More Cars

 Traditionally as spring returns, car sales increase and so do the numbers of European import cars arriving at Autoport. Even with the current economic uncertainty this year, there does seem to be the usual influx.

Today, March 12, saw two ships in succession at Autoport. MOL's Supreme Ace arrived early this morning and sailed early this afternoon. The Siem Confucious arrived in the afternoon and is due to sail this evening. The two ships did not meeet in the harbour as I expected, and the Siem Confucious waited outside the pilot station until the Supreme Ace had cleared.

The Foundation Pilot makes its way outbound as the Supreme Ace leaves Eastern Passage to swing into the main harbour.

Owned by Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan and operating under their Auto Carrier Express (ACE) fleet of about 110 ships, the Supreme Ace was built in 2011 by Minami Nippon, Shitanoe. The 59,022 gt, 18,834 dwt ship has a capacity of 6,183 small cars or 5,063 medium size or 4,425 large cars. It has the usual stern ramp and a smaller starboard side ramp.

 The ship is taking an unusual port rotation. Since leaving Kanda, Japan on January 30 it has stopped in Mazatlan, San Juan, New York and Baltimore (Dundalk). It is now headed for Brunswick, Georgia.

The second arrival was Siem Confucius, on charter to Volkswagen. It is the first of Siem's Super-Ecos, and was delivered by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry in 2020. It first called here in August 2021. The 72,090 gt, 19,090 VLPCTC (Very Large Pure Car and Truck Carrier) has a capacity of 7500 CEU, which works out to about 4800 vehicles of Volkswagen's normal mix. The ship has a 200 tonne capacity stern ramp, 45.1m long x14.94m wide and a 20 tonne capacity starboard side ramp 25m long x 7.7m wide. The ship uses LNG fuel, which is available at VW's home port of Emden.

 The ship was previously here on January 25 and has since called in Sparrows Point, and Veracruz. It sailed from Emden Febraury 27 and seems to have taken a long time to reach Halifax. Siem Car Carriers AS, an arm of the Norwegian Siem Group, operates five autocarriers. The parent copmany is also active in reefer and bulk shipping and offshore petroleum support.

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Big price tag for the Louie's replacement

 

The CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will be kept in service until replacements are delivered in 2030.

 On March 7 and March 9 the federal government announced contract signings to build the long-planned Polar Icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard. The much needed replacement for the aged CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent has been "in the works" for decades but with little progress until the National Shipbuilding Strategy was announced. Even then the needed replenishment ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and other research and survey vessels created a huge backlog at Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyard (VSY), and the RCN ships were given priority.

As previously announced, one ship, to be named the CCGS Arpatuuq, will be built by Seaspan Vancouver Shipyard (VSY). It will be a Polar Class 2 diesel-electric ship of 63,000 total horsepower delivered to one shaft and prop and two ABB azipods. The announced contract cost is $3.15 billion (exclusive of tax) with a delivery date of 2030. The ship was originally to be named the John Diefenbaker, but a change in policy (and political parties) resulted in a culturally significant name for northern populations. Arpatuuq refers to Akpatok Island, in Ungava Bay, Nunavut. The Canadian government commissioned STX to design the ship. That company, formerly associated with Wartsila, has Finnish icebreaker experience.

The government re-assessed its need for year round capability in the arctic and decided to include CDC in the National Shipbuilding Stratetgy and add a second  Polar icebreaker in the plan, while eastablishing the Lévis yard as a centre of excellence for icebreaker technology.

The second ship, to be named CCGS Imnaryuaq is to be built to a totally different design prepared by Chantier Davie Canada Inc (CDC) in association with their wholly owned Helsinki Shipyard. The ship will be built entirely in Canada at CDC's Lévis, QC shipyard but with icebreaker expertise from Finland. The PolarMax design is "off the shelf" from CDC/Helsinki, and will be a slightly smaller ship. Price tag for this one is $3.25 billion, also for delivery in 2030.

