Loss of the Fortune Pride - Updated

The 18 meter long fishing vessel Fortune Pride capsized off Halifax February 6. An emergency beacon signal at about 2200 hrs AST initiated an intense rescue operation. Despite low visibility, due to snow, and high swells, rescuers were able to recover three of four persons during the night. The fourth member was found in a raft this morning February 7 and transferred to shore on a Royal Canadian Navy  Air Force Cormorant helicopter. Sadly two of the persons were termed "unresponsive". An update to this post will follow when more is known.

 

 

The Fortune Pride (January 2018 photo) was based in Sambro, NS at the mouth of Halifax harbour, and the incident occurred about 18 km southeast of the port, apparently in the "approaches" searoute into the port.

 

The boat, measuring 102.09 tons, was built in 1988 by Glovertown Shipyards Ltd in Newfoundland and is owned by Chester Basin Seafood Group Inc of Bridgewater, NS.

Amongst the the vessels responding were the CCGS Hare Bay - the Sambro-based lifeboat (April 29, 2024 photo) - which recovered the first three persons.

 

 The CCGS Sir William Alexander, based in Halifax, responded.(October 1, 2022  photo).

 

No doubt several local vessels would also have responded.

 

Update

It has been announced that two of the crew members have died. The first three members were recovered from the water by CCGS Hare Bay. They had been unable to board the life raft due to sea conditions and were in 2ºC water for up to an hour. The fourth person, although found in the raft, was unresponsive when recovered by SAR Techs lowered from the RCAF Cormorant.

 

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Late in the Day and a Bonus

 Celebrating the days when the sun sets after 5 pm Atlantic Standard Time, I made my way to Point Pleasant Park to see off the MSC Kim on its way to Gioia Tauro on MSC's Med Canadian service. 

Of course the ship's actual pilot order time was 1545 hrs, so I was not expecting to be crowding sunset, but as it turned out the ship was still working cargo at the appointed time and it took until 1720 to finish, let lines go and actually get underway. By that time the PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub terminal was all lit up. That certainly helped the exposure time required for a photo of the cranes.

Despite the ship moving away, my camera was still able to capture it without blurring.

A Mediterranean Shipping Copmany veteran, the MSC Kim was built in 2008 by the Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co in Ningbo, to the SDARI 4250 Pmax design. The 41,225 gt, 56,395 dwt measurements give the ship a capacity of 4254 TEU, with 550 reefer plugs.

The MSC Kim made the headlines when it lost power in the Gulf of St.Lawrence, 40 nmi. South of Anticosti Island and 66 nmi. East of Percé on March 7, 2022 while en route from Halifax to Montreal. It drifted for some distance while CCGS Terry Fox broke out a channel at Stepehenville to allow the anchor handling tug Atlantic Kingfisher to reach the ship, and tow it to Sydney, arriving March 11. See Shipfax March 10, 2022 for more detail.

While waiting for the ship to sail this afternoon I did get a bonus view of the Royal Canadian Navy's Halifax based submarine HMCS Windsor arriving from sea. The sound deadening rubber tiles covering the hull do not get as cold as steel, so there did not seem to be any build up of frozen spray on the sub.

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Back to the Future and other matters

 There were wintery conditions in Halifax today, February 5, with light dusts of snow. The temperature struggled to reach -10ºC [14º F], there was a biting wind at 26 kph [16 mph] with gusts to 35kph [21 mph] but it was mostly sunny and sea water temperature was still a balmy 1.7 ºC [35.1 ºF]. 

There were two auto carriers in port. The Traviata, which arrived yesterday at Autoport, moved over night to Pier 9C to off load RoRo cargo.

Traviata arriving yesterday, February 4.

 The ship was built in 2019 by Tianjin Xingang, to the HERO class design used by both Wallenius and Wilhelmsen. It must have beeen one of the last - or indeed the last - ship to use the old Wallenius colour scheme [see below]. It was not repainted in the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean  teal/gray until 2024. [Despite a name begining with the letter "T" it is in fact a Wallenius ship, with an operatic name.]

The 73,358 gt, 23,889 dwt ship, has a capacity of 7656 RT43 autos, and mounts a 320 tonne SWL stern ramp. As with most modern autocarriers it has no side ramp.

 

Since its last call in Halifax December 16 the ship has followed the usual WWO route of New York, Brunswick, Charleston, Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge and Southampton and is now bound for New York again.

 The second autocarrier arrived today and docked directly at Autoport.

