It's an ill wind and other activity

There was activity in several areas of the port today, November 13:

Imperial Oil

  If it's an ill wind that blows no good, tell that to Imperial Oil. Despite new robust mooring facilities at the number 3 oil dock at the Imperoyal terminal in Dartmouth, it is still an unsuitable berth in high winds. It is also unsafe to be transferring oil cargo in wind in case mooring lines part and stresses cause the fueling line to let go. Imperial and other oil majors have strict operating procedures regarding conditions at the dock, and cease transfers before the arrival of high winds. Ships may then leave the dock for other piers or go to anchor until calmer conditions return.

That is the case today, November 13 with three tankers idled in port as the usual autumnal gales blast away.

The Canadian flag tanker Algoscotia arrived in Halifax November 9 (see previous posts) from Sydney, NS, and anchored in the lower harbour, waiting its turn at Imperial Oil.

 Yesterday, November 12, the ship moved from anchor to Pier 25 to wait out the winds.

It was the Marshal Island flag tanker Al Reem from Antwerp with a fresh batch of product that was next in cue. It arrived November 10 and docked directly at Imperial's number 3 dock to unload. It was windy on November 11, and 12, but still within safe limits.

Early this morning, November 13, as winds were predicted to pick up again the Al Reem moved to anchor in Bedford Basin.

 A typical Medium Range 2 (MR2) tanker of 29,155 gt, 46,046 dwt, it was built in 2010 [see following ship] by the Hyundai Mipo shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. It was initially named Alpine Venture (an odd name for a seagoing ship) then became Celsius Randers in 2019. (Celsius Shipping is a Danish company and names its ships after cities. Randers is a Danish city.) In mid-2023 the Dubai based Marakeb Shipping LLC renamed the ship Al Reem after an island in Adu Dhabi.

While at anchor the ship did not stow its crane. The device is used to handle the ship's unloading hose and is usually rated at about 10 tonnes SWL.

Also in port was another Canadian tanker, the Algoberta. It also arrived November 11 and went directly to Pier 27 to wait for its turn at Imperial Oil.

Autoport

 Apparently uneffected by today's wind was the Container/ RoRo ship Grande Marocco (not named for a Starbucks order). Arriving from several Italian ports, it offloaded vehicles at Autoport.  The ship and its several sisters are occasional callers in Halifax, always from Italy, and always with cars and vans.

 Although the ship had a number of containers on deck, it did not handle any containers while in Halifax. Built in 2010 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, [see previous ship] it is a 47,636 gt, 25,725 dwt vessel with a capacity of 800 TEU and 2,000 CEU. It is fitted with a pair of 40 tonne SWL cranes and 250 tonne capacity stern ramp. It sailed later in the day for Baltimore.

PSA Fairview Cove

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services had the H Mercury in port on its ZCX feeder service to Jamaica. This is the ship's second visit after a first arrival October 9. It was unusual to see so many reefers on one ship,but ZIM is a major carrier of fruit.

High winds were blowing in from the north, pinning the ship on the dock. It may have been too windy for the cranes to work cargo.

The ship was built in 2022 by Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding in Jingjiang, China. At 28,848 gt, 24,468 dwt, it has a capacity of 1800 TEU. Owners are listed as Yangze Mercury Shipping Pte incorporated in Singapore.
 

Update:

Yesterday's arrival, the BBC Regalia, did not stay in port for very long. Arriving at the Halifax pilot station at 12 noon its pilot order for sailing from PSA Fairview Cove was for 2100 AST. It does not appear to have unloaded any of the deck cargo, so may only have handled some containers. Its next port is shown as Bécancour, QC, a port noted for handling wind turbine cargoes.

 

,

Mixed Bag

 It was a little bit of everything in the Port of Halifax today, February 8, including containers, automobiles, tankers and a Dockyard visitor.

