Saturday etc.,

 Today, Saturday May 18, was a  bit of a mixed bag in the harbour, with ships of various types in  view. (That it is also the Victoria Day holiday weekend seems to have had little effect on ship movements.)

An early morning arrival was the auto carrier Morning Lucy for Pier 9C to offload RoRo cargo. The 68,701 gt, 28,080 dwt ship was built in 2009 by Hyundai Samho in Mokpo and can carry 8,011 CEU. 

Having turned in Bedford Basin, the Morning Lucy makes its way back under the A. Murray MacKay bridge into the Narrows, and alongside Pier 9C starboard side to the pier.

Although part of the Eukor fleet, the ship also operates on the parent company Wallenius Wilhelmsen's routes. Since early March the ship has called in Incheon and Ulsan, South Korea, then in April in Brunswick, Charleston, and Philadelphia. It crossed the Atlantic and called in Zeebrugge May 2-3, Bremerhaven May 4-7, Le Havre May 9 and finally in Southampton May 9-10. Once it discharged its RoRo cargo it moved to Autoport mid-afternoon to unload cars.

 With RoRo cargo unloaded, the ship has raised its stern ramp and is preparing to move to Autoport. The cargo consisted of the usual collection of road rollers, JCB front end loaders, airport runway sweepers, and mining and forestry vehicles.

There were also two ships at anchor in the lower Harbour. Thursday, May 16's arrival, Elka Delos remains at anchor and is due to move alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal this afternoon. (The retired chairman of Irving Oil, Arthur L. Irving died on May 13 at age 93 and funeral services were held this morning in Saint John, NB. Irving facilities may have been closed this morning in remembrance. Mr. Irving was a son of the founder of Irving Oil, K.C.Irving.)

The Elka Delos is carrying refined product from Amsterdam for Irving Oil.

 "Delos" is an island in the Aegean Sea near Mykonos, and is a tourist destination due to its ancient ruins. "Elka" is the abbreviated named for European Navigation Ltd, parent of European Product Carriers.  Founded by the Karnessis family, the company has been in the news due to disputes within the ownerships and the February 2024 shooting death of the CEO, two others and himself by a disgruntled employee at the company's Glyfada (Athens) headquarters.

Dominating number one anchorage this morning was the bulk carrier Cape Keystone.  The ship is en route to Port Cartier, QC to load iron ore and stopped in Halifax for Canadian Food Inspection Agency clearance. The ship must be certified free of the invasive species LDD moth before docking at a Canadian port. It is hatching season for the Asian moth which can devastate trees if allowed to get into the environment. Ships that have recently been in places where the moth is native, must be inspected to ensure they are not carrying egg masses. Regions such as the area around Port-Cartier are heavily dependant on forestry, and must protect the valuable resource.

Built in 2011 by Hyundai Ulsan, the Cape Keystone operates under the K-Line banner. A 93,227 gt, 179,250 dwt ship, it is an impressive sight when in ballast. (I am sure the pilot, who has to climb the combination pilot ladder / accommodation ladder to get on and off may not be as impressed.)

Recent ports of call for the ship include Dalrymple, Australia March 2 (load coal), Port Louis Mauritius March 24 (bunkers),  Musel Arnao - Gijon, Spain April 26-30 (offload coal, load?), Wilhelmshaven, Germany May 3 -5 (offload?)

There was the usual container traffic too, with Atlantic Sun at PSA Fairview Cove and Volga Maersk at PSA Atlantic Gateway. Both ships are expected to sail in the afternoon.

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Cars and Fuel

 As is often the case ships carrying automobiles and ships carrying fuel for cars and trucks were the major arrivals in the Port of Halifax today, May 16.

Cars

An early morning arrival and late afternoon departure was the Grimaldi ConRo Grande Marocco. Name ship of a series of five built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan. A 47,636 gt, 25,725 dwt ship it can carry up to 3711 CEU (cars and vans) in 3839 lane meters of RoRo space. It has a capacity of 1276 TEU as well and has two 45 tonne cranes.

The Grande Marocco is one of several Grimaldi Lines ships that bring cars and vans from Italy, It was last here April 4and since then has been to Dvisville, RI, New York, Vigo, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Savona and Gioia Tauro. All that activity has resulted in some rust streaks detracting from the bright yellow Grimaldi trademark hull colour. 

This time the shipy is headed for its normal port of Baltimore now that a shipping channel has been opened.

Unlike last time however the ship does not seem to have any RoRo cargo on the open deck.

