Autoport double header

 It was a two ship day for Autoport today (May 6), with one ship sailing and another arriving soon after.

First arrival was the familiar Siem Cicero, a regular since first arriving in Halifax July 21, 2017 on its maiden voyage. Built by Uljanik in Pula, Croatia, the 56,677 gt, 17,416 dwt ship has a capacity of about 7,000 RT*. It has a 100 tonne capacity stern ramp and a 15 tonne capacity side ramp.

 The ship has a "history" with Halifax. In March 2021 it was barred from entering port until two weeks after the last symptoms of COVID-19 had been disappeared from the crew. It idled off Halifax from March 17 to April 6 before docking. Today all was apparently well, and the ship arrived and sailed on time.

While outbound it passed the inbound Aniara, also a ship that has called here many times before. It dates from 2008 when it was delivered by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Company, Okpo, South Korea. The 71,673 gt, 30,089 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,620 RT43*, and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp.

The Aniara is from the Wallenius part of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, but has not yet been repainted in the new colour scheme adopted for the merged fleet.

* RT43 or RT is the standard term used to rate capacity for car carriers. It is based on the model of the first car to be shipped on a dedicated autocarrier - the 1966 Toyota Carolla. The important characteristic was the overall lane space required to accomodate the 4m long x 1.5m wide car. Since then the term has been used by all autocarriers and should be considered relative only, as it may not represent the actual number of cars that can be carried, as some cars will be larger and some smaller.

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Returning to normal - almost

The port began to return to normal late yesterday and into today. As the seas flattened out a bit and the wind tailed off, ships were able to arrive and depart safely.

APL Phoenix getting underway this morning, with ZIM Alabama also at anchor in the background. The Maugher's Beach lighthouse did indeed suffer damage and its light signal is now considered "unreliable".

Ships that had been trapped in the port were able to sail, starting with Toscana (which was not in for repairs after all, but was waiting out the weather since last Thursday) and Nolhanava (was due to sail Friday) both  left yesterday, and Aniara was able to move from pier 31 to Autoport, a move that had been intended for Friday).

Aniara was then able to get away this morning.

The Maersk/CMA CGM EM Kea arrived form Montreal yesterday and sailed this morning (it would have been a Saturday caller)

YM  Modesty and Altantic Star departed from Ceres in Fairview Cove. They had been scheduled to leave Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Among arrivals today APL Phoenix got in to Halterm, but left Zim Alabama waiting at anchor outside until tomorrow. Zim Ningbo is also at sea waiting for tomorrow - both several days behind schedule.

Tomar arrived for pier 31. It is a sister to Toscana at 61,328 grt, 22,144 dwt, built in 2008 by Mitsubishi Nagasaki, with a capacity of 6354 CEU

The long awaited Pegasus Highway also finally made it in today (was due March 1) and got underway again this afternoon. An interesting ship, it is rather old as autocarriers go, built in 1994 by Oshima Shipbuilding in Oshima, Japan, it is also relatively small by today's standards, at 49,012 grt and 15,553 dwt. On departure it gave its next port as Cristobal, Panama. It is unusual that it would have no USA stops.

Also making it into port today was the Irving Oil tanker East Coast and the Newfoundland connector Oceanex Sanderling.

The pilot boat Scotia Pilot was kept busy today, running in and out with pilots. Some pilots disembarked early and the boat, with pilot aboard, then escorted the ships out to the pilot station area.
 
This was a busy day in the port as a result, but there have been several other delayed arrivals due to the weather to the south. The regular Melfi and Tropical ships, usually here on Monday or Tuesday have extended ETAs. Melfi's Jona is scheduled for tomorrow (but not confirmed). Tropical's Bomar Rebecca has been postponed for a week to March 12, and all subsequent ships are advanced a week.

Numerous other schedules have also been thrown in disarray by weather both in Europe and the North American eastern seaboard.

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Busy at Pier 9C, and elsewhere

Pier 9C, the recently developed area of Richmond Terminals has been very busy recently, certainly justifying the investment the port made in expanding the area nearest the A. Murray MacKay bridge.

Today, in addition to the suppliers Atlantic Tern and Burin Sea, regular users of the area, there is a large load of drill pipe and riser assembling for BP's drilling program this summer. The finishing touches are also being made on the new MI Swaco drilling lubricant facility at the extreme north end of the pier.

The surprise visitor at the pier is the autocarrier Toscana which seems to be in for repairs, since its ramps are in the up position and no cargo work appears to be going on.

