Wind Power

 Despite advances in power generation, the wind is still popular. Today (July 31) as the offshore installation vessel Orion using its 5,000 tonne crane lifts a wind turbine base component from the heavy lift ship GPO Sapphire, there was a pleasant breeze filling the sails of a few craft in the harbour.

The harbour tour boat Silva of Halifax, a three masted schooner built in 1939 in Sweden, and an unidentified pleasure craft (sail # 51257) draw close for a look at the activity.

Meanwhile the cruise ship Caribbbean Princess called in tug assistance from the Atlantic Fir to depart from Pier 22.

 Cruise ships rarely use tugs because they have multiple thrusters and are thus highly maneuverable (and they like to avoid scuff marks on their while hulls.) However this time the ship needed to do a 360 degree turn off the dock. Because of the Orion and GPO Sapphire activity across the harbour (see above) there was not room to go north about George's Island. Also the autocarrier Sunshine Ace (not pictured) was outbound from Autoport and so the cruise ship could not back out into number one anchorage and turn without blocking its course. The light breeze was likely not much of a factor in this case, but cruise ships are subject to windage and must be handled accordingly.

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Firing on all cylinders - revised

 See revision in bold italics regarding the tug/barge Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick

It was an exceptionally busy day in the Port of Halifax today, Saturday, October 15. There seemed to be ships at almost every berth with more arrivals in the offing for tomorrow. It was a gloomy, breezy and misty day, but the forecast rain held off.

At the South End terminal, PSA's Atlantic Hub, it was Vistula Maersk arriving on the weekly Maersk / CMA CGM service from Montreal, bound for Europe.

The scheduled arrival of CMA CGM Lapérouse was scrubbed and the 13,800 TEU ship is now due tomorrow.

PSA's Fairview Cove terminal had the AS Carlotta arriving in the early afternoon. This is the second ship to call on a dedicated charter for the Costco "big box store" brand. (The first was the Carpathia on August 23.)

Frustrated with port delays and unreliable delivery dates Costco announced in July that they had chartered three ships (the third is to be the Queen Esther) and leased several hundred containers from Triton. The ships would be running from China to the North American east coast. [They may be regretting that decision now, since they chartered the ships for three years at the top of the market - which is now in the process of collapsing, as are freight rates, due to a slump in demand for imports.]

The AS Carlotta appeared to have room for  more containers (perhaps returning empties) after working its way up the coast from the Panama Canal with stops in Savannah and Baltimore.

Built in 2006 by Aker, Wismar, as Cape Martin, the 28,372 gt, 37,882 dwt ship was renamed Fesco Bayal in 2006 and Cap Blanche later in 2006. taking its present name in 2018. It has a capacity of 2742 TEU including 400 reefers, and carries three 45 tonne SWL cranes.

In the ocean terminals, the Onego Duero, as predicted, returned to Pier 27 on October 13, to continue off loading rails, and at Pier 28 the Iberian Bulker held off loading wood pellets, due to predicted rainy weather. (But not before covering the southend of the city with a fine coat of sawdust last night.)

There were three cruise ships occupying berths 20-21, 21-22 and 23. At Pier 23 it was the Silver Whisper, which backed in with the assistance of the tug Atlantic Willow.

It was met by a flottilla of trucks carrying stores, including perishables, and fuel. I have seldom seen such a large support contingent for such a small ship (380 passengers and 302 crew). Built in 2001 by Mariotti, Genoa, the 28,258 gt ship is reputed to have the largest space per passenger ratio of any cruise ship.

At Pier 22 it was the familiar Caribbean Princess and at Pier 20-21 the Nieuw Statendam. On departure, the latter ship gave a prolonged whistle salute to the Port and city. This traditional farewell to mark a ship's last visit of the cruise season is a form of thank you for the hospitality shown to the ship (and crew) and such lines as Holland America are very careful to observe the custom.

Built in 2018 and sponsored by no less than Oprah Winfrey, the 99,902 gt ship can carry 2,666 passengers and 1,053 crew. Its first call in Halifax was on August 1 of this year and today marked its seventh and last call of this season. (The cruise season will run later than usual this year, with the last ship, the Insignia, due November 5.)

Because of the stiff breeze the ship had the tug Atlantic Oak in attendance to assist it off the berth (not sure if it was actually used) and to stand by as it made its turn north and east of George's Island outbound for sea.

Despite the blustery conditions (it was not cold) there were many passengers on the open upper decks for the outbound passage, heading for Saint John, NB.