Its name comes from a 300 meter high cliff at the southern end of Banks Isand in the Amundsen Gulf, and was once named Nelson Head.

The CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent (affectionately called "The Louie") was launched by Canadian Vickers (now defunct) in Montreal in 1966 and commissioned in 1969. It has been endlessly refitted, rebuilt and repowered over the years, and will presumably require even more TLC to keep it going for another five years. 

Its fleet mate, the smaller CCGS Terry Fox will also be replaced by the new Polar ships, and is in a $135.56 million Vessel Life Extension now at Heddle Shipyard in St.Catharines, Ontario.

 CCGS Terry Fox

CCGS Terry Fox built in 1983 for private industry. It was leased by the CCG in 1991, then purchased in 1993 as a temporary measure until new icebreakers could be delivered.

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A bit of everything

As usual the Port of Halifax provides something for everybody, with a wide range of shipping activity. Today, March 10, had an unusual variety.

At PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, Tropical Shipping's Tropic Lissette was alongside Pier 42. Its sister ship Tropic Hope did not call last Monday on the weekly service - perhaps avoiding bad weather on the US east coast by staying in Freeport, Bahamas, so there may be more cargo to work today. 

At Pier 41 it was the CMA CGM Paranagua on the joint Maerk CMA CGM service from Montreal. Again the ship is not on the usual Saturday call, so may have been delayed due to St.Lawrence ice or other factors. The Vistula Maersk, on the same service, was just here March 8-9.

 

Imperial Oil was taking a delivery of refined product from Antwerp on the unusually named CL Toni Morrison. A 30,259 gt, 49,352 dwt Long Range tanker, it was built in 2024 by New Times Shipbuilding Co Ltd and delivered to Chinese owners associated with the China Development Bank, just a year ago.

The ship is named for the Nobel prize winning American author, teacher and editor (1931-2019), but I do not know what "CL" stands for. Other ships in the fleet, managed by Synergy Denmark A/S, are also named for female authors and have the CI prefix.

The unusual angle for the preceeding photos was due to my outlook from the Shearwater Married Quarters park where I positioned myself to photograph the arrival of an unusual naval visitor.

 FS Tourville S637 is a Suffren class nuclear attack submarine of the French navy. It is also quite new, and was commissioned November 16, 2024. (Construction started in 2011).

The boat (subs are called boats) was met by an entourage of two Glen and two Ville class tugs and several small craft.  

The Royal Canadian Navy will be in the market for submarines soon, and let's hope they can avoid the controversy the Australians had when they cancelled plans to buy French subs and paid a monetary penalty. Canada already abandonded an earlier scheme to buy French non-nuclear subs.

The good news for the RCN, Irving Shipbuilding and Halifax in general, is the announcement that an $8 billion deal has been signed for the first six years of construction of the new RCN River class destroyers. Halifax Shipyard will build an initial tranche of three destroyers at an estimated cost of $22.2 billion (all in with taxes, equipment, and even ammunition), with the remaining ships to be delivered by 2039. (Total dollar numbers and even dates at this stage must be considered wildly optimistic at best in my opinion.)

Work is well under way on the new berth at the Shipyard. McNally Construction has been dredging, preparing seabottom and building caissons for the new pier and launch facility.

The Shipyard will employ more than 5,000 people, ensuring that Halifax's boom times continue as the remaining twelve ships (fifteen ships in total) are built at the yard. 

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Return to normal

 After several days of unsettled weather and resulting delays, with ships at anchor, today, Sunday March 9, ships were once again coming and going.

The CMA CGM Hermes arrived this morning, March 9, at PSA Atlantic Gateway on the Ocean Alliance service from Colombo, via the Cape of Good Hope*. After standing by off Halifax since yesterday during a period of high winds, there was only a light snow to contend with today.

Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding delivered the ship in 2021, one of the five ship Zephyr class. It is rated at 154,995 gt, 150,055 dwt with a capacity of 15,536 TEU. It made its first call here February 9, 2022 .

 

Surprisingly CMA CGM has over taken Maersk as the second largest container shipping line, if the number of ships on order is included. With a capacity of 5.42 million TEU it edged ahead of Maerk's 5.28 million TEU.

 

The coastal tanker Algoscotia arrived March 5 at Imperial Oil then moved to Pier 25 March 6, due to the high winds. 

Yesterday, March 8 the ship returned to Imperial Oil to complete loading and is due to sail tonight for the usual eastern Canada ports.

 

As predicted the CB Pacific moved from anchorage to Irving Oil March 8 and is due to sail tonight for the St.Lawrence River. Its place will be taken by the Acadian.

 

The container / cargo vessel Frisian Octa arrived March 4 and docked at PSA Fairview Cove. The ship has been carrying containers loaded with propane in tanks to Moa, Cuba. It moved later in the same day to anchor in the lower harbour and remains there today.

 

 There has been no word yet if the ship will be making more trips.

 

Atlantic Container Line's Atlantic Sail departed yesterday - not the usual sailing day - probably delayed by weather -  eastbound for Liverpool, UK. 

Since ending the forty-year slot sharing arrangement with Hapag-Lloyd in November, ACL ships are almost exclusively loaded with the rust coloured or white ACL boxes and a few blue boxes from parent company Grimaldi.

 

 

Now with Daylight Saving Time in place, real spring isn't far off.

 

*CMA CGM is among the first lines to resume routing ships through the Suez Canal. Starting in January ships sailing from Asia for European ports resumed use of "the Ditch", However I cannot verify that this ship did so as no reports are available of any calling in points between Colombo and Halifax.

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Five Ships - one place

 At the the north end of Haifax Harbour, Bedford Basin has been a refuge and anchorage since the earliest days of the European presence in Nova Scotia. Today it is surrounded by insitutional, residential, recreational and commercial activity and there are also numerous parks and some historic sites. A National Historic Site memorial to Duc D'Anville, who landed there in 1746, is located in a tiny park adjacent to the Canadian National Railway's Pace Yard in Rockingham.

A little bit farther north, just before Birch Cove is an even smaller park with two look-off platforms that give sweeping vistas of the entire Basin and a clear view of ships at anchor and at several piers and moorings. 

On a quiet day, such as today, March 7, it was possible to see five ships at once, but there is no camera lens wide enough to take them all in at once. So working from the north and counter clockwise here is what was to be seen. 

Arriving from Montreal this morning the Vistula Maersk is waiting its turn at PSA Fairview Cove terminal.

It is one of four ships on the joint Maersk /CMA CGM transatlantic service that call in Halifax typically on Saturday, while eastbound for Bremerhaven. The Vistula Maersk was built in 2018 by COSCO Zhoushan Shipyard Co, as an ice class ship for Baltic service to Russia. At 34,882 gt, 40,000 dwt, it has a capacity of 3600 TEU including 600 reeefers. In 2022, following the Russian boycott, along with two sister ships, it was transferred to the joint Maersk / CMA CGM St-Laurent 1 / Canada Atlantic Express service. It made its first call in Halifax June 23, 2022.
 

Also at anchor is the now familiar tanker CB Pacific. It has been in Halifax several times in recent months carrying ethanol for Irving Oil. 

 The CB Pacific, built by Jiangsu New Hantong shipbuilding in Yangzhong, China, was delivered in 2020. The 27,250 gt, 37,787 dwt ship is equipped to handle crude oil, clean petroluem products or chemicals in twelve phenolic epoxy coated tanks (plus two slops tanks). The ship is also built to DNV Baltic Ice Class 1B and is fitted with a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber which can be run at zero emissions. As previously noted it has a covered fore deck - a feature rarely incorporated in tankers. 

