Yellowbill - new for Canfornav - CORRECTED

 Canada Forest Navigation, CANFORNAVfor short, is a growing Canadian based deep sea shipping company. Its current fleet of 47 ships trade internationally in and out of the Great Lakes. All owned or chartered bulk carriers, they are registered offshore. Their green hull colour is distinctive - as are the ship's names which are all species of ducks. 

 One of their newest ships, the Handysize Yellowbill, arrived in Halifax this afternoon, April 17, and anchored in the lower harbour. It was soon met by the launch Halmar presumably bearing inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 

At 32 m wide, it is too large for the St.Lawrence Seaway and comes in at 25,069 gt, 39,633 dwt and carries four 31 tonne SWL cranes. It was delivered in Jul 2025 by Saiki Heavy Industries in Saiki, Japan. CANFORNAV ships are frequent grain carriers, despite the name of the operating company.

 The ship arrived from Asian ports, most recently Singapore, and is due to sail this evening for Quebec City likely for grain.

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Polar Prince

 The privately owned icebreaker Polar Prince got away from its winter layup berth at COVE (the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship) this morning for a day at sea. Since 2021 the ship has been operated by Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services Ltd, It serves as a training vessel for Miawpukek First Nation seafarers, but also carries out expedition and research work.

Built in 1959 by Davie Shipbuilding + Repair Co Ltd in Lauzon as CGS Sir Humphrey Gilbert, it received a major rebuild at Halifax Shipyards in 1983 when it was given a new, stronger bow. It was declared surplus in 2001 and renamed 2001-06 until  sold in 2002 and renamed Gilbert I and soon after, Polar Prince. Since then it has engaged in a variety of work in the north including seismic research, and the notable 2017 C3 Expedition. It was given the temporary, unoffical name of Canada C3 for its trip from Toronto to Victoria via the Northwest Passage.  

Its trip to sea today (April 16) nearly coincides with the sinking of the Titanic April 15, 2012. That event, with the tragic loss of 1500 lives, and the resulting fascination with the event, resulted in the best known but most unfortunate event in the story of the Polar Prince. The ship was the mother ship for the submersible ROV Titan which imploded while descending to the Titanic wreck site on June 18, 2023. All five persons on baord died including the founder of OceanGate, the expedition organizer and owner of the submersible.

Wreckage of the ROV (Remotely Operated Vessel) was subsequently located 500 meters from the bow of the Titanic wreck in 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) of water.

The Polar Prince has been the subject of nearly a dozen posts on this blog over the years. Search for these posts will turn up numerous photos.

 

More Cars

 A new to Halifax auto carrier arrived in Halifax this afternoon, April 15, after spending some time anchored offshore. The Morning Chant is on the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic service from Goteborg, Bremerhaven, Antwerp and Zeebrugge.

Built in 2014 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Gunsan, it is a 59,615 gt, 20.190 dwt ship with a capacity of 6,674 cars.

The ship's movements prior to this loop show a departure from Shanghai January 21 then calling in Civitavecchia March 2 to 4, Koper, Piraeus and Izmir before heading for Goteborg.

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Aircraft components and Euro fuel

 The multi-purpose general cargo ship Unistar arrived this morning, April 14, at Pier 9C to offload aircraft components from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

 

Despite the pier being full of wind farm parts and pieces, enclosed in whire wrap, there was still room to land to plane parts to waiting trucks. 

The Unistar is 6351 gt, 9688 dwt ship built initially in 2012 by Jiangsu Yangzi Changbo Shipbuilding in Jiangjiang, China, and completed by Volharding, Foxhol. It started off with the name Sinus Roris but was renamed Thorco Autora later in 2012 and became Unistar in 2027. It is equipped with portable tween decks (some of which can be seen stowed on deck) and two 60 tonne SWL cranes, The cranes can work in tandem for a 160 tonne lift. The ship can also carry 258 TEU on deck and 210 TEU below.

In failing light and a stiff breeze, the ship let go from Pier 9C and headed to Bedford Basin to turn (without tug assisatance) and put out to sea destined for Point Comfort, Texas.
 

 In the late afternoon the tanker Canal Street arrived from Antwerp, Belgium with refined product for Imperial Oil.

 The ship was delivered in 2012 by Onomichi Zosen with the name Pacific Topaz, which it carried until 2014. It is a typical long range tanker of 28,426 gt, 49,993 dwt. 