The Dartmouth side of the harbour was also busy with tug / barge Leo A. McArthur / John J.Carrick discharging asphalt at the McAsphalt Cherubini dock for General Liquids Canada and the Morning Lena delivering cars to Autoport. Both will be in port over night and are planning to sail tomorrow.

Imperial Oil has the Algoterra alongside at number 3 dock, with another load from Nanticoke. (Algonova sailed mid-day yesterday after also delivering petroleum cargo from Nanticoke.)

Irving Oil completed working the Acadian late in the morning and it cast off for St.John's, NL.

While outbound the Acadian met the incoming Elka Delos with more product for Irving Oil, this time from Amsterdam.

Dating from 2005 the ship was built by Brodosplit in Croatia and is a 27,612 gt, 44,598 dwt MidRange type, operated by European Product Carriers  Ltd.

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Post post tropical storm Fiona

Post tropical storm Fiona was the most powerful storm ever to hit Atlantic Canada. On September 23 and 24 it tore through eastern mainland Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, southeastern New Brunswick and  southwest Newfoundland. The lowest barometric pressure ever recorded on land anywhere in Canada was measured at Hart Island, NS at 932 millibars (unofficial). Unofficial wind gusts of 171 kph at Arisaig, NS (on the Northumberland Strait) and 177 kph at Wreckhouse, NF were among a dozen or so gusts over 125 kph reorded throughout the region.

 The storm left unaccountable damage to houses, businesses and infrastructure and left a nearly half a million people without power (at one time) and some hundreds without safe homes. I do not wish to ignore the heartbreak and agony suffered by many, but as this blog concentrates on shipping in Halifax, I will stick closer to that topic.

Halifax was spared the brunt of the storm although thousands of trees were down and utility lines severed. Ship Central Eastern, the home of Shipfax was without power for 84 hours - from 2300 hrs Friday September 23 to 1100 hrs today (September 27). There was a longer outage in September 2019 when Hurricane Dorian passed through, about 86 hours - but I wasn't counting that time. Wind gusts of 125 kph were recorded at the Stanfield International Airport - well inland from the port. Sustained wind of 70 to 80 kph in the city (and port area) were recorded in the early hours of Saturday September 24 and near 50 kph for most of the day. There was also heavy rain. 

As per my previous post, most of the harbour was "battened down". Several pleausre craft that had been left at moorings were mauled and some driven aground, but others survived unscathed. Major commercial ships had put out to sea under instruction from the Harbour Master. Both the coastal vessels Oceanex Sanderling and Nolhan Ava remained in port at anchorages in Bedford Basin. 

When conditions improved, and some services restored on Sunday September 25, Oceanex Sanderling returned to Pier 41 (PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway) and completed loading for St.John's. It sailed in the early hours of Monday the 26th.

Nolhan Ava sailed directly from anchorage for Argentia and St-Pierre on the 25th.

By Sunday the 25th it was mostly business as usual in the port even though it felt a bit surreal. Cruise ships Caribbean Princess and  Silver Whisper arrived as did several commercial vessels: ZIM Constanza (westbound from the Med), Augusta Luna (for Nirint with cargo from Cuba) and Atlantic Sail from New York, both of which must have jogged along slowly following the storm.

The warm sunny day was in complete contrast to the previous day, and cruise passengers had an ideal day ashore - where the roads were not blocked by fallen trees and the power had been restored. I think many were shocked by what they saw.

  Monday September 26 was also like a typical day in the port with Zaandam, Insignia and Seven Seas Navigator alongside. There was also a more typical drizzly mist.

The harbour tour boat Kawartha Spirit (and the inevitable Harbour Hopper 5) were also operating after holing up for a few days in safety.

Two commercial vessels returned to port to complete operations. CMA CGM Brazil, which put out to sea ahead of the storm in the early hours of Friday September 23 resumed its spot at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, Pier 41. Morning Chorus had unloaded RoRo cargo at Pier 9C on September 22 (see previous post) and came back in to dock at Autoport to unload cars.

Tuesday, September 27 (today) was even mistier and rainier, but also busy with three more cruise ships: Norwegian Pearl, Star Pride and Voyager of the Seas.

Star Pride is no stranger to Halifax, as per my older post from September 5, 2018. From new in 1988 as Seabourn Pride, the ship was a regular here, and returned after it was sold and renamed in 2014 and refurbished in 2016. It has been refurbed again, this time just last year by Fincantieri, Palermo, with a new 25.6m mid-section containing 50 more cabins, as well as other upgrades. The now 12,995 gt ship (it was 9975 gt) carries 312 passengers (up from 208) and has a staff of 190. It tied up as usual at Pier 23, but stern in.

The big ships tied up at the seawall from Pier 20, 21 to 22.