Once it offloads at Irving Oil's Woodside termainal, it may head for the St.Lawrence River to supply other refiners.

Across the Basin from Rockingham at Wright's Cove, another CSL ship is loading at Gold Bond Gypsum. This time it is CSL Tarantau.

The stockpile of raw gypsum appears to have been replenished somewhat after its last visit February 27 -March 1 and that of CSL Tacoma on March 4 - 5. CNRail delivers gypsum almost daily, with unit trains from the East Milford mine.

The view from the Africville Park on the south of the Basin gives a better look at the ship itself.

The ship was built for the Torvald Klaveness Selfunloaders and operated under the name Balto until 2015 when Klaveness withdrew from the CSL pool and its ships were taken over by CSL and Algoma.  The red painted deck, hatch coamings and self-unloading gear is a carry over from Klaveness days.

The ship was built by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China in 2013 to the ocean version of CSL's Trillium class design, so it was a natural fit in the CSL Americas roster.  At 43,691 grt, 71,405 dwt it is too large to take a complete load at National Gypsum due to draft restrictions at the Bedford Basin pier. 

The other busy spot in the Basin was the PSA Fairview Cove container terminal. At the east berth was NYK Demeter on the newly former Premier Alliance service.

 

Wires paralleling the CN rail main line are inevitable features of the view.

The Premier Alliance consists of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine) and Yang Ming as the survivors of THE Alliance after the withdrawal of Hapag-Lloyd. It is to be noted that the ship is still carrying many Hapag-Lloyd boxes.

NYK Demeter was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, and is a 55,487 gt, 65,965 dwt ship with a capacity of 4922 TEU. It is owned by NYK Line, one of the partners, with MOL and K-Line, of Ocean Network Express.

At the east berth and RoRo ramp the Oceanex Sanderling is loading for its weekly trip to St.John's Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

More lines add to the view which is well above the rail lines.

 Although I have told it several times before, it seems an appropriate time to repeat the history of the Oceanex Sanderling:

Built in 1977 (!) by Sasebo Heavy Industries in Japan, it served the now defunct DDG Hansa as Ravenfels until 1980, then became Essen briefly for a Hapag-Lloyd subsidiary. In 1981 it was renamed Kongsfjord by S.E.A.L RoRo, a Norwegian American Line service in East Africa/ Indian Ocean. That only lasted until 1983 when it went to Amasis Rederei of Germany (Heyon-Janssen) as Onno.

It was under the latter name when it made its first appearance in Halifax as a substitute on the ACL Line service on April 12, 1987.

Later the same year Atlantic Searoute Ltd bought the ship and it became ASL Sanderling and a Halifax regular. It entered service January 10, 1988, running Halifax / Newfoundland, which it has done pretty much continuously ever since, aside from refits.(Corner Brook was later dropped and the ship now only runs between Halifax and St.John's.)

It was renamed in Oceanex Sanderling in 2008, although Oceanex had succeeded ASL in 1991.

 

The ship was given a major refit in 2022 and is currently listed at 21,489 gt, 15,195 dwt, with a capacity of 522 TEU. Its next major survey is due in 2026. With the limited number of ConRos availabe as a replacement, it is expected to be renewed for continued operation.

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In for a bit

 With stormy weather coming the CCGS Cape Roger put in to Halifax this morning. The 1251 gt veteran offshore patrol vessel dates from 1977 when it was built by Ferguson Industries Ltd in Pictou, NS. Based in St.John's NL it can often be seen in Halifax during ice season.

 One of three offshore patrol vessels in the Atlantic Region it conducts fisheries surveillance, search and rescue and sovereignty patrols. The current National Shipbuilding Strategy calls for replacement vessels to be built by Seaspan in Vancouver.  In the meantime the two new Arctic and Offshore Patrol vessels under construction at Halifax Shipyard for the Canadian Coast Guard  may fill in to some extent even though they are substantially larger vessels, and may have conflicting assignments depending on the time of year. The first of those new ships is due for completion in 2026. 