Its name is likely from the well known street in Lower Manhattan, New York, but there is also a Canal Street on the Dartmouth side of Halifax harbour. It was the site of an ambitious project to link Halifax harbour with the Bay of Fundy, using an ancient canoe route. Portages were to be replaced with locks and access to the Canal in Dartmouth Cove was via an inclined plane. The project began in 1826, was in used by 1856 but was not completed until 1861. It was closed in 1871 with the advent of railroads. 

The inclind plane has been replicated as a static display and parts of the inland locks have been preserved. Canal Street is a short street roughly parallel to the canal entrance / outfall.

Algoma East Coast

 The new product tanker Algoma East Coast arrived in Halifax today, April 13, on its delivery trip from the Hyundai Mipo shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. 

 

The ship, which is carrying the Liberian flag temporarily, has yet to carry a cargo. It will undergo Canadian regulatory inspection here, and will transfer to Canadian flag over the next few days.

A thin weld bead of the outline of Saint John is faintly visible on the transom.

 It will then proceed to Saint John, NB to load cargo for Irving Oil and assume its spot in the usual port rotation, delivering refined product to Halifax, Charlottetown and St.John's. It will be an occasional caller in other ports including Quebec City and Montreal and some US ports such as Boston.

The ABS Ice Class 1B ship measures 23,451 gt, 37,242 dwt and includes many features such as cold-ironing (shore power) capable and methanol fuel ready.

The ice knife, installed above and in line with the rudder, prevents ice from jamming the rudder when backing or turning. The hull plating is also thicker to well above the waterline. The transition line is visible in the photo.

Irving Oil has chartered the ship from Algoma Tankers Ltd, and unlike Irving Oil's most recently chartered ships, this one bears no indication of any connection with Irving Oil. It is painted in Algoma Tankers colours and carries the parent company  Algoma Central Corporation "bear" funnel mark and bow crest.   

The ship takes the place of the similarly sized East Coast (23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt) which completed a twenty year charter from Vroon last month and has since been reported in Turkey for refit.  It arrived inYaklova on March 31. 

Irving Oil has contracted with Algoma for two ships, and the second, the Algoma Acadian, has departed  Korea and has been reported arriving in Tarjun, Indonesia, April 7. It will replace the chartered Acadian which is currently unloading at Irving Oil's terminal in Halifax harbour.

 Acadian in Halifax April 5 (it has since been to Charlottetown and Saint John)

 Acadian will be the last ship to carry the well known Irving Oil colours of green boot topping, "biscuit" hull colour and black capped yellow funnel with the Irving logo. It arrived in Halifax April 12.

Algoma Tankers was established in 1998 to take over the Imperial Oil domestic product tanker fleet. It has since become the premier Canadian flag tanker operator with nine ships. It also has an interest in one foreign flag tanker with ten more under construction.

The Algoma East Coast will soon become a familiar sight in Halifax, but seldom in the Narrows. It is seen on arrival today coming alongside Pier 9B. It shows some "lock rash" from its recent Panama Canal passage.

 

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More Shocks

 Shipping companies and ports have already begun to feel the effect of tarifs on goods and on certain (Chinese built) ships. The United States of America has imposed these tarifs in the misinformed and misguided belief that they will benefit the USA. In fact the tarifs will have the effect of isolating the US from coming to terms with itself and its neighbours and from finding ways to share the planet peacefully.

The latest shocker - if it is possible to be shocked anymore - follows on the US's earlier decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. It has now removed itself from meetings of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Those groups are attempting to reduce emissions - particularly from ships - to net zero by 2050.

In a supremely illogical statement the US claims that the effort to reduce emissions is an attempt to redistribute wealth under the guise of environmental protection by unwisely promoting the use of hypothetical and unproven fuels.

The truth of course is the very opposite: the US is atttempting to concentrate wealth by continuing to use (its own) fossil fuels at the expense of the environment and of other countries.

In recent days in the Port of Halifax we have seen:

 1. A ship fueled by LNG (still a fossil fuel) but which can be adapted to a future fuel.

Is the Lake Shirasagi an expensive exercise in "green washing" by a leading auto manufacturer or is its alternate fuel and shore power capability progress? 

There is the irony of a pier full of wind generator tower components with a wind propelled ship also alongside.

2. The same ship equipped to use shore power (too bad that power here is largely fossil fuel generated and is not available at most piers anyway.)