It was a decidedly gloomy experience for passengers!

Among other interesting arrivals was the Vayenga Maersk which had weathered out the storm anchored off Queensland in St.Margaret's Bay. This unusual bit of navigation is not unheard of but is more commonly used by Coast Guard and Naval vessels.

Vayenga Maersk anchored in St.Margaret's Bay 

(photo contributed, with thanks, by anon).

Another unusual visitor was the RRS (Royal Research Ship) James Cook arriving from Vigo, Spain and docking at the Bedford Institute.

Completed in 2006 by Flekkefjord Slip + Maskinfabriek AS in Norway on a hull built by Crist in Gdansk, Poland, the 5401 gt ship is operated by the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK with nine officers and 13 crew and technicians, and can carry 32 scientists at full complement.

Another sign that things are returning to normal was Develop Nova Scotia's workboat returning the floating jetties to the Halifax waterfront. With a few weeks of good weather left, they are expecting small craft to tie up alongside.

A deck load of gulls got a free ride across the harbour on the jetties. 
 

Navy tugs moved the Sackville back to its summer berth from HMC Dockyard, where it had been sheltered during the storm. As one of the few remaining ships from World War II (and the only corvette) it is also one of the very few ships left afloat that once carried the designation His Majesty's Canadian Ship. With the ascent to the throne of King Charles III all Canadian naval vessels are again His Majesty's Canadian Ships.

There have been numerous other arrivals, departures and moves, not to mention cancellations of cruise ship calls and bypasses by cargo ships. There are too many to account for here. There have also been numerous missed photo opportunities due to limited access to the waterfront. Some areas are still cordoned off for clearing operations and damage repair.

As usual Shipfax will try to stay on top of it all.

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Passenger Invasion

 With three passenger ships in port, Thursday August 11, downtown Halifax was awash with visitors, not to mention outlying tourist destinations as far flung as Peggy's Cove and the vineyards of the Annapolis Valley. If the three ships were loaded to capacity, the number of guests totaled more than 11,000, not to mention 3,000 crew members. 

The three  were all regulars and thus not particularly noteworthy except for their size and the conjunction of three ships in port at once.

Zaandam, built in 2000 by Fincantieri, Marhera was the smallest ship at 61,396 gt and a capacity of 1,432 passengers and 615 crew.

 (May 26, 2022 photo)

The other two ships are comparable in size and capacity, but dissimilar in appearance:

 Caribbean Princess, built in 2004 is a 289.9m long ship of 112,894 gt, built in 2004 by Fincantieri, Monfalcone, has seventeen decks (two of which are not for passengers) and has a capacity of 3,142 passengers and approximately 1,200 crew members.

 

Visualising the ship without the "push bar" lounge over the stern, I imagine it could be a handsome vessel by current standards.

Adventure of the Seas, dating from 2001 is a product of the Kvaerner Masa New yard, in Turku, Finland and claims a capacity of 3,807 passengers with 1,185 crew spread over fourteen decks. At 311 meters long, it has a gross tonnage of 138,193.

 

Although I am not a great fan of modern cruise ship design, this one is perhaps the better looking of the two large ships.

Three cruise ships can be accommodated with ease in Halifax with the current port facilities. However as the work begins to fill in the basins betwen the ocean terminals finger piers, valuable berthing space will be lost. So far no firm plan has emerged for a new cruise terminal facility. I note Quebec City has moved its cruise ship terminal to underutilized industrial port space, far from the old Lower Town, but with easier access for tour buses, fuel trucks and ship chandlers - and beyond walking distance to any tourist attractions. Perhaps a similar supplementary space is needed in Halifax when there are more than two ships in port at once.

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Two Cruise Day

 Seeing two cruise ships in port is not unusual during the height of the cruise season in September and October, but it is rare in the mid-summer. Therefore today's two ships was notable.

The familiar Caribbean Princess arrived on its usual itinerary from New York (July 27) and Saint John, NB (July 31) as it begins its seasonal shift from the Caribbean and its Port Everglades base.

 

 

The big ship, at 112,894 gt, was built in 2004 by Fincantieri, Monfalcone and has become well known for its unsual lounge perched out over the stern. (It has thus acquired the nickname "the Shopping Cart"). The Carnival brand Princess Cruise Lines (operating in the Holland America Group) claims a passenger capacity of 3142 lower berths (3600 total berths) and 1200 crew on nineteen decks.

The other ship is not familiar, and in fact is a first time caller. Nieuw Statendam was built in 2018, by Fincantieri Breda in Marghera. The 99,902 gt ship has a capacity of 2,666 passengers (in lower berths) with a crew of 1053. If all berths are occupied it has a maximum nunber of persons on board of 4,173.