 The Future Way is a "ship of the future" in many ways, but has reverted back to the traditional Wallenius hull colours of white over green. In this case the green is also symbolic of its several environmentally sensitive features.

It was built by CIMC Raffles, Yantai in 2024 and features dual fuel engines, can sail fully loaded with no ballast water, has a shore power connector and can be converted to add battery power. It reduces fuel consumption by prop design, hull shape and aerodynamic features.

The bow shape and flush mounted cargo ventilation fans are some of the new features in the Sliepner concept of autocarriers developed by Wallenius Marine and naval architects Knud E. Hansen. The vessel's charterer, Volkswagen, has committed to reducing its carbon footprint.

The ship's recent movements are not entirely clear, (suggesting perhaps some military cargo) but it was in Halifax last on December 1 and has since called in Sparrows Point, Freeport, TX, Veracruz and Freeport again. It is not clear where the ship has been since that last Freeport call on December 20. Normally VW charters load in Bremerhaven.

Aside from some light snow in the air, there were other signs of winter. Oceanex Sanderling arrived from St.John's with a thin coat of frozen spray.

 

There was no sign of frozen spray (yet) on the bulk carrier Goodwyn Island. which arrrived last evening and sailed at noon time today.

Fully loaded with bauxite from Gladstone, Australia December 11, the ship sailed across the Indian Ocean,  passing Cape Town January 19 and Las Palmas January 24, and is now headed for  Pointe-Noire in Sept-Iles, QC. Its short stay here may have been to embark an ice advisor (they normally board off Sydney).

Built by Tsuneishi Zhoushan in 2018 it is a Supramax bulker of 35,684 gt, 63,906 dwt, and carries four 30 tonne cargo cranes and 20 tonne grabs (stowed to the starboard side of each crane base.) The ship has a bow "windshield" which has aerodynamic benefits while protecting the foredeck and number one hatch from seas.

The ship's loading port is in Queensland, on the northeast coast of Australia and a more direct route would have been via the Panama Canal, suggesting that the ship might have been re-directed from an original destination in Europe at some point en route. The Alumunerie Alouette in Sept-Iles is the largest aluminum smelter in the western hemisphere, and is powered by electricity from the Churchill Falls hydroelectricity facility.

There was also a haze of freezing spray on the container feeder AS Felicia arriving at PSA Fairview Cove for ZIM.

AS Felicia has been an on and off caller for ZIM's former CFX service since April 3, 2018. Built in 2006 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan, with tonnages of 15,375 grt, 18,291 dwt, it has a capacity of 1296 TEU, including 390 reefers, and has a pair of 45 tonne cranes. It was launched as Medocean but entered service as EWL Cribbean. In 2007 it became APL Managua and in 2014  Medocean and in 2015 AS Felicia. The ship has now joined the ZCX Colibri Express from the west coast of South America via Kingston, Jamaica, Miami, Philadelphia and New York. Quite a weather shock for ship and crew.

 The AS Felicia's call coincided with yesterday's ZCA transatlantic arrival ZIM Iberia which sailed at noon time today for New York. 

On arrival yesterday (in photo) it showed many Hapag-Lloyd boxes on deck. The slot arrangement between Hapag-Lloyd and ZIM has presumably survived the new Hapag-Lloyd + Maersk Gemini Cooperation.

The Zim Iberia acquired the name in 2022, but was built in 2009 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jiangyin. It was delivered as Rudolf Schepers and in 2017 became the Arkas Afrika then in 2018 Als Juno. The 40,541 gt, 50,300 dwt ship has a capacity of 4253 TEU including 698 reefers.  

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Conspiracy Theories

Recently there have been breaks in submarine cables both in Canada and in Europe. Conspiracy theories abound that the breaks are caused by malicious activity guided by Russia, but one thing is true - there is a Canadian link - odd though it might be.

Canadian Breaks

Disruptions due to cable breaks are more than just an inconvenience to 'phone users. These vital communication links can be critical for businesses and utilities as they transmit vast quantities of data and join networks that contain operating technologies that everyone uses.

Because the cables sit on the sea bottom or in trenches below the sea bottom, breaks are rarely caused by natural events such as storms. Earthquakes can sever cables but that would be a very rare event and could be traced by seismic records. The breaks are more often caused by fishing activity or dragging anchors, and they are usually accidental or the result of negligence.

