CSL Metis - gone south

 The self-unloading bulker CSL Metis has been an occasional caller in Halifax to load gypsum for the United States, but not recently. Its last call here that I recorded was in October 2023. It is also a sometime caller at Auld's Cove on the Strait of Canso to load aggregates, also for US ports. 

Although it is now a self-unloading bulk carrier, that is the result of an extensive rebuilding. Starting life as the tanker Berge Helene in 1981 at the Mitsui Chiba shipyard it carried the names Lagovan Sinamaica from 1981 to 1993, Sinamaica from 1993 to 2000 and Ektoras from 2000 to 2007 and briefly Ektora in 2007. A 31,849 gt, 61,403 dwt ship, it was rendered obsolete when double hulls became mandatory for tankers. Its mechanicals and accommodations were still in good condition however, and CSL acquired the ship on favourable terms. They contracted Chengxi Shipyard to fabricate a new forebody (cargo section and bow), with bulbous bow and self-unloading apparatus, which was joined to the stern section in a mere 53 days with completion in October 2007. It then became a 43,022 gt, 69,304 dwt ship and increased in length from 222.3m to 245.0m. It is registered in the Bahamas and works in the CSL Americas self-unloader pool. It is a bit too large to take a full load at Gold Bond Gypsum in Halifax, so is more often employed in the aggregates and coal trades.

A regular assignment in 2024 was with coal, loaded in Norfolk for transshipment to large bulk carriers anchored in the Chedabucto Bay. In 2024 it topped off the Alba, NSU Obelisk and Juno Horizon all in the 90,000 dwt to 107,000 dwt range, which are too large to load to full draft in Norfolk. Currently the NSU Obelisk has been anchored in Chedabucto Bay since January 18 and NSU Welfare since December 7, 2024. I am assuming the CSL Metis transhipped to one of them before coming to Halifax.

Arriving February 26 the ship went directly to anchor in Bedford Basin. 

Instead of moving in to load gyspum today as I expected, the ship put out sea giving a destination of Richards Bay, South Africa, a notable coal port, but well off the usual routes for ships in the CSL Pool.

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More Tankers

 Tanker traffic in Halifax harbour usually concentrates on the Woodside area on the Dartmouth side of the harbour where both Irving Oil and Imperial Oil have terminals for refined product. Ships docking at these terminals are difficult to photograph due to their distance from Halifax, and inaccessible vantage points. 

On February 25 the Jessie Glory arrived at Imperial Oil from Philadelphia / Camden with a cargo of refined product. It tied up at the newly refurbished dock #3, using mooring buoys for its head and stern lines. Dominion Diving provides a line handling boat for docking and undocking at the jetty.

The Jessie Glory was built in 2024 by K Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Jinhae, South Korea. The shipbuilder is the former STX Offshore and Shipbuilding which went into creditor protection in 2013 and was re-launched as K Shipbuilding in 2021 by new investors (and presumably former creditors). It had been the world's fourth largest shipbuilder, but sold for only $220 million. The ship comes in at 29,549 gt, 49,801 dwt and is operated by Sinokor Ship Management Co Ltd under Marshall Islands flag.

Meanwhile at Irving Oil the Canadian flagged East Coast made an unusual move from Woodside to Pier 9B. A regular caller, it distributes Irving Oil products from the Saint John, NB refinery to Charlottetown, PE and St.John's, NL with occasional forays to the St.Lawrence River and nearby US ports.

 It is very unusual to see this ship in the Narrows, but like the previous caller at Pier 9B, the Algotitan (see February 25 post) it is likely that the ship will undergo some maintenenace that could not be accomplished at the oil dock. (A boom truck was waiting at the pier.)

The ship was turned, by the tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Cedar, off Pier 6, then backed down to Pier 9B.

The five construction cranes at work on new buildings in Dartmouth are not mounted on the ship!
 

The several notable features of the ship became more visible; the large exhaust gas scrubber system which was retrofitted aft of the original funnel; the ice knife in line of the rudder and the initial "E" on the superstructure immediately below the funnel. Each of the Irving Oil tankers has the first letter of its name similarly positioned, presumably as some form of quick identification.

The East Coast was built by Hyundai Mipo in 2005. A 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt ship, it sailed as Nor'Easter under Marshal Islands flag and operated between Saint John and US ports until brought under Canadian flag and renamed in 2014. It joined sister ship Acadian to serve Canadian ports.

