Back to the Future and other matters

 There were wintery conditions in Halifax today, February 5, with light dusts of snow. The temperature struggled to reach -10ºC [14º F], there was a biting wind at 26 kph [16 mph] with gusts to 35kph [21 mph] but it was mostly sunny and sea water temperature was still a balmy 1.7 ºC [35.1 ºF]. 

There were two auto carriers in port. The Traviata, which arrived yesterday at Autoport, moved over night to Pier 9C to off load RoRo cargo.

Traviata arriving yesterday, February 4.

 The ship was built in 2019 by Tianjin Xingang, to the HERO class design used by both Wallenius and Wilhelmsen. It must have beeen one of the last - or indeed the last - ship to use the old Wallenius colour scheme [see below]. It was not repainted in the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean  teal/gray until 2024. [Despite a name begining with the letter "T" it is in fact a Wallenius ship, with an operatic name.]

The 73,358 gt, 23,889 dwt ship, has a capacity of 7656 RT43 autos, and mounts a 320 tonne SWL stern ramp. As with most modern autocarriers it has no side ramp.

 

Since its last call in Halifax December 16 the ship has followed the usual WWO route of New York, Brunswick, Charleston, Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Bremerhaven, Zeebrugge and Southampton and is now bound for New York again.

 The second autocarrier arrived today and docked directly at Autoport.

 The Future Way is a "ship of the future" in many ways, but has reverted back to the traditional Wallenius hull colours of white over green. In this case the green is also symbolic of its several environmentally sensitive features.

It was built by CIMC Raffles, Yantai in 2024 and features dual fuel engines, can sail fully loaded with no ballast water, has a shore power connector and can be converted to add battery power. It reduces fuel consumption by prop design, hull shape and aerodynamic features.

The bow shape and flush mounted cargo ventilation fans are some of the new features in the Sliepner concept of autocarriers developed by Wallenius Marine and naval architects Knud E. Hansen. The vessel's charterer, Volkswagen, has committed to reducing its carbon footprint.

The ship's recent movements are not entirely clear, (suggesting perhaps some military cargo) but it was in Halifax last on December 1 and has since called in Sparrows Point, Freeport, TX, Veracruz and Freeport again. It is not clear where the ship has been since that last Freeport call on December 20. Normally VW charters load in Bremerhaven.

Aside from some light snow in the air, there were other signs of winter. Oceanex Sanderling arrived from St.John's with a thin coat of frozen spray.

 

There was no sign of frozen spray (yet) on the bulk carrier Goodwyn Island. which arrrived last evening and sailed at noon time today.

Fully loaded with bauxite from Gladstone, Australia December 11, the ship sailed across the Indian Ocean,  passing Cape Town January 19 and Las Palmas January 24, and is now headed for  Pointe-Noire in Sept-Iles, QC. Its short stay here may have been to embark an ice advisor (they normally board off Sydney).

Built by Tsuneishi Zhoushan in 2018 it is a Supramax bulker of 35,684 gt, 63,906 dwt, and carries four 30 tonne cargo cranes and 20 tonne grabs (stowed to the starboard side of each crane base.) The ship has a bow "windshield" which has aerodynamic benefits while protecting the foredeck and number one hatch from seas.

The ship's loading port is in Queensland, on the northeast coast of Australia and a more direct route would have been via the Panama Canal, suggesting that the ship might have been re-directed from an original destination in Europe at some point en route. The Alumunerie Alouette in Sept-Iles is the largest aluminum smelter in the western hemisphere, and is powered by electricity from the Churchill Falls hydroelectricity facility.

There was also a haze of freezing spray on the container feeder AS Felicia arriving at PSA Fairview Cove for ZIM.

AS Felicia has been an on and off caller for ZIM's former CFX service since April 3, 2018. Built in 2006 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan, with tonnages of 15,375 grt, 18,291 dwt, it has a capacity of 1296 TEU, including 390 reefers, and has a pair of 45 tonne cranes. It was launched as Medocean but entered service as EWL Cribbean. In 2007 it became APL Managua and in 2014  Medocean and in 2015 AS Felicia. The ship has now joined the ZCX Colibri Express from the west coast of South America via Kingston, Jamaica, Miami, Philadelphia and New York. Quite a weather shock for ship and crew.

 The AS Felicia's call coincided with yesterday's ZCA transatlantic arrival ZIM Iberia which sailed at noon time today for New York. 

