Conti-Courage Update

 Thanks to an alert reader, I have updated the December 5 post Algoma and MSC arrivals:

The container capacity of the ship Conti Courage is indeed 8084 TEU, but the reefer capacity is 700 TEU - not 7000 as orginally writen.

As expected the ship is headed for Suez. The situation in the Red Sea, off Yemen, is still a potentially dangerous one. The United States may provide escorts to protect shipping, despite warnings from Saudi Arabia.

For the recoard, Algoma Victory loaded for Tampa after CSL Tacoma cleared for Wilmington, North Carolina.

 

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Algoma and MSC arrivals

 Among the arrivals and departures in Halifax today (December 5) there were two ships that attracted my attention.

A first time caller on the Mediterranean Shipping Company's INDUSA service to/from India is the Conti Courage. It is owned by the German company CONTI and apparently is on a charter to MSC. MSC is the world's largest container ship operator with about 790 ships and a capacity of more than 5.5 mn TEU. About two thirds of the ships are on charter - some for short term, where it is not practical to change their names. This ship is possibly one of those.

 The Conti Courage was built by Samsung, Geoje in 2005, as Hatsu Courage for charter to Hatsu Marine. The London, UK based container line Hatsu was merged into the Taiwanese Evergreen Marine Corp in 2007. The ship carried the Hatsu name and hull banner until 2017 when it became Conti Courage. (CONTI is the trading name for an independently operating company that has been owned by Claus-Peter Offen Container ships since 2017.)

The 90,449 gt, 106,984 dwt ship has a capacity of 8084 TEU including 7000 (700) reefers.It is now eastbound from US ports of Charleston, Savannah, Norfolk, Baltimore and New York. So far it is scheduled to sail via the Mediterranean, Suez and the Red Sea to India.

The second arrival is a ship that was once a frequent caller under its original name, but has not been seen here in several years. Built in 2000 by Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, it is a Panamax self-unloading bulk carrier of 41,428 gt, 70,037 dwt. It was built to the same design as two ships for CSL (Sheila Ann and CSL Spirit). The ship offloads via a 59m boom with a 20m telescoping extension that can slew 135 degrees from midships, It can move coal at a rate of 4,000 tonnes per hour and ore at 6,000 tonnes per hour.

Its first owners. the Egon Oldendorff Group, named the ship Sophie Oldendorff and it joined the CSL self-unloader pool, and was put to work carrying coal to Nova Scotia and exporting aggregates and gypsum to US east coast ports. 

The brand new Sophie Oldendorff at the National Gypsum pier in Bedford Basin. National Gypsum has since been rebranded as Gold Bond.

 In 2019 the Algoma Central Corporation acquired Oldendorff Carriers' interest in the CSL pool along with three ships, among them the Sophie Oldedorff, which they renamed Algoma Victory. The CSL pool was founded in 1993 and included the Torvald Klaveness Group, which left the pool in 2015. Following the Oldendorff transaction Algoma owned about 40% and CSL Americas the remainder of the CSL pool. 

Before arriving today the Algoma Victory delivered a cargo of coal from Columbia to Point Tupper, NS November 12-15, then loaded aggregates at Auld's Cove November 17-20. It delivered that cargo to Cape Canaveral, FL, November 29-December 1 and returned in ballast to Halifax to load at Gold Bond gypsum. It anchored in Bedford Basin today to wait for CSL Tacoma to complete loading. That ship was also in last week, sailing November 29, and made a quick turn around trip to Portsmouth, NH.

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A bit of everything

 The Port of Halifax carries out many types of business from containers and RoRo, to break bulk and bulk, but also as a conveniently located ice free and sheltered harbour just off the North Atlantic Great Circle route, it welcomes ships that have had misadventures and need a place to make repairs and get straightnend out again.

Today, January 4, saw ships of most of these categories:

Conti Courage arrived from India via Suez, with recent stops in Haifa and Valencia on MSC's Indus Express service. Built in 2005 as Hatsu Service by Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry Co, Geoje, it was renamed by Conti Lines in 2017. The 90,449 gt, 106,984 dwt ship has a capacity of 8084 TEU including 700 reefers. The ship is a first time caller in Halifax, and tied up at PSA Atlantic Hub, Southend Terminal.

A regular caller in Halifax on THE Alliance's EC5 route, the Hyundai Faith arrived at PSA Fairview Cove and experienced very calm conditions in Bedford Basin.

 Hyundai Faith is a 8562 TEU ship built in 2008 by Hyundai Samho. At 94,511 gt, 98,967 dwt, it is among the largest pure container ships to call at Fairview Cove. (The ACL Con Ros are larger)

Roll on Roll Off is very big part of the port's business and it consists of two types of cargo. One is automobiles, most of which are imports from Europe to CN Rails's Autoport facility in Eastern Passage. (Cars are also imported and exported at Fairview Cove, with a few exports at the deep water piers.) (Cars are also shipped to Newfoundland from Autoport.)

Today's caller at Autoport is the car carrier Asian Dynasty.

The 55,719 gt, 21,224 dwt ship is among the smaller auto carriers with a capacity of 6,450 CEU. Built in 1999 by Hyundai, Ulsan in operates for Eukor Car Carriers, and is managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management (Korea) Ltd. 

Yesterday the ship was at Pier 9C  where it off loaded a large consignment of industrial vehicles and machinery before moving to Autoport last evening..

Unlike most Eukor ships it is registered in Korea and carries its name both in Korean and English on the bow and stern. Signage above the ship's stern ramp declares a SWL of 150 tons. (Korea uses the metric system.)

The Transport Desgagnés general cargo ship Rosaire A. Desgagnés arrived at daybreak this morning and requested anchorage in the lower harbour. The ship normally spends half the year on northern supply work, then in winter it is chartered out to Briese Schiffahrts to operate internationally under Barbados flag, and with an international crew. That appears to be the pattern again this year, with the ship transferring from Canadian to Barbados registry in early December in Montreal and sailing to El Ferrol, Spain. The reason for its return to Canada is unclear. (I have a theory, that someone needs a heavy lift, but it would involve returning the ships to Canadian flag).

The ship was built in 2007 by Jiangzhou Union, Ruichang, China as part of a large order for the German company Beluga. A 9611 gt, 12,776 dwt vessel it is equipped with two 120 tonne SWL cranes that can work in unison for a 240 tonne lift. When the Beluga company failed, also in 2007, the ship, which was named Beluga Fortification, and two sisters, Beluga Festivity and Beluga Freedom were aquired by Transport Desgagnés. The latter two became the Sedna Desgagnés and Zelada Desgagnés. respectively.

"Casualties" are rare sights in Halifax these days, but today's arrival is a first in many months. It will be subject of a following post.

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