Perils of the North - News and Update

 Following up on my September 12 post entitled Another Grounding :

With diminishing ice in the far north there has been a dramatic increase the amount of shipping activity in the Canadian arctic. All this activity is not without risk and this year there have been at least four instances of ships in trouble in the far north.

The first that I became aware of was the Dutch ship Tiberborg which went adrift in Baffin Bay in mid-August. A 14,695 gt, 21,303 dwt multi-purpose ship, rated Finnish / Swedish Ice Class 1A, it carries four 50 tonne SWL cranes to serve two box shaped holds with full width hatches. Built by Hudong Zhonghua in 2013, it is one of four sister ships in the Royal Wagenborg fleet. It has made several Northwest Passages, and this time had sailed from Baie-Comeau, QC August 4 and Matane, QC, August 8. (Those ports suggest it was carrying paper.)

The ship was taken in tow by the tug Beverly M 1 and towed back to Baie-Comeau, QC, arriving September 9, where presumably the problem was rectified. The ship then sailed from Baie-Comeau September 22, this time by a more southern route, transiting the Panama Canal October 4. It is now due in Osnan, South Korea on November 7. 

The sister ship Thamesborg as reported in the previous post, went aground September 6 (or 7th) off Tasmania Island in Franklin Strait, not a usual route, and seemingly poorly charted.  After lightering off some 5,000 tonnes of cargo to the Silver Copenhagen and the Canadian ship Nunalik it was refloated October 10 using the Estonian flag icebreaker Botnica and the Canadian tug Beverly M 1. Some dewatering of ballast tanks was also carried out. After survey in Pond Inlet, it was reported underway, taking the Bellot Strait, Gulf of Boothia / Brentford Bay route to avoid newly forming ice.

The ship was en route from China to Baie-Comeau, QC with a cargo of carbon blocks, some of which is still aboard. It is now due in Baie-Comeau October 24.

Meanwhile the ship Nunalik which had been on northern supply, and was to return to Bécancour, QC, stopped off in Baie-Comeau to discharge the lightered cargo and was on its way again Ocotober 15. Silver Copenhagen meanwhile (a refrigerated cargo ship, normally serving Greenland, and which may not have appropriate cargo handling gear) is also en route for Baie-Comeau and is due there October 24. The Beverly M 1 is accompanying and is also due October 24.

The Thamesborg sailing under its own power is making its way toward Baie-Comeau at 10.5 knots. On arrival, also October 24, it will presumably use its cargo cranes to off load the Silver Copenhagen. The Botnica is heading for St.John's (the Port of Entry for its Custom's clearance.) The ship had previously been granted a coasting license to assist late season shipping from the Baffinland / Mary River iron ore mine port of Milne Inlet. It will likely be heading back in that direction once cleared.

It is surprising how many other ships were in the vicinity and stood by or offered aid if needed.  Canadian Coast Guard ships that did assist were CCGS Jean Goodwill (which has since returned to Halifax October 3) and CCGS Des Groseilliers. Another Wagenborg fleetmate the Atlanticborg also en route from China (and presumably loaded with cargo), stood by for a time, and arrived without incident in Baie-Comeau October 14.

Also mentioned in the September 12 post was the Canadian flag Rosaire A. Desgagnés which took the ground in Pelly Bay August 23. It refloated at high tide and was given clearance to sail to Las Palmas, Canary Islands, arriving there September 25. Las Palmas is a favourite repair spot for Canadian ships for a variety of reasons.

The latest incident - although not apparently related to northern conditions, was a "mechanical failure" with the tanker Kivalliq W. while delivering fuel to Baker Lake on October 15. A fuel tank was damaged and the ship must go to drydock for repairs. Another tanker has been engaged to pick up fuel product in Lewisporte, NL and complete deliveries to northern communities before ice conditions close in. There was no pollution reported, and it is not clear yet where the ship will go for repairs.

 All this brings up the hazards of shipping in the north, and the pressure to provide better charts. more resources in case of more serious accidents, and oil spills.There have been no incidents involving cruise ships this year, but the number of those ships in the north is also increasing. Then there is the recent announcement of rehabilitation of the port of Churchill, MB for grain export to Asia via northern waters. But that is a topic for another day.