On arrival yesterday (in photo) it showed many Hapag-Lloyd boxes on deck. The slot arrangement between Hapag-Lloyd and ZIM has presumably survived the new Hapag-Lloyd + Maersk Gemini Cooperation.

The Zim Iberia acquired the name in 2022, but was built in 2009 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jiangyin. It was delivered as Rudolf Schepers and in 2017 became the Arkas Afrika then in 2018 Als Juno. The 40,541 gt, 50,300 dwt ship has a capacity of 4253 TEU including 698 reefers.  

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Changes - for now, and Changes - to come

 Shipping schedules are often notated "subject to change" and as per yesterday's post that is sometimes due to labour issues, but may also be a result of the re-alignment of alliances, or simply more efficienct use of resources.

The latter two may be at the root of recent and future changes in ZIM schedules (ZIM Integrated Shipping Services). Since 2018 ZIM has operated a Canada Feeder Express CFX linking Halifax to New York and Kingston, Jamaica. Feeder ships connect to ZIM's weekly transatlantic service, ZCA, in Halifax. Recently however the CFX service appears to have been merged with the ZCX Colibri Xpress. That line, which started up in early 2023 connects to the west coast of South America from Kingston, Jamaica and extends up the US east coast as far north as Philadelphia.

By extending the Colibri Xpress to New York and Halifax, and eliminating the CFX, ZIM appears to have made more efficient use of ships, and as such sees the return of a familiar ship which was one of the orginal CFX callers in 2018.

AS Felicia arrived yesterday from the South American west coast, and via New York and Philadelphia, to Halifax. It sailed this afternoon, November 6 for Kingston. 

Built in 2006 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan, with tonnages of 15,375 grt, 18,291 dwt, it has a capacity of 1296 TEU, including 390 reefers, and has two 45 tonne cranes. It was launched as Medocean but entered service as EWL Caribbean. In 2007 it became APL Managua and in 2014 Medocean and in 2015 AS Felicia. Halifax is an excellent interchange/transshipment port as it has few if any delays at berths, lots of space for short term storage and some locally generated business.

More changes are underway for ZIM's transatlantic services effective February 2025. These have been brought about by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd's Gemini Cooperation. The ZCA service, a major user of the Port of Halifax, which runs from the Mediterranean, has a long standing slot charter agreement with Hapag-Loyd. That appears likely to continue, and will adjusted to run directly from Livorno to Halifax. That likely means changes to the current port rotation: Mersin - Ashdod - Haifa - Izmir - Piraeus - Genoa - Barcelona - Valencia - Halifax - New York - Norfolk - Savannah - Valencia - Barcelona - Mersin. 

As noted yesterday, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, MSC, is dealing with the strike of longshore workers in Montreal.  Today, November 6, a ship that would not normally call in Halifax made an "unscheduled" call. [Unscheduled meaning, not on the normal port rotation.] MSC Celine works the Canada Gulf Bridge service from Montreal via CornerBrook to Freeport, Bahamas and ports in Mexico. It is en route from CornerBrrok to Freeport.

 

Originally called Westerdiep is was renamed MSC Mendoza when it entered service in 2007 upon delivery from Stocznia Gdynia in Poland. It reverted to Westerdiep from 2009 to 2015 when it became MSC Celine. It is a 32,060 gt, 39,083 dwt ship with a capacity of 2732 TEU. It appears to have a substantial number of reefer plugs judging by the number of white boxes on deck.

The ship exhibits some distintive features. One is the sloped transom stern, typical of some Polish designed ships.

The other is the large exhaust gas scrubber housing "disguised" (not very successfully) as a funnel and offset to the port side. The ship obviously stops scrubbing when it needs more power.

Scrubbers are supposed to remove particulate matter and noxious gasses referred to as NOX and SOX, and to emit only water vapour. Ships burning MDO (marine diesel oil) often emit volumes of black smoke after the engine has been idling (as it does when the ship is slowing). If the ship is equipped to burn IMO 2020 fuel (0.05% cap on sulfur content) it does not need a scrubber.

Some scrubbers remove the dirty components and store them for future disposal. These are called closed loop scrubbers. However others merely wash the material out of the exhaust stream and flush it overboard. These are called open loop scrubbers, and are banned in many ports. Closed loop will also likely be banned in the next few years. Scrubbers were intended as a short term solution as an alternative to converting engines to burn compliant low sulfur fuel. 

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