On February 1 the Halifax-based cable ship IT Intrepid sailed to the Sydney, Nova Scotia area to repair breaks in two fibreoptic communications cables crossing the Cabot Strait between Cape Breton Island and the island of Newfoundland.

IT Intrepid in Halifax, January 4, 2025.

As reported here on January 15, 2025, IT International Telecom applied for a coasting license to use the Barbados registered IT Intrepid to make the repairs. It was not clear to me in the application if in fact the cables would be repaired by splicing in new sections or if an entirely new cable would be laid and covered in a new trench.

No cause has been given officially for the cable breaks, which in both cases were redundant cable - with a 100% back-up cable elsewhere. That may be why both breaks were not discovered immediately, but it does seem a little odd that there is no system alerting in the case of a break.

It also seems odd that both cables should be severed at about the same time, and in an area where there is very little bottom trawling type fishing activity. However I did note a ship in the area at the time reporting reporting that it was "not under commend."  It is conceivable that it was attempting to anchor and dragged its anchor through the cables. It must take considerable force to break a cable and one would think it would be noticeable even on a ship in emergency conditions. [That the particular ship's operators have a Russian connection is at least worthy of note.]

Baltic Breaks 

Another incident that severed a cable between Sweden and Latvia on January 26 has been declared a case of "defective equipment and seamanship" by the Swedish government, and not the result of state interference. The Latvian State Radio + Television (LVRTC) cable appears to bave been cut by the Navigation Maritime Bulgare ship Vezhen. The ship, which was en route from Ust Luga, Russia to Skagen, Denmark, was detained in Karlskrona but has now been cleared to sail. Photos show one fluke missing from the ship's port anchor.

The ship is a regular caller in Canadian waters and was built in 2022 to trade into the Great Lakes. The 20,848 gt, 32,196 dwt (21,158 dwt on the Great Lakes) bulk carrier came from the Jiangsu Newyangzi Shipbuilding yard in Jingjiang. It is equipped with three 35 tonne capacity cranes and 20 tonne grabs.

My best (and so far only) photo of the ship was taken August 4, 2024 as it emerged from the fog downbound on the St.LawrenceRiver off La Malbaie, QC.

In November 2024 the ship sailed from Imbituba, Brazil with a cargo of petcoke for Port Alfred, QC. It unloaded there from December 9 to 12 then headed to Montreal December 16 -19, Hamilton, ON, December 20-22, Côte Ste-Catherine, QC December 24-25 and set out from Montreal December 25 for Greenore, Eire. It offloaded there January 7-10 and arrived in Ust Luga January 22. (I suspect the ship was carrying corn or other grain from Hamilton.)

Oddly (and here's where the conspiracy theorists can have a field day), the ship passed through the Cabot Strait twice in late December at about the time of the (Canadian) cable breaks. The close ties between Russia and Bulgaria (they both use the Cyrillic alphabet) only add to the conspiracy theories.

Shipfax does not believe in conspiracy theories normally, but there is so much wierd stuff going on these days that even the most outlandish can seem to be in the realm of possibility. 

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A perennial post card from Halifax has the usual spaces for address and message on the reverse, but the image side is completely white or slightly grey with  "Welcome to Halifax - fog capital of the world" or a similar thought. (Halifax is not the fog capital of the world, although it could be a contender.)

Today, January 29, a similar card could be sent but with a greeting from the "White Out Capital". A heavy snow fall caused icy roads, fender benders, early school closings and a very likely drop off in retail activity. 

It was not to be a busy day in the harbour in any case, so port activity may only have been slowed a bit. There was only one arrival from sea, the ConRo ship Oceanex Sanderling on its weekly arrival from St.John's and only two scheduled departures: the container ship Ophelia (see yesterday's post) and the coastal tanker Algotitan.

A "through the fence" view of the Algotitan at pier 25 on January 28. Erosion of its anti-fouling hull paint looks unsightly, but is normal - particularly when the ship has been operating in ice.

 The Algotitan is a fairly recent addition to the Algoma Tankers fleet. It arrived in Halifax late in 2022 with the name Chantaco. After renaming and registration in Canada it sailed with its first cargo on January 30, 2023.

It has been a regular caller in Halifax carrying product for Imperial Oil, and its details were covered here on its last call January 8-10. After tank washing slops were discharged at Pier 9C it sailed for Montreal. It loaded in Sainte-Victoire-de-Sorel, QC, and returned to Halifax January 24. It off loaded some product at Imperial Oil then moved over to Pier 25, in ballast on January 26. (Sainte-Victoire is the location of the Kildare Service ULC facility, which stores and blends heavy fuels, marine fuels and liquid asphalt in addtion to crude oil.)

