Clover Ace, CMA CGM Almaviva - big car boat, big box boat and other doings

The autocarrier Clover Ace arrived at Autoport this morning. Its 6400 car capacity puts it among the largest size of ships in the Mitsui OSK Line (MOL) fleet.

The already crammed Autoport will somehow find room for all the cars it is likely carrying.

Built in 2008 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding in Japan the 60,065 grt, 17,280 dwt ship flies the Liberian flag for Osaka Fleet Co Ltd.


Halterm also hosted a large ship this morning. CMA CGM Almaviva is one of the 8465 TEU ships on regular rotation on the Columbus Loop service.

It was built in 2011 by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries in Koje, South Korea. Its tonnages are 96,817 grt, 109,000 dwt.

It appears to be carrying more boxes than it did on its last visit, December 12, 2015, confirming in my mind at least, an uptick in cargo volumes for the port.

It was a pretty quiet Saturday in the harbour with the only other ship of any size, the oft photographed Maersk Pembroke also at Halterm.

HMCS Shawinigan arrived from some sea time, make a sharpish turn to avoid George's Island.

This is the time of year that the naval reserves ramp up their activities and the Kingsyton class ships return to service.

And in Bedford Basin CCGS Earl Grey did some calibration trials in preparation for a return to service after a mid-life refurb.

As with most shipyard visits, Davie Quebec painted the ship's hull up to deck level. leaving the upper works for the crew to attend to as part of regular maintenance.

There are still some traces of Friday's snow fall, such as the roof of the Burnside water tank, but it is rapidly disappearing as daytime temperatures rise.

More cans, more cars

Like yesterday harbour activity was mostly containers and cars. This time I caught two inbound ships:
 

Green Dale arrived late morning and headed directly to Autoport. It is owned in the United States by International Shipholding Corp of Mobile, AB.It was built in 1990 by Kanasashi Shipbuilding of Toyohashi, Japan as Altair Leader, but took its current name later the same year. It first sailed for the Waterman Steamship Corp, a venerable US shipping line, but moved to Waterman's international operation in 2013 without change of name, but was reflagged to the Marshal Islands. Its tonnages are 50,087 grt, 16,894 dwt, and can carry 5,170 cars.

CMA CGM Almaviva arrived mid-day but had to wait for a tug, and for the smaller ship Reykjafoss to complete its work at pier 42. I suspect that there are equipment issues at Halterm, since many of the recent callers have been taking a longer time than usual to work their cargo, and they have not been using pier 36 for smaller ships.

The ship is another of the typical CMA CGM ships on the Columbus Loop service, and measures 96,817 grt, 109,000 dwt, with a capacity of 8465 TEU.  It was built in 2011 by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Engineering, Koje, South Korea. It sails under French offshore registry, and carries an international crew.

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