Lee update

 Although there was coastal flooding and shore erosion due to the storm surge, Post Tropical storm Lee did not create the widespread damage to boats and harbours that last year's Hurrucane Fiona did. That is not to belittle the impact of the storm - it was severe - but perhaps it was as much due to wise precautions as to the somewhat less powerful distrurbance.

As previously noted ships vacated Halifax harbour and went well offshore to the east as the storm tracked across mainland Nova Scotia on Septmber 16. For instance the container ship ZIM Iberia which cleared Halifax on Friday September 15 and was destined for New York, instead headed northeasterly and was spotted on AIS well offshore. Similarly the cruise ship Zaandam which sailed on the 15th got ahead of the storm and made for CornerBrook, NL after a day or more at sea.

The heavy load ship GPO Sapphire, which had been anchored off Halifax made for the shelter of Chedabucto Bay. It likely did not anchor because with its Dynamic Positioning capability, it was able to keep station. The huge windage of its deck load of six wind turbine tower components could have put unbearable strain on conventional anchors and chain.

GPO Sapphire anchored off Halifax on September 13.

Speaking of anchors however, the stress was too much for one of those red white and blue navy trot buoys off Macnab's Cove (on the right and left of the photo above.) It and a green navigation buoy were spotted adrift in the harbour, but were later coralled by tugs.

Coastal tankers sought shelter too with Acadian off Lismore and Big Island to the eastern of the Northumberland Strait. (It was bound for Charlottetown.)

Algoscotia and Mia Desgagnés were in St.Ann's Bay (northeast coast of Cape Breton) and not far away the cruise ship Norwegian Joy (which had been due in Halifax September 17) stood by off Wreck Cove (an inauspicious name under the circumstances.)

That made today (Monday, September 18) a double header Norwegian day in Halifax with both Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Pearl in at the same time. They were joined by the Pearl Mist which must have had a rough time of it en route from Portland, ME.

 Wind gusts of 117 kph (72 miles per hour) were recorded at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (well inland) and there were power outages all over NovA Scotia and New Brunswick. Ship Centreal Eastern (- the home of Shipfax) was without electricity for 28 hours from roughly 0715 hrs ADT Saturday, September 16 to 1100 hrs Sunday, September 17.

The storm was well passed by Sunday, Septemeber 17, but the only commercial activity in the harbour was the arrival and departure of the EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St-Laurent 1 service. It would normally have been here on Saturday en route from Montreal to Bremerhavem but can quite likely make up the time on the long transatlantic leg.

By today harbour activity had returned to normal (ferry service had been suspended on Saturday for example) with comings and goings at both container terminals. 

CMA CGM Mexico (15,000 plus TEU) made its call (westbound from Tanger Med) at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, along with Tropic Hope...

 ... and Atlantic Sky at PSA Fairview Cove (west bound en route for New York).

.

Full out at PSA

It has been a busy few days at PSA Halifax with a steady stream of ships and a cleanup operation thanks to recent snow falls. This morning the ZIM feeder ship Contship Leo had three cranes working to get its cargo moved before the next ship arrived.

The cranes appear to be considerably oversize for a small feeder ship, but their height and long reach are needed for the next ship. That ship is another "UItra" class vessel, CMA CGM Mexico

It is a 15,000+ TEU ship that is one of five Argentina class ships. It is owned by Seaspan Corporation and operated by CMA CGM under a long term financing / charter agreement.

Although the ship displays CMA CGM on its side, it is actually sailing for the Ocean Alliance a slot sharing / vessel sharing agreement between three major shipping lines and their subsidiaries. CMA CGM (and its subsidiary APL), COSCO (and its subsidiary OOCL) and Evergreen Marine Corp (EMC) use the ship as part of their independant shipping services.

The large shipping Alliances are under fire from customers with charges of price fixing. Many major US retailers have banded together to charge the lines with pricing collusion in contravention of US competition laws. The three main alliances control a very high degree (some say 90%) of the main east-west trade lanes.

Halifax is also served by THE Alliance which is made up of Hapag-Lloyd, HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine), ONE (Ocean Network Express) and Yang Ming. The third group is called 2M and consists of Maersk and MSC. 

There are still inepedants such as ZIM and ACL, but even they have slot charter agreements with other lines. In fact there are too many of these agreements to list here. However the Federal Maritime Commission has kindly published: FMC List

.

Big Arrival, Not so big Departure

 Today's (September 9) big arrival, despite rain and fog, was CMA CGM Mexico another of 15,000 TEU class ships making regular calls in Halifax.

With Atlantic Fir forward and Atlantic Beaver aft, the ship makes ready to turn off PSA Halifax and back into the berth. (It is amazing what a camera can see with a little computer magic).

Built in 2019 by Hyundai, Samho, CMA CGM Mexico is a 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt vessel. It appears to be almost fully loaded to its 15,000+TEU capacity. The ship is only slightly smaller than the 16,000+ TEU Explorer class, such as CMA CGM Marco Polo, the largest ship to call in Halifax.

The camera also helped to improve visibility of another ship, which I was lucky to see at all as it sailed into the fog and rain.

Isabelita is a 32,297 gt, 58,470 dwt bulker, built in 2010 by Tsuneishi Daishan, and equipped with four cranes. It is owned by the Ugland company and is carried on the Norwegian International register. (Ugland is well known name in Canada as a partner in managing several tugs, tankers and bulkers through Canship Ugland. Since 1997 the joint venture between the J.J.Ugland Companies and Knutsen OAS shipping, both from Norway, has been based in Newfoundland.)

The Isabelita was in port for only a few hours, perhaps for a Canadian Food Inspection Agency certification. Its last port, Nemrut, Turkey, is noted for its fertilizer exports. The ship also made a brief stop in Greece, but only at an offshore anchorage. It is bound for Quebec.

.

CMA CGM Mexico

 Another one of CMA CGM's Argentina class ships arrived today at PSA Halifax. CMA CGM Mexico with a capacity of 15,000 TEU + or - (some sources say 15,072), is one of twenty-two ships (built and on order) in the class, which are the largest container ships calling in any Canadian port.

The ship sailed from Colombo, Sri Lanka March 27 on its regular turn in the Columbus JAX service, but it stopped in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia April 5-6, which was not a regular stop. It is likely the stop was to allow traffic on the Suez Canal to clear after the blockage caused by the Ever Given grounding March 23-29. CMA CGM Mexico transited the Suez Canal April 7-8.

The ship was built in 2009 by Hyundai Samho with tonnages of 149,314 gt and 157,076 dwt, the second ship of the Argentina class. The first five ships in the class (Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Chile and Brazil) have conventional engines equipped with exhaust gas scrubbers. All but Argentina have now called in Halifax. The remaining ships to be built over the next several years, are to be LNG-dual fuel. 

The ship is owned by Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte Ltd of Singapore and on charter to CMA CGM. EPS has a fleet totaling more than 17 million tonnes deadweight, with ships of all types.

Judging from it appearance today CMA CGM Mexico appears to be close to full of its 15,000+ TEU.

.