The Algotitan is due to sail this evening - still in ballast. Its destination, is Quebec City.

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Ophelia for ZIM

 ZIM's two year old ZIM Colibri Express (ZCX) service continues to use a variety of chartered tonnage. Since the service from the west coast of South America to the Caribbean and US East Coast US was announced February 1, 2023 it has expanded to Halifax and has been combined with a previous service called the Canada Feeder Express (CFX). Initially using six 1700 TEU ships, it has been marketed as a weekly premium line with fast transit tomes and large reefer capacity. It appears they are now able to maintain the service with five ships.

Today's (January 28) arrival made port just before a short heavy snow squall reduced visibility to zero.

 

The ship was built in 2018 by Guangzhou Wenchong and is rated 17,907 gt, 22,000 dwt. Its operators, Leonhardt + Blumberg of Hamburg, give its capacity as 1717 TEU with 362 reefer plugs, 202 of which are in the holds. On arrival today from New York it appeared to be carrying a good many reefers - but many of them would have to be empties.

The port rotation for the line is: Callao - Paita - Guayaquil - Panama Canal. - Kingston - Miami - Philadelphia - New York - Halifax - Kingston - Panama Canal. - Calla.

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Morning Calypso - more cars

 Today's (January 25) auto carrier caller was more typical in terms of its route than yesterday's arrival. The Morning Calypso is on the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean (WWO) run from North Europe to North America. Its last port was Southampton (January 15) from Zeebrugge (January 14), Bremerhaven (January 12), and Gothenburg (January 10) en route for New York. As a EUKOR ship it can be slotted in to the parent company (WWO) schedule as needed.

After off loading at Autoport this morning the ship moved to Pier 9C to discharge "high and heavy" and other RoRo cargo. As usual it headed to Bedford Basin and made a quick turn with the assistance of the Atlantic Larch (forward) and Atlantic Oak (aft) then returning to the Narrows and Pier 9C.

Built in 2013 by Imabari Zosen, Marugame, it is a 59,580 gt, 18,713 dwt ship with a capacity of 6200 CEU or 6142 RT43 size cars. I can't find a published figure for the capacity of its stern ramp, (but expect it is in the 250 tonne range) nor its small starboard side ramp. 

 

It is always a treat to have one of these moves in the afternoon as the ship transits both bridges and navigates the Narrows, in clear skies and bright sunshine, never mind the -5º C temperature.

Although the ship carries the EUKOR Car Carriers Inc banner, it appears to be chartered from Japanese owners. It is operated by Excel Marine, a Japanese company that manages some 135 ships for itself and others. The ship's movements over the past several months show a wide range of port calls starting from Japan and Indonesia in November 2024 via the Panama Canal to Spain and North Europe. After its US port calls it is likely to head back to the Pacific.

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Grand Champion auto carrier

 The auto carrier Grand Champion made a short half day stay at Autoport today, January 24. Its arrival time at the pilot station was 0530 hrs, and allowing for the usual hour and a half or so, it was likely secure alongside around 0700. Its departure order was for 1200 and the ship left quite promptly.

Most auto carriers on the Europe to North America run send a day or more in port, but this ship was not coming from Europe, one of a few recent arrivals from Asia via US east coast ports.

Shin Kurushima Dockyard Co Ltd built the Grand Champion at the Imabari shipyard in 2008. It is a 59,217 gt, 18,262 dwt Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) with a capacity of 6400 cars on nine decks accessed via a 150 tonne capacity RoRo ramp. It also has a small starboard side ramp. 

It also has an unusual spark arrestor cage around its funnel - a feature I don't recall seeing on any other ship, although smoke diverters were installed on some passenger ships to keep smuts off the open passenger decks.

Owner Cido Shipping is a Korean owned company operating from Hong Kong and Japan. Its current fleet consists of about 72 ships of all types, including 37 car carriers - several of which are more than twenty years old. The company made headlines last year when it ordered forty ships from Korean and Chinese shipyards. That number included twelve PCTCs. Most of Cido's PCTCs are on long term charter to the major auto carrier lines such as Grimaldi, MOL and ZIM. This ship was reported chartered to K-Line two years ago and was running from Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal. Most ships are still avoiding the Red Sea.