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Louis S. St-Laurent - does arrive

 Yesterday's June 18 post speculated on why the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent appeared to sail away from Halifax after coming within thirty or forty miles of port. It now appears that all the berths at the BIO (Bedford Institute of Oceanography) were occupied yesterday and the ship was just idling offshore until space became available to tie up.

When the CCGS Sir William Alexander sailed there was room to dock and so the Louis S. St-Laurent entered port this morning, June 19, and came alongside.

It appears that the refit at Chantier Davie involved re-coating the underwater portion of the ship's hull only up to the waterline, but not the remainder. I wonder if the crew will go overside for some touchups.

Nice job Davie - what you can see of it.

With CCGS Jean Goodwill and CCGS Capt. Jacques Cartier alongside at BIO there was just room for the Louie to tie up.

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Friday exodus

 Ships like to sail on Fridays, in part to avoid  possible overtime charges or weekend rates, but also because many cargo terminals operate Monday to Friday at the land gate, with no truck arrvials and departures processed on the weekends. 

It is therefore not unusual to see several ships sailing from Halifax on a Friday afternoon, but today (April 19) was still notable notable due to the number leaving in quick succession.

When I got to my favourite vantage point at Point Pleasant Patk shortly after 1800 hrs ADT, the Atlantic SaiI was out of sight, but I did just manage to catch the EF Ava well off in the distance, having left PSA Halifax's South End Container Terminal (SECT) about 20 minutes before.

EF Ava 18:26 hrs ADT

It is headed for Reykjavik on Eimskip's weekly Green Line service to / from Portland, ME.

At the same time the NYK Rigel was passing my position outbound on The Alliance's AL5 route to Port Everglades.

NYK Rigel 18:26 hrs ADT

No sooner had the NYK Rigel passed than the MSC Sines R got underway from the SECT for Sines, Portugal on the CANEX2 service from Montreal. The ship was here March 15 westbound en route to Montreal.

 

MSC Sines R 18:29 hrs ADT

In a break from commercial activity the next outbound was the CCGS Jean Goodwill on SAR patrol east.

CCGS Jean Goodwill 18:39 hrs ADT

Next along was the auto carrier Morning Lynn from Autoport en route to New York. It was following the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic port rotation of Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Zeebrugge, Southampton, Halifax.

 Morning Lynn 18:45 hrs ADT.

 

The ship was built in 2009 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industry Co Ltd and is registered at 68,701 gt, 28,092 dwt with a capacity of 8,011 CEU. Eukor is the former car carrier divison of Hyundai Merchant Marine acquired by Wallenius Wilhelmsen to gain control of Korean auto exports (and fend off the Japanese car carriers). It is still a South Korean company, but is now jointly owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, American Roll-on-Roll-off Carriers (ARC) and United European Car Carriers.

The ship is also equipped with a larger than usual side ramp, mounted well aft. Newer ships have dispensed with side ramps as they are seldom used in most ports, and cannot be used in Autoport due to the narrow pier. 

Waiting patiently at Pier 42 for this parade to pass was the Silver Arctic the interim ship on TSMI's St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia, NL service. It was facing bow north, so had to turn off the dock before heading out to sea.

Silver Arctic 18:47 hrs ADT

The Silver Arctic is a six to eight week replacement while TMSI's CONRO ship the Nolhan Ava is on scheduled refit [see previous posts]. Despite having no RoRo capability, the Silver Arctic was carrying acouple of cargo vans which appear to be lashed to a 45 ft platform type container (with no walls or roof, but a heavy flat base.) It will require special sling arrangements to off-load, as a standard container spreader will not work.

Also sailing, but a little later in the evening, was Oceanex Sanderling after dark.

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East Meets West and All Around the Circle

 The variety of traffic in Halifax Harbour today (November 28) was not unusual, and so is a reminder of how vital the port is to a number of aspects of the Canadian economy. The amount of traffic was due in part to yesterday's stormy weather which caused the suspension of pilotage operations until early this morning when traffic began to arrive in a ,bunch.

HMCS Fredericton was outbound this morning and met the inbound CSL Tacoma in the Middle Ground area off Point Pleasant. The Canadian frigate is named for the capital city of New Brunswick and was built in Saint John, New Brunswick by Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd. It was commissioned in 1994 and is based in Halifax.

