WEC Majorelle

1. WEC Majorelle conducts a compass swing in number one anchorage area Friday.

The story ends here for American Feeder Lines, with the sailing Friday of WEC Majorelle.  First seen here as AFL New England, the ship was to be the first in a fleet of coastal container ships providing a feeder service between major ports on the east coast of Canada and the US.
Unable to generate enough cargo out of Halifax, and even less return cargo from Boston and Portland, the service was finally terminated in April. With mountains of debt surrounding the operation the ship was finally impounded and sold at auction.
The new owners renamed the ship WEC Majorelle and she sailed on Friday September 14 for Casablanca. That port is a hub for West European Container Lines BV, a Dutch firm, formed in 2009, but with roots going back to 1978. It has expanded dramatically from short sea routes to incoporate about 20 different lines covering Spain/ Portugal, the West Indies, North and East Africa.
See more at http://www.weclines.com/
Most of their fleet appear to be small hatchless container ships similar to WEC Majorelle.

2. The launch Captain Jim comes alongside to disembark the compass adjustor, as the ship heads for sea.

AFL New England - paper does some homework-but more to do

1. AFL New England - not stranded but detained.

Following my mini rant the other day, a local newspaper did some more homework and spoke to both the International Transport Workers Federation inspector and the Mission to Seafarers (as I suggested) and confirmed that the crew had been paid.
Nevertheless the paper insists on using the word stranded. Well you can't win 'em all.
However there is more homework that I might suggest. I hear that there are maritime liens against the ship placed by a crown agency and a pier operator. This means that the ship is effectively detained in Halifax until the liens are lifted. They could be lifted by paying outstanding bills or posting a bond to cover eventual settlement.
This sounds to me as if the operators (but not the ship's owners) have not been paying their bills, and the only recourse by debtors is to lien the ship. So the question remains, what is the status of American Feeder Lines? Are they in creditor protection, bankrupt or what? Do they owe money to others as well. If so, that would useful information in the Business section of a newspaper.
This could turn nasty for all if the operators turn out to have shallow pockets and no assets. The ship might get caught in the middle.

AFL still looking for cargo?

1. AFL New England arriving June 14.

The feeder ship AFL New England arrived June 14 and has been sitting at anchor ever since. This morning the ship moved in to pier 25-26, but not to load cargo. That pier is usually used by ships to make repars, take on fresh water, or to lay up for engine repairs.

For the second week in a row, apparently no cargo has been on offer for the Boston/Portland area. The scheduled load day for Ceres, Wednesday/Thursday, has come and gone. The load day for Halterm is Friday/Saturday, so will there be cargo there?

One has to wonder how long a service can hold out until cargo arrives. Also there has apparently been no outbound cargo from Boston or Portland.

Interestingly, the owners have made no public announcements, and their web site is silent on any news.

AFL standing by

1. OOCL Kaohsiung sails from Ceres on Sunday with AFL New England anchored in the background.

2. Paris Express ditto.

The new American Feeder Lines service to Boston and Portland was originally expected to get underway by late May, but the service has not moved a container yet.

A big inaugural party was held in Portland, with officials from Halifax and many US folks in attendance, and the start-up date given at that time was May 28. Information published by AFL states a Q2 (second quarter of the year) start.

The ship AFL New England arrived in Halifax last Tuesday, but is still anchored in Bedford Basin.

The published schedule for the line shows the ship picking up containers at Ceres on Wednesday/Thursday and Halterm on Friday/Saturday, but nothing happened this weekend.

Maybe this week?

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American Feeder Lines, Voyage #1

1. AFL New England, freshly painted and newly renamed, strides into Halifax for the first time this afternoon.

2. The ship's distinctive looks are at least in part due to the open hold design.

American Feeder Lines is now in business, with its first arrival in Halifax today. The line has been established under a US government mandate to get trucks off the roads and to parallel the main US Interstate highways with sea lanes.

The company will eventually build ships in the US for services up and down the east coast, but in the meantime they have chartered the German owned AFL New England.

Built at the [sadly now defunct]* J.J.Sietas yard in Hamburg in 1996, the ship was originally called Hohebank, but has carried the following names: 1996: Pentland, 1997: Susan Borchard, 2001: Hohebank, 2003: Hohesand. It was renamed AFL New England in May especially for this service. * [Sorry, the yard was apparently rescued by new management in 2010 after being in the hands of the Sietas family since 1653.]

The ship is an interesting one, built with a hatchless main hold. The forward end of the ship has conventional hatches, and the deck is raised. There is then a large dam to protect the open hold, and to form a frame for container carrying cells. There is then a third hold with hatches. The superstructure is perched on the stern to maximize deck space, but the engine is located forward of the superstructure. She is a similar configuration to Ocean Avalon, built in the same yard in 2004, but it is a much larger ship. The principal of the open hold design is that it speeds loading and unloading. Most containers do not need weather protection, and can happily stack on top of each other without the need of hatch covers to support part of the load. Removal and stowage of hatches takes time and space, which can delay timely turnarounds. The open hold is designed so that it can be drained of rain or incoming seawater by pumping, and the ship has inherent stability in case of pump failure.

This ship measures 6362 gross tons and has a capacity of 700 TEU, of which 100 may be refrigerated.

AFL will operate a weekly service out of Halifax to Portland, Maine and Boston initially for Hapag-Lloyd, but also for other lines such as Zim. The ship is painted blue, the same colour as a previous feeder ship, Yankee Clipper, which maintained a similar service from 1980 to 1993. AFL New England will feed containers to and from New England, and reduce congestion and truck traffic into US ports such as New York.

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