The Grand Champion sailed from Kanda, Japan December 17, Yokohama December 20, Kawasaki December 21-23, then sailed directly to Panama anchorage January 13 and Brunswick, GA for January 19-20. It seems that Japanese car manufacturers (who are enduring a major sales slump) have opted to bring cars via the Panama Canal instead off-loading at Pacific coast ports. This is a recent change and appears to be the result of fiercely competitive shipping lines offering bargain rates, but also a return to more normal water levels in Panama, which were delaying ships last summer. Ongoing diversions from the Red Sea and Suez Canal may also figure into the routing.

On sailing the ship gave Newark NJ as its destination.

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ONE after ONE but not the news

 Two Ocean Network Express (ONE) ships were seen in Halifax today, January 23 - one sailing and one arriving, but that was hardly newsworthy.

The departing ship was the ONE Falcon on the westbound leg of the THE Alliance's EC5 service. Its last port was Colombo and it arrived in Halifax January 21. It is now en route to New York.

The arriving ship was the ONE Wren on the eastbound leg of the same service from Charleston. 

Both ships are products of the Japan Marine United Shipyard in Kure, Japan, and are sister ships of the JMU 14000 Class, signifying a nominal capacity of 14,000 TEU. The actual rating is14,096 TEU. Each ship has slightly different tonnage figures.

The ONE Falcon (above) was built in 2017 and rates 146,287 gt, 138,907 dwt.  It was originally named NYK Falcon and was renamed in 2020. It sailed under sunny skies around noon time.

The ONE Wren (above) arrived late in the afternoon in a light snow flurry. It was built in 2018 as NYK Wren, and was renamed in 2021 and comes in at 146,409 gt, 139,335 dwt.

The ONE ships are now regulars, and despite their size and brilliant magenta hull paint, they are becoming matter of fact in the Port of Halifax. They no longer attract the sort of attention they received when they began to call here - certainly not the front page of the local newspaper.

That place of prominence was given over today to a small pleasure craft aground on the rocky shore of Ferguson's Cove, opposite Mauger's Beach.

My own photos, not as dramatic, reveal no name or other identification. The Canadian Coast Guard was on site removing fuel and loose gear so I assume the vessel is abandoned.

For the past few weeks there has been an AIS signal from a pleasure craft in the same area, named Obelix but it is no longer showing - that may only be a coincidence.

Removal of the boat will present a challenge, due to shallow water and a steep shore.

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Mix and Match - tankers and box boats

One of the appeals of Halifax harbour to ship watchers is the several types of ships that call in the port. Container ships of various sizes from a variety of shipping lines are the most predominant form of shipping to be seen. There are regular callers - some of which will be calling in the port for their entire working lives of twenty-five years or more - but there are also short term and one-time ships that add variety. 

There are also bulk carriers and tankers on a steady basis with some general cargo ships from time to time, and a regular parade of auto carriers on about a weekly basis.  

There is also a substantial number of support vessels such as tugs, workboats and various marine construction and dredging "floating plant" that work around the harbour.

On the non-commercial side the Royal Canadian Navy has its Atlantic base in Halifax and there are often comings and goings of RCN ships and some NATO visitors. The Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian government research ships, operated the Coast Guard, form a colourful back drop with their red hulls. 

Halifax Regional Municipality operates harbour ferries on two routes across the lower harbour with plans under way for a longer run from Bedford. Halifax Fire and Emergency Services operates a fireboat which can be seen regularly, but is seldom needed to fight a fire.

Adding to all that activity are pleasure craft and tour boats, which operate seasonally, as do their larger passenger carrying kin - cruise ships.

All of the above leads up to the variety of shipping that can be seen on just one day - such as today - January 21.

At the PSA Fairview Cove container terminal ZIM Integrated Shipping Services operates two weekly services. One operates between the west coast of South America to the East Coast of North America, and Halifax is the nothernmost port. Called the ZCX, Colibri Express, it also serves as a feeder to ZIM's hub port of Kingston, Jamaica. 

ZIM also operates the ZCA (ZIM Container Service Atlantic) service from the Mediterranean to the North American east coast. Today's caller on that service is the chartered ship Spyros V on its return visit to Halifax. It was last here November 17, 2024.

The ZCA service makes 13 calls in its long loop from Ashdod to Haifa, Izmir (Aliaga), Piraeus, Genoa, Barcelona and Valencia to Halifax. It is next scheduled to call in New York, then to Norfolk and Savannah before heading back across the Atlantic to Valencia and Barcelona. 

