Algoma Days

 Algoma Central Corp has become a major shipping operator in recent years. After nearly a century serving the Great Lakes it expanded its bulk carrier activity to international waters through its participation in the CSL self-unloader pool. It also moved into the tanker business, acquiring, then upgrading, Imperial Oil (Esso)'s domestic fleet. It has also formed NACC, Nova Algoma Cement Carriers, in a joint venture with the European operator Nova.

Algoma has now been present in Halifax on consecutive days November 25 and November 26.

On Thursday November 25 the Bahamas flag self-unloading bulk carrier Algoma Verity sailed for Tampa, FL, with a load of gypsum for Gold Bond.

Built by Shanghai Shipyard in 2000 as Alice Oldendorff, the ship was acquired by Algoma in 2019 when Oldendorff exited from the CSL pool. Constructed as a conventional bulk carrier, the ship measures 28,747 gt and 50, 259 dwt. It was immediately retrofitted by Krupp Fordertechnik with a system of conveyors and hoppers. Ship's cranes fitted with grabs, move cargo from the holds to hoppers and conveyors transport the material to the unloading boom which swings out overside to deposit the cargo on shore.

The Krupp system was a way to maximize carrying capacity since most self-unloaders sacrifice hull space for sloping tank tops to direct cargo to belt tunnels. They make up for reduced capacity by rapid discharge and therefore more voyages. However for some trades slightly slower discharge rates can be offset by more cargo capacity per trip, and that is what Oldendorff and Thyssen Krupp had in mind for this system, which retains the conventionally shaped holds. 

On November 26 the Canadian flag self-unloader Radcliffe R. Latimer arrived with a load of grain from Thunder Bay. The rare grain delivery by ship will likely be the only one this year before the St.Lawrence Seaway closes for the winter.

In this 2018 photo, the ship is tied up at Pier 26 unloading into the conveyor system that leads to Halifax Grain Elevators. Most grain that arrives in Halifax is for domestic use as feed or for processing at P+H Milling for flour. Grain exports are rare, but ships do sometimes "top up" in Halifax if they loaded grain at Great Lakes or St.Lawrence River ports.

The Radcliffe R. Latimer was built as the Algobay to maximum St.Lawrence Seaway dimensions by Collingwood Shipbuilding in 1978. It was built to Nova Scotia class, allowing for short sea trips outside the normal limits of Great Lakes bulkers. In 1987-88 it was upgraded to Caribbean class, allowing for extended sea trips. It operated under foreign flag under charter to Beltships from 1990 to 1992 and to CSL as Atlantic Trader from 1994 to 1995, and under Canadian flag to 1997. Its career appeared to be at an end in 2002 when it was laid up in Toronto. However in 2007 Algoma moved the ship to Hamilton where it was prepped for an ocean tow.

In 2008 it was towed to China, via the Suez Canal where a new foreboady was grafted on by Chengxi Shipyard. The existing aft section was much modernised with a new bridge and equipment. It then returned to Canada in 2010 under its own power via the Pacific Ocean and Panama Canal. It was renamed Radcliffe R. Latimer in 2012 and has been an off and on caller in Halifax ever since, sometimes bringing in grain, and loading gypsum for Canadian ports.

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Algoma Verity for more gypsum

 Nova Scotia has long been the world's most productive gypsum mining area and with two ships in Halifax today, there seems to be steady demand for the product in the United States, where most of it sent for processing. The CSL International shipping pool has the contract to carry the raw ore for Gold Bond Canada Ltd (formerly National Gypsum) and CSL Tacoma sailed this morning with a load for Savannah. 

CSL Tacoma at the Wright's Cove dock of  Gold Bond Canada (formerly National Gypsum) dock, preparing to lad yesterday.

This afternoon Algoma Verity arrived from New York for more.

Both ships are familiar callers, and there is little need to repeat their details. However it is worth observing that two companies that are rivals for domestic Canadian cargoes have joined forces to trade internationally. To some extent it is the experience in self-unloader technology that gave them the entree into the world market, but they arrived at the partnership in an unusual way.

Canada Steamship Lines founded CSL International to export their self-unloader expertise, and partnered with Oldendorff and Klaveness for international experience. They were joined by another Canadian rival Upper Lakes Shipping, through their ULS International operation. The latter had been operating self-unloaders internationally also. CSL kept on expanding to Europe and Australia and the self-unloader pool was concentrated on the coal, aggregates and gypsum trade under CSL Americas.

Eventually Klaveness and Oldendorff moved on to other markers, and the ULS Group was divided up domestically and internationally by CSL and Algoma Central Corporation.