The large "V" shield on the ship's bow signifies Vroon B.V., the Dutch company that owns the ships and has them on long term charter to Irving Oil. Those charters are begining to expire this year and

Algoma Tankers Ltd will soon be providing new ships for Irving Oil service. Algoma already serves Imperial Oil, but the new ships are expected to work exclusively for Irving Oil.

This ship's replacement Algoma East Coast conducted sea trials at Ulsan Febraury 8 to 11. Algoma Acadian was launched in December 2024.

As I stated in January "The other two Marshall Islands flag sister ships in the Irving Oil charter fleet, New England and Great Eastern will also be coming up for renewal surveys in the fall of 2025, but there has been no word on replacements (at least to my ear)." 

Another ship, the similar sized former Iver Progress, built in 2007, joined the fleet in 2016 and was given the name Nor'easter, with Marshall Islands registry. 

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Onego Deusto

 The multi-purpose general cargo ship Onego Deusto sailed early this afternoon after approximately twelve hours in port. The ship has called here several times with rail from Poland. This time however the ship arrived from Belfast, Northern Ireland, which would normally mean that it was carrying an aircraft component or components, such as a fuselage section or tail assembly. Yesterday the Industrial Charger also arrived from Belfast, presumably with the same type of cargo. However, since I did not actually lay eyes on any cargo from either ship, I can't say for certain what they were carrying. Both ships docked at Pier 9C where cargo could have been trucked away fairly promptly.

On sailing this afternoon (photo above) the ship gave its destination as Houston, and judging from the ship's draft it has cargo on board.

The Onego Deusto has an interesting history (recounted here before, but worth repeating.)

The ship was built by Vahali Shipyard's Belgrade yard in 2008 for the now defunct Beluga Shipping. The 6312 gt, 9832 dwt ship is of the open hatch design (hatch is full width of hold) with moveable pontoon type tweendecks, two box shaped holds, equipped with two 40 tonne SWL cranes. 

It was built as Beluga Skysails, and fitted with a telescopic jib boom on the bow, which could carry a para sail to assist in propulsion. When Beluga failed, the ship became BBC Skysails in 2011, then Onego Deusto in 2019. On its first few visits in Halifax, as BBC Skysails, it still carried the jib boom but that has since been removed. 

In these July 11, 2015 photos, the jib is the black object well forward, and is in the retracted position.

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Parade of Shipping

 There was quite a parade of ships in Halifax today, February 25, and most of them had never been here before. In no particular order:

MSC England arrived for MSC's Gulf Canada service en route from Montreal via Corner Brook, heading for Mexico.

The ship was built in 2001 by Hyundai Ulsan as the CMA CGM Vega. The 39,812 gt, 51,020 dwt ship has a capacity of 4132 TEU, and took its present name in 2007. Ships on the Gulf Canada service do not normally call in Halifax, but this ship did call here late last year during the Montreal port workers strike, and left containers here to be forwarded by rail or truck. 

There is no apparent reason for today's call unless it had something to do with the grounding of the MSC Baltic III February 15 near Corner Brook. That ship is in perilous condition. Salvage operations have not been possible due to weather and sea conditions. 

At PSA Fairview Cove the Vela was due to depart early this evening for New York. The ship arrived yesterday on ZIM's ZCA Transatlantic service from the Mediterranean.

 

Built by Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co Ltd in 2009 it was delivered as JPO Vela but renamed Bunga Raya Sambilan in the same year. It reverted to JPO Vela in 2010 and became the Vela in 2019. A 41,225 gt, 50,420 dwt ship, it has a capacity of 4254 TEU. Oddly it does not appear to be carrying many reefers - usually a major part of cargo at this time of the year.

There was considerable activity in the Pier 9B and Pier 9C areas known as Richmond Terminals. The Canadian flag tanker Algotitan made an overnight stopover at Pier 9B and sailed late morning for Montreal, apparently in ballast.  

The twin screw ship made a neat turn, right off the berth in the Narrows, and headed directly for sea. (Not so neat is its appearance due to St.Lawrence Seaway "lock rash".)