The Spyros V dates from 2011 when it was delivered by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang Shipyard in Jingjiang, China, as theBella Schulte. In 2017 it was acquired by current owner Technomar Shipping Inc of Athens. The 40,542 gt, 49,891 dwt ship has a capacity of 4250 TEU.

(Note the larger number of Hapag-Lloyd containers on deck on this trip. Perhaps a sign of things to come as Hapag-Lloyd amd Maersk re-align their services under a new joint venture called the Gemini Cooperation.)

At PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub in the south end of the port, the Mediterranean Shipping company's MSC Tamara was at Pier 42 - a regular caller it is serving MSC's Med Canadian route from  Halifax and Montreal. 

At Pier 41 it was a "two chairs - no waiting" situation as the departing ONE Cygnus was soon replaced by the arriving sister ship ONE Falcon.

The outbound ONE Cygnus is accompanied by two tugs, as tethered escorts.

 

Ships of this class are regular callers now on THE alliance's Asia - North America service, arriving from Colombo, via the Cape of Good Hope. But that may change next month as Hapag-Lloyd withdraws from THE Alliance. (Another ship with a large number of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC boxes on deck.) The ship measures 146,694 gt, 138,611 dwt and has a capacity of 14,026 TEU, and was built by Japan Marine United in 2019.

There are tankers in and out of Halifax on a nearly daily basis as both Imperial Oil and Irving Oil have large storage and distribution depots. Today at Irving Oil it was the East Coast while at Imperial Oil the PS Augusta was still discharging after its arrival Sunday January 19 from Antwerp, Belgium.

Ships of this size, around 50,000 dwt are the most common type of tanker and are seen world wide. This one was built in 2011 by STX Shipbuilding Co in Jinhae, South Korea, and comes in at 29,717 gt, 51,063 dwt. It was built as Gold Point and was erenamed PS Augusta in 2020.

 

Another tanker was also in Halifax, but not at one of the fuel terminals. Instead the Sten Aurora was tied up at Pier 9C to take on fuel for its own use. Irving Oil delivered fuel to the ship by truck.

 

Largely concealed from view by a large number of wind turbine towers, the refueling trucks are not visible.

 

The ship was built in 2007 by the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Group at the Qiuxin shipyard in Shanghai. It is a 11,943 gt, 16,596 dwt ship, rated as Ice Class 1A with polymer lined tanks for chemicals. Its most recent routing is more specific to a chemical carrier. It was in Sarnia December 2 to 4 then called in Quebec City, New York, New Orleans and Houston December 31. It then returned to New Orleans and sailed January 2 directly to Port Alfred (La Baie), QC, arriving January 16. There is a demand for a variety of chemicals to support the aluminum and the biomaterials industries in the Saguenay region.

The ship is due to sail this evening for Taft, Louisiana, site of large Mosaic and Dow / Union Carbide chemical plants about 30 miles upstream of New Orleans..

 

The berth at Piet 9C was only vacated yesterday by the general cargo ship Nord Ling, which moved out to anchor in Bedford Basin to make room.

 

Since arriving January 6 [qv] the ship has been fitted with fiberoptic cable racks. If that work is complete, the ship may be anchored for a while waiting its turn to go the Portsmouth, NH to load the cable.
 

Adding to the colourful activity in the harbour the CCGS Sir William Alexander has been running in and out port on its winter buoy program, which involves removing buoys from ice prone areas. As a multi-tasked ship, it also provides icebreaking assistance, Search and Rescue standby and patrol.

 

On arrival January 20 the ship had a number of buoys on deck to be taken ashore for maintenance and storage until spring.

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Titania at Autoport

 The Wallenius Wilhelmsen auto carrier Titania is today's (January 20) caller at Autoport, on the North Europe to North America service from Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge and Southampton.

 Unlike the subjects of Saturday's post (January 18: Your Roots are Showing) the ship's Wilhelm Wilhelmsen origin is apparent only in the "T" name, the first initial of all Wilhelmsen ships. Its orginal Wilhelmsen red/orange hull colour has long since been replaced with the teal over gray of the combined fleet with Wallenius Lines. That merger occured in 1999 and this ship has always operated for Wallenius Wilhelmsen. It was not until a late 2016 re-organization that the two lines began to integrate their operations under the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean brand and to adopt a common colour scheme.

The Titania was built in 2011 by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co in Okpo. The 74,255 gt, 31,143 dwt ship has a carrying capacity of 7620 RT43 sze cars. It is equipped with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp and a smaller starboard side ramp.

