Wait your turn

Ships in Halifax are bit like bananas - they come (and go) in bunches.


The tanker  Ridgebury Cindy A arrived off Halifax yesterday and waited at anchor until the berth at Imperial Oil dock 4 was clear. When Piltene sailed late this morning, the ship headed in. Docking was not to be - at least not right away - as two tugs were also needed for the followIng ship, Hapag-Lloyd's Berlin Express - and there are only three tugs to serve the port.

Dominion Diving's launch Halmar returns to Dartmouth Cove after disembarking the pilot from the Ridgebury Cindy A at the inner anchorage.

Atlantic Oak (bow) and Atlantic Fir (stern) take up positions as Berlin Express passes the Middle Ground area in a diminishing drizzle.

Berlin Express is a big ship, at 88,493 grt, 100,019 dwt and requires the most powerful tugs. As a container ship it also has priority and so the Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Fir took charge of the ship while Ridgebury Cindy A went to an inner anchorage. The container ship then went west of George's Island - one of the largest ships to to do so - to avoid the anchored tanker and the Woodside ferry.

The sun began to peak out as the ship entered the Narrows. 

Built in 2009 by Hyundai Ulsan, the ship has a capacity of 7506 TEU including 700 reefers.

After the tugs had shepherded Berlin Express to the Bedford Basin and tied it up at Fairview Cove, one of the tugs could be released to assist the third tug Atlantic Willow to dock the Ridgebury Cindy A.

Built by SPP Plant + Shipbuilding Co in Sacheon, South Korea, as Yasa Ceyhan for Turkish owners in 2009, Ridgebury Cindy A has worked in the Norient Tanker Pool ApS of Hellerup, Denmark under its present name since 2013. It has typical tonnages of 29,905 grt and 50,162 dwt for a Mid Range product tanker


Surely these arrivals could be arranged with a little more finesse. Ridgebury Cindy A was put to extra expense by requiring one pilot inbound to anchor then an hour or more later another pilot from anchor to dock. It could have been done in one move if the arrival had been postponed by an hour.

While three tugs are normally enough to cover requirements in the harbour, it does result in delays from time to time. The business case for four tugs would be hard to make, but three tugs could handle all the work with better coordination.

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G6 Demise - UPDATED

It is widely expected that an announcement will be made this week that will reshape the face of container shipping world wide.

Hapag-Lloyd's Berlin Express (7506 TEU) arrives this afternoon on the G6 Alliance service.

 

The G6 Alliance, a major caller in Halifax, will have to be reorganized as member OOCL will be joining CMA CGM in a competing alliance. CMA CGM's earlier takeover of NOL'S container line APL means that APL will also be leaving the G6. In fact the EU regulators have specified that they must do so.

The Ocean Alliance of CMA CGM , the newly formed China COSCO, OOCL and Evergreen, will begin operation early next year. (CMA CGM currently calls in Halifax under the prevous alliance with UASC and CSCL.)



The remaining members of the G6 are Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai (HMM), MOL and NYK. Left out of the CMA CGM lead Ocean Alliance, United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) will join the list of eight "orphan" lines, only some of which will be able to form a new alliance. The remaining orphans are Hanjin, Yang Ming and K-Line.

A number of shipping lines will be presenting a proposal for a new alliance to US regulators this week, and we will find out who will be working together.

There are fears that any lines left out of this newest alliance will be seriously compromised as rates continue to plummet and new, larger ships continue to be delivered.


Update:
It seems that the new, still unnamed, alliance will somehow include all eight orphans in one way or another. With Hapag-Lloyd as the largest and strongest member in the lead, it will incorporate the Japanese Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), Mitsu OSK Lines (MOL) and Kawasaki Kaisen Kaisha (K-Line), the Korean Hanjin and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Taiwanese Yang Ming (YM).
The eighth orphan, United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) is in independent talks about a merger with Hapag-Lloyd and will become a member of the new alliance either way.
The monstrous management details that will have to be worked out over the next 6 months or so will be a huge challenge, but the way it looks now is that the members will have to figure it out in order to survive.

