Remember When

 It was March 27, 1987 when ice began to "invade" Halifax harbour. After blocking the entrance to the port for several day, chunks of ice started to work their way inside. 

 

 The RCN's reserve training trawler / gate vessel Porte St. Jean was not bothered by a few "ice cubes".

At first a few interant chunks did not cause much concern, and ships were able to go about their business as usual. However the ice continued to build and  by April 1 was packed in solid.

Priding itself as "ice-free", Halifax had some 'splainin' to do, and it was this: The ice did not originate in Halifax, but came from the Gulf of St.Lawrence and had blown and drifted out into the ocean. Currents and onshore wind then moved it down along the coast and into Halifax. The ice was heavily broken up but well compacted, and continued to build in. 

Although it does not need breaking, drift-ice is difficult to navigate through because of pressure. Wind "grabs" the rough surface and moves the ice, and packs it when it hits an obstacle such as the shore or a ship. Tidal forces only exacerbate the effect. If ships are at light draft, the ice can damage propellors.

The sight of drift ice in Halifax is very rare - this was the first time since 1960 - as was the sight of the CCGS William (ex Sir William Alexander (i))  going out to lift harbour buoys so that they would not be carried away.

 

(The new Sir William Alexander was removed from service due to a defective derrick system, and its predecessor of the same name was re-commissioned from layup. It was built by Halifax Shipyards in 1959 and was one of the finest ships in the fleet. It was renamed William when it was laid up pending sale. It was less tan 30 years old and still in good condition.)

 CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent was also called in to work in its home port for the first time, to clear tracks for ships.

Several regular callers were able to make their way surprisingly well, even though they rarely if ever had to navigate in ice.

Atlantic Cartier even made its way west of George's Island outbound past the iconic lighthouse.

Ships tied up in port were jammed in  by ice in the cambers between piers. In places the ice rafted up to 2 meters deep.

Common Venture was at Pier 28 for a cargo of grain.

Ships tied up at sea walls were at risk of being forced off the dock by ice working in between ship and pier. The force of the wind and tide-driven ice was strong enough to part lines. Tugs were called to flush the ice away, and ships were constantly adjusting their lines.

The tug Point Vigour stood by astern of the USSR ship Elton at Pier 21 for more than 24 hours, flushing ice away from the seawall and the ship's propellor. A crew man stood by on shore, with his signature fur hat on, to tend to the ship's lines and gangway if needed. The Elton was in port to load flour for Cuba and was very lightly ballasted, with some prop blades exposed.

A number of fishing vessels were caught in port too - some were small wooden inshore boats, but others were large foreign vessels. Their captains did not want to sail through 10 kilometers or more of ice to reach clear water offshore.

 The East German factory trawler Ludwig Renn, out of Rostock, tied up at Pier 30-31 for the duration.

The pilot boat was too fragile to operate in ice and so the tugs Point Valiant and Point Carroll were deputised. Sometimes they could not work themselves in alongside ships, so pilots actually walked across the ice to embark. The ice was at its heaviest April 1 and 2.

By April 3 most of the ice had moved back out to sea thanks to a wind shift, but remnants remained for some time. Shipping returned to normal.

 Wallenius Line's weird autocarrier Aida, converted in 1980 from a bulk carrier, made its way through some small patches of ice to reach Autoport April 4. The ship was scrapped in December of 1987.

 Harbour ferry service, which was cancelled, did not resume until April 6. At least one daring soul had in the meantime walked (or clampered) across the harbour on the ice.

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Autos Carriers from the shoebox

Saturday's arrival of the auto carrier Goodwood was an unremarkable event in many ways - we are so used to seeing these ungainly craft working in and out of Halifax on such a regular basis, they attract very little attention. (Except perhaps a maiden voyage such as Grande Halifax last week).

Built in 2016 by Imabari Zosen, Marugame and operated by Zodiac Maritime, Goodwood is pretty standard as Pure Car and Truck Carriers go - 59,516 grt, 18,770 dwt with a capacity of 6203 autos. It has a single stern ramp, a small side ramp and some hoistable car decks. However it took quite a while to establish this standard with its immense capacity, and my shoebox has a number of examples of that evolution.