The ship is on a lengthy repositioning trip that orginated in Copenhagen July 16. It called in Alesund, Norway July 18, then to Iceland with stops in Akureyri July 20, Isafjordur July 21, Reykjavik July 22, Grundarfjordur Jul 24 then to Qaqortoq and Nanortalik, Greenland July 27 and 28 and St.John's Newfoundland July 30. The cruise will end August 3 in Boston.

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Business as Usual

As the cruise season winds down, today was the last big day, with four ships in port.

It was pretty much wall to wall ships at the seawall and finger piers.

From south to north (left to right in the picture above):
pier 31: Caribbean Princess
pier 23: Silver Whisper
pier 22: Regal Princess
pier 20: AIDAdiva

Regal Princess was last to leave this afternoon and sounded its mournful "Love Boat" goodbye whistle several times. If you haven't heard it go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQlAglh9NI
It does sound somewhat more tuneful in reality, and much louder up close.

Still at pier 28 HC Svea-Kim (blue hull) resumed  unloading rails, but the tanker BW Raven had to vacate pier 31 and went back out to anchor (again).

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When Puze sailed, giving Rotterdam as its next port,

it was back to number 3 oil dock for BW Raven.

Clearly there was some sort of problem with the ship or its cargo to make it move within the port so many times.

There was also activity at both container terminals.

Atlantic Sun called at Cerescorp Fairview Cove on the westbound leg of its trip and Halterm had Pengalia for Eimskip, eastbound from US ports for Iceland via Argentia, NL.

Built in 2008 by the Sainty (Jiangdu) Corp in Jiangdu* (formerly shown as Yangzhou) it is a 7545 gt, 8268 dwt vessel with a capacity of 698 TEU (incluing 120 reefers). Eimskip also charters the Skogafoss, built by the same yard in 2008 with the same gt, but a dwt of 8210 tonnes. It has the same container capacity, but is fitted with two 60 tonne cranes.

Pengalia flies the Cyprus flag and is managed by Marlow. Skogafoss built as Ice Bird has just recently been purchased by Ernst Russ (part of Zeaborn) and will continue its charter to Eimskip, with management shifting from Briese to Zeaborn.

The builders of these ships, Sainty Marine, part of Jiangsu* Guoxin Group, a state owned company, claimed the distinction of being the first publicly listed Chinese company to declare bankruptcy. It has since been liquidated and its former president was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud.

* Jiangdu is a district within Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, in central eastern China.

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Caribbean Princess - her name is mud

The cruise ship Caribbean Princess, a familiar caller in Halifax, has just made history by receiving the largest environmental fine ever levied on a ship in the United States. The $40 million fine is certainly in proportion to the offence which including pumping oily waste overboard through a series of illegal "magic pipes", falsifying records and covering up the offence which took place over several years.

It was discovered in England in August 2013 by a new ship's engineer. He blew the whistle on the other engineers and when the ship arrived in the US the Coast Guard went aboard and discovered where the magic pipe had been. Some crew had been busy trying to remove the evidence, but traces were left.

Not only must the ship's owner (ultimately Carnival Corp) pay the fine, but its eight subsidiaries, AIDA, Carnival, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, P+O, Princess and Seabourn are now under a court supervised Environmental Compliance Program for five years. Good.

Known by some as "the Shopping Cart" due to her odd observation deck above the stern, Caribbean Princess is seen here leaving Halifax under a cloud September 19, 2015.

Caribbean Princess was in Halifax September 27, October 7, 17 and 27 this year, and several times a year in previous years, since its first call in 2008. How many of those times was it discharging waste overboard in Canadian waters - apparently undetected.

In the case of egregious offences such as this the US courts have been known to ban ships from US waters. I think Carnival got off lightly.

One has to wonder what the crew's motivation was in pumping the waste over. In some rust bucket ships with sleazy owners, it is easier to understand - they want to save the cost of disposing of waste and to cover up sloppy practises. But in a supposedly well managed operation like a cruise line, unless management was complicit - and there has been no such suggestion - it must have been entirely motivated by the crew. What were they do gain? Covering up their own poor management? Trying to live within a budget?  Even some sort of kickbacks from shore side organizations? There doesn't seem to be any explanation that of why the crew did what they did.

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The 2006 ft long seawall, comprising berths 20 to 22, was well occupied today with two big ships, Caribbean Princess (951 ft long) which arrived yesterday and Serenade of the Seas (964 ft long) which arrived this morning.

