ONE Apus and another bird

 The bird class of container ships, operated by Ocean Network Express (ONE) are regular callers in Halifax on the EC5 service, now operating as the Premier Alliance. They began to call under the previous THE Alliance which was renamed Premier Alliance after Hapag-Lloyd withdrew earlier this year.

There are fourteen ships in the 14000 TEU class, all built by Japan Marine United, in Kure between 2016 and 2019. Today's arrival ONE Apus was the thirteenth ship in the series. The first nine ships were given the prefix "NYK" but were renamed with "ONE" prefix when the three Japanese shipping companies NYK Line, K-Line and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) joined together to form ONE in 2017. This ship is part of the NYK fleet and measures 146,694 gt, 138,611 dwt with a capacity of 14,052 TEU.

Some of the ship names are obscure as they use the Latin genus name. ONE Apus derives its name from the Common Swift Apus Apus, a fast flying bird found in Asia and Africa. (What Canadians know as a Chimney Swift is a different species but  similar in appearance and from the same avian family).

On arrival today the ONE Apus was met at the pilot station by the escort tugs Atlantic Ash and Atlantic Maple which each took a stern line. A third tug Atlantic Fir joined later off Herring Cove.

 Shortly after, an unusual rendez-vous took place as a Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140M Aurora aircraft made a low pass over the ship and flew in toward Halifax right over the main shipping channel.

 

 It must have turned somewhere around Bedford Basin and returned at low altitude, then passed astern of the ONE Apus. It made a graceful banking turn and headed east.

 

 

The Aurora is the Canadian CP-140 variant of the Lockheed P3 Orion dating from the 1980s. After a major overhaul, called the Aurora Incremental Modernisation Plan (AIMP) the aircraft were re-designated CP-140M. They were built for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), but as long distance craft they are also tasked with  intelligence surveillance (ISR), search and rescue (SAR) and overseas missions.

Another refurb (now completed), called the Aurora Life Extension Project (ASLEP) is expected to keep the planes flying until replacements start arriving in 2026. Those will be Boeing (oops) Poseidon P-8As which should be  full operation by 2033. East Coast based Auroras operate from Greenwood, Nova Scotia.

 

 As expected the ONE Apus was still carrying Hapag-Loyd containers. It will take some time before these boxes clear through the system, including perhaps empty re-delivery.

 

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