Harbour Meet

 Ships often meet entering or leaving Halifax, and good communication ship-to-ship and between the ship and the Vessel Traffic Centre ensure that the meets occur without incident.

Meets become complicated when they take place in the lower harbour when one ship may be leaving the Narrows and another will be entering the Narrows where there is no room to pass. It is made even more complicated as two passenger ferry routes cross the vessel track. At peak hours there are two ferries on each route, and they normally give way to larger ships, unless the ship's pilot judges that they have time to cross the ship's track safely. 

Today, March 17 there was such an interesting meet as the coastal tanker Algoscotia moved from Imperial Oil to Pier C in the Narrows. The autocarrier Asian Empire completed unloading RoRo cargo at Pier 9C and was moving to Autoport. The meet was arranged so that it took place in the widest part of the harbour, and between the two ferry tracks.

 The Algoscotia passes the Woodside ferry terminal, northbound for the Narrows.

 

The Asian Empire has passed both ferry tracks, southbound (one ferry is visible in the background).

 

 

The  Asian Empire passes east of Geroge's Island en route to Autoport with the tug Atlantic Oak alongside.

 

Built in 1998 the Asian Empire is a larger size Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) of 71,383 gt, 25,756 dwt with a capacity of 7,645 CEU. Operators Eukor [Europe/ Korea] had the ship built by Hyundai Ulsan, and in fact it carries its name in Korean and English characters on the bow and flies the flag of the Republic of South Korea.

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