The other six AOPS vessels, built for the Royal Canadian Navy, may be able to cover some of the patrol duties without interferring with naval deployments.

The Cape Roger is due for major maintenence next year, but is expected to remain in service for some time to come.

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Interesting Times

 The current unpredictability in the Canadian economy thanks to unwarranted tariffs applied by the President of the United States against Canada will certainly show up in the shipping in Halifax harbour. Both imports and exports will be effected, due to the closely integrated economies of the two countries. Not only the amount of cargo, but the number of ship visits and the related truck and rail traffic and spin offs, will take a hit. For example:

Gold Bond Gypsum

The largest open pit gypsum mine in the world is located in East Milford, Nova Scotia and is operated by Gold Bond Canada (formerly National Gypsum.) The mine was developed by the Buffalo, NY based company to export raw gypsum to the United States in bulk. Fom the mine, the raw ore is sent by rail to Gold Bond's storage and shipping facility in Wright's Cove in Bedford Basin.

 

The storage stockpile appeared to be at a very low level as of yesterday when the CSL Tacoma was alongside loading.

 Gypsum from the Nova Scotia mine is primarily used for the production of wall board in the United States. It is a major component in building construction due to its fire resistant qualities. The amount of gypsum leaving the Halifax harbour dock has always been a reliable barometer of the United States' economy. When the US construction industry is booming gypsum export quantities are high. Only a small percentage of the US wall board production comes back to the much smaller Canadian construction industry, but due to the economies of scale, wallboard pricing in Canada has been favourable. If tarifs are applied to raw gypsum arriving in the US from Canada, the cost of finished board coming back to Canada, will certainly be higher - especially if Canada imposes retaliatory tarifs. Gypsum companies in the United States may find other sources of raw material. (See the previous post February 28 where CSL Metis sailed without loading gypsum. CSL Trantau did load last week, see March 1 .

Due to drop in the resultant demand there will likley be fewer ships loading here.

 

The CSL Tacoma at the shiploader, with a thin skim of ice in Wright's Cove in the foreground.

One of Gold Bond's competitors, US Gypsum has a Canadian subsidiary Canadian Gyspum Corp Inc (CGC) with two mines in Nova Scotia. One has been shut down permanently and one was on track to re-open in a few years, but that is now doubtful.  

Nova Scotia Power Corp

As noted in my previous post, electricity for the Halifax area is generated at the Tufts Cove generating station. The plant uses natural gas that arrives by pipeline from the United States. The gas comes from a variety of sources mostly the result of fracking. Electricity is fed back and forth  onto the grid to supplement power generated at coal fired stations in Northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. (That coal comes from the United States.)

If there is an interruption in gas supply Tufts Cove can burn oil, and the recent delivery to its heavy oil storage stockpile came from Houston.

The tanker Larvik unloaded a cargo of black oil at Tuft's Cove. The ship's head lines and stern lines lead out to mooring buoys. A containment boom has also been deployed around the ship by Connors Diving's handsome work boat Eastcom.

 

 If there are obstacles to importing US gas, oil and coal, Nova Scotia Power will need to source fuel from overseas sources, which will almost certainly result in increased power rates. Even that situation will do little to spur NSP's lethargic development of alternate sources such as wind, hydrogen, etc., if they can pass on costs to consumers while still rewarding their shareholders with profits.

Gasoline, Diesel, Avgas, etc., 

Petroleum fuel for heating, cars, trucks, planes and ships arrives in Halifax by ship and is offloaded at two facilities. 

