More Cars and more Fuel

 With spring comes a surge in demand for new cars, and so Autoport has been particularly busy with spring arrivals. To fuel those cars (with summer gasoline formulations) the petroleum companies have also been stocking up.

Over the past few days there have been two ships at Autoport - both familiar ones - with batches of new European cars.

On Saturday May 4 it was Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Don Pasquale from the usual European load ports of Bremerhaven, Goteborg and Southampton.(Skipping Zeebrugge this time.)

The ship was built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in Okpo in 1997 and in 2007 it was lengthened from 219.3 to 227.9 m by Hyundai Vinaship in Vietnam. The reworked ship now registers 67,141 gt, 28,142 dwt with a capacity of 7,194 cars. It sailed for New York.

Today, May 5, it was the SFL Composer in from Bremen (the Volkswagen export facility) with a consignment of VWs, Audis and Porsches. The ship is under charter to VW until the First Quarter of 2027.

It is a 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship with a capacity of 6500 CEU. Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe, it was originally the Excellent Ace becoming Glovis Composer in 2012 and SFL Composer in 2020.

SFL Composer will remain in port over night and is due to sail late tomorrow afternoon.

On the fuel side of things, Irving Oil has been busy.

On Tuesday May 2 there was an unusual caller, Irving Oil's charter tanker Great Eastern arriving from Amsterdam. 

The Marshall Islands flag ship normally operates between Saint John, NB and US east coast ports, and is rarely seen in Halifax. As a foreign flagged ship it is not permitted to trade between Canadian ports. It also rarely sails to Europe, and this appears to be a "one of" voyage. Irving Oil regualry imports refined product from its storage termainl in Amsterdam, but usually with spot charter ships.

Built in 2005 by Hyundai, Ulsan Great Eastern is a MidRange type tanker of 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt and is one of five sister tankers operating under long term charter to Irving Oil. Two of the ships, the Acadian and the East Coast (ex Nor-Easter) fly the Canadian flag and serve primarily Atlantic Canada ports, but sometimes reach as far west as Quebec City and Montreal. The Great Eastern and New England, which were joined in 2014 by a second Nor'Easter (the former Iver Progess, built in 2007), run usually to such ports as Portland and Boston.

All of the ships were retrofitted with exhaust gas scrubber systems (housed in a large white structure abaft the funnel).

On arrival Great Eastern anchored in the harbour until the East Coast had arrived May 3 and completed unloading and vacated the Woodside terminal berth May 4. It is rare to see two Irving Oil tankers in port at the same time. The domestic ship was given priority due to shorter terminal time, and "just in time" scheduling.

Irving Oil has committed to a charter with Algoma Central Corporation for two new 37,000 dwt ice class tankers to be built by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan. The state of the art ships will be ethanol fuel ready and will have numerous other up-to-date features. Delivery is anticipated during the First Quarter of 2025. The ships will be Canadian flagged but will be suitable for trading to the usual US ports,  particularly Boston, which has a beam restriction of 27.4 meters (90 feet) at the Chelsea Street lift bridge on Chelsea Creek to reach Irving Oil's terminal in Revere, MA. 

Disposition of the other tankers, all but one of which will have reached the twenty-year mark next year, remains to be seen.

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New for ZIM

One of a new series of ships for ZIM made its presence known in Halifax today. ZIM Eagle is apparently owned by the Greek company Navios and is on long term charter to ZIM. Why it has adopted a "bird" theme name when ONE has also chosen birds, is a mystery. Could Navios not have found a more original scheme? (I had suggestions ready but never got the call.)

The ship was delivered in January of this year by Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard Co and measures 49,877 gt, 62,857 dwt with a capacity of 5315 TEU. It is on the ZCA (ZIM Container Atlantic) service en route from Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain to the US east coast and return.

Navios, now with 180 ships of various types, has announced some other names in the series. The first ship was ZIM Sparrow, this ship is second, and the next is to be ZIM Hawk. So far I don't know if any others will be assigned to the ZCA.

The ZIM Eagle arrived at PSA Fairview Cove early this morning and sailed at dusk, so a close examination was not possible. however it appeared to be sailing on a very light draft despite a substantial deck load.  

As usual a significant number of visible containers were Hapag-Lloyd and UASC, which may augur well for ZCA when Hapag-Lloyd pulls out of THE Alliance next year. H-L's long standing slot arrangement with ZIM may benefit from additional cargo from the Med. 