 

The Titiania was wearing the traditonal Wilhelmsen hull colour and funnel marking when it called in Halifax June 27, 2016.

 

The ship will now sail for US ports, starting with Baltimore. One has to wonder how the imposition of substantial duties on auto imports to the US will effect the operations of shipping lines such as Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean.  

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Your Roots are Showing

 When ships change owners they often change names, funnel markings and other identifiers, but it is a major expense to change hull colours. That change is generally made during a regular drydocking, which, short of some accident or malfunction, only occurs every five years. Even then if the paint is in good condition, perhaps it will get a touch up rather than a change of colour. It is therefore not unheard of for ships to go ten years before hull repainting.

Today, January 18, there was a curious occurence in Halifax relating to two ships from different owners, docking at adjacent berths. CMA CGM Veracruz arrived early in the morning from Montreal on MSC's Canada Express service. It tied up at Pier 42, PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub but was hard to see thanks to a forest of cranes.

The MSC Veracruz was built in 2005 by Hanjing Heavy Industry and Construction Co. A 54,758 gt, 72,717 dwt ship it has a capacity of 5060 TEU.  The fore part of the ship was built at the Pusan yard and joined to the stern at the Ulsan yard. Originally named the Margit Rickmers for the long time Hamburg owners, it was chartered out as the Maersk Dhaka from 2005 to 2010 then reverted to Margit Rickmers until 2016 when it was renamed ANL Werrivee until 2017. 

In 2017 the Rickmers Group became insolvent. The 130 ship fleet was operated by receivers. and this ship reverted to Margit Rickmers again. It was sold that year and renamed MP The Edelman. In 2021 MSC swept up the ship along with numerous others in its fleet expansion phase, and it became MSC Veracruz. 

When the ship worked for Maersk it was repainted in their distinctive blue colour, but was returned to the traditional Rickmers green in 2010 and carried that until the sale in 2017 when it appeared in black. It still carries the black hull now, which is typical of MSC ships.

The noon time arrival today was the CMA CGM Missouri on the Ocean Alliance service from Singapore (apparently skipping Colombo) via the Cape of Good Hope.

Uncharacteristically the French Line ship has a green hull, certainly indicative of a Rickmers history. It seems that the ship was at least ordered by Rickmers, but construction was completed in 2016 by STX Offshore Shipbuilding in Jinhae for unidentifiable owners, but with the name CMA CGM Missouri.

It is a 102,931 gt, 115,600 dwt ship with a capacity of 9220 TEU. Actual CMA CGM ownership was not listed until 2024, and the ship still has the Rickmers green hull paint. It is likely to carry that colour until the next drydocking, which is due in March 2026.

 Rickmers did emerge to a degree from insolvency, but was a shadow of its former self. The five generation family owned company traced its roots to the 1830s. A Hamburg landmark is the barque Rickmer Rickmers now a popular tourist attraction, and yes, with a green hull.

Built in 1896 by the Rickmers shipyard in Bremerhaven, the square rigger has a notable history, summed up on its Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickmer_Rickmers 

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IT Intrepid to the rescue

 A fast track application was made to the Canadian Transportation Agency on January 14 for a temporary coasting license for IT International Telecom's cable ship IT Intrepid. The ship is needed to replace two damaged fibreoptic cables that run between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 

Normally it requires a month to process and grant a temporary coasting license but due to the importance of these cables, IT International is asking for quicker service in order to mobilize starting January 17 and to begin work on January 31.

One cable, belonging to Bell-Aliant runs 134 km from Searston By, NL to Aspy Bay, NS, was severed approximately December 23. The other, belonging to Eastlink, runs 190 kms from Rose Blanche, NL to New Victoria, NS and was broken about January 10.  It appears that both must be replaced in their entirety, and in a continous operation that buries the cable in a trench using a special Remotely Operated Vessel plough.

Today, January 15, the IT Intrepid moved to Bedford Basin for Dynamic Positioning trials, presumably in preparation for the work.

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MSC goes alone and big small(er) moves

 The Mediterranean Shipping Company is now the world's largest container shipping company and quite likely the Port of  Halifax's largest customer. With nearly daily arrivals, it is hard to keep track of all the ships that come and go. Today's (January 14) arrival however seems to be a first time visit, with this name. MSC Silvana VIII added the the Roman numeral "VIII" in 2024 to signify its capacity classification in thousands of TEUs. Whereas with most MSC ships the Roman numeral indicates the upper limit of  capacity, this one seems to be the lower threshold as most sources indicate a capacity of 8400 TEU. It was built as simply MSC Silvana, and carried that name from new in 2006, and it was under that name that it called in Halifax in November 2021.

