Flowering

It is a little early in the year for flowers, but that seemed to be the theme in Halifax today. The auto carrier  Primrose Ace  arrived at Autoport this morning.

Primrose Ace has just lowered its 100 tonne capacity stern tramp at Autoport. 

 

Despite the ship's calls in Halifax in December 2017 and December 2018, I was not able to get a photo before now. Built in 2007 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding, the 59,952 gt, 17,339 dwt PCTC has a capacity of 6400 cars according to the MOL ACE (Auto Carrier Express) website. Of the 120 ships in the fleet, the largest has a capacity of 6800 cars, so this is one of their larger ships.

Parent company Mitsui OSK Lines is a huge conglomerate of more than 400 subsidiaries. Even after hiving off their container line last year to form Ocean Network Express with K-Line and NYK Line it still has a large interest in bulk  carriers, tankers, passenger ships, terminals on onshore logistics.

The other botanical presence in Halifax today presents an apparent contradiction, at least at first glance, combining Swiss mountains with tropical flowers. Alpine Hibiscus arrived at Imperial Oil dock number 4 late Saturday from Baton Rouge, LA.

Alpine Hibiscus goes with the basic black and white colour scheme, unlike the other tanker in port - see yesterday's post.

The actual owners of ships are often hard to determine. This one is no different, however it is managed by the Singapore-based ST Shipping and Transport Pte, the shipping arm of the controversial multi-national Glencore Inc. Possibly the tenth largest company in the world, Glencore (which merged with Xstrata in 2013) is headquartered in Switzerland. That would explain the "Alpine" prefix.

Of course like most tankers these days, the ship was built in South Korea, and the hibiscus is the national flower of South Korea, which may explain the choice, and the contradiciton.

Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, delivered the 23,313 gt, 37,857 dwt ship in 2010 as Megacore Hibiscus. The name was changed to a more modest one in 2011 when Glencore needed to spruce up its image somewhat after a number of scandals - "Megacore" was just too close to reality. 

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Tanker after Tanker

Two tankers arrived an hour apart this afternoon, both from the St.Lawrence River.
First in was Irving Oil's Acadian. Built in 2005 by Hyundai Mipo, the 23,356 gt, 37,525 dwt ship is owned by TB Tankship I Inc and managed by Iver Ships BV on a long term charter to Irving Oil.

Acadian carries a coat of frozen spray on deck from bow to nearly midships.

 

The ship's last port was Montreal where it loaded at Norcan Terminal. At last report Irving Oil was a part owner of the facility along with La Co-op Fédérée and MacEwan Petroleum Inc. The terminal has pipeline access and can store 1.3mn bbl of gasoline and distillate.


The second arrival is primarily a chemical tanker, built in 2008 by Yildirim, Tuzla, Turkey. Originally named Selay-S. it traded under the Turkish fag until 2017. Current owners Lasse Shipping CV, are Netherlands based, as are managers South Ends Tanker Management BV. They renamed the ship in 2017.

Although traveling essentially the same route, Selasse appears to have much less frozen spray than Acadian. Its covered forepeak may be responsible for some of that. Note however that the vessel's port anchor is lowered away and ready for use.

The ship measures 7776 gt, 11,796 dwt and is bound from Trois-Rivières, QC to New Haven, CT. It tied up at pier 27 and is not loading or unloading cargo.

More tankers are due. The Isolde has been anchored off Halifax since yesterday awaiting its turn at Irving Oil. Algonorth, on the Lévis shuttle, sailed from Imperial Oil dock 4 this morning. (Berth 5 - the former crude oil pier has been decommissioned, and berth 3 is no longer used. It was once primarily the export berth.) and the Alpine Hibiscus is due tomorrow from Baton Rouge for Imperial.

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