 

Inbound from sea for Pier 9C the Industrial Charger has aircraft components loaded in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

 The ship has had several names since built in 2000 by Estaleiros Navais, Lda de Viano do Castelo in Spain. It was launched as Virgo J but renamed on delivery as Industrial Charger, but became Virgo J again in the same year. In 2009 it was renamed Ocean Charger, then in 2015 Zea Charger and in 2020 Charger. It finally ended up as Industrial Charger in 2022. The 7252 gt, 7428 (or 8024) dwt ship is a flexible tween deck type, with box shaped holds and a container capacity of 516 TEU with 80 reefer plugs. It also carries a pair of 200 tonne SWL cranes, which can operate in combinaiton for a 400 tonne lift. It also carries some large blue coloured spreaders on deck.

 A second ship is due after dark, also from Belfast, the Onego Deusto is more familiair here with cargoes of rail from Poland. Interestingly it was here February 26, 2024 with just such a cargo.

PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub had MSC England at Pier 42 using a variety of cranes, including two of the large cranes after they had completed work on the ship at Pier 41. The smallest cranes remained unused and the third large crane (which is rarely raised) remained at Pier 41.

 

 The ship at Pier 41 was a first time caller the APL Esplanade in from Colombo via the Cape of Good Hope on the Ocean Alliance PSW3 and AWE3 service from Asia.

A ten year old ship, it appears by the condition of its paint to have recently been drydocked for its ten year survey. It was completed in 2014 by Hyundai Samho and is rated at 152,350 gt, 154,103 dwt with a capacity of 13,900 TEU. It was built originally as APL Ascend but was renamed MOL Quintet on delivery and took its present name in 2017.

American President Lines LLC (APL) is the American subsidiary of CMA CGM and was acquired in 2016 when CMA CGM bought Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) of Singapore which in turn had purchased APL in 1997. 

CMA CGM, thankfully, uses the initials of two predecessor companies, Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) and Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM). The Company, based in Marseille, France, is the third largest container shipping company after MSC (based in Switzerland) and Maersk (from Denmark.)

 More shipping for the day arrived after dark and may be visible tomorrow.

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Brand New PCTC

 The hot market for autocarriers has lead shipping companies to make major investments in new Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) ships, but also to make improvements in their efficiency both commercially and environmentally. As previously reported here on February 5 Volkswagen has partnered with Wallenius Lines to build more aerodynamic ships incorporating improvements in hull and propulsion design.

Today's (February 24) arrival the Lake Shirasagi is the third of ten new ships to be built in China for Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) with LNG as its primary fuel. The ship is also equipped to connect to shore power where available. All these features are vividly broadcast on the ships sides.

 The Lake Shirasagi was delivered in December 2024 by China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing. It is a 71,631 gt, 19.046 dwt ship with a capacity of 7,000 CEU. Its twelve decks, four of which are hoistable for high loads, are served by a 150 tonne  capacity stern ramp and a 20 tonne capacity starboard side ramp. (Side ramps are rare on newer PCTCs.)

The ship is on its first voyage, and has been assigned to the Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic car and RoRo service. It has called on the usual rotation of European ports, Tilbury, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Rozenburg, Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Zebrugge and Southampton. 

On arrival this afternoon, the ship made its way to Bedford Basin, turned and came alongside Pier 9C to discharge RoRo cargo. It is scheduled to move to Autoport this evening.

When it arrived in Singapore in December it took on 1629m3 of LNG from an LNG bunkering vessel. These Ship to Ship (STS) refuelings are now available in other major ports such as Vancouver, but so far there would very little demand in Halifax, although the Port of Halifax is studying the provision of alternative fuels such as hydrogen.

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Fishing trawler Northern Alliance

 I can remeber in the 1960s there were about seven fresh fish plants and at least two salt fish operations on the Halifax waterfront. It goes without sayiung that they lent a certain "ambiance" (pronounced in the French way), especially on humid days with very little wind. Thanks to over fishing - encouraged by government policy - and to the rapacious methods of European fishers - there was a rapid decline in fish stocks and one by one the fish plants disappeared. 

By the time the government brought in the cod moratorium in 1992 the last plants were gone and as a result we seldom saw fishing vessels in Halifax and no longer inhaled the "ozone" from the plants. The exceptions of course were the Japanese tuna longliners while they overfished that species into near extinction too. European freezer trawlers from the USSR, East Germany, Romania, Poland and Spain  also called for crew R+R and stores or to seek refuge from hurricanes.  However once Canada declared the 200 mile economic zone they also became rare sights.