Now Canada Steamship Lines and Algoma are the only two Canadian Great Lakes shipping companies of any significant size, and are presumably avid competitors for domestic cargoes. However they are the partners in the CSL pool, and cooperate to carry cargoes up and down the east coast of North America.

Algoma Verity however is not a typical gravity type self-unloader found on the Great Lakes and in  other ships in the CSL pool. Instead it is a sort of hybrid, using four grab cranes to feed a conveyor system, resulting in an odd and cluttered appearance.

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Busy, busy - catch up

 There was a lot of activity in the harbour as the port caught up with weather delays. Very high winds starting yesterday resulted in suspension of pilotage operations until this morning when ships began to sail and arrive again. Most of the arriving ships had spent the night circling offshore waiting for the pilot boat to resume operation.

Among those sailing was the MOL Emissary a familiar caller for THE Alliance.

Built in 2009 by Hyundai, Ulsan the 54,940 gt, 67,170 dwt ship has a capacity of 5087 TEU including 330 reefers. As the ship is on long term charter from Seaspan Corp, it may well serve out its charter in MOL colours rather than take on the ONE magenta hull paint that owned ships would get.

Among the arrivals this morning was the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Titus which went first to Pier 31 to unload special RoRo cargo. It will shift to Autoport this evening to discharge cars.

The 73,358 gt, 23,889 dwt ship, with a capacity of 7656 cars, built in 2018  by Tianjin Xingang, is among the last to be delivered in the old paint scheme of its Wallenius parent.  Since mid 2019 ships are being painted in a new scheme of the merged Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean. Wilhlemsen ships were red/orange and Wallenius were green. The ships still retain the traditional naming themes, with Wilhelmsen ships beginning with the letter "T" and Wallenius named for operatic characters (some of whom have "T" names.)

There was lots of traffic for National Gypsum today too. Algoma Verity docked on arrival from Tampa. A familiar caller since it was built in 2000 as Alice Odendorff it was renamed in 2019 when Algoma acquired the three Oldendorff ships in the CSL self-unloader pool.

The 28,747 gt, 47,404 dwt ship is readily identifiable thanks to its unusual crane/ conveyor/ hopper self-unloading system. It was built by Shanghai Shipyard as a conventional four crane bulker, with the conveyor/hoppers added as a conversion.

A stiff northerly breeze across the Basin meant a wet ride for the tugs' deckhands.

Next in was Algoma Integrity from Baltimore. It was last here November 15, so I will not repeat its details.

With Algoma Verity along side at National Gypsum, Algoma Integrity will cool its heels at anchor until the berth is free.

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Verity for Tampa

Algoma Verity sailed this morning for Tampa, Fl with its cargo of gypsum.

Transiting the Narrows gives a view of the grab crane/ hopper/ conveyor self-unloading system. 

The ship took two days to load - a bit longer than most ships, likely due to having to work around the awkward self-unloading system, but also because some of the gypsum in National Gypsum's Wright's Cove stockpile may have been frozen. [see also yesterday's post.]

Reading the ship's draft marks forward (midships have been obliterated) it appears the ship is drawing about 11.5m which would represent 47 to 48,000 deadweight tonnes - very close to the ship's winter capacity. See the ship's spec sheet - especially the pdf attachment:https://www.cslships.com/en/csl-americas/fleet/vessels-and-specs/algoma-verity

The Narrows was the place to be today - see Tugfax for more of the action.

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Follow ups

Less than ideal photos of several ships recently left a challenge to do a bit better.

The November 9 photo of Atlantic Sky alongside Fairview Cove taken from Granbury Place in Fairview was one of those, and today's ideal conditions gave a chance to catch the ship as it approached the MacKay bridge inbound.

The ship is on the eastbound leg of its trip and is due to sail over night for Liverpool.

I wasn't able to improve much on the July 18 [http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2019/07/harbour-round-up.html  ] photo of Algoma Verity but today's shot does underline the point that when Algoma took over the former Alice Oldendorff they did not plan to do much repainting.

In today's photo, the shoreside traveling loader is working on the forward holds, and so the unloading boom is not swung out over the dock, but is raised to allow the loader access to the hatches.

The green spar buoy is H-39 Seaview Point, and opposite Bedford Institute and marks the  entrance to the Narrows from Bedford Basin.