It is unusual to see an autocarrier in the Narrows, and such a large ship at Pier 9C.

The dock area is covered with drill pipe (rusty coloured) and riser assembly (white) that BP will be using for their exploration well. There would be little room for the ship to lower is cargo ramps - especially the 300 tonne capacity stern ramp.

Toscana is not super large by today's standards, but it does measure an impressive 61,328 grt, 22,250 dwt and has a capacity of 6,354 CEU. It was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki in 2009. It is a Wilhelmsen ship operating in the Wallenius Wilhelmsen fleet that numbers about sixty auto carriers.

Speaking of autocarriers, another Wallenius Wilhelmsen ship was tied up at the other end of the port at pier 31 at the south end Ocean Terminals.This one however is a member of the Wallenius partner in the line. Aniara although essentially the same type of ship is quite a bit bigger at 71,673 grt,  30,087 dwt, with a capacity of 7,600 CEU (car equivalent units). This largely achieved by length- it is 231.6m long versus 199.9 for Toscana. Aniara was built in 2008 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Engineering in Okpo. The ship will likely move to Autoport, but no time has been given due to weather. Pier 31 is a much better place to be during very high winds.

In the the new fenced off era it seems that ships have become more background than foreground.

At nearby Halterm both Oceanex Sanderling and Nolhanava were loading for their coastal trips. However Nolhanava has opted to go to anchor tonight in view of the winds predicted for the next 24 hours.

Fairview Cove had two ships today also, Glen Canyon Bridge which arrived this morning and YM Modesty arriving late this afternoon.

 YM Modesty is a 6258 TEU container ship built in 2013 by Koyo Dockyard in Japan. It measures 71,821 grt and 72,730 dwt.

Just to give an idea of how blustery it is already, the launch / tug Captain Jim was making a lot of spray on its way back from a chore in Bedford Basin.

The boat was built in 1989 along fishing boat lines, but is a jack of all trades, doing small towing, working as a launch and crew/supply boat in the harbour for owners RMI Marine.

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Rain or Shine

Ships come and go, rain or shine, and such was the case this morning with several arrivals blanketed in fog and with rain or drizzle adding to the gloom.
The only ship fit for a photo was Aniara arriving for Autoport.

A bit of judicious photo editing brought out some of the colour despite the elements.


Built in 2008, the ship is rated for 7,600 RT43 cars. RT43 is based on the space needed for a 1966 or1967 Toyota Corona, representing 7.38975m2, without allowance for stowage space. It is also sometimes referred to as a CEU, or Car Equivalent Unit.

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Harbour Roundup

With a number of interesting ships and first time callers in Halifax over the past few days, it has been frustrating that weather conditions (particularly on land) have been so desperate as to preclude driving. From heavy snow through rain and back to snow, then temperatures yo-yoing from sub freezing to a balmy +4 then back to the deep freeze tonight, your intrepid blogger took life in his hands today to make a quick tour of the waterfront.

Harbour business has been proceeding undiminished, but slowed sometimes by weather. A swell is still running in the harbour, but the pilot boat can still work safely.

 Chebucto Pilot rides a small swell in the harbour.

Snow and ice removal on the shore-side proceeds at full tilt so that ships may be unloaded or loaded.

Autoport must have been a major mess of snow and ice, and Wilhelmsen's Aniara was delayed in moving over to the Halifax side to work some project cargo. It was finally able to sail this afternoon for New York.

There were no picnic bench users to see the departure of Aniara for New York.

Aniara was built in 2008 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Engineering in Okpo, South Korea, and counts among the larger ship in the Wallenius Lines fleet at 71,672 grt and a capacity of 7,600 cars.


At the adjacent pier 27 Onego Trader was unloading another load of rails for CN. The 6301 grt, 8930 dwt ship has a pair of 40 tonne cranes to work cargo from its two holds.The holds are box shaped, the ship is double skinned and its pontoon type hatches are the full width of the holds.
It was built by Bowdewes Volharding in Foxhol, Netherlands  as Devi Laksmi in 2001. It became Harns in 2008 for current owner SO Harns CV. It took its present name in 2010 when it began its charter to Onego, and still flies the Dutch flag..

A dump truck adds to the salinity of Halifax harbour as Onego Trader takes a lunch break from unloading at pier 27.

It is not the first Onego Trader to call in Halifax. A previous ships of the same name was built in 2003 by the same shipbuilders, but in Hoogezand (on a hull built in Russia). It unloaded rails here in 2005 and 2007.

 The first Onego Trader was a smaller ship of 5057 grt, 7250 dwt.