Here's a chronological tour
Initially cars were carried as just another item of general cargo and were slung on and off ships with conventional cargo handling gear. This was a less than ideal arrangement since damage was almost guaranteed. The numbers of cars imported to North America were small until Volswagen began an huge influx in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The Norwegian ship owner Anders Jahre built portable car decks in his bulk carriers, filling them with cars westbound on the Atlantic. Although still required to sling them on and off, the cars were at least not mixed in with other cargo and were easier to handle.
Once the cars were off- loaded the car decks were stowed and the ships could carry grain or other bulk cargo eastbound. 

 Jarabella dated from 1963 when it was purpose built as a car/ bulker of 13,173 grt, 19,650 dwt by Kaldnes, Tonsberg. It eventually reverted to a conventional bulker in 1972 and ran as Atlas Counsellor (perhaps prophetically for Hyundai International) until it was broken up in Nantong in 1993.

The Norwegian company Dyvi Shipping AS built the first pure car carrier in 1964. With a capacity of 450 cars it established the basic shape of purpose built car carriers for the years to come. However there were many iterations along the way.

Dyvi Oceanic of 1968, a 5444 grt, 6066 dwt ship built by Tangen Werft, Kragero lasted until 1987 when it was broken up in Kaohsiung. Note some of the accommodation appears to be at deck level aft. It also was working exclusively for Volkswagen, which meant a lot of deadheading or ballast voyages.

One of A/S Uglands earliest ships was Laurita built in 1970 by Blohm + Voss at their Steinwerder (Hamburg) shipyard. It 5353 grt, 5738 dwt was certainly on the small size, so in 1976 they had it lengthened by 13m to 180.7m increasing its tonnages to 6533 grt, 7919 dwt.

It lasted until 1987 when it was sent to Kaohsiung for breaking up.

Another approach was making a radical conversion of an obsolete passenger/cargo ship. Amazon was built in 1959 by Harland + Wolff, Belfast for Royal Mail Lines. After a spell as Shaw Savill + Albion Co Ltd's Akaroa 1968-1971, A/S Uglands Rederi had the ship converted by building out its cargo holds and passenger decks, and perching the wheelhouse atop the deck houses. It also retained some cargo derricks.

As Akarita from 1971-1977 it then joined Hoegh -Uglands as HUAL Akarita from 1977 to 1980 before reverting to Akarita again in 1980. It was scrapped in Kaohsiung in December 1981. [HUAL stood for Hoegh Uglands Autoliners]. Built at 20,348 grt, it measured 10,866 grt as an autocarrier, later revised to 11,081 and 9400 dwt. However at the time the car decks above the main deck were apparently classed as open shelter decks and did not count in gross tonnage, so the numbers can't be compared to what it would measure under today's regulations.

Asian Highway built in 1978 by Imabari Zosen, Marugame, lasted until 2009 when it was broken up at Chittagong after being sold and renamed Pacific Explorer in 1993. By that time it was measured at 38,970 grt, 18,069 dwt with a capacity of 4700 cars. K-Line placed all the accommodation above the car decks, but the bridge is positioned further aft than other ships. Note also it has three cargo cranes, so likely had hatches into the car decks for ports not equipped with RoRo facilities..


After trying out bulk carriers fitted with portable vehicle decks, Wallenius lines decided to convert their bulk carrier Aida to a "pure" car carrier by fitting permanent auto decks and side ramps. The stepped deck garages allowed for visibility forward, but required that the bridge to be raised. That also necessitated raising the funnel, so several new decks were added to the accommodation block.
 

Built originally by Komuny Paryskiej in Gdynia, Poland in 1973 as a dual purpose bulk carrier of 33,905 grt, 51,644 dwt , when rebuilt in 1980, despite all the increased enclosed volume the gross tonnage somehow came out at 23,768 and deadweight became 28,565 dwt.  It was broken up in 1987 in Kaohsiung.