Fuel

Although the type of fuel the ship is carrying is unknown, it is likely that the tanker Elka Delos has gasoline, or possibly diesel fuel. The cargo was loaded in Amsterdam for Irving Oil, but the ship will be anchored for a time before moving alongside to unload.

 The Elka Delos is part of the Athens based European Product Carriers Ltd fleet of ten ships. Built in 2005 by Brodosplit, in Split, Croatia. It is a 27,612 gt, 44,598 dwt MidRange chemical and product tanker. Unlike the previous ship, noted above, this one has no signs of rust and all the draft markings, name, tug marks and manifold locations are clearly legible. The ship received a classification survey January 22, so was presumably in drydock and was repainted at the time.  Nevertheless a Port State Inspection in Amsterdam on February 14 revealed ten deficiencies, many of which sounded fairly serious. One wonders why the Owners and Class Society would not have dealt with the issues during drydocking instead. Deficiencies noted by Port State Control usually result in the ship being detained in port, sometimes for several days, until the matters are resolved.

 

Where are they now, WinStar and others

 Part 1

  The "Where Are They Now" department was awakened from its slumbers by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation this morning (October 17) when a report came in from Baddeck, NS, the well known resort village on the Bras d'Or Lakes.

The venerable schooner Amoeba, which had been providing scenic tours from Baddeck for many years, has been dismantled and was not in service this year. However the owners, Bryson Holdings Ltd,  have acquired another vessel (which the reporter likened to a London double decker bus) which will be fitted out for service next summer, using some fittings from the Amoeba. 

I don't recall ever seeing the Amoeba, but there are numerous photos online, that show a nicely proportioned vessel, built along classic lines. It was built by Roy Bryson (father of the current owner) in 1978 using ferro cement technology and was about 50 feet (hull length) and 31.9 gross tons.

There are also many photos of London double decker buses online, and frankly - well, you be the judge. (There is a large feet of classic Routemaster buses in Halifax, still in service, providing tours during tourist and cruise ship season, so comparisons are easy.)

 An iconic Routemaster British bus in Halifax.

 The vessel that Bryson Holdings has acquired is a very interesting one with a long and varied career to date (none of it in London). It did operate in Halifax as a dinner cruise boat in 2018 and 2019.

Carrying the official name Winstar Cruise it came to Halifax in 2018 and catered to Asian tourists with authentic seafood cuisine and Chinese language service. Although it did see some service in 2019 it was not very active as I recall. I do not know here it was after 2019.

The 132.6 gt vessel was built of aluminum in 1972 by Paasch Marine Services of Erie, PA as American Adonis II for International Boat Tours Inc of Clayton, NY. It then became Island Princess and continued Thousand Islands tours. It was located in Florida in 2015 when bought by Jacques Normand of Quebec. At the time it carried the name Cabaret.com (a name Normand decided to keep) and it was a 75 day trip from Stuart, FL to bring the ship to Baie St-Paul, QC where it was refurbished for Canadian service.

It operated from Baie-St-Paul, QC (photo above) in 2016 and Pointe-au-Pic, QC in 2017, still carrying the awkward name Cabaret.com but was not well patronized.  It was sold and moved to Halifax in 2018 as the WinStar Cruise operated by an Ontario company.

Thanks to its aluminum construction, the boat appears to be in good condition. We wish the new owners success in Baddeck. 

Part 2

It may be a bit of a stretch, but the "where are they now" question might have been asked at various times in Halifax today as the legendary pea soup fog drifted in and out of the harbour with the tides.

The cruise ship Norwegian Joy was sounding its fog horn all the way in to Pier 22 early in the morning. By late afternoon, there was a solid wall of fog outside the harbour as the Atlantic Sun arrived from offshore anchorage.

Atlantic Sun arrrives, bringing a few wisps of fog with it, as Norwegian Joy prepares to sail.

Earlier in the day the ZIM feeder ship AS Felicia completed working cargo in bright sunshine at Pier 42, as fog lurked offshore in the background.

Only a few minutes later as the ship cleared for Kingston Jamaica, it was entering the leading edge of the fog, just off the end of the pier. Macnab's Island, normally visible, had "vanished."

 Also sailing off into the gloom was the tanker Elka Delos (see previous post). It completed delivering some refined petroleum products to Irving Oil and departed for Saint John, NB with the rest of its cargo from Amsterdam.

The very rugged tanks in the background belong to Imperial Oil. Irving Oil's tanks - not visible in the photo - are much better looking.

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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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