Traffic Control in Bedford Basin - revised

Bedford Basin, and the Narrows leading to it, was the place to be in order to see activity in Halifax harbour today, December 9. The most notable activity was the Float Off of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel AOPV 435 (see previous post). It was moved from Halifax Shipyard aboard the barge Boabarge 37 and was floated off late in the afternoon.

At Pier 9C, the last berth to the north end of the Narrows, the Dutch flag ship Schippersgracht arrived to take on an unusual cargo.

The "S" class ship from the Spliethoff fleet is more usually loading forestry products or aluminum ingots or even yachts for seasonal relocations. Built in 2000 by Mitsubishi, Shimonoseki it is a multi-purpose ship of 16,641 gt, 21,402 dwt with moveble tween decks and three 120 tonne SWL cranes. It has starboard side doors accessing internal elevators. It also has a 1134 TEU container capacity.

Today however it was loading surplus* Canadian military vehicles.

Although the vehicles are wheeled, they are not being loaded as RoRo cargo, but are being lifted onboard individually. It also appears that the ship's cranes are spotting them precisely in the ship's hold.

While lifting operations were underway passing ships were requested to make minimal wake, and this was certainly the case as the container ship NYK Daedalus passed en route to PSA Fairview Cove.

 

Tugs Atlantic Fir and Atantic Maple kept the ship under control but at slow speed as it passed Pier 9C at close quarters.

Name ship of a class of seven ships built by Hyundai, Ulsan, it was completed in 2007. The 55,487 gt, 65,867 dwt ship has a capacity of 4,888 TEU with 330 reefer plugs. It is a regular on THE Alliance's AL5 North Europe to North America service. As with many Japanese ships it was initially registered in Panama, but in 2020 registry was transferred to the Cayman Islands, a rare flag of convenience for a container ship, particularly as it does not appear to have been connected with a change of ownership. (Perhaps Panama's revised registration regulations after the release of the "Panama Papers" might have been a reason.)

Thanks to good communication and good timing, there was no conflict with the ship departing PSA Fairview Cove at the same time. Atlantic Sea made a wide turn away from the berth and went well out into Bedford Basin to make room for the NYK Daedalus to berth. With tug assistance they also stayed clear of the float-off operation off the Rockingham shore.

The small red ouboard craft, leaving a nice wake, is returning to the float-off operation after a pizza run - I'm not sure who the pizzas were for, but they might have benefitted from some reheating after a 10 minute ride in an open boat.

The Atlantic Sea 100,430 gt, 55,738 dwt, and its four sister ships are the most familiar ships in Halifax harbour as they maintain weekly calls eastbound and westbound on their transatlantic service for Atlantic Container Line. They still hold the distinction as the largest multi-purpose container /RoRo (CONRO) ships in the world. They were built in Shanghai by Hudong-Zhonghua between 2015 and 2017, and have a capacity of 3800 TEU and 1300 CEU.

The only other traffic of note in the area was the tug Glenevis YTD 642 which made a brief foray to the Basin for a compass adjustment. This may mean a return to service for the tug, which would be good news as both it and Glenbrook have been in "prolonged" refits, leaving Glenside as the only operational Glen class tug in HMC Dockyard fleet for the past year.

Two replacement tugs for Halifax have been ordered from the Industrie Océan Shipyard in Quebec, but are still some years away from delivery. One of two for the west coast has been delivered. When the Glens were built in 1976, they were state-of-art, with Voith-Schneider propulsion systems, but only 1750 bhp and 19 ton bollard pull. The new tugs will be Azimuting Stern Drive (ASD) propulsion - a much less complex system - but regrettably they will be 20th century design - that is to say - non-electric, non alternate fuel, and not state of any current art. 

 The three Ville class pup tugs, built in1974, and 365 bhp, 7 ton bollard pull remain in service. (View of the tug basin from the Angus L. Macdonald bridge, November 12, 2024.)

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* The vehicles may not be surplus - they may be headed overseas for use by our forces or those of a friend.