The container sector was represented by NYK Daedalus arriving from Antwerp on THE Alliance's AL5 service. The 55,534 gt, 65,967 dwt ship is the "name ship" of class of eight with a capacity of 4922 TEU built by Hyundai, Ulsan in 2007. Most of its sister ships have called in Halifax with this one a regular since its first visit July 21, 2014.

The NYK Daedalus prepares to make its turn to back in alongside the PSA Fairview Cove container terminal. Tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Beaver are on the ship's port side.

 The autocarrier Don Carlos, another regular, arrived mid-afternoon on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic route. The ship has made the usual round of Zeebrugge, Bremerhaven Goteborg and Southampton. After discharging cars at Autoport it will move to Pier 9C tomorrow to offload RoRo cargo.

 Tugs Atlantic Larch. forward, and Atlantic Beaver, aft, met the ship in the Middle Ground area to steer it aroiund Macnab's Island and into Eastern Passage and Autoport.

As per a previous report: "Don Carlos was built in 1997 by Daewoo, Okpo and lengthened 8.6 meters in 2006 by Hyundai Vinashin in Vietnam and is now 62,141 gt, 28,147 dwt with a capacity of 7194 CEU. When the ship was lengthened the large billboard lettering on the sides of the ship was not re-centered, giving a slightly unbalanced look."

HMC Dockyard said goodbye to a long term visitor, SD Victoria, the British ship that gives world wide support to the Royal Navy. This is the second time that the ship has spent more than a month in Halifax. In 2022 it arrived on February 10 and sailed March 30. Its most recent arrival was December 27, 2023,and it has been alongside the whole time. There was a military exercise in Halifax yesterday, but if it was a participant in some way it never left the dock

On departure today the ship gave the US Guard base in Baltimore for a destination, but it came back in to Halifax in the early evening.

The tanker Navig8 Constellation (see yesterday's post) sailed at dusk for Houston. Its place was to be taken by Algoberta which arrived from the Kildair (Sprague) terminal, St-Victoire-de-Sorel, QC this morning and has been waiting at Pier 9B.

.

The last of the summer fuel and make way for nickel

 1. Last of the Summer Fuel

 The Imperial Oil Dock #3 is the busiest spot in the harbour as the last shipments of fuel arrive from the Great Lakes. With the St.Lawrence Seaway now closed for the winter, Imperial will no longer have tanker access to its refineries in Sarnia and Nanticoke, ON, so has been stockpiling product. Three last tankers arriving in quick succesion are:

The Qikiqtaaluk W. which sailed from Nanticoke December 30 and made its way downbound in the St.Lawrence Seaway January 1, arriving in Halifax yesterday afternoon (January 5). Built in 2011 by Icdas, Bigas, Turkey it operated as Icdas 11 and carried that name until acquired by Coastal Shipping Ltd of Happy Valley - Goose Bay, NL in 2018. It is a 13,097 gt, 19,198 dwt. chemical and product tanker. (The ship was named for the huge eastern portion of Nunavut, formerly known as the Baffin region of Canada's Arctic.)

It was in port for less than 24 hours and sailed late this afternoon (January 6) in ballast for St.John's.

Every year since 2018 and from roughly January 1 the ship has been flagged out to operate internationally. Depending on contracts for delivering fuel to the arctic, the ship has returned to Canadian flag from as early as April 1 to as late as July 1 the following year. At the end of the northern shipping season it has participated in the stockpiling of fuel here in Halifax, and I expect it to flag out again this year.

While outbound this afternoon the Qikiqtaaluk W. met its fleetmate Kivalliq W. inbound also with product from Nanticoke. It sailed from that port January 1 and was downbound in the Seaway the next day. It was followed closely later the same day by the Algoberta, also bound for Halifax, and which will anchor when it arrives tonight.

The Kivalliq W. usually flags out for the winter too, so was likely given prioity at the dock. Algoberta will join fleetmate Algoscotia distributing product around the region this winter.

