the Narrows as stern tethered escort, ready to pull or brake if needed


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Thursday, April 25, 2024

Grand and Great

 Ships' names can be an interesting topic for speculation, particularly as to what is behind certain names.

This morning, April 25, the tanker Great Thita arrived from Antwerp for Imperial Oil. 


 "Thita" seems to be an alternative spelling for "Theta" the eighth letter in the Greek alphabet, but that is about as far as I can go. The ship is owned by a single ship company of the same name, and managed by TB Marine Management of Hamburg, operator of forty plus tankers, bulkers and container ships.

The ship's blue hull colour was not apparent when it arrived, due to backlighting, but its figure 8 design on the funnel was visible. That may be tied to the placement of "theta" in the alphabet. The funnel also appears to be large enough to accommodate an exhaust gas scrubber system.

 The Great Thita was built by New Times Shipbuilding Co in Jingjiang, China in 2020. It is a 30,237 gt, 49,276 dwt MidRange 2 type chemical/product tanker.

A mid-morning arrival was the auto carrier Grand Sapphire from Southampton on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen North Atlantic service.


The ship made its way inbound to Bedford Basin, where it turned and proceeded to Pier 9C, starboard side to the dock.


The ship was built in 2007 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding in Japan and measures 52,197 gt, 18,099 dwt and has a capacity of 6400 CEU.

Owner is listed as Dynamic Attractive Shipping SA, with management by Cido Shipping Korea Co Ltd. Cido is Hong Kong based with offices in Tokyo and Busan and has 65 ships under management. Another autocarrier company, Grimaldi uses the "Grande" prefix in its ship's names, but the two companies are unrelated.

After unloading RoRo cargo at Pier 9C the ship moved to Autoport to unload cars.


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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Orion - big crane in demand

 The crane ship Orion, a familiar caller in Halifax last year, made a "non-working" visit today.

Its 5,000 tonne capacity main crane dominates the skyline, even when the boom is secured in the down position. 

When the ship was here last year it loaded monopiles then installed them at the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusets. The ship then returned to Vlissingen, Netherlands where it made preparations for another monopile installation project off Scotland. Working out of Invergordon, it installed twenty-nine monopiles, each weighing 2,000 tonnes over a two month period on the Moray West project.

Its arrival in Halifax early this morning was for a crew change, which was accomplished in an hour or so, with boat(s) from Dominion Diving.  The ship did not anchor, but used its Dynamic Positioning system, to remain motionless. On completion of the transfer, the ship spun round on its own axis and headed for sea.

The ship is destined for Norfolk, VA where it will work to install 176 foundations for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project for Dominion Energy. (Installation work for the Vineyard project is now being done by the ship Sea Installer working out of Sydney, NS.)

The Orion was built in 2019 by COSCO Qidong, China. It is a 58,203 gt, 60,575 dwt ship with a payload capacityof 30,000 tonnes. In addition to the 5,000 tonne capacity crane it also carries a 1,500 tonne capacity auxiliary crane. It has an accommodation capacity for 160 persons, expandable to 239 persons.

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Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Partings

 Normally I avoid "going away" photos - particularly if I have decent photos of the ships already. However today, April 23, was a day for departures as far as my camera was concerned, and as there was something noteworthy about the ships, I clicked away. 

First off was the tanker CB Pacific which made a very brief call at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal. It arrived in the evening of April 22 and sailed at noon today, the 23rd, after a stay of just over twelve hours, giving the destination of Montreal.

 It was an unusually short stay in port, and as the ship sailed it appeared to be lightly loaded.

The ship was here previously March 21 to 22 unloading at Irving Oil, then went to anchor until March 25. I noted the ship has a "turtle back" over the fore deck, an unusual feature for a tanker. Since that visit the ship has been to Boston, New Haven, Albany and New York.

When the ship was here in March, its covered covered fore deck was noted.

Departing from Autoport the Wolfsburg is destined for Davisville, RI. This was the ship's second trip to Halifax since it was delivered in November 2023 by Guangzhou Shipyard International. The 69,470 gt, 19,203 dwt ship has capacity of 7,000 Car Equivalent Units on thirteen decks. Unusually for a newer auto carrier, it is fitted with a side ramp.


