Full House at Pier C

 The PSA Atlantic Gateway container terminal occupies the two numbered berths, Piers 41 and 42 at Pier C. There are seven container cranes, and it is possible to dock two Ultra size container ships at the same time, although not all the cranes can work the larger ships. Today was a more typical situation with one large ship and two small ships.

Left to right as viewed from Shearwater, the Nolhan Ava and Vivienne Sheri D occupied berth 42 and CMA CGM Norma was at 41.

Each of the small ships used one crane.The Canadian flag Nolhan Ava was loading for its weekly run to St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia, Newfoundland. It will move to Pier 30 (out of picture) later this afternoon to load RoRo cargo. Vivienne Sheri D, also Canadian owned, is on long term charter to Eimskip and is en route from Portland, ME also to Argentia, then on to Iceland.

The big ship CAM VGM Norma, is not exactly super sized at 9415 TEU, falling slightly below the 10,000 TEU number and is therefore a Post Panamax size. Built in 2006 by Hyundai Samho, it is registered at 107,711 gt, 113,909 dwt.

 

The ship is on the Ocean Alliance service from Asia to North America. It sailed fromPort Klang, Malaysia February 12 and is en route to New York.

CMA CGM stated in January that they would continue to divert ships from the Red Sea / Suez / Med route for the safety of crews and ships. It is unclear whether this ship in fact did travel via the Cape of Good Hope as routes are not normally published for secuity reasons.

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Saturday business

It was typical Saturday business in Halifax, despite a light dusting of snow over night.

It was back to more typical sized ships as CMA CGM Norma arrived at Halterm and tied up at pier 41. Built in 2006 by Hyundai, Samho, it is a 107,711 gt, 113,999 dwt vessel with a capacity of 9415 TEU, including 700 reefers.

Maersk Patras tied up at pier 42. It is a regular on the five ship rotation usuallly calling on Saturday  from Montreal.

It was a different ship for Nirint's service from Cuba at pier 31. Hooge flies the Gibraltar flag while sailing in the Briese fleet.

Dating from 2006 when it was built by Shandong Weihai, the 15633 gt, 16,986 dwt ship has a capacity of 1306 TEU (870 if loaded to 14 tonnes) and has a pair of 45 tonne cranes. Both cranes were working today to unload bagged nickel cargo. (I would not have taken a picture through so many fences if it had not been a first time caller.)

The PCTC Morning Crystal managed to squeeze in at the adjacent pier 27 to unload RoRo cargo.

With a capacity of 6,215 cars, the ship can also carry a variety of wheeled cargo, some of which will be offloaded at pier 27. Built in 2011 by Imabarai Zosen in Marugame, the ship measures 59,524 gt, 18,918 dwt.

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CMA CGM Norma - new to Halifax

Another change in the CMA CGM ship rotation on the Columbus service saw CMA CGM Norma arrive mid-morning. 

With a blazing sun high behind the ship it was still possible to see the three tugs used to get it in at pier 41. The Maersk Penang was at pier 42, leaving as much room as possible for the bigger ship.

CMA CGM Norma is a 107,711 gt, 113,909 dwt ship rated for 9,415 TEU including 700 reefers. It is a product of the Hyundai Samho shipyard, delivered in 2006.

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