2. Make Way for Nickel 

The big bulker Athina III (see January 4 post) has been loading soybeans at Pier 27 since January 5 but halted operations at midnight last night and moved out to anchorage number 1 in the lower harbour. This was to make way for the Augusta Luna with the latest load of nickel sulfides from Cuba. Sailing for Nirint Shipping BV, it is on a regular run between European ports and Cuba. [See December 25, 2022 ]. On the return leg it unloads bagged nickel sulfides directly to rail cars or to storage at Pier 28. There is not room enough for both ships at Pier 27-28 at the same time, and no other pier is available for the nickel cargo or for bulk grains. Expansion of the South End Container Terminal (operated by PSA) displaced the nickel operation from Pier 31 where there was open pier space, a rail siding and a transit shed. The shed has been demolished and the open pier space is now devoted to container storage and construction activity. There is now only one trasit shed in the deepwater piers area of the port. The Richmond Terminal in the north end has transit sheds but they are all occupied with other business, and in any event rail access is not as convenient.

 The Athina III is due to move back to Pier 28 tonight when the Augusta Luna sails. It appears to be about half loaded, so will be in port for a few more days.

.

Ships with a Story

 If they could talk, many ships would have tales to tell. Even without the power of speach some ships are still able to tell their stories. Today (October 24) there were two ships in Halifax that tell their stories in an unusual way.

Story 1

 MSC Surabaya VIII arrived at PSA Halifax, Atlantic Hub on the Mediterranean Shipping Company's INDUSA service, India to the USA. The ship is actually eastbound en route from its last  US port, Baltimore and will be sailing for Baarcelona, King Abdullah Port in Saudi Arabia, then to Mundra and Nava Sheva.

The ship's hull paint tells the story.  For an MSC ship the hull looks very much like one of  arch -competitor Maersk Lines' ships, and indeed its hull is (plus rust streaks) "Maersk blue".

Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Okpo, built the ship in 2006, a 94,322 gt, 108,350 dwt vessel to its Daewoo 8000 design. Owners Claus-Peter Offen Reederei of Hamburg named it Santa Laura but the ship almost immediately took up a charter with Maersk as Maersk Surabaya and no doubt was appropriately painted with a "Maersk blue" hull.

 In 2014 the charter terminated and the ship reverted to its original name and operated as Santa Laura until 2016 when it was again taken up by Maersk and renamed Maersk Surabaya for a second time. It is unlikely that the ship had been repainted during that interval, but the "Maersk" banner on the ship's side was certainly painted over, only to be reinstated. In 2021 however Maersk A/S actually bought the ship in the post COVID shipping craze.

Then in May of 2023 Maersk sold the ship to MSC and with a few swipes of the paint brush it became MSC Surabaya VIII. (The Roman Numeral VIII for number 8 indicates that the ship has a container capacity greater than 8,000 TEU. In fact the stated capacity is now 8400 TEU.)

While MSC was buying up ships at an astonishing rate (and possibly for inflated prices) and ordering more to boot, Maersk was not buying or ordering. They in fact ceded the position as world's largest container line to MSC and decided to focus more on logistics and service. It is doubly odd that they would even sell a ship to their fiercest competitor. (MSC's CEO, since 2020, was formerly with Maersk!)

The swipe of the brush did not extend to the rust streaks on the ship's hull, but did manage to cover the Maersk banner with more Maersk blue. No paint was wasted painting between the letters either! Perhaps they found just enough left over in the ship's paint locker.

The ship is not expected for a drydocking any time soon, so it may be quite a while - if ever - that the ship gets the black hull of most MSC ships. The next regular drydocking would be for the ship's twentieth anniversary and by then there will a glut of ships as new ships are being delivered all the time. MSC is well known for operating older ships, but even they may be over capacity by 2026.