Irving Oil has its terminal in South Woodside, on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. That facility is supplied by ships and by rail and is backed up by a large storage and distribution facility. Irving Oil's refinery in Saint John, NB - the largest refiney in Canada, is the source for most of the product. Irving's two Canadian flag tanker ships (on long term charter) transport the fuel to Halifax, Charlottetown, Saint John's, and sometimes to Quebec.  The current tankers are about to be replaced by new ships (the first is en route from Korea) and the Canadian tanker Sarah Desgagnés has been short term chartered to bring product from Saint John to Woodside.

 Irving Oil also has a refiney in Ireland and a storage terminal in Amsterdam and has the capability to bring in product from those facilities. The majority of the product coming out of the Saint John refinery goes to the northeastern United States. The future of that arrangement is in the air due threatened counter measures.

Sarah Desgagnés sails for Saint John March 4.

Imperial Oil brings in product for its storage and distribution facility in South Woodside, next door to Irving Oil, (its tanks show up in the picture above) also by ship and rail. Algoma Tankers distribute the product to ports such as Sydney, Corner Brook and Sept-Iles. Resupply comes from Antwerp, Belgium or parent company (Exxon Mobil) refineries in the United States and Canada.

 Container Traffic is the big question. Although fourth quarter statistics for the Port of Halifax have not been released yet, I expect TEUs for the year 2024 will be down about 10% from 2023. Add that to the expected decline in bulk and other cargoes in 2025 the Port may expect a dreary year ahead.

 This afternoon's (March 5) misty arrival of the 14,052 TEU ONE Aquila may not be a sign of things to come. The ship is eastbound from New York for Europe and appears fully loaded, at least by volume if not by weight. The proposed tarifs would certainly not have had much effect when the ship loaded at its last ports.

(It was in Halifax February 1 to 2, westbound, and has since been in New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, and New York again.) Much of the import cargo on the ship was for the US and some the cargo unloaded in Halifax on its westbound leg would have been sent to the US mid-west by train through Canada. 

What sort of disruption will result if that arrangement is disturbed and how it will add to existing congestion in US ports and rail lines can only be imagined at this point.

 Autoport is eastern Canada's automobile import facility. An estimated 185,000 import vehicles arrive by ship every year and are prepped and dispatched by rail and truck on an as needed basis. These cars are exclusively for the Canadian market as far as I know, but the disturbance in domestic car production due to US tarifs will likely increase demand for foreign cars. While that may satisfy car buyers, it will add to the grief in Canadian car making if they cannot meet demand. Or worse, a crippled Canadian economy will reduce the demand for cars of any sort.

 

On February 27 the Emden brought in the latest consignment of Volkswagen products. The ship went on to US ports. The ship has a capacity of 7,000 CEU (Car Equivalant Units) and is usually loaded to capacity. Frequency of calls and quantity of cars could well change with the new tarifs.

Cruise Ships are a major interest of Halifax Port Authority, which recently announced the 2025 schedule (See previous post: February 14 ) with an anticipated 188 calls and 328,000 visitors. A large percentage of the latter will be US residents, whose US dollars will go a lot farther in Canada. I am sure they will still receive the friendly welcome that Halifax is known for, but I do wonder how many will be willing to come to Canada under the circumstances.

The last cruise ship of the 2024 season was the Insignia sailing on November 3.

 

Conclusion

I do not normally stray too far from the topic of shipping in these blogs and will try to refrain from getting off topic in future. But I do have to declare deep ancestral roots in the United States, both paternal and maternal. Without going into detail I do wish to proclaim my own allegiance to Canada while acknowledging my affinity for the United States and its peoples several of whom are blood relatives! (My mother was born on this day in 1915 in Collamer, Ohio.)

The current situation is so personally disturbing that I cannot bear to dwell on it in this blog in an objective manner, so will have to avoid discussing it except as it may apply peripherally to ships and shipping.

As usual I do not publish comments submitted to this blog. It is, and will remain, my personal ship watching diary - not a discussion forum.

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Cape Ashley - total loss

 The second total loss of a fishing vessel in a month has fortunately not resulted in loss of life. The Fortune Pride sank in severe weather off Halifax February 4 with the deaths of all four crew members. See my post of February 7.