A comparison with Wallenius' last Aida shows where development was going:

Built in 1991 by Hitachi, Maizuru, the 52,288 grt, 29213 dwt Aida had a capacity of (only) 6118 cars. It was sold in 2005 to US owners and renamed Courage. A fire in the English Channel June 2, 2015 destroyed 100 cars but also so seriously damaged the ship that is was scrapped later that year in Aliaga. A fault in one of the car's ABS system triggered the fire that caused $100 mn damage- and it had only 600 cars on board at the time. No lives were lost and crew managed to extinguish the fire with CO2.

Now back to the 1980s:

Uglands turned to the Tsuneishi shipyard in Numakuma in 1980 for the Rolita The 12,369 grt, 12,169 dwt ship was of modest size, but nevertheless managed to serve Uglands and HUAL and then Hoegh until 2006 when it was broken up in Xinhui, China.

Although the ship was sleeker looking, it was still reminiscent of bulk carrier conversions

Yokohama Maru was an auto manufacturer branded ship owned directly by Nissan Senyosen K.K. It was built in 1981 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries in Oppama and ran to 17,372 grt, 17,938 dwt.  Nissan initially branded its cars as Datsun in North America, but when that was changed to Nissan, the ship was re-branded too.

It was unusual by today's standard by having stern ramps on each quarter - something Japanese RoRo and ConRo ships sported for some time until starboard quarter ramps became the norm. Nissan also got out of the dedicated carrier business and the ship was renamed Yokohama in 1988, HUAL Trinita in 1995, HUAL Trinity in 200 and Hoegh Trinity in 2005 before heading to unknown scrappers (likely in China) in 2009.


Ingolstadt was an example of a branded auto carrier, which despite its German name was built in 1987 by Hashihama Zosen, Tadotsu. German owners Chr. F. Ahrenkiel chartered the ship to V.A.G Transport, which was Volkswagen AG's exclusive transport arm. VW began to downplay their own name and offer space to other automakers and eventually faded from the scene.

 I see in the photo that the small side ramp is also in use. At the time Autoport's "dock" was series of floating scows that had some deck room. Since they were replaced with the current dolphins, side ramps are no longer used. 

Ingolstadt may still be running. It was renamed Foresighter in 2010. It still measure 38,062 grt, 13,898 dwt. The very high bridge must have given excellent visibility.

Kassel was another V.A.G Transport ship, but this one was operated by the Norwegian owners Fearnley + Eger A/S. It was built in 1987 by Uljanik, Pula (now Crotia) and is notable for its hard edge hull chine, a common feature once but seldom seen now. Forward visibility must have been poor but the bridge was well sheltered. It also had ice class for Baltic service.

Measuring 34,8960 grt and 12,077 dwt, it was broken up in Chittagong in 2016 after serving as 96: Freccia and 00: Salzgitter.

In the 1990s further evolutions took place to maximize internal space and improve aerodynamics. Those pictures are in another shoebox.

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Aida from a different angle

The autocarrier Aida has been a regular caller in Halifax for some time, but I got a slightly different angle on her today as she sailed. After her normal call at Autoport to unload cars, she moved over to pier 31 at noon time to unload a crawler crane, a truck crane and many components for them.
When she sailed at 1630 she was more broadside to Halifax than when she sails directly to sea from Autoport.

Built in 1991, the ship measures 52,288 gross tons and has a capacity of 6,118 cars. She also carries other RoRo cargo. Flying the Swedish flag, a member of the Wallenius Lines, she sails under the joint fleet of Wallenius Wilhelmsen.

Pioneers in auto transport, Wallenius Lines built bulk carriers that could double as car carriers, thus earning freight revenue on what would otherwise have been costly ballast voyages. However as auto transport became more global, with cars moving both ways across oceans, they converted the bulk carriers to pure car carriers by adding multi-storey hangars above the main deck and car decks in the holds. To provide visibility over the bow, the hangars were stepped back from the bow and the bridge deck was raised.

A previous Aida, originally built as a car carrying bulker in 1973, was converted in 1980 to a dedicated car carrier, but was finally scrapped in 1987 as more efficient pure car carriers came along. Unloading ramps on the ship's starboard side are not visible in this photo, but their frames project above the top of the deck hangars at two locations.

And yes the herring gull on the ice chunk in the lower photo is no doubt a distant ancestor of the one observing from pier 42 today. Both photos were taken from almost exactly the same place.