Serenade of the Seas at pier 20-21, used the new bollard on the Tall Ships Quay for its headlines. The bollard was installed over last winter, just for occasions such this, so that the big ships do not have to tie up at the commercial piers which are about 1250 ft long.
With the ship's bow extending well north of the end of the seawall, passengers can enjoy the view from the forpeak and from the docking platform which has been left extended 

Caribbean Princess backed out of pier 21-22 and turned outbound in number one anchorage, heading for New York.
Serenade of the Seas sailed later in the evening for Charlottetown.

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Splendid sight

A rare sight in Halifax is two cruise ships meeting each other. This evening that event took place as the departing Celebrity Summit met the inbound Caribbean Princess.

After several bursts of 5 warning blasts to clear pleasure craft out of the way, Celebrity Summit takes the western channel to give lots of room for the inbound Caribbean Princess. The Oceanex Sanderling also followed close behind the Summit.

Normally cruise ships arrive in the morning and sail in the late afternoon or early evening. Caribbean Princess's late day arrival means an overnighter in Halifax for its passengers and crew.
A no show today was Aidadiva originally scheduled on its run from Reykjavik and St. John's to New York.

Cold Ironing for the 2013 cruise season

1. Caribbean Princess generates smoke while sitting alongside the pier last September.

The federal government and the Port of Halifax will invest in a new system to supply shore power to cruise ships while in Halifax. The project will allow one ship at a time to turn off  their its large power plants while in port, and rely on the local power grid for, lighting, refrigeration and other power needs. The process, called "cold ironing"  has gained popularity since ports such as Los Angeles mandated it to reduce air pollution.
While cruise ships do not need their main propulsion engines while docked, they still have huge power demands for on board services (called "hotel load"), and burn heavy fuel or diesel to generate it.
While going to shore power may eliminate scenes like that above, it will certainly add to Nova Scotia's power generation needs. Perhaps fortunately the local power plant burns natural gas, but there is still a lot of coal generated power in Nova Scotia. Since all power essentially goes onto the same grid, if  there is a demand spike that cannot be met by the local gas plant, some of the new shore power may well come from coal fired plants. Plans for delivering hydro-electric power to Nova Scotia from Labrador are still in the very early stages, and it will be many years before we are weened from coal.

Of course cruise ships only spend part of the time in port - they spend as least as much or more time sailing through our coastal waters, where they do burn heavy fuel. Cruise lines are complaining about switching to low sulphur fuels, but that should be part of the equation here too.

 

2. Cold ironing won't prevent ships from polluting when they are away from the dock. AIDAaura leaves an unpleasant aura when she leaves Halifax, and probably trails a plume all the way to her next port.

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Cruisers bid good bye to Halifax

I dislike taking "stern shots" of ships, but it seemed appropriate today for a couple of reasons [see also following post].
It was a miserably wet day for the passengers of three cruise ships that happened to call here. Despite the inclemency many passengers made their way by bus and on foot -clad in disposable ponchos and other rain gear- to "soak up" the Halifax ambiance. I don't imagine too many of them were sorry to say good bye to Halifax at the end of the day.

1. First to leave was Caribbean Princess with her "shopping cart push bar" sky lounge. She is bound for Saint John, NB.

2. The sleek Carnival Glory followed a bit later. Next port is also Saint John, NB. 

3. Norwegian Gem was last to go - some of her passengers were held up in traffic, delaying the departure by about 30 minutes. The ship is heading for Quebec City, and so will be passing through the heaviest rain sometime tonight off Cape Breton.

Caribbean Princess - early start

Caribbean Princess heading in for pier 22. The container ship Marwan is anchored outside the harbour, well beyond the Meagher's Beach lighthouse.

Caribbean Princess arrived early this morning - too early for most of the passengers by the look of it - I could only spot two deck. The ship carries more than 3,000, and some of them did stir once the ship was berthed by 0700.

The ship took as slightly different course into pier 22. To allow room to pass the outbound Ocean Sanderling, she kept to the east of the channel, and so had to make more turn to come alongside pier 22.

Change the Light Bulb

How many crew members does it take to change a light bulb on Caribbean Princess?

Well only one really. The maid is just there to clean up afterward.

Yesterday, pier 31.

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Caribbean Princess

The Caribbean Princess sailed at 6:30 this evening. The adjacent waterfront buildings are casting longer shadows earlier in the evening these fall days, but then again when good light is available - take a picture!

The odd jet contrail and the usual gull all add to the Halifax experience.

Caribbean Princess will be making nine calls to Halifax this year. With a maximum capacity of 3100 passengers, that makes for busy days for tour operators.

Today Maasdam was also in port, so it was bumper to bumper for tour buses.