Repeat Performances

Seeing the same ships several times poses challenges for original photos. The same ship in the same place over and over again begins to dull the senses. Fortunately today, although the ships were the familiar, there was something different.

When USS Arleigh Burke sailed this afternoon, the sun was on the Halifax side of the ship - unlike morning arrivals, which is the usual time to see warships.

 Name ship of its class, Arleigh Burke is proceeding cautiously as it leaves Halifax.

Also of course there is the desire to take the photo from forward, but a going away shot can provide some interest too. The ship arrived September 7 and was able to stay in port for a few days. Its May 10, 2017 visit was much briefer, arriving at 1000 hrs and sailing at 1600 hrs.

The autocarrier Elektra is such a regular caller, that I don't photograph it often.  Built in 1999 the ship is still in fine form despite its age. Classed as a Large Car and Truck Carrier (LCTC) it has a capacity of 7,194 cars. This is partly thanks to the 2005 lengthening that increased the ship's grt from 57,018 to 67,264.

Elektra moves from Autoport to pier 28 to off load some non-cars.

Original builder of the ship was Daewoo Heavy Industries, Okpo and the lengthening operation was carried out by Hyundai-Vinishin in Vietnam. A new section of nearly 30 meters was added, increasing the ship's capacity by 20%. It was the first of five Wallenius ships to get the upgrade.

The tanker Alpine Venture was here once before, and that was March 14, 2017, also from Antwerp.  Predictably it was built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan and is 29,130 grt, 46,046 dwt. On that last visit it had to move to Bedford Basin to wait out a storm. That is unlikely to happen this time.

When the ship was here last, most of the refinery was still intact, although de-commissioned. It is all gone now except for the tanks.

Another regular caller, usually seen approaching or sailing from Halterm is Bomar Rebecca. Plowing a regular furrow for Tropical Shipping, it calls every second Monday, regular as clockwork. Today however was different. It unloaded completely, then moved in ballast to pier 25-26.

It is unusual to see a container ship underway in ballast.

Because Hurricane Florence is expected to make shore in the Carolinas later this week, the ship is taking a trip off. It may also be an opportunity for some maintenance with the ship idled for a week. Its counterpart calling alternate weeks, Asian Sun is likely sitting this one out at the southern end of the route. It will not be calling next Monday, when Bomar Rebecca is scheduled to sail.

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To the Basin for shelter

With another major storm passing through from the south, Bedford Basin is once again hosting a number of ships. Of these only the Canadian cargo ship Evans Spirit is making a detour from its normal course to seek shelter.

The ship is en route back to Sept-Iles, QC in ballast, from the US after delivering another cargo of aluminum. This is the second time the ship has sought shelter here (the first was on February 9) this winter.  And once again I didn't manage to get any decent photo.

Despite conflicting traffic signals, the Evans McKeil is heading in the right direction - toward Bedford Basin.


The three other ships, all tankers, went to anchor instead of occupying berths at oil docks. The Irving Oil tanker East Coast was the first to arrive and went directly to the Basin rather than tying up at the Irving Woodside jetty. That berth, although it is recently rebuilt, is not suitable in rough weather.

The next arrival was the Singaporean tanker Alpine Venture. It was due to tie up at Imperial Oil number 3 dock, but went to the Basin. Built in 2010 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, the 29,120 grt, 45,046 dwt ship is part of the Transpetrol fleet.

 With Atlantic Oak made up astern as tethered escort, Alpine Venture lines up for the Narrows and Bedford Basin.

The third tanker is Gotland Sofia (see yesterday's post). It moved from Imperial Oil number 3 dock, which is also an untenable berth in a storm. The ship may have completed unloading in any event, so will likely be heading to sea once the storm passes.

There was one sign of spring in the harbour however. The research vessel Coriolis II ventured away from her layup dock at the old Coast Guard base for some harbour trials.

The former CCGS John Jacobsen was built in 1980 by Versatile Pacific in Victoria, BC as a 500 class rescue cutter CCGS 501. It was renamed in 1992 and declared surplus in 2000, becoming 2000-03. In 2001 the Université de Québec à Rimouski bought and renamed the ship for research use by a consortium of Quebec universities and research institutes, under the umbrella name of Institut national des sciences de la mer (ISMER)  It is also available for commercial charter work.

The former Coast Guard base is to become the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE), but has already become the stopover site for research and offshore vessels in layup or conversion such as Trinity Sea (background of photo above.)
See: COVE

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