Story 2

The second story is also told in paint and involves the Canadian flag tanker Algoberta. In December 2022 Algoma Tankers announced the purchase of three tankers that were operating in Europe. Two  sisters the Chantaco and Chiberta were built in 2007 in Tuzla, Turkey by RMK Marine. Chantaco arrived in Halifax soon after and was renamed Algotitan and in March of 2023 the Chiberta arrived in Canada, sailing directly to Sarnia, ON where it was renamed Algoberta, its new name, playing off the name of the province of Alberta with the ship's former name. (It was registered in Halifax as of April 5, 2023).

No paint was apparently saved in the renaming process as the new name was freshly inscribed above the original, as I noted this morning. The old name was painted over with one thin coat of black.

The raised letters of the former name are welded to the hull and will take some effort to remove. Also with this ship, it will someday be repainted in the owner's very deep blue hull colour, but that is a drydock job. The current black paint is in very good shape, so there is likely no rush.

The Algoberta, 11,799 gt, 18,734 dwt arrived in Halifax October 22 from Imperial Oil's refinery in Nanticoke, ON. Once it had off loaded at Imperial Oil it moved to Pier 9C where it will remain awaiting orders due to the strike of St.Lawrence Seaway workers. The ship cannot return to the Great Lakes until the strike is settled, but it may be dispatched elsewhere for cargo if supplies of gasoline or other fuels begin to run low.

The third ship that Algoma acquired is the Birgit Knutsen and it remained under Maltese registry, but came to Canada in August. As of September 1 it began operating under a coasting license between Sarnia, Nanticoke and Montreal, Sorel and eastern Canada ports.  As of October 19 the ship has been idled in Sarnia. Its coasting license lapses on October 31. I am assuming that Algoma's intention was to operate it again internationally before bringing it under Canadian flag, perhaps next year. However with the Seaway strike there may have to be a change in plans.

.

Algoberta calls home

 Algoma Tankers announced in December last year that they had acquired three tankers to replace older ships in their fleet. As reported here the first of the ships was the Chantaco which had been trading to the Great Lakes. It arrived in Halifax December 30, 2022 and was renamed Algotitan and registered in Canada January 11, 2023. Since then it has called here with product for Imperial Oil, loaded in Sarnia and Nanticoke.

Its sister ship the Chiberta remained overseas until the St.Lawrence Seaway opened for the 2023 season and was reported upbound in the Seaway March 29 for Sarnia. Renamed Algoberta it was registered Canadian April 5, 2023 and has since been trading between Nanticoke and Tracy, QC. On its most recent trip, after loading in Nanticoke it sailed May 30 and made its way directly to Halifax, arriving late night June 5. Instead of docking at Imperial Oil it tied up at Pier 25, allowing another tanker, the Mia Desgagnés to go to Imperial first. It had product from Sarnia.

 Due to blustery conditions today, June 6, of driving rain and high winds, I commemorated the ship's arrival in its port of registry from the confines of my car. It is due to move to Imperial late tonight.

Built in 2007 by RMK Marine of Tuzla, Turkey, it is a 11,799 gt, 18,734 dwt ship. The Algoberta was expected to replace the Algosea, which was built in 1998. The latter is likely to be retired before a major survey which is due in November.

The third Algoma acquisition, the Birgit Knutsen is still trading between France and the Netherlands. Built in 2010 by Jiangnan in Shanghai, it is a 11,889 gt, 16,536 dwt vessel and is a sister of Algoma's Algoterra. No date has been given for its arrival in Canada.

 

Algoma Hansa - retires

 The Canadian flag tanker Algoma Hansa arrived in Halifax on January 7. It came from the Great Lakes with stops at Kildair Sorel-Tracy and Montreal. It arrived in ballast (and likely with tanks cleaned and gas freed) and will be laid up until it can be transferred to new owners.

The ship was built in 1998 and is nearing the end of its economic life. After twenty-five years of service ships must undergo a major refit to maintain their classification, and the expense is usually not warranted. Owners then sell the ship for further use where its classification will not be renewed, or in many cases the ship goes to scrap.