In this century fishing operations have concentrated on numerous outports such as Lunenburg and nearby Sambro. Fishing is still an important industry in the region and there are countless boats engaged in inshore and offshore activity. Fish plants are now located in those smaller ports and fishing vessels have no reason to come to Halifax except in case of emergency or breakdown.

Today's arrival of the Northern Alliance likely falls in the latter category. Its track shown on AIS indicates a diversion from its northeasterly course from Lunenburg to a point east of Halifax. It may have a had a power loss, then headed directly for Halifax, It was met off Portuguese Cove by the tug Atlantic Maple and was escorted in to tie up at the C.O.V. E. pier in Dartmouth.

 The Northern Alliance was built in 1990 by Stocznia Potnocina in Gdansk, Poland for Icelandic owners and named Johann Gislason. In 1990 it was given the charmaing name Frosti, still under Icelandic flag. In 2012 Select Seafoods Canada Ltd of Richmond, BC acquired the ship and registered it in Lunenburg. It may have fished on the west coast for a time. (The company's web sites are vague on detail).

It is a 624.41 gross tons stern trawler with a capacity of 170 tonnes per trip. It is equipped to freeze its catch at sea (FAS). Select Seafoods and its associated company Aqualine Seafoods Ltd market hake, arrowtooth flounder, pollock and redfish in various states of process.

Back in the Day

 Fishing has been the backbone of the Nova Scotia economy since early days. Preserving fish with salt fish was the usual method until freezing technology came into being. Initially fishing boats would carry sufficient ice (loaded ar their home ports) but that limited the time at sea. Eventuallly freezing the fish came into being, and some larger boats had the capacity to package the fish too.

The Halifax fish plants, when they existed, processed "fresh" fish that had been partially processed, and iced down at sea. At the plants the catch was then processed into frozen blocks ready for shipment or storage for later processing during the off season, or packaged consumer-ready. "Fresh fish" could also be salted and salted fish could be packaged as there was still a market in the Caribbean.

The actual catching of fish was usually by trawler as the main catch was bottom fish such as cod.  By the mid 1960s stern trawlers were gradually replacing side trawlers as they were safer and could work in worse sea conditions, with the deck crew more sheltered. 

Early 1950s British built steam trawlers still supplied the Water Street plant of National Sea Products.

 

 

Newer diesel side trawlers like the Cape Hood fed the Forty Fathom plant of National Sea Products at Pier 29. The National Harbours Board maintained a huge freezer storage facility across the street to keep frozen fish for later distribution.

Halifax Shipyard built early stern trawlers, such as the Atkinson,

and larger boats such as the Cape Alert

and Cape John

These boats could work at sea in conditions that were not tenable for the side trawlers. Freezing spray could make a vessel top heavy.
 

The Pier 29 site is now occupied by the PSA Southend container terminal's new maintenace building, and no trace remains of the fish plant or the freezer.

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Conspiracy Theories - Updated

 In my February 3 post, I noted several recent breaks in important sub sea cables. Some of the breaks were suspected as deliberate acts of sabotage but nothing could be proven.

The infamous Baltic break in January that implicated the Bulgarian ship Vezhen was explained as due to "defective equipment and seamanship". There was apparently no doubt that the ship dragged its anchor through the cable, but conspiracy theorists did not buy the excuse.

The Cabot Strait breaks of two cables between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland resulted in the Halifax based cable ship IT Intrepid going to the scene and performing splicing operations to restore the connections. 

IT Intrepid 2013 photo.

 Recent press reports show the cable break as a clean cut, and claim that it had to be deliberate. They further state that a previous break in the same area was also deliberate. Apparently the cable was not buried below the sea floor and was likely fetched up by trawl gear. If so it was likely cut to free it from entanglement. Escaping the scene without blame would be understandable, though not justified. One has to wonder what the motivation might be for deliberate sabotage - but the conspiracists are having a field day.

(Readers of the press report might be confused when it referred to a "rover" which was sent down to find the cable. In fact it was a R.O.V. (remotely operated vehicle). 

The IT Intrepid made quick work of the repairs despite the complexity of splicing fibreoptic cable. The ship sailed from Halifax Febraury 1, returned February 6, sailed again February 8 and returned February 13.

