Tanker Twins

 

When Irving Oil contracted with Algoma Tankers to provide two products tankers on long term charter, it was inevitable that both ships would eventually appear in Halifax at the same time. Today, December 5 was the first time, according to my records.

The ships essentially identical, at 23,451 gt, 37,242 dwt and were built by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan. They replaced two chartered ships named East Coast and Acadian and were given the names Algoma East Coast and Algoma Acadian. Since the end of the charters to Irving Oil the older ships, owned by the Dutch company Vroon, are operating in Europe without change of name.

The new ships work on a fairly tight loop out of Saint John, NB where Irving Oil's refinery turns out refined products for eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. Since delivery in the spring of this year both ships have been frequent callers at Irving Oil's distribution terminal in Halifax harbour. Located in the Woodside area on the Dartmouth side of the harbour, the terminal stores various grades of fuel until it is transferred to trucks for delivery to outlets mostly in mainland Nova Scotia. The ships go on to ports such as Charlottetown and St. John's, with occasional runs to Portland, ME or other US ports and as far west as Montreal (they are too large for the St.Lawrence Seaway.)
The Algoma Acadian (left in photo above) arrived yesterday from Saint John and sailed this afternoon for Charlottetown. The Algoma East Coast arrived from Saint John, picking up  dusting of frozen spray en route. 

 At Imperial Oil (background in photo above) the tanker Success is offloading refined products from Houston. It is 29,335 gt, 46,803 dwt ship, built in 2004 by Hyundai Mipo. Originally named British Security it sailed for BP until 2016 when it was renamed Security. In 2019 it was renamed Success under the flag of India.

 

 Algoma Tankers also has tankers contracted to Imperial Oil. They are wider ranging, with trips to Great Lakes ports, such as Sarnia and Nanticoke where Imperial has refineries. They bring fule to Halifax bit also carry fuel from their Woodside storage facility to regional ports such as Sydney.

Today the Algoscotia arrived in ballast from Sydney and tied up at Pier 26. (The Success is occupying the only operational berth at Imperial Oil.)

 While alongside the ship may be able to carry out some maintenance work that can't be done at the oil dock. Built in 2004 by the Jiangnan Shipyard Group at the Qiuxin yard in Shanghai, the 13,352 grt, 18,610 dwt double hulled tanker normally runs year round with a few weeks respite during mid-winter when the St.Lawrence Seaway is closed.

After the Blow

 After creating mass devastation in the Caribbean Hurricane Melissa weakened as it made its way northward. By the time it reached our latitude (45 degrees north or so) October 31- November 1, it was a post tropical storm and tracked well offshore. There was still wind in the 30 kph (18 mph) range with gusts over 60 kph (37 mph) which was enough to put unnecessary strain on mooring lines and jetties.With plenty of advance warning, ships took precautions by doubling up on lines or moving to better places. Some ships remained in port until the storm passed.

At mid-day October 31 the coastal tanker Algoma Acadian moved from Irving Oil's Woodside terminal to anchorage number 12 in Bedford Basin. The oil terminal facility is quite exposed and not built to take the strain of bad weather. There is the added risk of parting an oil line, so ships generally move off in bad weather.

 Following soon after to number 10 anchorage in the Basin was the bulk carrier Eva Bright. It moved from Pier 27 where it had been transferring cargo from the AP Revelin (see yesterday's post and others). 

The AP Revelin moved to Pier 26 yesterday to free up the Pier 27 berth for last night's arrival of the Gotland  for Nirint Shipping.

Using its own cranes it discharged the latest cargo of nickel sulfides from Cuba. I can't track the ship's route to Halifax precisely, but it sailed from Moa October 25, well ahead of the hurricane. Moa was severely impacted by hurricane Melissa and detailed reports are hard to find because the eastern part of the island is still without power or most communications.

The ship is due to sail to sail this evening (November 1) for Villagarcia, Bilbao and Rotterdam.
 

The Gotland is a general cargo vessel of 12,772 gt, 17,400 dwt built in 2011 by the Xinshun Shipyard Group. It can carry about 900 TEU (630 at 14 tonnes), has 60 reefer plugs and has three cranes: one crane of 80 tonnes SWL and two cranes of 150 tonnes SWL which are combinable. 

The ship was built as the Rickmers Tianjin but was sold in 2015 to Gotland Schiffahrts. It has retained the famous green paint of the legendary Rickmers Group.  

 Another arrival from late October 31 was the EF Ava for the Icelandic shipping company Eimskip. It arrived on the regular Green Line service from Portland, ME and sailed today, November 1, for Reykjavik. From there it will head for the Faroe Islands, then Denmark and England and will remain operating in European waters for some time.

The ship seems to have missed the worst of the weather, but there will still be high seas to contend with. Ferry service to Newfoundland has been cancelled for today as the remnants of the storm work north easterly.

The EF Ava has been a regular for Eimskip since about 2018. Its original name was OPDR Rotterdam but that was changed on delivery in 2008 to OPDR Tanger for a ten year charter to Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampshiffs Rederei. Its current name, given in 2018, includes the initials EF which stands for ElbFeeder, which is a German company owned by Eimskip, and which builds and charters ships to Eimskip.

The EF Ava as built in 2008 by Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding and is reported to be 7545 gt, 8168dwt with a capacity of 698 TEU with 120 reefer plugs. It is gearless. 

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Algoma East Coast

 The new product tanker Algoma East Coast arrived in Halifax today, April 13, on its delivery trip from the Hyundai Mipo shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. 

