Anchor or Dock on Arrival

 Container ships callling Halifax usually dock on arrival. Unless they require Canadian Food Inpection Agency clearance from invasive species or some repair, they rarely anchor in the harbour. Today, March 29, was one of the exceptions as the MSC container ship Karlskrona arrived and anchored in number one anchorage for several hours. All the berths at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway were free, so I am assuming some repair required shore assistance from a technician or parts. Another explanation is that the ship was late for the normal "start of day" work for longshore workers, and would thus incur overtime if it docked on arrival. Moving to the dock for an evening start could mean that the ship could be worked within an eight hour shift.

 

The Karlskrona has been here before, December 14, 2024, and had to standby offshore for a few days, but that was due to weather.

Odense Staalskibs in Lindø, Denmark built the ship for its parent company AP Moller-Maersk in 1996. Named Karen Maersk until 2008 it became Maersk Karlskrona until 2016 then MSC Karlskrona to 2018 when it was renamed Karl, briefly, in 2018 and then Maersk Karlskrona. In 2023 it took its present name. The 81,488 gt, 96,103 dwt ship has a capacity of 7403 TEU with 703 reefer plugs. It is noteworthy due to its full width enclosed bridge, usually a sign of an Ice Class ship.

With the Karlskrona in number one anchorage, the next inbound, the NYK Rigel, opted to stay well clear and passed west of George's Island on its way inbound to PSA Fairview Cove.  

NYK Rigel built by Hyundai, Samho in 2009 is a 55,487 gt, 66,051 dwt ship has a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers. It is a very familiar ship to Halifax, having called on the former THE Alliance AL5 (Atlantic Loop) service. THE Alliance has been renamed the Premier Alliance due to the withdrawal of Hapag-Lloyd. H-L has formed a new alliance with Maersk, called the Gemini Cooperation. So far that union has not listed Halifax among its ports of call.

Premier Alliance ships will apparently still use the same route designations, and the AL5 loop will still call at the same ports.

[  Why were the letters THE capitalized in the name of this THE Alliance ? (CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming) As usual the shipping world loves acronyms and abbreviations, and THE was supposed to stand for Transport High Efficiency.

[  A harder question to answer is why the AL5 is called the Atlantic Loop. European ports are (in order) Southampton, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp. The first North American port is Halifax, followed by Port Everglades, Cartagena, Panama, Los Angeles / Long Beach,  Oakland, Tacoma and Vancouver. The return eastbound leg is then Oakland, LA/LB, Panama, Caucedo Dominican Republic, Saint John, Halifax and Southampton. ]

Despite Hapag-Lloyd's exit, there are apparently still H-L boxes in transit. MSC also has a slot charter arrangement on some routes with Premier, but is not a member of the Premier Alliance. The members of the new Premier Alliance are ONE, HMM, and Yang Ming. 

The presence of a CMA CGM box on the ship is also interesting as ONE announced three joint Transatlantic services with CMA CGM and the other Ocean Alliance members (COSCO, OOCL, Evergreen) starting in February, as a Vessel Sharing program.  None of the services will be calling in Halifax.