[Due to the sensitivity of issues relating to the situation in Israel, I am being vague about ports and call dates.The ship left China late in January and presumably reached Ashdod via the Cape of Good Hope.]

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Cars from Italy

Most arrivals at Autoport are ships with cars loaded at west European ports. Today's arrival however was from Gioia Tauro, Italy, and presumably carried Italian made cars and trucks.

Grande Sierra Leone is a combination carrier CONRO - container and RoRo - but was carrying only RoRo on this trip. Ships of Grimaldi Lines are infrequent callers here, but Grimaldi owns Atlantic Container Lines, which calls here as often as twice weekly.

Built in 2011 by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan, it is a 47,659 gt, 25,665 dwt ship with a capacity of 3711 CEU, and 1276 TEU. It also carries two 40 tonne SWL cranes.  It is one of five ships in the Grande Marocco class.

In addition to cargo in the enclosed car decks the ship was also carrying a number of cargo vans on the open deck.

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New RTGs for PSA

 In March 2023 the container terminal operators, PSA Halifax, announced the purchase of eight new Rubber Tired Gantries (RTGs) for the South End Container Terminal known as PSA Atlantic Gateway. (PSA also operates the Fairview Cove container terminal.) The new RTGs were scheduled for delivery from builders Konecranes of Finland in the second quarter of 2024.

Today the first four units arrived on the Dutch flagged Sampogracht, indirectly from Rauma, Finland.

The new RTGs, appropriately enough are painted green because they are electrically powered, unlike the nine currently operating orange coloured units that are diesel powered.

 The Sampogracht, part of the Spliethoff fleet, is a 18,321 gt, 23,471 dwt multi-purpose ship that carries three 120 tonne SWL cranes, has box shaped, ventilated holds, removable tween decks and has a capacity of 1273 TEU. It also has sideload doors. It was built in 2005 by Szczecinska Nowa in Poland. On this voyage from Finland, the ship stopped in Jacksonville, FL.

 PSA is in the midst of a major expansion program at the South End Terminal, which included the delivery of new container cranes late last year. New rail sidings are in the works within the terminal, and the extension to the north is underway. 

The new RTGs are numbered 81, 82, 83 and 84.

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Norwegian Prima - you decide

The immense cruise ship Norwegian Prima spent the day, April 29, in Halifax en route from New York to Europe.

 

The ship was built by Fincantieri, Marghera and entered service in 2022. At 143,535 gt, it has a passenger capacity variously reported as 3,099 and up to 3,215 with a crew of 1,506. Passenger accommodation is spread over 16 of the ship's total of 20 decks.

The ship is the first of six Prima class vessels, although subsequent ships will be longer and wider with the final two about 20% larger than this one. (Fortunately you can't get 20% uglier).

From Halifax the ship has planned calls in Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Zeebrugge and LeHavre, arriving in Southampton May 12.

Although very large, the ship does not operate at a very deep draft (8.4 meters / 27'-7" on sailing) so it was able to exit using the main channel, giving over the deep water western channel to the inbound ONE Wren which was reporting 15 meters / 49'-2 1/2" draft. Interestingly the 14,056 TEU ONE Wren has a gross tonnage of 146,409, but like the proverbial iceberg, much of it is underwater.

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Marine Atlantic

 With news that the newest ship in the Marine Atlantic fleet has arrived in North Sydney, at least one of the long ago former ferries is en route to the scrap yard.

The new ship the Ala'Suini arrived in North Sydney April 20 fresh from the builders, CMJL, Weihai Shandong via Cape Town March 21-22 and Las Palmas April 7-13. The ship replaces the chartered  Atlantic Vision on the North Sydney - Argentia route (seasonally) and will work the North Sydney - Port-aux-Basques route as needed in winter. Atlantic Vision sailed from North Sydney, April 4 and arrived in Lindoe, Denmark April 17 where it will be reconditioned.

A former Marine Atlantic ship that served from 1975 to 1986 has been sold for scrap in Europe. Built by Rickmers, Bremerhaven in 1975, it was launched under the name Stena Atlantica but delivered as Marine Atlantica to Canadian investors for charter through Roylease, to CN Marine (predecessor to Marine Atlantic). 

 It operated year round on the North Sydney-Port aux Basques run as a passenger / car / truck ferry.