 

The ship, which is carrying the Liberian flag temporarily, has yet to carry a cargo. It will undergo Canadian regulatory inspection here, and will transfer to Canadian flag over the next few days.

A thin weld bead of the outline of Saint John is faintly visible on the transom.

 It will then proceed to Saint John, NB to load cargo for Irving Oil and assume its spot in the usual port rotation, delivering refined product to Halifax, Charlottetown and St.John's. It will be an occasional caller in other ports including Quebec City and Montreal and some US ports such as Boston.

The ABS Ice Class 1B ship measures 23,451 gt, 37,242 dwt and includes many features such as cold-ironing (shore power) capable and methanol fuel ready.

The ice knife, installed above and in line with the rudder, prevents ice from jamming the rudder when backing or turning. The hull plating is also thicker to well above the waterline. The transition line is visible in the photo.

Irving Oil has chartered the ship from Algoma Tankers Ltd, and unlike Irving Oil's most recently chartered ships, this one bears no indication of any connection with Irving Oil. It is painted in Algoma Tankers colours and carries the parent company  Algoma Central Corporation "bear" funnel mark and bow crest.   

The ship takes the place of the similarly sized East Coast (23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt) which completed a twenty year charter from Vroon last month and has since been reported in Turkey for refit.  It arrived inYaklova on March 31. 

Irving Oil has contracted with Algoma for two ships, and the second, the Algoma Acadian, has departed  Korea and has been reported arriving in Tarjun, Indonesia, April 7. It will replace the chartered Acadian which is currently unloading at Irving Oil's terminal in Halifax harbour.

 Acadian in Halifax April 5 (it has since been to Charlottetown and Saint John)

 Acadian will be the last ship to carry the well known Irving Oil colours of green boot topping, "biscuit" hull colour and black capped yellow funnel with the Irving logo. It arrived in Halifax April 12.

Algoma Tankers was established in 1998 to take over the Imperial Oil domestic product tanker fleet. It has since become the premier Canadian flag tanker operator with nine ships. It also has an interest in one foreign flag tanker with ten more under construction.

The Algoma East Coast will soon become a familiar sight in Halifax, but seldom in the Narrows. It is seen on arrival today coming alongside Pier 9B. It shows some "lock rash" from its recent Panama Canal passage.

 

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More Tankers

 Tanker traffic in Halifax harbour usually concentrates on the Woodside area on the Dartmouth side of the harbour where both Irving Oil and Imperial Oil have terminals for refined product. Ships docking at these terminals are difficult to photograph due to their distance from Halifax, and inaccessible vantage points. 

On February 25 the Jessie Glory arrived at Imperial Oil from Philadelphia / Camden with a cargo of refined product. It tied up at the newly refurbished dock #3, using mooring buoys for its head and stern lines. Dominion Diving provides a line handling boat for docking and undocking at the jetty.

The Jessie Glory was built in 2024 by K Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Jinhae, South Korea. The shipbuilder is the former STX Offshore and Shipbuilding which went into creditor protection in 2013 and was re-launched as K Shipbuilding in 2021 by new investors (and presumably former creditors). It had been the world's fourth largest shipbuilder, but sold for only $220 million. The ship comes in at 29,549 gt, 49,801 dwt and is operated by Sinokor Ship Management Co Ltd under Marshall Islands flag.

Meanwhile at Irving Oil the Canadian flagged East Coast made an unusual move from Woodside to Pier 9B. A regular caller, it distributes Irving Oil products from the Saint John, NB refinery to Charlottetown, PE and St.John's, NL with occasional forays to the St.Lawrence River and nearby US ports.

 It is very unusual to see this ship in the Narrows, but like the previous caller at Pier 9B, the Algotitan (see February 25 post) it is likely that the ship will undergo some maintenenace that could not be accomplished at the oil dock. (A boom truck was waiting at the pier.)

The ship was turned, by the tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Cedar, off Pier 6, then backed down to Pier 9B.

The five construction cranes at work on new buildings in Dartmouth are not mounted on the ship!
 

The several notable features of the ship became more visible; the large exhaust gas scrubber system which was retrofitted aft of the original funnel; the ice knife in line of the rudder and the initial "E" on the superstructure immediately below the funnel. Each of the Irving Oil tankers has the first letter of its name similarly positioned, presumably as some form of quick identification.

The East Coast was built by Hyundai Mipo in 2005. A 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt ship, it sailed as Nor'Easter under Marshal Islands flag and operated between Saint John and US ports until brought under Canadian flag and renamed in 2014. It joined sister ship Acadian to serve Canadian ports.

The large "V" shield on the ship's bow signifies Vroon B.V., the Dutch company that owns the ships and has them on long term charter to Irving Oil. Those charters are begining to expire this year and

Algoma Tankers Ltd will soon be providing new ships for Irving Oil service. Algoma already serves Imperial Oil, but the new ships are expected to work exclusively for Irving Oil.

This ship's replacement Algoma East Coast conducted sea trials at Ulsan Febraury 8 to 11. Algoma Acadian was launched in December 2024.

As I stated in January "The other two Marshall Islands flag sister ships in the Irving Oil charter fleet, New England and Great Eastern will also be coming up for renewal surveys in the fall of 2025, but there has been no word on replacements (at least to my ear)." 

Another ship, the similar sized former Iver Progress, built in 2007, joined the fleet in 2016 and was given the name Nor'easter, with Marshall Islands registry. 

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