On its last visit here February 1, 2008 it was in port only long enough to disembark an appendicitis case, and returned to sea. It was renamed Velserdiep in 2010, a name it had previously carried from 2003 to 2004.
See previous post: 2013-09-25

At the farthest end of the harbour a very different ship was loading gypsum. CSL Thames is operated by CSL Norway AS of Bergen, and is not usually seen on this side of the pond. In 2011 CSL formed CSL Europe and acquired the eleven ship strong self-unloader business of Kristian Jebsens Rederi A/S. Jebsens were European pioneers in using belted self-unloaders, and had a fleet of smaller ships that could access smaller ports. Although they were seen from time to time in Canada their business was usually in North Europe and the Mediterranean.
 
CSL Thames was built for Jebsens as Vestnes (their ships' names always ended in "nes") in 2010 by Yantai Raffles in Yantai, China. It measures 19,538 grt, 29,827 dwt  and is among the largest of the Jebsen ships. It was renamed in 2011.

Like most Jebsens ships, CSL Thames has its self-unloading gear mounted well forward in the narrowest part of the hull where it takes up less cargo space.

One Jebsens ship that did call in Halifax was Trones, built in 1986 by Kleven, Ulsteinvik, a self-unloader of 7556 grt and 11,389 dwt. 

Trones joined the CSL Europe fleet in 2011 and now sails as CSL Shannon.

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Earlier in the day (while it was dark) another CSL pool ship stopped in Halifax for bunkers. Honourable Henry Jackman seldom calls in Halifax, due to its size, but it is a regular visitor to the Strait of Canso. Built in 1981 by Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding in Chiba, Japan as the single hull tanker Berge Charlotte it was delivered as Lagoven Caripe, became 96: Caripe, 96: Patrolokos. Algoma Shipping bought the ship in 2007 and rebuilt it as a self-unloading bulker of 46,191 grt, 75,598 dwt. Chengxi Shipyard in China built and installed a new forebody which also contained the self-unloading apparatus, which is mounted aft (unlike the Jebsens types).

Not being able to take a photo, I will instead refer to CSL Pool's spec sheet:
http://cslships.com/files/csl/csl_henryjackman.pdf

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Also rans

Not an apology, but Shipfax does not post everything that happens in Halifax harbour. The amount of activity is such that I have to pick and chose what I post. Despite my well known ability to be in more than one place at a time, I do miss things too.
Today I photographed two ships for no other reason than I was there. With no particular reason to post them, they would normally be consigned to the archives. However, in the interests of fairness I will give them equal time.

Regular Holland America callers Maasdam and Veendam get short shrift here I am afraid, simply because they are in port so often. However their big fleet mate Eurodam is less common. With a passenger capacity of 2,104 and 929 crew, it is not the biggest ship to call in Halifax by any means, but it is free from the graffiti like hull painting on NCL ships, and wears a traditional livery - nice break from the kitchen appliance white favoured by most lines.

It also has two funnels - not that rare, but these are peculiarly stove-pipe like, reflecting the fact that it was originally intended to be a Costa Crociere ship (another brand within Carnival) and the stove pipes were something of a trade mark with them. The ship thrust itself off the dock at pier 20 most convincingly, using three bow thrusters and a couple more in the stern, despite a stiff breeze.
Just visible under the ship's bow is today's Autoport visitor Aniara.

Named for one of the opera world's lesser characters ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniara_%28opera%29 if you are curious) the ship dates from 2008 and is one of the largest autocarriers to call in Halifax. Its capacity of 7,600 cars is just short of the 7,900 figure boasted by some other members of the W+W fleet.
We have just heard of a huge settlement by NYK for price fixing in the RoRo world. Apparently other lines have been charged too. http://www.ihsmaritime360.com/article/14760/k-line-pays-67-7m-to-resolve-us-anti-trust-allegations

Don't worry Shipfax has not spawned another offshoot -there is no Planefax - although that is all we publish here. But it was noteworthy to see a United States Coast Guard aircraft in the skies over Halifax harbour.

For plane aficionados, it bore the number 2309 and is an HC-144 Ocean Sentry medium range patrol aircraft.The Canadian Coast Guard did advise that it was carrying out large scale search and rescue exercises in Mahone Bay today, involving Canada, the US and France.

Meanwhile the CCG carries on its normal duties. Yesterday CCGS Edward Cornwallis returned to port with a landing craft lashed to its deck. These small craft are used to reach shallow water navaids and to service islands, attend to pollution incidents and carry out general service work.

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