 On charter from SFL to Volkswagen it is a dual fuel ship, capable of burning LNG or conventional fuel. Unlike its sister ship Emden that was here last week, it did not emit plumes of black smoke. The ship arrived yesterday (April 22, photo below) from Volkswagen's export facility in Emden, Germany.

Also sailing today, April 23. from PSA Haifax Atlantic Hub, ONE Cygnus on THE Alliance's EC5 service, took two escort tugs, Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Bear.

ONE Cygnus was built by Japan Marine United in 2019 and is the last of the ten ships of the bird class. All but ONE Cygnus and ONE Wren were built with NYK prefixes, but they have now been renamed with "ONE", as they are all working for the Ocean Network Express, the joint venture of the principal Japanese container lines (NYK, K-Line and MOL). [As an aside it is interesting to note that there was already a "Swan" in the group - NYK Swan built in 2017 and renamed ONE Swan in 2020; cygnus being the Latinized Greek name for the swan: cygnus atratus.]

The 146,694 gt, 138,611 dwt ship is rated at 14,026 TEU. Its last port was Colombo, Sri Lanka, and it apparently sailed non-stop via the Cape of Good Hope.

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Sunday, April 21, 2024

First Grain - Algoma Mariner

 The self-unloading bulk carrier Algoma Mariner arrived in Halifax April 19 with the first load of grain from the Lakehead this year. Starting from Montreal where it spent a brief maintenance period from March 13-30, the ship made its way up the St.Lawrence Seaway and arrived in Goderich April 3 presumably for a cargo of salt. It then proceeded to Thunder Bay where it offloaded then took on the grain load for Halifax.

On arrival in Halifax the ship tied up at Pier 26 where it discharged, using its own machinery, into the hopper connected by conveyors to the grain elevator.

On sailing today April 21 the ship gave a destination of Lower Cove, NL. There it will load limestone, an ingredient in steel making, and will return to the Great Lakes, likely to Hamilton, ON.

Atlantic Bear assists the Algoma Mariner off the dock April 21 and in the background the tanker Wicky Spirit (see yesterday's post) unloads at Imperial Oil.

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Saturday, April 20, 2024

Wicky Spirit - next in line

 A first time tanker caller in Halifax anchored in the lower harbour today to wait its turn at Imperial Oil. The Wicky Spirit is a member of the McKeil Tankers Ltd fleet that usually serves the Great Lakes and St.Lawrence region.

 

Better known for its tugs and barges, McKeil Marine has expanded into dry cargo and tankers in recent years. The company, based in Burlington, ON was founded by a Nova Scotian, Evans McKeil, and passed to his son Blair McKeil. In 2016, the venture capital firm TorQuest Partners made a major investment in the company allowing it to broaden its interests. In November 2023 the Greenwich, CT based Astatine Investment Partners added McKeil Marine to its portfolio with the intention of making further expansion.

The Wicky Spirit is a 8,660 gt, 13,947 dwt chemical /product tanker built in 2008 by Gisan Gemi in Istanbul. An ABS Ice Class 1A twin screw ship it can carry clean or dirty product and carries its own nitrogen generator for inerting, and deck mounted tanks for tank washing slops. It was built under the name Turqoise-T and was renamed Turquoise I  for a time in 2019 before it was sold to McKeil and renamed.


    The Wicky Spirit is named for Robert Wickens an NTT Indycar racer sponsored by Petro-Canada Lubricants. McKeil has a sister ship named Hinch Spirit (ex Topaz-I, ex Topaz-T) , named for another NTT Indycar racer, James Hinchcliffe. McKeil Tankers carries Petro-Canada product and thus promotes its relationship with Petro-Canada.

The Wicky Spirit was in Europe from October 2023 to March 2024 at the Gryfia Shipyard in Szczecin, Poland and on return to Canada loaded in Nanticoke, ON and Sarnia, ON then headed for Halifax.

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Friday, April 19, 2024

Friday exodus

 Ships like to sail on Fridays, in part to avoid  possible overtime charges or weekend rates, but also because many cargo terminals operate Monday to Friday at the land gate, with no truck arrvials and departures processed on the weekends. 