CSL Tacoma operates for CSL Americas and was named for the sister city to Seattle, WA, which occupies the southernmost reaches of Puget Sound. CSL operates ships on the Pacific coast also, often carrying aggregates from Canadian quarries to US cities such as Tacoma. Oddly there is a Tacoma Drive in Dartmouth, NS. How it acquired that name is not known to me, but it is in the Westphal area, which in itself is named for a pair of brother Royal Navy admirals, originally from Nova Scotia. One of the brothers, Sir George Augustus Alexander Westphal, served with Nelson (and was also wounded) on HMS Victory, and was the last surviving RN officer from the batle of Trafalgar when he died at age 90 in 1875.)

CSL Tacoma is a Trillium class self-unloading ocean bulker of 43,691 gt, 71,552 dwt, built in 2013 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China. It will load a cargo of gypsum at the Gold Bond Gypsum facility in Bedford Basin.

Also arriving to load gypsum was Algoma Integrity, also a self-unloader, built in 2009 by EISA-Ilha in Rio de Janeiro. It was built for the United States Gypsum Company's Gypsum Transportation Ltd, and named Gypsum Integrity, Designed to serve their Hantsport and Little Narrows, Nova Scotia export facilities, it measured 33,047 gt, 47,761 dwt. When USG's Canadian subsidury Canadian Gypsum Corp (CGC) closed the Hantsport facility in 2011 the ship was chartered out and in 2015 was sold to Algoma and renamed Algoma Integrity. CGC closed the Little Narrows mine in 2016, but earlier this year announced the re-opening, although it will be some time before they ship any product.

Algoma Integrity will remain at anchor in Bedford Basin until the CSL Tacoma sails.

Lingering waves from yesterday's storm brought out some hardy surfers off Point Pleasant as ship traffic made its way inbound.

Another of those early arrivals was the container ship BF Fortaleza for the first time for Melfi Shipping of Cuba. The ship stood by off Halifax most of yesterday and boarded its pilot for 0700 hrs AST this morning.

It tied up at Pier 42 and so had a view of a lobster boat working just off the pier. The lobster season in this region opened a day early, on Sunday November 26, in view of the predicted weather for the usual opening day - the last Monday in November. I was surprised to see the boat however as there is a newly imposed ban this year on lobstering in many areas of Halifax harbour close to industrial and port facilities.

BF Fortaleza was built by the famed, but now defunct, J.J.Sietas shipyard in Nuenfeld, Germany in 1996. It was launched as Partnership but renamed Yvette on delivery. It became Partnership again from 2003 to 2004 then City of Lisbon until 2005, Carla until 2009 and WEC Rubens until 2011.  The 6362 gt, 7202 dwt ship has a capacity of 700 TEU, and unusual for Melfi, it is gearless.

Another ship that spent yesterday standing by off Halifax arrived this morning for Imperial Oil. The oddly named Silver Ginny is an otherwise typical Mid-Range tanker of 29,460 gt, 49,746 dwt, built in 2014 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan.

The ship is arriving from Good Hope -Norco, Louisiana, an area upstream of New Orelans on the Mississippi River, and home to two large refineries. Shell Oil's Norco refinery produces 250,000 bbl per day and Valero's St. Charles refinery produces 340,000 bbl per day. Both also produce a variety of chemicals. Since Shell and Valero are competitors of Imperial (Exxon Mobil) today's cargo is likely part of an elaborate trade off mechanism to meet a specific need.

The ship is owned by Sinokor Petrochemical Co Ltd which has several ships named "silver + woman's name".

Rounding off the arrivals was the westbound Atlantic Sky from Liverpool, UK.

Once again the weakness of Transatlantic trade is evident with the very light deck load. Most Atlantic ports are showing a decline in traffic after a few years of dependably steady traffic or slight growth. Halifax and Montreal are no excepetions to this trend. The Port of Halifax saw a 12.9% decline in container traffic in the third quarter of 2023 over last year. That gives a year to date total of 409,000 TEU versus the 2022 YTD of 448,000 TEU. The year 2022 saw a record 601,700 TEU throughput (import + export). This year's projection may be be in the range of an 8% to 10% decline.