 

3. A Flettner rotor equipped ship, delivering components for offshore wind turbine power generation.

The E-Ship 1 uses windpower for propulsion assistance.

Notice those red and white striped power plant chimneys in the background. They are from the natural gas fueled power plant in the background (the white tanks at lower left store back up heavy fuel which is used when market fluctuations or pipeline interuptions dictate.)

4. An ancient (by shipping standards) container ship arrived spouting particulates with impunity.

MSC Ingrid, built in 1999, "steams" into Halifax April 5.

 5. The Port (and other Canadian ports) bragging about the opening of another cruise ship season - surely the most senselesss and uneeded use of fossil fuels - even if the ship and or port has shore power available. How can cruise ships be condoned in the era of climate emergency?

 

More irony?

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E-Ship 1 offloaded

 The cargo ship E-Ship 1 completed offloading today, April 8, despite 5cm of wet snow. Fortunately I was able to get some photos before the snow fall. The ship's cargo would now be largely invisible, because the nacelles and other components for a wind power project, are all covered in white shrink wrap, and now surrounded with snow. The previously delivered tower components are also protected with white shrink wrapping.

 The Halifax Shipping News blog has some excellent drone photography showing the ship's hold from the air. See: https://blog.halifaxshippingnews.ca/ - well woth the visit.

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More newbies and Pier 9C update

 There were two "new to Halifax" ships in port today April 5 and as we are now into Invasive Species season, both anchored for Canadian Food Inpection Agency (CFIA) examination before docking.

MSC Manchester, as the larger ship, took up position in Number 1 anchorage in the lower harbour. (The auto carrier Lake Shirasagi is visible in the background, offloading at Autoport.)

As usual when that anchorage is occupied, incoming ships then pass to the west of George's Island. MSC Ingrid did just that as it proceeded to Number 3 anchorage.    

ONE Manchester was built in 2015 by Imabari Shipbuilding Co Ltd at the Hiroshima Shipyard as the Manchester Bridge. It was renamed and repainted in 1920 as K-Line had joined the other Japanese container lines to form Ocean Network Express (ONE). It is a 51,672 gt, 146,900 dwt ship with a capacity of 13,900 TEU including 800 reefer plugs. It is sailing on Premier Alliance EC3 sailing directly from Columbo via the Cape of Good Hope.

Later in the day MSC Ingrid moved to Pier 42.

 

MSC Ingrid dates from 1999 when it was delivered by Samsung, Geoje as the Saudi Jeddah. At 53, 208 gt, 67,678 dwt, it has a capacity of 4657 TEU including 300 reefers. It is operating on MSC's Canada Express en route from Le Havre for Montreal. It joined MSC in 2002 and has been retro-fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber.

ONE Manchester was cleared by CFIA, but remained at anchor until early eveningi before moving in to Pier 41 when the berth was clear. In bright sunlight it beame apparent that ONE's magenta colour scheme will require a great deal of maintenance. ONE Manchester's paint appears to have been applied hastily with minimal surface prep.

 

Pier 9C

At Pier 9C business was booming - pun intended. The E-Ship 1 (see yesterday's post) was off loading its project cargo wind generator components, including nacelles and containers of equipment.

With E-Ship 1 at the north end of Pier 9C there was just enough room for the Lake Shirasagi to dock. After discharging cargo at Autoport, it moved through the Narrows  to turn in Bedford Basin, then came in alongside astern of the E-Ship 1, with just enough room to deploy its stern ramp. There are so many wind tower sections on the pier, its RoRo cargo will be a tight fit.

 

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Eco cargo, Eco cars, Eco tours - UPDATE

 There were lots of references to the environment and ecology in the Port of Halifax today, April 4. Only history will tell if these measures are futile. [Glass half full readers may wish to skip ahead.]

 The first cruise ship of the 2025 season arrived good and early this morning, beating its 2024 first arrival date by six days.  According the February 14 press release, the ship was not due in Halifax until April 18 this year*. Today's arrival may have been on short notice, as the Port's workboat Maintainer I was setting out fenders only yesterday.

 

Today's excellent +10ºC temperature and bright sunshine encouraged a gaggle of hardy passengers to take a kayak expedition from Pier 22 to the Northwest Arm. By the time they were on the return leg they had evacuated to a motorboat and did not have to paddle back to the ship.