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Full House container traffic, not to mention more cars and product tankers

There were four container ships in port on Saturday and three more on Sunday, making for a very full house.

Saturday's arrivals for Fairview Cove were Herma P for Hapag-Lloyd on the G-6 service and Atlantic Compass for ACL.

The big Lift project, to replace the roadway of the Angus L. Macdonald bridge got underway on Saturday, with the first old section lowered to a barge and continued on Sunday with the raising of the first new section. In all 46 sections will be replaced in this way, working across the centre span of the bridge. There were no ship traffic restrictions this weekend (except the cautionary for ships to make a low wake in the area). As the project continues however, there will be over night stoppages for harbour traffic. The process of roadway replacement will take until 2017 and will be done in this way to allow for normal bridge traffic during the day.

 The first new section of roadway was lifted into place on Sunday. It was hoisted from a barge by the yellow gantry unit.

See also Tugfax: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2015/10/big-lift-small-tugs.html


Meanwhile on Saturday at Halterm EM Kea (under charter to CMA CGM) made another call for the Maersk /CMA CGM transatlantic service. First time caller UASC Zamzam called on the other CMA CGM far east service operated jointly with United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) and China Shipping Container Line (CSCL) called Ocean Three.

 UASC Zamzam was here for the first time. Renamed this year from Asiatic Summer it is a 94,784 grt, 112,171 dwt ship with a capacity of 9034 TEU - the largest yet to visit Halifax. It flies the Singapore flag for owners Asiatic Lloyd and was built in 2014 by Hyundai Samho.
It arrived and sailed in the dark.
 
 On Sunday Fairview Cove was full again with NYK Demeter and NYK Rumina  Halterm had 'only' Berlin Express on its east bound call. [The later ship has eluded my camera on several occasions, including today.]

 
Autoport was chock a block once again, with Pleiades Spirit on Saturday, Grande Napoli early Sunday and Hoegh Bangkok later, staying until Monday.

Pleiades Spirit was built in 2008 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding and measures 60,330 grt, 17,424 dwt. It is owned by Mizuho Sangyo and flies the flag of Panama. It is operated by World Wide Marine but its commercial activities are managed by Nissan.

Product tanker traffic was busy too, with BW Panther arriving Friday, STI Seneca sailing Saturday, via anchorage, and Star I  arriving Sunday.

STI Seneca stopped at anchorage for a few hours to pump out something into containment units on a Dominion Diving barge, with tug Roseway in attendance.

Diehards got in some of their last sailing on Saturday as BW Panther  occupies number 4 berth and Algoma Dartmouth uses number 3 berth at Imperial Oil.

BW Panther was launched by SPP Shipbuilding Co of Goseong, South Korea in 2014 as Elandra Panther, but was renamed on delivery to BW Maritime of Singapore. It has typical handysize dimensions of 29,737 grt, 49,999 dwt.

If that wasn't enough the offshore supply boats seemed to be busy with all three Shell charters gearing up for work, as the drill ship Stena Icemax is finally on its way toward the Shelburne Basin to begin drilling for Shell Oil. The ship is off Florida now and will be in position in a few days. It not expected to call in Halifax.

See also Tugfax for more on the suppliers.

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Berlin Express - another new one for Hapag-Lloyd

1. Berlin Express, broadside to, readying to turn around and back in alongside Farview Cove.

Another new name in Halifax for Hapag-Lloyd, Berlin Express, arrived July 16 and sailed early July 17. At 88,493 gross tons and 100,019 deadweight, it is among the heavyweights assigned to Halifax as part of the new G6 Alliance. Built in 2003 by Hyundai, Ulsan, it has a capacity of 7506 TEU. Although not on the original list of G6 ships, it is a sister to Dalian Express and Yantian Express, which have already put in appearances. The ship is carrying numerous containers from G6 partners APL , MOL and Hyundai.

2. Inbound, just past the MacKay bridge, stern tug Atlantic Oak moves to starboard side, while forward tug Atlantic Larch exerts some additional braking.

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