There were some small craft at work in the harbour too. The Halifax Port Corporation's own workboat Maintainer I was spotted at Pier 23 working on the removal of inflatable fenders for the winter. The fenders, commonly called Yokohama fenders (which is a trade name of the Yokohma Rubber Co) are deployed at cruise ship berths to protect visiting ships from impact with the piers. The resilient surfaces sometimes attract marine growth which is removed before they are set out again in the spring.

Built by A.F.Theriualt + Sons Ltd in Meteghan River, NS in 1995 it is a 12 gt vessel with a 210 bhp engine driving a single screw. It is equipped with a substantial Palfinger knuckle boom crane with a lifting capacity of up to 3.3 tonnes.

Nearby was the Canadian Coast Guard boat Point Caveau a 31.9 gt aluminum hulled work boat built in 2003 by ABCO in Lunenburg, NS. The 14.6m (47.9 ft) vessel has reputed top speed of 30 knots.

I think the Pointe Caveau was displaced from its usual inside berth at the Bedford Institute by construction of the new section of dock. Also displaced from BIO was CCGS Jean Goodwill which has been tied up at Pier 9C for the last couple of days. (November 27 photo)

The ship took on stores today and sailed on SAR patrol as CCGS Sir William Alexander arrived.

With lobster season now underway from in Areas 33 and 34, from Halifax down the southwest shore and around the western end of the province to Digby, Coast Guard SAR patrols are stepped up due to the hundreds of small craft in coastal waters.

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Meet and Greet

 There were some "meets" in Halifax harbour today as arriving and departing ships arranged for passing in the Middle Ground area off Point Pleasant Park.

One interesting "meet" was a sort of Hallå  / Hallo as a Swedish built ship met a Norwegian built ship. The harbour tour boat Silva of Halifax was built in 1939 as an auxiliary schooner by Karlsad Varv, in Karlsad, Sweden. After a varied career in Scandanavian waters it was brought to Halifax in 2001 and rebuilt as a tour boat. Its name follows the Swedish tradition of appending the name of the home port to the name of the ship. (It would be "Silva af Halifax" in Sweden.)

Making its way for a tour of the Northwest Arm of the harbour (it returned to base with some sail), it met the inbound icebreaker CCGS Jean Goodwill. The two vessels met in the eastern channel where this lots of room for smaller ships to pass each other.

The Jean Goodwill was built as Balder Viking, an ice breaking anchor handling supply tug. Construction was completed by Havyard Leirvik AS in Liervik, Norway in 2000. It was acquired by the CCG in 2018, converted for CCG use by Davie Shipbuilding and delivered in 2020. 

The Jean Goodwill is returning to its home port after its winter work, icebreaking in the Gulf of St.Lawrence. 

The next meet had some German geography in common. 

The first time cruise ship Hanseatic Inspiration arrived this morning, and due to its small size docked at Pier 23. It was attended by the Dominion Diving tug Dominion Rumbler and the Honey Barge.

 Built in 2019 by the Vard Tulcea yard in Romania (a Fincantieri subsidiary) it is a 15,651 gt ship with a passenger capacity of 230 in 120 (all outside) cabins. It has 110 crew cabins. The ship is owned by TUI Cruises GmbH and wears the HAPAG-Lloyd funnel mark. It arrived from Saint John, NB (where it inaugurated their cruise season) after sailing from Boston and Bar Harbor.

The ship departed late this afternoon for Sydney, NS (not Australia as per some AIS readings). [TUI's itinerary for the ship says Baddeck.] The ship will continue on to the Great Lakes for a summer of cruising in fresh water,

It sailed directly out the main (eastern) channel where the large auto carrier Morning Laura was inbound from Bremerhaven and Zeebrugge. The 70,853 gt, 27,927 dwt ship was built in 2010 by Hyundai, Ulsan and has a capacity of 8,100 cars.

Two tugs were standing by for the ship, and Atlantic Willow was close to the ship's stern, but Atlantic Bear stood off to western edge of the channel and Hanseatic Inspiration threaded the needle, sailing between them. (It looks a lot tighter from sea level.)

As Hanseatic Inspiration sailed it passed ZIM Monaco at Pier 42. It is on the Zim Container Atlantic (ZCA) service with a portion of the slots assigned to Hapag-Lloyd, which explains all the orange containers on deck. ZIM Monaco was built by Samsung, Geoje in 2009 and is a 40,030 gt, 50,775 dwt ship with a capacity of 4253 TEU.