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RoRo and PoPo updates

 There are some updates to yesterday's long post:

RoRo

The latest Roll On operation at Halifax Shipyard proceeded today, December 6, as scheduled. The sixth and last of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels for the RCN was rolled onto the Boabarge 37. The ship, for now called AOPV 435, was carried aboard on a flotilla of SPMTs (Self Propelled Modular Transporters.)

The tug Atlantic Larch stood by alongside the barge to ensure that it stayed in position during the transfer. 

Once safely aboard the barge, the ship, on its cradles, was lowered down onto the barge deck. (The SPMTs show as a thin red line, and the cradles are gray.)

The barge will remain alongside Pier 6 overnight, then tomorrow it is due to move out to Bedford Basin where the barge will semi-submerge and the ship will be floated off. (So in this case I guess it is not a RoRo but a RoFo operation.)

Once the ship is completed it will be handed over to the RCN to be fitted out and will be commisisoned as HMCS Robert Hampton Gray.

While all this was going on ceremonies were underway on the high ground just behind the shipyard on Fort Needham. This was the annual commemoration of the Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917 which leveled the north end of the city. An estimated 1,782 people died and 9,000 were injured. 

As part of the commemoration ceremony, bells on a memorial structure on Fort Needham rang shortly after 9 am and ships in the harbour sounded their horns for a prolonged period as they did in 1917. That futile warning could not prevent the massive eruption of high explosives on the ship Mont Blanc which caught fire after colliding with Norwegian ship IMO. The explosion took place where the Shipyard's Assembly Hall stands today.

Also during the Roll On operation the lead ship of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel  program HMCS Harry DeWolf AOPV 430 transited the Narrows, returning to HMC Dockyard from exercising in Bedford Basin, with Dockyard tugs to assist in docking.

Built at Halifax Shipyard it was launched from the same barge on September 18, 2018 and was commissioned into the RCN on June 26, 2021. The ship has recently returned from a trip to the Great Lakes, including the ports of Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton and Windsor. A similar trip last year had to be cut short due to a COVID-19 outbreak onboard.

The ship's namesake, Vice Admiral Henry George DeWolf CBE, DSO, DSC, CD , was born in 1903 in Bedford, Nova Scotia, and was a survivor and certainly a witness to the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1918 and rose through command appointments to Chief of the Naval Staff. One of his World War II commands was HMCS Haida which is preserved in Hamilton, ON, one of the ports the ship visited in October.

PoPo 1

On the other side of the harbour, and well to the south, the articulated tug / barge Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick resumed "Pumping Off" operations this morning at Eisner's Cove. The pair had moved out to harbour anchorage last night due to high winds. The mooring arrangement for the tug and barge consists of a small deck barge across the end of the Cherubini dock, which carries the piping ashore. Any breach in that connection could have very undesirable consequences, so no chances are taken when high winds are forecast. The barge's cargo of asphalt is pumped ashore to the General Liquids Canada tank storage facility.

 PoPo 2

An addition to the Pump On Pump Off category is yesterday evening's arrival at Imperial Oil. Seen only partially in the background is the YASA Pelikan. Built in 2019 by Hyundai Mipo, it is a typical LongRange1 size ship of 29,681 gt, 50,215 dwt. It appears to be owned by the Turkish company YASA Tankers, and operates in the Equinor tanker fleet. (Equinor ASA, formerly Statoil, is the Norwegian state owned petroleum giant.) It is unloading refined product from Antwerp at Imperial Oil's number 3 dock. It is worth noting that it did not move out to anchor due to winds, so the dock's new mooring arrangements seem to be doing the job.

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RoRo, LoLo, PoPo

 The terms RoRo for Roll / On Roll Off and LoLo for Lift On /  Lift Off are well used in these pages, but today I had to add PoPo for Pump On / Pump Off to include all the traffic in Halifax harbour today, Decmber 4.