Algoma Hansa is an unusual ship in many ways. It was built at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, AB for Dannebrog Rederi A/S of Denmark. Named Amelienborg it was delivered in April 1998 and a sistership, named Aggersborg was delivered in November of the same year. Measuring 11,290 gt, and 16,775 dwt it was registered in Denmark and was a double hull chemical / product tanker with phenolic coated cargo tanks. Algoma Tankers Ltd acquired the ship in 2006 and operated it in the Hanseatic and later Navig8 tanker pools, largely in Europe, but it did make some trips to the Great Lakes. 

Algoma renamed the Aggersborg as Algosea in 2005 and registered it in Canada. They renamed the Amalienborg to Algoma Hansa in 2008 but did not bring into Canadian registry until 2014. By that time its projecting bridge wings had been cut back flush with the ship's sides to permit safe passage through the St.Lawrence Seaway locks.

It will now be replaced in the Algoma fleet by the recently acquired Chantaco which arrived in Halifax December 30 [see post]. Algoma has selected the name Algotitan for the new acquistion, and when it enters service (expected shortly) it will operate this winter with Algoscotia which arrived in Halifax January 8. 

Algoscotia sailed again January 9 for Sydney with cargo from Imperial Oil for its Sydney depot.

There is no word yet on when the sister Algosea will be retired, and it is operating this winter on the Great Lakes. Its replacement, the future Algoberta, is currently working in Europe as Chiberta.

On Monday January 9 the Algoma Hansa swapped places with its replacement. The Chantaco moved to Pier 27 and the Algoma Hansa to Pier 25. Once along side at Pier 25 the workboat Allen Clipper came along to carry out some underwaterwork (perhaps hull cleaning or camera survey). 

There is some indication that a sale has already been arranged for the Algoma Hansa and handover and renaming will take place shortly.

.

Name Changer

On December 22 Algoma Central Corporation of St.Catharines, ON, announced that its Algoma Tankers subsidiary had acquired two ships to replace older units in its domestic Canadian tanker fleet and third ship to join the fleet at a later date.

One ship, currently carrying the name Birgit Knutsen, was acquired in the third quarter of 2022 and is working internationally under charter. It is a sister to Algoma's Algoterra. Built in 2010 by Jiangnan, Shanghai, it is a 11,889 gt, 16,536 dwt vessel. No date has been suggested for its arrival in Canada.

The other two ships are sister ships, built in 2007 by RMK Marine in Tuzla, Turkey for Sea Tankers Shipping SASU of France. The  ships named Chantaco 11,793 gt, 18,734 dwt and Chiberta 11,799 gt, 18,734 dwt will be renamed Algotitan and Algoberta upon handover to Algoma.

Hand over of the Chantaco is expected very soon as the ship arrived in Halifax today, December 30 after a trip into the Great Lakes from Milford Haven. The ship sailed from the UK port December 4 and arrived in Hamilton, ON December 20. It sailed from there December 22 and passed Montreal December 25. 

 

On arrival today the ship backed in to Pier 25 where the handover and renaming will take place.

 From an "examination" of the stern of the ship it appears that it is a twin screw ice class vessel as two ice knives can be seen under the counter in line with the rudders. The twin funnels would also suggest two engines and twin screws. 

Once the Algotitan is in service it will replace the Algoma Hansa in coastal trade this winter. The latter ship was built in 1998 and is en route to Halifax for layup and sale. More on that when it arrives. The Chiberta / future Algoberta is still operating in Europe under charter to Furetank AB of Sweden and will be coming to Canada sometime in 2023. It is due to replace the Algosea.

About the Names

On a somewhat whimsical note, it is fairly obvious that Chiberta's name suggests the Province of Alberta, source of most of Canada's crude oil. Therefore the name Algoberta makes a certain amount of sense for a tanker.

I can't say as much for the name Algotitan. There does not seem to be any obvious reason for that choice (the similarity to "Titanic" is rather uncomfortable however). But I am glad that Algoma did not follow the previous example and borrow the last syllable of the Chataco for a rather unappetizing choice.

.