The latest loss was the result of fire while the boat was alongside at Glace Bay, NS. It is not clear from early reports whether anyone was aboard the Cape Ashley at the time, but it has been confirmed that there was no loss of life.

The Cape Ashley was a wooden hulled longliner, built in 1989 by Snyder's Shipyard in Dayspring, NS. The 111.83 gt boat sailed as Renée and Trevor for several years and it was carrying that name when I saw it in Halifax almost thirty-two years ago on March 14, 1993.

The Renée and Trevor comes alongside the Maritime Museum wharf as the tug Point Vibert passes by.

 As with many boats of its size it carried outriggers and paravanes that were deployed for stability in rough seas.

 The most recent owners of the Cape Ashley are listed as Tucker & Son, Reef's Harbour, on the Great Northern Peninsula / Strait of Belle Isle on the west coast of Newfoundland.

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East Coast update

 When the Irving Oil tanker East Coast moved to Pier 9B on February 27 I should have realized that the ship would be handed back to its owners. My post of that date, titled More Tankers gave the story of that ship and an update on the new tankers that Irving Oil will charter from Algoma. In fact the ship's Canadian register was closed the next day, February 28.

 On February 27 the East Coast turned in the Narrows in order to tie up at Pier 9B for re-flagging.

 The ship hoisted the Portuguese flag (not Portugal's offshore flag of Madeira) and sailed today March 3, for Gibraltar, giving an ETA of March 12. That would indicate to me that Vroon, the ship's actual owner have either sold the ship or found a new charter, but in any event the ship has completed its twenty year charter to Irving Oil.

November 20, 2024 photo.

 Until the new ships arrive from the Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, Irving Oil will be relying on ships from other Canadian tanker fleets to distribute product. The first of those arrived in Halifax from Saint John, NB today, March 3. The Sarah Desgagnés has rarely called here, since it was acquired by Transport Desgagnés Inc's tanker operator Petro-Nav in 2008. 

Built in 2007 by Gisan Gemi in Tuzla, Turkey, it is a smaller tanker of 11,71 gt, 17,998 dwt. All ships built in Turkey are given a name when launched, and often trade for a time for Turkish onwers. This ship was originally named Besiktas Greenland and after trading for about a year under Turkish flag became Sarah Desgagnés in mid 2008.

The Sarah Desgagnés usually works the St. Lawrence River and Gulf and into the Great Lakes. On January 1 the ship sailed from Port-Cartier, QC and arrived in Las Palmas January 20 for refit until  February 14. It then sailed for Saint John, NB, arriving February 1.

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Oil for Power

 The Nova Scotia Power Corporation, a subsidiary of Emera Corporation operates the electricity generating facility at Tufts Cove on the east side of Halifax harbour. The plant is located on The Narrows, directly opposite "Ground Zero" - site of the 1917 Halifax Explosion.

The plant has been built in stages since 1965 and now consists of three large steam turbines and three gas combustion turbines. The orginal unit, built in 1965 could burn coal or oil, and subsequent units built in 1972 and 1976 were built for oil only. In 2000 the facility was reconfigured to burn oil or natural gas. Gas comes to the plant via the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, originating in Dracut Massachusetts, where it connects to the North American natural gas grid. In 2003 and 2004 two gas combustion turbines were installed and in 2011 a sixth unit, a combustion-cycle generator was added. The total nominal generating capacity is now 500 MW. Each of the gas /oil burning plants has a 152 m (500 ft) tall chimney, painted red and white for aircraft warning.

Although the facility uses natural gas primarily it does use oil from time to time and stockpiles oil on site in case of a disruption in gas supply. This morning, March 2, the tanker Larvik arrived from Houston with a cargo of heavy oil.