RoRo 1

There was lots of RoRo activity including, at least for me, a surprise arrival. When the Palmela sailed from Autoport yesterday (December 3) it was giving Cristobal Panama as its destination. However once the ship was well offshore, it came about and stood by until late this morning (December 4) when it entered port again. Yesterday it offloaded at Autoport, but today it went to Pier 9C. This necessitated a trip through the Narrows to Bedford Basin to turn and then return back to dock, port side to the pier.

I rook a good many pictures of the ship's arrival yesterday, and noted that the ship had the unusual feature of a ramp on each side, but that they were obscured from view. Today they were both easy to see: The port side ramp is just forward of midships and just aft of the tug Atlantic Cedar.

The starboard side ramp, just forward of midships was also easy to see, [the broken line rectangle is presumably a safe pushing point for tugs] but the Plimsoll mark (at midships) could use a touch up.

The 80 tonne capacity stern ramp was also easier to see.

 I  am not sure why the ship went to sea over night, but I suppose it had to do with security as both Autoport and Pier 9C would require extra security if a ship were alongside, but it may also have been because another ship was scheduled for this morning at Autoport.

RoRo 2

The much larger autocarrier Tannhauser arrived early this morning (December 4) from European ports on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Atlantic service. 

Built in 2020 in Tianjin, China by Tianjin Xingang, it is a 73,358 gt, 23,892 dwt ship with a capacity of 7656 cars of RT43 size. It also has a 350 tonne capacity stern ramp to handle heavy cargo. Once it had completed its work at Autoport it was also due to move to Pier 9C (after dark).

RoRo3 LoLo1

The RoRo / LoLo ship Oceanex Sanderling (also termed a ConRo) has been a familiar sight in the harbour since 1987, running weekly (sometimes twice weekly) to Newfoundland. It arrived this morning as usual and headed directly to PSA Fairview Cove where it will handle container and RoRo cargo. The ship will also call at Autoport where it will load new cars and light trucks for Newfoundland. Its usual sailing time is end of working day on Fridays.

 As it strides through the Narrows, the Oceanex Sanderling passes Halifax Shipyard and the next RoRo on my list.

 

RoRo 4

The fourth RoRo is a little bit different: Boabarge 37 is a semi-submersible barge used by Halifax Shipyard to "launch" new ships by float off. The shipyard is preparing to launch the sixth and last Harry DeWolf class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel. AOPV 435 will be rolled on to the barge using self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) in the next few days. Once lowered back onto the cradles the ship will then be readied to float off in Bedford Basin later in the month.

This morning tugs were positioning the barge in line with the pier so that the ship (at right) can be rolled onto the barge.

The barge remains in Norwegian registry, so Irving Shipbuilding Inc has to apply for a coasting license each time it is to be used. The current application runs from December 7 to 31. Once launched there will still be many months of fit out before the ship can be handed over to the RCN. It will eventually be commissioned as HMCS Robert Hampton Gray. 

Halifax Shipyard has two variants of the AOPV to be built for the Canadian Coast Guard before it  shifts to production of new River class destroyers for the Royal Canadian Navy.

LoLo2

 A relative new comer to Halifax is the Box Endurance on charter to ZIM's expanded ZCX service.

The feeder size ship was delivered in 2015 by Guangzhou Wenchong and is registered at 17,907 gt, 21,667 dwt with a capacity of 1708 TEU. It appears to have significant reefer capacity too. It last sailed from Halifax October 29 for Kingston, Jamaica and has since called at Callao, Peru and other west coast South America ports, then worked its way back through the Panama Canal to Kingston, Miami, and Philadelphia. 

It is always fun to catch a container on the bridge as a ship from the same line passes under. Lucky day today - unless the container missed the boat!