It is therefore not unusual to see several ships sailing from Halifax on a Friday afternoon, but today (April 19) was still notable notable due to the number leaving in quick succession.

When I got to my favourite vantage point at Point Pleasant Patk shortly after 1800 hrs ADT, the Atlantic SaiI was out of sight, but I did just manage to catch the EF Ava well off in the distance, having left PSA Halifax's South End Container Terminal (SECT) about 20 minutes before.

EF Ava 18:26 hrs ADT

It is headed for Reykjavik on Eimskip's weekly Green Line service to / from Portland, ME.

At the same time the NYK Rigel was passing my position outbound on The Alliance's AL5 route to Port Everglades.

NYK Rigel 18:26 hrs ADT

No sooner had the NYK Rigel passed than the MSC Sines R got underway from the SECT for Sines, Portugal on the CANEX2 service from Montreal. The ship was here March 15 westbound en route to Montreal.

 

MSC Sines R 18:29 hrs ADT

In a break from commercial activity the next outbound was the CCGS Jean Goodwill on SAR patrol east.

CCGS Jean Goodwill 18:39 hrs ADT

Next along was the auto carrier Morning Lynn from Autoport en route to New York. It was following the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic port rotation of Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Zeebrugge, Southampton, Halifax.

 Morning Lynn 18:45 hrs ADT.
 
The ship was built in 2009 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industry Co Ltd and is registered at 68,701 gt, 28,092 dwt with a capacity of 8,011 CEU. Eukor is the former car carrier divison of Hyundai Merchant Marine acquired by Wallenius Wilhelmsen to gain control of Korean auto exports (and fend off the Japanese car carriers). It is still a South Korean company, but is now jointly owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, American Roll-on-Roll-off Carriers (ARC) and United European Car Carriers.

The ship is also equipped with a larger than usual side ramp, mounted well aft. Newer ships have dispensed with side ramps as they are seldom used in most ports, and cannot be used in Autoport due to the narrow pier. 

Waiting patiently at Pier 42 for this parade to pass was the Silver Arctic the interim ship on TSMI's St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia, NL service. It was facing bow north, so had to turn off the dock before heading out to sea.

Silver Arctic 18:47 hrs ADT

The Silver Arctic is a six to eight week replacement while TMSI's CONRO ship the Nolhan Ava is on scheduled refit [see previous posts]. Despite having no RoRo capability, the Silver Arctic was carrying acouple of cargo vans which appear to be lashed to a 45 ft platform type container (with no walls or roof, but a heavy flat base.) It will require special sling arrangements to off-load, as a standard container spreader will not work.

Also sailing, but a little later in the evening, was Oceanex Sanderling after dark.

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BBC Rhonetal sails

 After the laborious process of loading several hunded (maybe as many as one thousand) sections of gas pipe, the BBC Rhonetal sailed today, April 19, for Moerdijk, Netherlands.

The pipe, according to the markings I could see, was manufactured in Japan and coated in Canada. The shipment was then transported to Halifax on railroad flat cars, usually with eleven pipes per car, (There were a few pipes of different diameter and length.) It took a hundred or more cars to transport the shipment. As mentioned previously the pipes were loaded aboard ship one at a time or in small bundles of two or three, using the ship's own cranes. Apparently the cargo filled the holds and a dozen or so pipes were secured on deck.

The BBC Rhonetal arrived in Halifax March 29 from Port Cartier, QC where it had off-loaded some wind turbine components. It had been waiting off Port Cartier for a time as fleet mate BBC Topaz was off-loading first. When it arrived in Halifax, there was BBC Topaz was occupying the berth and it had to wait at anchor until April 7 before it could begin to load the pipe.

 BBC Rhonetal was built in 2013 by Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering Co and is a general purpose type ship with full width hatches and box shaped holds. The 14,941 gt, 17,577 dwt ship carries three 80 tonne SWL cranes that can be combined in pairs for 150 tonne lifts. It is also rated for 1047 TEU (nominal) with 152 reefer plugs.

There have been several posts on this blog over the past few weeks on both ships.

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