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S.S. United States

 The famed transatlantic liner S.S. United States left its long time berth in Philadelphia on February 19 bound for eventual reefing in US territorial waters off Florida's (northwest coast) panhandle.

Although the ship never called in Halifax to my knowledge, it was certainly well known as a rival to the Cunard queens, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

The S.S. United States has been neglected for years, and was obviously not able to sail on its own, and so was towed away by the tug Vinik No.6. That tug has been in Halifax nore than once and was a regular in Saint John, NB with asphalt tanker barges, undr rhe names Penn No.6 and Morania No.6. 

 

More on that tug in my companion blog Tugfax at:

Tugfax February 19 

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Dan Ships and Good Luck

 The legendary J. Lauritzen company of Denmark has long been associated with arctic shipping, and its ice reinforced ships pioneered winter navigation on the St.Lawrence River. Until the early 1960s when Lauritzen began a regular transatlantic service to Montreal, the St.Lawrence was off limits to shipping from December to April due to ice and cold temperatures that froze up anchors, mooring winches and cargo handling gear.

Halifax and Saint John were ice free"winter ports" and virtually all shipping traffic was diverted to these ports or US ports to ensure that ships were not exposed to sea ice.

On February 13, 1959 Lauritzen's Helga Dan arrived in Quebec City - the first ocean vessel to reach that port in winter. Within a few years Lauritzen ships had extended their reach to Trois-Rivières and then Montreal, arriving there March 12, 1962.

Lauritzen Lines also called in Halifax on its transatlantic service.

I have told about Lauritzen here before, particularly my post of June 11, 2018, so I will not repeat that story again.

Today, Febrary 19, 2025 another Lauritzen ship is due to sail from Halifax with a bulk cargo, presumably wood pellets, for Immingham, UK, site of the world's largest biomass storage facility. The ship arrived here February 10 but loading has been delayed by inclement weather including the whole gamut from rain through freezing rain to heavy snow.

Frida Bulker at pier 28 February 12, before the worst of the weather.

Built by Imabari Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Imabari, Japan, the ship is a 25,003 gt, 40,161 dwt vessel with double hull and stengthened for heavy cargo. It is equipped with four 30 tonne cargo cranes and deck stanchions which enable it to carry timber on deck. Although the ship is painted with the traditional red hull colour and the usual five letter woman's name, ending in "A" it does not have the "JL" shield on the bow. That indicates that the ship is on a long term charter rather than owned outright. Lauritzen Bulkers operates in the range of 200 ships, some of which they do own.

The Past vs the Future 

When winter navigation on the St.Lawrence became a possibility there was a large hue and cry from Halifax, the beneficiary of redirected seasonal shipping. Hundreds of seasonal longshore jobs (even though workers had to be brought in from Quebec ports to meet demand) were at risk, not to mention the spin offs for the railway and other ancillary businesses involved with general cargo imports and exports and grain exports.

 A typical winter view of the Port of Halifax deepwater piers until the late 1960s. 

Pier 20, top left, to pier 40, bottom right.

The loss of dozens of ships in port at a time, all working cargo by traditional labour intensive means had been unthinkable. To make matters worse government icebreakers were used to clear the channel to Montreal. It is interesting that the federal government claimed the icebreakers were for flood control (which was certainly at least partly true), whereas Halifax champions claimed political bias to quell separtist grumblings in Quebec. In fact there may have been another factor, again involving Lauritzen. 

Although Lauritzen's Polar class ships were among the only ships that could navigate in winter, there was one other major arctic shipowner and that was the USSR. In fact Lauritzen gave up its St.Lawrence service in 1969 due to competition from the USSR's many ice class ships. Not only did the ships have the capability of navigating in ice, some of the ships were in fact icebreakers and the USSR was threatening to use those ships to keep the St.Lawrence River channels clear for their own use.

The Indigirka of 1957 was a 7661 gt, 7430 dwt heavily ice strengthened general cargo ship.

 The federal governement, wisely, opted to "skate around" the USSR by making the St.Lawrence route useable by ice capable rather than strictly ice reinforced or ice breaking ships. Shipping lines responded and Montreal as well as other St.Lawrence River and Gulf ports opened up for year round activity.