 

 LoLo 3

Another regular Lift On Lift Off ship is the Volga Maersk on the Maersk / CMA CGM transatlantic service from Montreal to Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp. Built in 2018 by COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard Co in China, it is a 34,882 gt, 40,079 dwt ship rated as LR Ice Class 1A with a capacity of 3600 TEU. One of seven "V" class ships, it was intended for Baltic service to Russia, but was displaced due to sanctions imposed against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. It is an ideal size and classification for year round St.Lawrence River service. (Ships of this class were the largest ever Ice Class 1A ships when built.) The ship's Maersk sky blue colour is highly visible (and fresh looking) even from across the harbour.

LoLo 4

Not quite so visible was the other ship in at PSA Atlantic Gateway. The MSC Matilde V is en route to Montreal on the Med Canadian route. (Photo taken December 3).

The ship was built in 1999 by Samsung Geoje and registers 53,208 gt, 70,753 dwt, with a capacity of 4400 TEU with 350 reefer plugs.

The ship was originally called Saudi Jubail and in 2002 was renamed MSC Matilde. The Roman numeral "V" was added in 2023 to denote MSC's cargo capacity class.

Since August 2020 MSC has purchased more than 400 second hand ships equalling 1.6 million TEU. With an average age of 20 years, the ships maintain MSC's reputation for getting the most out of older tonnage. The company is building new ships too, with an order book of twenty ships under construction or pending - all from Chinese shipyards. 

Competitor Maersk held off building new ships until recently but has just signed for construction of twenty new dual fuel ships ranging in size from 9,000 TEU to 17,000 TEU, (six from Korea, 14 from China) for delivery between 2028 and 2030. It will also charter ships with a total of some 500,000 TEU capacity and dual fuel capability of methanol and LNG.

Po Po

I left the "new" category of Pump On / Pump Off to last as the operation is somewhat specialized. The barge John J. Carrick and its articulated tug Leo A. McArthur arrived this morning with a cargo of asphalt for General Liquids Canada. The cargo, which must be kept heated, is pumped ashore in an insulated pipeline to tanks at Eisner's Cove.

The pipeline runs from the Cherubini pier to the so called Dexter Terminal, where the storage tanks are located. General Liquids is part of the Dexter Group of companies which includes Municipal Contracting - a large quarrying and road building operation. They carry out asphalt paving as part of their work, and would seem to be in competition with Miller / McAsphalt - operators of the tug / barge and paving contractors in their own right. They are also asphalt producers and formulators and are part of the Colas Group from France. McAsphalt also has its own marine terminal and storage tanks farther along into Eastern Passage next to Autoport.

McAsphalt has taken delivery of its new 73,600 bbl capacity tanker Asphalt Advantage. It arrived in Montreal from China last month and is now in Hamilton, ON. It is still not known if the new ship will be an addition to the current fleet or if it will mean the retirement of an older articulated tug/barge.  

The tug Everlast was built in 1977 and with its barge Norman McLeod (built in 2001) are normally used only on the Great Lakes / St.Lawrence. If they are retired the Leo A. McArthur / John J.Carrick might take their place and the Asphalt Advantage would do the coastal work. We will have to wait and see as the winter shutdown of the St.Lawrence Seaway nears.

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Frédérick Rolette AOPV 434

 Today, December 8, the fifth in the series of Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels moved one step closer to launch. AOPV 434, the future HMCS Frédérick Rolette, has been transported on self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) from its assembly position to the Boabarge 37 at Pier 6 of Halifax Shipyard.

Once safely in position the SPMTs were removed, and the ship was lowered onto its cradles again.

If all goes well the barge and ship are scheduled to move to Bedford Basin tomorrow, December 9, where the barge will be submerged and the ship will be floated off.

Construction of AOPV 435, the future HMCS Robert Hampton Gray is underway. It was laid down August 21 and will be the sixth and last ship in the series to be built for the Royal Canadian Navy. However two more AOPV ships are in the pipeline for the Canadian Coast Guard. No names have been publicized for those ships yet. As the Canadian Coast Guard is non-military, there will be notable differences for the CCG variants, in order to accommodate a civilian crew and law enforcement officers from the RCMP or the Department of Fisheries, and CCG helicopters.

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