In 1986 the charter was terminated and as Marine Atlantic was formed as a crown coporation, the ship was old to Italian owners. It was renamed Corsica Vera in 1986, but was again renamed in 1987 as Sardinia Vera. In 1995 its gross tonnage was revised from  5441 gt to 12,107 gt. This was likely due to its car deck re-designated as a watertight deck under new regulations. Also sponsons were added to the hull, but above the water line. These would not be large enough to account for the entire tonnage increase, but may be related to buoyancy requirements.

It has now been reported sailing from Vado Liguri, April 26 and is due in Aliaga, Turkey May 2 where it will be scrapped.

Sister ship Marine Nautica, with a similar history, is also reported sold for scrap - details to follow in another post.

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Cruise, Cruise, Cruise and More

 Although it is still early in the season, there were three cruise ships in the Port of Halifax today, April 27: Viking Polaris, Volendam and Norwegian Pearl.

Viking Polaris was back for its second visit. After its first visit April 10 it has covered a lot of territory:  Trois-Rivières April 25, Montreal 16, Toronto 17-18, Montreal 20, Trois-Rivières 21, Quebec City 21, Port Alfred 22, Sept-Iles 23, and Charlottetown 25. It is now off to New York City and will not be back again until August 17.

The 30,114 gt ship, built in 2022 by Fincantieri carries 378 passengers and 256 crew. It sister ship Viking Octantis was here April 18 [qv] en route to a summer's cruising on the Great Lakes.

While in port, the ship discharged some refuse to a barge and exercised its Zodiacs. The workboat / landing craft Tidal Runner was doing tug duty with the barge.

 

Volendam

 A ship that will become a familiar sight in Halifax this year made its first ever call in Halifax today. Volendam, built in 1999 by Fincantieri, Marghera is a member of the Rotterdam class, measuring 60,906 gt with a capacity of 1432 passengers and 647 crew. It replaces sister ship Zaandam which had been calling in Halifax since 2019. The two ships have exchanged routes with Zaandam now doing Alaska tours.

Volendam will take up the east coast run out Boston to Portland, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Magdalen Islands, Quebec City, Montreal. The latter is a terminal port also. From there, with a new contingent of passengers the ship retraces its way back to Boston via the same ports including Halifax. In all it will make 20 calls in Halifax between now and October 15 when it will make a Mediterranean round trip from and to Fort Lauderdale, its winter base.

Norwegian Pearl was today's first arrival but I did not catch a glimpse of it until it was outbound and then as it was "going away."

 A 2006 product of Meyer Werft, Papenburg, it is a 93,350 gt ship carrying 2,394 passengers and 1,099 crew. (It was refurbed in 2017). Unusual for a cruise ship, it is eastbound transatlantic, sailing from New York April 25. After Halifax it is scheduled to stop in Reykjavik, Belfast, Cobh-Cork, Isle of Portland (Weymouth), Le Havre and finally Southampton May 9.

It was interesting to see how much smoke the two older ships made as they picked up speed outbound.  I don't know if either ship used shore power when they were in Halifax, but I hope they weren't making that much particulate when in port.

And More 

There was other activity in the port today too:

At Autoport the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean auto carrier Tijuca arrived from Southampton and sailed for New York.

Dewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd built the ship in 2008 at Okpo. A 71,673 gt, 30,089 dwt ship, it can carry 7620 RT43 cars and is equipped with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp and a small side ramp. It has the usual rounded superstructure forward, but its bridge structure is elevated three decks above the weather deck, which is at least one deck, if not two decks, higher than most autocarriers. While this must improve forward visibility, it is not a feature taken up on newer ships.

Both container terminals were working today. At the South End Container Terminal it was EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St.Lawrence route from Montreal for Bremerhaven.

 At Fairview Cove it was an 0900 hrs departure for the overnight caller Delphinus C, the former NYK Delphinus. A Dedalus class ship of 55,487 gt, 65,950 dwt, it has a capacity of 4922 TEU. 

One of several sister ships on THE Alliance's AL5 service it arrived yesterday afternoon from Saint John, NB after its usual string of calls from Port Everglades, Panama, Los Angeles, Oakland and back to Panama, Cartagena and Saint John.

 

The tug Atlantic Bear worked the ship all the way through the Narrows as stern tethered escort, ready to pull or brake if needed

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