Earlier in the day the South End Container Terminal, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, also hosted the MSC Nuria at Pier 42, topping up cargo en route from Montreal to Barcelona on the CANEX2 service.

MSC Nuria dates from 2008 when it was delivered by Daewoo-Mangalia. in Romania. It is a 50,963 gt, 63,377 dwt ship with a capacity of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers.

At PSA Fairview Cove it was NYK Romulus, this time arriving from Saint John, NB on the eastbound leg of the AL 5 service of THE Alliance. Saint John has been added to the port rotation from the North American west coast, Panama and Caucedo, Dominican Republic for North Europe. I did not take a picture of the ship this time, as it is a sister to the eleven other Daedalus class ships. When it first called here in 2015 it still carried the huge NYK Line banner, which was painted over during the last year or two as NYK is member of ONE.

NYK Romulus made its first call in Halifax July 14, 2015.

Ocean Network Express was formed by the primary Japanese container lines NYK, K-Line and MOL. Individually they were not large enough to compete with the giants such as Maersk and MSC among others. The ONE joint venture seems to have been a success, but it will be some time before the member's ships lose their old identities. Containers carrying those lines names will be around a long time too.

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Let it Blow (x 3)

 The weather outside is frightful, but at least it was not snowing in Halifax (unlike northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, where there was heavy snow) today December 13. But it was the wind that probably accounted for today's relative dearth of shipping activity in the harbour.

The coastal tanker Algocanada was straining at its anchor in #4 anchorage in the lower harbour.

Although there were few whitecaps to tell of high wind, the bar taught anchor chain was the giveaway as Algocanada bides its time at anchor.

 The ship arrived Thursday December 8 from Sarnia but anchored awaiting its turn at Imperial Oil. (It had to wait for the Gaia Desgagnés which arrived from Lévis, also on December 8 and sailed on December 10, and the Algoscotia which arrived December 10 from CornerBrook.

 Gaia Desgagnés, a rare visitor, sailed from Halifax with cargo for CornerBrook.

On Monday (December 12) when the Algoscotia sailed, it was Algocanada's turn at Imperial Oil, but  later the same evening it moved out to anchor again.  With the winds predicted to die down the ship is expected to move back to Imperial Oil tonight.

The only container ship in Halifax was the ZIM Luanda but high winds may have have slowed or stalled crane operations.

 Built in 2009 by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industry in Koje, it is a 40,030 gt, 50,697 dwt ship with a capacity of 4253 TEU. It has been a regular caller for many years on ZIM's Zim Container Atlantic (ZCA) service. It is not schduled to sail until tomorrow morning.

The only real indication of the high winds and rough conditions was a bit of splash at the bow of CCGS Jean Goodwill as it returned to its BIO base from SAR patrol.

 The ship was the only Canadian Coast Guard all weather ship available in Halifax for the past few weeks as several ships are in refit and others have been relocated to cover for them.

Noteworthy however is CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752 [See December 2 post] which has moved from Irving Shipbuilding's Woodside facility to the BIO base. Whether the ship is fully commissioned yet or not is unknown, but it must be close if it has been handed over to the CCG.

After such multi-year VLE refits, the ship must be stored, equipment must be tuned and crew must be oriented - a process that could take weeks.

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Bow Wow- part one of several

 My post a few days ago showing the impressive bows of the Royal Viking cruise ships is another reminder that ship design has changed over the years. Modern computer programs allow for ship's hulls to be maximized for such factors as cargo capacity (including passengers) or speed through the water. Graceful appearance is not always the end result. Even cruise ships, supposedly the most stylish of vessels, are quite rightly criticized as resembling "blocks of flats".

I recall as a youth reading in Sea Breezes the letters from crusty old salts barking about the degradation of standards in ship design. Such horrors as engines aft were cited as the first steps to perdition. I have long since entered the age range of those old gaffers and can see their point. Ship's appearances have changed, and not necessarily for the better aesthetically.