These so-called expedition cruise ships, despite allowing passengers to see the wonders of the world are notorious fuel users, and someday must face restrictions.
 

Amongst today's arrivals was the LNG powered Lake Shirasagi for Autoport with another batch of Volkswagen cars. The dual fuel ship also promotes the use of shore power (when possible). Nova Scotia's reliance on coal for a good chunk of its electricity makes this a less desirable option.

Lake Shirasagi made its inaugural voyage in February, arriving in Halifax February 24 [qv]. It will move to Pier 9C tomorrow to offload RoRo cargo.

Pier 9C was the destination today for the wind assisted E-Ship 1. The ship is equipped with rotating towers that provide supplementary propulsion power.

The E-Ship 1 is carrying generator nacelles that will convert wind to power for a wind project. The towers arrived in sections and have been sitting on Pier 9C for several months.

Built in 2010 by Lindenau, Kiel, the 12,968 gt, 10,020 dwt ship carries two cranes with maximum 90 tonne SWL and a single open hold with removable hatch covers giving total access to the cargo space. It can carry heavy cargo, RoRo and containers up to 853 TEU.

 

 The ship has never been in Halifax before, but was in Sheet Harbour, NS in 2014, and made a trip on the St.Lawrence River in 2012. See my post from May 11, 2014.

 

A ship with no apparent pretensions to saving the planet was one of three container ships in port today. The MSC Eleni has been an off and on caller over the years, but never a regular. Ships on MSC's Med Canada service do call from time to time to offload a few containers to meet St.Lawrence River draft restrictions or to top up a few boxes to maximize ocean draft. The latter seemed to be the case today as the ship arrived from Montreal and sailed for Salerno.

 

 

As MSC Eleni clears PSA Halifax Pier 42, and sheds its tug, the Lake Shirasagi is just disappearing from view into Eastern Passage.

 

MSCEleni dates from 2004 when it was built by Hanjin Heavy Industry and Construction Co Ltd in Busan. The 54,881 gt, 68,254 dwt ship has a capacity of 5060 TEU including 400 reefers.

 

 *UPDATE: This is incorrect. I misread the original press release, seeing the last letter in the word "April" in the phrase "April 8" as a number 1.

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MSC Sagitta III - unusual diversion

 The container ship MSC Sagitta III made a diversion from its usual northbound route on MSC's Canada Gulf Bridge service from Mexico to Montreal, arrriving in Halifax April 2. Instead of berthing at PSA's Fairview Cove or Atlantic Hub container facilities it tied up at Pier 27-28 in the Ocean Terminals section of the port. Pier 27 is an open pier and Pier 28 is the grain export pier and has no means of handling container cargo.

The ship requires some repairs that may involve the main engine, and thus could not be made with the ship at anchor. (Ships must have their main engine available while at anchor in the Port.) 

This is not the ship's first call in Halifax. It was here in June 29, 2024 on its first inbound trip on the Gulf Bridge run, likely for Canadian Food Inspection Agency clearance. It was back again in November and December 2024 when it was one of two MSC ships granted coasting licenses to transfer containers from Halifax to Montreal. The boxes had been stranded in Halifax during the Montreal port workers strike earlier in the year*. The ship was in port from late November to mid-December while the coasting license application was in the works. 

December 16, 2024 photo
 

The ship is a rare European built container ship. Dating from 2010 the 36,519 gt, 42,614 dwt vessel was built by Nordseewerke, Emden to the Thyssen C3X design. It was delivered as Frisia Brussel but immediately renamed Sagitta. It became MSC Sagitta III in 2021. 

It is fitted with a prominent exhaust gas scrubber abaft the superstructure.

 

November 25, 2024 photo

 MSC's schedule shows the ship arriving in Corner Brook April 10 and Saint John April 13, but no longer shows an arrival date for Montreal.

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* Two MSC ships were granted coasting licenses to transfer stranded boxes from Halifax to Montreal.  The other is the ill-fated MSC Baltic III which was on the same Canada Gulf Express service. On February 15 it lost power and drifted aground on the west coast of Newfoundland while making for Corner Brook. 

The ship remains aground with its bottom holed. A laborious salvage operation has removed hazardous cargo, and is now working on removing fuel. It is in a precarious position with the risk of more damage if struck by bad weather. It is not clear if it will be possible to refloat the ship.