 The Larvik was built in 2006 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering (SHME) in Yokosuka. It is classed as a crude oil / product tanker of 35,711 gt, 61,213 dwt. Presumably that means that the ship has heating coils to keep black oil flowing for offloading.

The ship's commercial management is in the hands of Polyar Tankers AS of Oslo, hence the Norwegian name, but its technical operation is handled by World Tankers Management Pte of Singapore. Both those companies are in fact arms of the Cypriot  Greek ship owner Polys Haji-Iannou, whose father Loucas was one of the world's largest tanker owners at one time. The family has since branched out into airlines and other businesses and now owns about twenty tankers.

The tugs Atlantic Willow (foreward) and Atlantic Oak (aft) bring the ship alongside the Tufts Cove jetty. Not seen is Connors Diving's boat Eastcom taking lines to mooring buoys. The ship's 213.4m (700 ft) length contrasts with the 152m (500 ft) stacks.

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March - in like a lamb

Today, March 1, was a very bright, very spring-like day with temperatures edging above zero Celsius. A brisk sea breeze brought a light mist and a healthy dose of ozone. With lots of shipping activity, the only frustration was the glare from the sun.

An early morning arrival (before daylight) was the Orinoco for Melfi Lines The ship made its debut here November 24, 2024 from Mariel, Cuba and is bound for Europe. By the time I caught the ship at PSA Halifax Pier 42 it had its hatches open and cranes were digging deep for cargo.

Built in 2010 by Fujian Shipbuilding Co in Fuzhou, the 9994 gt, 12,306 dwt ship has a capacity of 880 TEU and carries two cranes of unknown capacity. The ship was launched as E.R. Helsinki but completed as Friesdijk. It was renamed X-press Tajumulco in 2013 and became the Orinoco in 2020. 

There were several morning departures which meant some skilful coordination so that ships could meet in convenient places.

The self-unloading bulker CSL Tarantau sailed from Gold Bond Gypsum for Portsmouth, NH. 

 

Falling in behind was the auto carier Themis which had arrived yesterday at Autoport and moved to Pier 9C last evening. It completed unloading RoRo cargo this morning.

 

As it was lifting its stern ramp to prepare for sea I noted the crew deploying a small gangway (bottom right in the photo). This was perhaps to be used to board the pilot instead of the usual gangway closer to midships.

Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, it is a 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt ship with a capacity for 8,000 RT43 size cars and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. As with many newer autocarriers, it has no side ramp. It is also fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber, and is emitting water vapour from its scrubber vent.

 Themis took the main channel outbound, leaving the western deep water channel for the next arrival, the much larger APL Sentosa inbound for Pier 41 at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway.

APL Sentosa is a 151,015 gt, 150,936 dwt (or 150,166 dwt from other sources) vessel. At 13,892 TEU. It falls well shy of the current Halifax record for container capacity which is 16,020 TEU by my reckoning.

There was other activity in the harbour with several comings and goings, but the next ship of interest was the Smoke a large bulk carrier.

The ship arrived off Halifax February 25 from Sept-Iles, QC and took up a position in the outer anchorages. Early this afternoon it embarked two pilots (due to its size and an unidentified malfunction) and moved in to #1 anchorage in the lower harbour.

 

The impressive ship was built in 2001 by IHI Kure (Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, now Japan United) and measures 84,448 gt and 170,085 dwt. The largest size of dry cargo ship, it is classed as 'Capesize' meaning that it is too large for the Panama and Suez Canals and must travel via the Cape of Good Hope of Cape Horn to carry iron ore from the Atlantic to Asia. Its dimensions are 289.6m x 45.0m (950 ft x 147.6 ft) [In journalese parlance that is more thsn three footsball fields long and a half a football field from bridge wing to bridge wing.]

Once secure at anchor Dominion Diving's Dominion Rumbler came alongside, likely with a technician or a diver.

Its next port appears to be Las Palmas, but that is a waypoint either for orders, or further repairs, but not a destination for its iron ore cargo.

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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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