[No there is no view of the sea, but that was the name for a park in the area. In 2011 the park was renamed Africville Park officially, in recognition of the community that was located in the area until the 1960s . When Africville was razed to build the bridge approaches and as part of so called urban renewal, the area not used for the roadways was made into a park and named Seaview Park. A community church in the area, named Seaview African United Baptist Church was demolished in 1969. As part of the civic apology for the mis-treatment of Africville residents in 2002, a replica church has been built, the area has been declared a national historic site and the park renamed. ]

A sculpture in the park pays tribute to the Africville residents who died in the Halifax Explosion - largely unrecognized. The community was severely damaged in the 1917 blast that occurred  nearby.

Also arriving today is the Zim feeder Hansa Meersburg referenced October 31 when it made its first call: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2019/10/tropical-surprise-and-mystery-guest.html

Arriving just at sunset, the ship caught a few last rays.

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Harbour Round up

Before setting out upon a road trip to Quebec, I did a final look round the harbour today.

At Imperial Oil's number 3 dock the Largo Mariner was at work unloading a cargo of refined product from Antwerp.

This is the second ship recently that was built by the Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard in Ninh Hoa, Vietnam (High Challenge was here on July 14- [qv]). This one dates from 2018 when it was built as Desert Mariner but was renamed on delivery, with a double change of ownership on the same day. This is a reminder (if we needed one) that ships are commodities, much like their cargo, and can be traded or sold for business reasons. Mid Range tankers, such as this one at 20,407 gt, 49,992 dwt are the work horses of the "clean" (i.e. refined) product business and are operating more profitably than other shipping sectors at this time.

Current owners, listed are Meridian 15 Ltd, but interestingly managers are Cargill Ocean Transportation, the shipping arm of the giant grain trading business. With about 570 dry cargo bulk carriers under it control, it also has a small position in tankers. Cargill expects to have some twenty tankers (all chartered) in its fleet by next year.

A familiar ship appeared at National Gypsum today, but in a new guise. Algoma Verity is the new name hastily applied to the former Alice Oldendorff, one of three ships recently acquired by Algoma when Oldendorff Carriers withdrew from the CSL self-unloader pool. Klaveness exited the pool a few years ago, leaving only CSL Americas and Algoma as members.

Algoma Verity alongside National Gypsum with the ship's 65.5 meter long self-unloading boom swung way out over land to give the traveling ship loader room to work.

Algoma does not stand on much ceremony when it takes over a ship, with funnel marks and hull paint to follow - sometimes years later.

The ship was built in 2000 by Shanghai Shipyard as a typical bulk  carrier with four cranes. However when the Asain economic crisis  ment a change of plans and a series of hoppers, and deck mounted conveyors and a long boom were added to permit the ship to unload to a stockpile. The cranes bucket the cargo out of the hold into the hoppers. It then runs along the conveyors to the boom which deposits the material on land.
Self-unloaders with conveyors in the bottom of the hold (gravity fed) are more expensive to build and sacrifice carrying capacity due to the sloping sides to the holds. They make up in speed of unloading to compensate.
This ship at 28,747 gt is able to reach 48,000 dwt, where a similar tunnel type self-unloader might only make 35,000 to 40,000 dwt. It is not a particularly fast unloader. It can only manage about 750 tonnes per hour, whereas the tunnel types can reach 3500 to 5000 tonnes per hour depending on the cargo.

Autocarriers were particularly present in the harbour today with Tombarra at pier 31 unloading Canadian military vehicles and other non-auto RoRo cargo.  At Autoport the first ship in was Olympian Highway in the flashy new K-Line livery.

It was carrying import cargo, and sailed mid-afternoon for Baltimore. Its place was soon taken by Columbian Highway, which I did not see, but suspect was still carrying the old plain gray hull colour. It was not in port long either, and sailed for Emden, Germany, with some export cargo.

There was also activity at pier 42 as the second crib for the pier extension was coseyed into place.

The painfully slow tow from Pier 9C with Sandra Mary pulling full and with its towing line bar taught, and J.F.Whalen pushing took about three hours.

It was then nudged into place with the crane barge Idus Atwell holding it. The crane barge Derrick # 4 was then moved to the outer face to secure it for the night.

Once in final position the crib will be sunk in place, by admitting water through valves in the bottom.

The tender notice for structural fill was advertised in today's paper, with a closing date of August 1. It is the third phase of the project to extend Pier 42 to accommodate two large container ships at the same time.

Extending the pier is only part of the work needed to accommodate 10,000 TEU+ ships. Back-up land to store the boxes will have to double in size also, and that will necessitate filling in the spaces between the current finger piers if the South End Container Terminal is to remain the port's only facility for the large ships.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, traveling during the next month or so will mean sporadic postings here, and some of those will not be from Halifax.