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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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Bring Back the Crow

 

With the current trade uncertainty due to tariffs on southbound Canadian crops and those headed to China, Shipfax takes a look back and offers a recommendation to both alleviate the pain for Canadian farmers and to make use of an underutilized asset of the Port of Halifax.

In 1897 the Canadian Government subsidized extension of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Southern Alberta to British Columbia using a route through the mountainous terrain by way of the Crow's Nest Pass. By artificially lowering the freight rates to transport grain to eastern ports by matching the rate through the Crow's Nest Pass, the government also promoted growth of industry in eastern Canada at the expense of western development. The program, known as the Crow Rate, was very unpopular in western Canada due to a perceived bias against western interests (what's new), and was eventually repealed in 1992. Grain exports through Halifax dropped away to near nil as a result. A new Western Grain Transportation Act was introduced in 1993 and promoted grain shipments southward by rail and by the Mississippi River system.

The backlogs to load grain at Vancouver was not improved despite government grain car programs. The railroads then discovered winter as a new excuse for slow westward grain movement.

Present day politicians (in election mode) are now funding renovation of the Port of Churchill, Manitoba, to ship more prairie grain via Hudson Bay to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. While that redevelopment may make sense on paper, it is just a way to pour more money down the throat of a white elephant that has failed to live up to its promise since the1930s. (Construction of the Port started in the early 1900s, was delayed by World War I, and the Great Depression, finally opening for business in 1931. It was also shut down during World War II and from 2016 to 2019 due to rail line washout.) Now privately owned, the port and rail line, apparently cannot fund its own maintenance.

Why spend tax payers' money on a port with shallow water, a short ice free navigation season of only four months or so (even with global warming and an open Northwest Passage it will still be only seasonal) and a rail line built on melting muskeg (global warming cuts both ways) when the Port of Halifax is the very opposite?  With deep water, ice free and a stable rail line (the Isthmus of Chignecto can be reinforced for a competitive cost) the Port of Halifax is all that Churchill is not. Not only that but Halifax has a huge grain elevator and grain handling facilities that are seriously underused.

 

The 365 silos in the Port of Halifax grain elevator can hold 5,152,000 bushels of grain and can load out 50,000 bushels per hour. The installation is a Halifax landmark.

 Shipfax is calling for a competitive rail system to move grain from the prairies to Halifax. The two so-called Canadian railways need to be reminded that they owe their existance to the Canadian government's largesse and promotion. Both have huge networks into the US, but should now be directing traffic, tariff free, through Halifax and on to the rest of the world.

 The grain importing facility at Pier 25-26 consists of a "grain leg" that can offload 500 tonnes per hour from ships. A bucket loop contraption, it is rarely used anymore as grain now arrives, usually from the Lakehead,  on self-unloaders. Most of that inbound grain is for local consumption.

 

The Nanticoke used the grain leg until a hopper was built to allow it to self-unload.

 

The hopper can receive 1,000 tonnes per hour from self-unloading ships, such as the Nanticoke (built in 1980, but since retired and scrapped in 2020 after ten years mostly carrying salt and re-named Salarium).

 Grain exporting galleries are now located at Pier 28, but once extended out from Pier 25 to the end of Pier 26, and presumably could be expanded again if the basin between piers A and A-1 is filled in.

In 1970 Elder Dempster's Dunkwa could load grain from spouts at pier 24 and, as shown, at Pier 26, but that section of the gallery was removed in the mid-1970s when the Pier 28 gallery was built.

Despite the look of the three-master Star of the Pacific , this photo was not taken in the age of sail, but also in 1970, showing a bit of the old grain export gallery at Pier 23 (right side of photo) and the old maze of conveyor systems. Who knew?
 

 The "new" export gallery at Pier 28 dates from the mid-1970s:

 An April Fool's Day event in ice-free Halifax harbour in 1987. Broken ice from the Gulf of St.Lawrence drifted down the coast and, driven by wind and tide, flowed into Halifax choking the harbour for a few days. The bulker Common Venture was loading grain at Pier 28, and suspended operations for a time. The event has not been repeated on subsequent April Firsts.

Nowadays the Pier 28 facility remains idle for months at a time, with only the occasional load of soy or wood pellets passing through the huge facility. It could be put to much more use if there were a present day equivalent subsidy or incentive, such as the infamous Crow Rate.

That's enough April 1 crowing. (Yes the gist of the above was inspired by April 1.)

 

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