Halifax was also begining to suffer from the decline of ocean passenger shipping. Jet air traffic, even for immigrants, was becoming more popular and affordable, and sea mail was also taking to the air.  Although passenger ships still called Halifax for a time, the shift to cruise ships did not take place for several years.

Italian Lines' elegant Leonardo da Vinci, built in 1960, arriving in Halifax in 1970, was the last Italian transatlantic liner in 1976. It was used for cruising in 1977, retired in 1978 then scrapped in 1982.

 Halifax interests were not pleased with these developments and a few lean years for the port ensued, but luck was about to deliver a lifesaver.

The advent of containerization, coupled with RoRo capability, was revolutionizing shipping. The Port of Halifax jumped on the  band wagon early and by 1969 was firmly in the container and RoRo shipping business, and has never looked back. Recent major investments to support, expand and diversify port activity have confirmed the wisdom of those initial moves.

Atlantic Container Lines' impressive G1 (first generation) ships carried containers, cars, crated, palletized and other RoRo cargo.

 Container shipping had the benefit of being year round, with most lines preferring to call at the same ports on a regular basis. Both Halifax and Saint John and Montreal developed consistant relations with shipping lines - sometimes competing with each other for business,  but there was very little seasonal shifting of routes. 

Shipping Lines operating from Europe to the United States on the Great Circle Route could make a slight course deviation to call in Halifax en route to New York and Canada bound cargo incidentally received a huge subsidy as a result. US bound cargo could be loaded on a train and be most of the way to Chicago before the ship arrived in New York. Halifax thus became a useful waypoint for shipping lines, without the added costs and time to reach Montreal, and this applied to export as well as import cargo.

 Halterm, the first container terminal in Halifax, extended the port's facilites  from pier 40 (slightly left of centre) to the south (right in photo) creating Pier C with berths 41 and 42. Much has changed since this 1974 photo.

Thanks are due to Lauritzen for nudging the port in the right direction. 

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MSC Baltic III - AGROUND - UPDATE

 A ship that made several calls in Halifax late last year has been reported aground on the west coast of Newfoundand. The MSC Baltic III is assigned to the Mediterranean Shipping Company's Canada Gulf Bridge service and had sailed from Montreal February 2 bound for CornerBrook, NL. It was standing by off the Bay of Islands, for a time, but is now fetched up on the rocky shore off Lark Harbour. The icebreaker CCGS Henry Larsen out of CornerBrook is now nearby and a Cormorant Search and Rescue helicopter has been dispatched.

MSC Baltic III in Halifax December 13, 2024.

 The ship's normal route does not include Halifax, but in November 2024 it was one of two MSC ships that were granted coasting licenses to pick up stranded containers in Halifax and take them to Montreal. The boxes had been left in Halifax when ships were diverted here during a labour dispute in the Port of Montreal. Each ship was expected to make three calls in Halifax between November 24 and December 31 to move the backlogged boxes.

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.

 MSC Baltic III at PSA Fairview Cove, December 13, 2024.

As of Saturday morning February 15, conditions do not appear favourable for refloating the ship which is being swept by wind driven seas. Another storm is due to pass through over the next few days. I expect the first priority will be evacuating the crew. [see Update]

Reports indicate that the ship may have had a blackout in stormy conditions. A photo posted on Facebook shows the ship broadside on an inaccessible shore with steep cliffs, high winds and breaking seas.

Update: Press reports state that the crew have been removed. Some are reported to be injured, but all are safe.

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Cruise 2025

 The Port of Halifax has announced details of the upcoming cruise season. The first cruise ship to call will be the Viking Polaris on April 18.

The 30,114 gt ship, built in 2022 by Fincantieri carries 378 passengers and 256 crew.  It was also the first ship last season too, when it arived April 10, 2024. 

The 2025 season is expected to extend to November 19 with the last caller, Aidadiva. The Port expects 188 calls with 328,000 "guests" (that would include passengers and crew). 

Other details include six inaugural calls, one overnight and two turn arounds. Of note there will be thirteen tendering vessels including three days with two tendering ships anchored in the harbour. 

The port's system of landing stages and ramps can certainly accommodate that number of tenders but it will be busy!

There will also be 52 multiple ship days, some of which may also necessitate tendering. 

Also noted will be three calls by Queen Mary 2 and the inaugural call for Virgin Cruises and their newest ship Brilliant Lady, a 2700 passenger vessel of 108,232 gt in its first season.

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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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