Elder Dempster's Lithgows- Port Glasgow built Fulani of 1964 was considered by many to be typical of the epitome of ship design (although the bi-pod masts were criticized as a modern affectation by the oldsters), but at 7689 gt and 8115 dwt its cargo capacity was limited by today's standards. Its hull dimensions were a sleek 141.7m x 19.0m. and it had a decent turn of speed of 16 knots. In its defence, it was designed for west African trade, which was slow, and often had to handle cargo to or from lighters or surf boats at anchorages, with ittle support from shore. It was equipped with an astonishing 16 derricks: 1x80, 2x30, 4x15, 2x12 1/2, 4x71/2, and 6x5 tons.

(The epitome may not yet have been reached in car design as an inspection of the longshoremen's vehicles may reveal.) 

The incoming at 11 o'clock high appears to be an RCN "Tracker" aircraft heading for Shearwater. TheASW planes flew off the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure which was still in commission in 1969.

 Ships like the Fulani were overtaken by the container revolution and were soon broken up or consigned to remote trades. It was sold twice, renamed 1976: Cam Azobe, 1981: Cotton Trader. After an explosion and fire in the Gulf of Oman July 13, 1983 it was broken up on Gadani Beach in May 1985.

By comparison, a ship of similar size (but vastly different appearance) arrived in Halifax on January 11.

Augusta Unity's hull dimensions of 143.2m x 22.8m give 12,993 gt and 17,451 dwt - the latter nearly twice that of the Fulani. The more box shaped hull is compensated for in part by a bulbous bow. It also requires only two cranes as most of its mixed cargo consists of containers which can also be handled from shore.

The Augusta Unity carried the name Federal Pioneer from 2007 to 2011, inviting the inevitable comparison to the wartime standard ship of the same name.

United Shipyards of Montreal delivered the Outremont Park to the Canadian government's wartime shipping company Park Steamships in 1944. One of hundreds of similar ships built in Canada and the US during World War II, it was considered large for its time at 7158 gt, 10,000 (approximate) dwt with hull dimensions of 134.6m x 17.4m. It became Furness' Prince Line's Brazilian Prince in 1946 and Federal Commerce and Navigation's Federal Pioneer in 1958. Used for northern supply for many years (with the hope that its bottom would fall out in the arctic somewhere) it managed to survive until 1971 when it was broken up in Hsinkiang, China after having sailed on its own hull from Halifax.

But back to Bows...

One overriding aspect of ship's designs applies to those built to break ice. On January 12 I could see two icebreaker bows from the same place. The heavy reinforcing was quite visible on the CCGS Jean Goodwill. It was tied up at Pier 9 due to a space shortage at BIO.

Nearby at Halifax Shipyard, AOPV3, the future HMCS Mac Burnays, was bows on.

Thicker plating at the bow is clearly visible even at a distance.

What happens when you don't have a reinforced bow has been seen in Halifax from time to time.

In June 1974 the bulker Ivory Star struck a growler in the Strait of Belle Isle and suffered a giant hole in the bow. The CCGS Montcalm removed 33 of the 43 persons aboard and the ship made for Halifax. Workers from Halifax Shipyards reinforced the collision bulkhead and the ship sailed cautiously to Europe for permanent repairs - still with the gaping hole. (Note the enclosed crow's nest from where someone might have spotted the growler in time to avoid it.)

Quite remarkably the ship was back in Halifax in October of the same year - good as new. Note the lack of bulbous bow - they were still uncommon in the 1960s.

For the record the ship was built in 1963 as the Norwegian Jarosa by Frederikstad MV. In 1972 Greek owners purchased and renamed the ship Ivory Star. Its gross tonnage was adjusted from 16,321 to 14,336 with deadweight of 24,790 tonnes. It was sold and re named Turicum in 1975 and Iapetos in 1979. 

On December 8, 1983 it was abandoned by the crew after it came under rocket and machine gun air attack off Bandar Khomeni while en route from Immingham. It was apparently at least partially repaired, but on March 29, 1984 it was again attacked by air, this time with bombs and missiles, in the Khor Mussa channel while en route to Piraeus. 

The ship was towed to Dubai and later sold for scrap. It was then towed to Chittagong where it was broken up in January 1985.

 The Ivory Star could have used some ice reinforcing such as that of the Danish Lauritzen ships which pioneered winter navigation on the St.Lawrence in the early 1960s. Helga Dan, built in 1957, reached Quebec City February 13, 1959 and Montreal January 4, 1964, setting new records and establishing Montreal as a year round port (for some kinds of ships).