 On arrival today it was met by three tugs (one not visible in photo) but all were close tethered, and none was acting as stern escort.

As of February MSC will have removed itself from the 2M Alliance with Maesk and will return to being a stand alone operation. Already the evidence is there as not a single container on deck was not either MSC (mostly putty colour, but some rusty red) or a rental / leasing box. Altough MSC has been said to pick up some slack from Hapag-Lloyd's simultaneous withdawal from the THE Alliance, it is not obvious here, at least yet.

MSC Silvana was built by Daewoo Ship Building + Marine Engineering in Geoje in 2006, and is rated at 94,489 gt, 128,560 dwt and is running on the Indus Express direct from Colombo via the Cape of Good Hope.

Three ships made moves or departed the harbour today, and they ranged in size from relatively large to relatively small.

The largest ship was the bulker Ceci which completed loading its soy cargo at Pier 28 and moved out to harbour anchorage last night, January 13. 

The ship arrived from Quebec City (Sillery specifically) January 9, and was due to sail in the late afternoon today to a port as yet to be designated. but likely Bandar Khomeni, Iran. [see previous post for ship details.]

This morning the tanker Bosporos moved from Nova Scotia Power Corporation's Tuft's Cove power plant to Pier 28, occupying the berth vacated by Ceci. [see also previous posts]

There does not seem to be a reason for the Bosporos to move to Pier 28 - it was certainly not to take cargo - and I did not see any re-fueling trucks on the pier. Perhaps it was to take on stores, which would have been difficult at NSP. It is due to sail this evening too.

The smallest ship to move today was the coastal tanker Algoscotia one of the most frequent callers of the Algoma Tankers' fleet. It moved from Pier 9C- where it had some tank cleaning (possibly after carrying black oil) - to Imperial Oil's number three dock to load refined product. 

The senior member of the Algoma Tankers fleet - it was built in 2004 - it is continues to soldier on, with an upgraded ballast water system fitted last year. It regular route is Halifax to Sydney, Corner Brook and Sept-Iles.

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Cargoes in Quantity

 The Port of Halifax is known as a container port, although not huge on the wortld scale, it did exceed the half million TEU number in 2023 handling 546,143 TEU. This was down significantly from 600,700 in 2022 and 595,755 in 2021. Total figures for 2024 are not in yet, but seem likely to fall below the 500k mark.

The port also ships and and receives bulk cargoes, moslty export gypsum and import fuels.

Today, January 12, there are two ships in the category for bulk cargoes: one export and one import.

The export cargo is a large shipment of soy loading from the grain elevator to the bulk carrier Ceci at Pier 28.

Ship managers Minoa Marine Ltd of Marousi, Greece display the letter "M" on the ship's bow. All thirteen ships in the fleet are owned by single ship companies.

 The Ceci is a gearless bulker of 42,665 gt, 82,338 dwt same from Oshima Shipbuilding in Saiki, Japan in 2009. Built to the shipyard's J-Max design it is also designated as a Kamsarmax bulker. Due to its dimensions of 224.9m length overall and 32.3m breadth it can load at Kamsar, Guinea, a major bauxite port, which is restricted to ships of 239m overall length. Also the ship fits within the maximum dimensions for the Panama Canal of 294m x 32.31m.

The Ceci was deliverd with the name Fortune Miracle and in 2012 was renamed Magic Argo. It received its current name in late 2023 when it was acquired by its current owner for US$17.75 mn.

A rare cargo of heavy fuel oil arrived overnight at the Nova Scotia Power Corporation's Tuft's Cove generating station on the Narrows, opposite Pier 9. The plant normally burns natural gas, but keeps heavy oil on hand in case of interruption or shortage. This latest cargo arrived from Texas City on the Marshal Islanads flag tanker Bosporos.

The Bosporos is a MidRange 1 tanker of 23,310 gt, 39,590 dwt built in 2007 by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan, South Korea. It is operated by the 100 ship strong Tsakos Shipping and Trading SA based near Piraeus, Greece. The Tsakos Group is involved in numerous shipping related businesses, and with ships of all types. One its companies is Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd (or TEN Ltd) separately listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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