Despite the jolity of the linehandlers, many thought that winter navigation on the St.Lawrence would be the death knell for the Port of Halifax.

The 4040 gt, 5050 dwt ship, built by H.C.Stulcken Sohn in Hamburg also carried an array of cargo handling gear, consisting of  1x35, 4x10, and 6x5 ton derricks. 

Renmaed Mitsa K. in 1974, it was wrecked April 4, 1982 and broken up in nearby Laurium, Greece. The high crowsnest must have been a challenge to reach in bad weather. (The ladder is just visible on the opposite side of the foremast.)

Containers saved the day for Halifax as the harbour was able to accommodate larger ships than Montreal could, and most container ships were not reinforced for ice, but that is for a later post.

More bow wows another time.........

CCGS Hudson - more problems and other CCG challenges

 The hydrogrpahic / oceanographic research ship CCGS Hudson is in the news again. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has cancelled some research programs and is scrambling to find a ship to carry out some other work because the Hudson is unserviceable.

According to a CBC News report, the ship experienced a propulsion motor fault as it arrived in St.John's on November 5. The ship was able to tie up, but has been idled ever since as the Department endeavours to determine what to do. The ship was due to enter refit starting in January for at least three months.

Propulsion motors are not "off the shelf" items, and if this damaged one cannot be repaired, it is questionable how the ship can be returned to service any time soon.

The Hudson has had a distinguished career since taking to the water in 1963, but has become very expensive to maintain. The CBC reports refit and repair costs exceeding $33 million in the last nine years. A replacement ship, to be built by Seaspan in Vancouver, is not due until 2024 at the earliest.

When built, the ship had a white hull and buff funnel, the traditional livery of government survey ships.

 
 Built to icebreaker specs, the ship has a diesel electric propulsion system. Power is provided by four V-16 Alco / Dominion Engineering Works diesel engines, each 2,168 bhp, driving four generators of 1500 kW, 600 volts DC, connected to two electric motors each 3750 shp. This is a similar system to other Canadian icebreakers.

Hudson had a "generator failure" in May. Whether this was a propulsion generator or auxiliary generator is not clear, but it was repaired. 

 Other Challenges

Trouble seems to be following CCG ships recently as CCGS Pierre Radisson (built in 1978) had an engine room fire December 15 near Quebec City. The crew extinguished the fire and the ship returned to port, but there is no news on how soon it will be able to resume service. It also has an Alco propulsion system using six diesel engines to drive six generators and two electric motors.

Fleet mate Amundsen (also 1978) is in a long term Vessel Life Extension refit in St.Catharines, ON, in the former Port Weller drydock, so the CCG may also be short of icebreaking capability this winter. 

Fortunately the so-called "interim icebreakers"  Jean Goodwill and Molly Kool are expected to be fully operational again this winter. Vincent Massey was to be delivered in 2021 but there is still no sign of it emerging from the Davie yard.

 The  CCG's "newest" vessel the Mangystau 2 has passed Gibraltar en route from the Caspian Sea and is due in Sorel-Tracy, QC, December 30. The shallow draft icebreaking tug / supplier, built in 2010, bought for $45.2 million from Atlantic Towing Ltd (as intermediaries), will be assigned to the Great Lakes to cover for CCGS Samuel Risley and CCGS Griffon as they have refits and life extensions over the next few years. Mangystau 2 must be refitted to Canadian standards - not to mention getting a new name - which will not happen soon. Tenders for the work will be issued sometime in 2022.

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Jean Goodwill - on patrol

 The CCGS Jean Goodwill (ex Balder Viking) sailed this morning on SAR patrol. With CCGS Earl Grey in refit the ship will head for the areas east of Halifax. CCGS Sir William Alexander is covering the area west of Halifax.

The former offshore icebreaking / tug supplier, built in 2000, was acquired by the CCG in 2018 and refitted for Coast Guard use for fifteen to twenty-five years or until new vessels can be purpose built. In the meantime other vessels will be given life extension refits.

Jean Goodwill entered service in November 2020 and has since worked the winter of 2020-2021 in the Gulf of St.Lawrence and headed north during the summer of 2021. It left Halifax July 1 and returned October 9. As with all CCG ships it is "multi-tasked" for SAR (Search and Rescue), patrol, navigation aids and other duties such as ice breaking.

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