More variety

 There was more variety in harbour traffic again today, August 3. 

A late morning arrival was the medium endurance USCGC Forward WMEC 911 out of Portsmouth, Virginia. 

It is a Hero class vessel, named for a former Secretary of Treasury 1841-1843, Walter Forward, whose "hero" status is at best questionable. Built by the Robert Derektor Shipyard Inc in Middletown, RI it was completed in 1989 and commissioned August 4, 1990. It appears that it will be observing that anniversary here along with the other Dockyard visitor FS Garonne (see yesterday's post), both of which will be in port for long-weekend holiday celebrations.

Traditionally the founding of Halifax - its Natal Day - was celebrated on June 21, even though the first 2,500 British colonial settlers arrived starting July 2, 1749. In recent years however the first Monday in August has been a civic holiday observed province-wide and not just in the former City of Halifax (which is now part of the Halifax Regional Municipality, formed in 1996 from four different municipalities, each with its own founding date.) Parades, fireworks, road races and other events coincide with the annual busker festival for an extended long weekend of celebration.

As Forward sailed it met the outbound HMCS Windsor which has been seen about the harbour and area in recent days, sometimes exercising with a helicopter.

HMCS Windsor in the Narrows, July 31.

An early morning arrival was the auto carrier Don Pasquale a regular at Autoport on Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic service. Late in the afternoon it shifted to Richmond Terminals, Pier 9C as it has done several times recently, to unload additional RoRo cargo.

As usual the ship went to Bedford Basin, turned and re-entered the Narrows to tie up starboard side to the dock. The Don Pasquale was built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in Okpo in 1997 and in 2007 it was lengthened from 219.3 to 227.9 m by Hyundai Vinaship in Vietnam. The reworked ship now registers 67,141 gt, 28,142 dwt with a capacity of 7,194 cars. Its stern ramp is rated for 125 tonnes.

The heavy lift ship Pijlgracht completed its work at the IEL dock this morning and sailed in the early afternoon for Providence, RI. That port is not far from the Vineyard Wind project, so perhaps it has more cargo for that project, in additon to what it unloaded here.

 

 

A late afternoon arrival was the NYK Constellation on THE Alliance's AL5 route from North Europe to North America. 

 The 55,534 gt, 65,919 dwt ship was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan and has a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers. It was certainly carrying a large number of reefers aft (likely empty). It berthed at PSA Fairview Cove.

A ship meeting, which would be interesting to see, was to take place in the late evening and after dark. The outbound ONE Falcon would meet the inbound ONE Apus outside the pilotage area in different traffic lanes where there is lots of sea room.  It is rare that two of the 14,000 TEU sister ships would be in the area at the same time. Normal schedules would have them several days apart.

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Much ado (Post #1)

 There was much coming and going in Halifax harbour today, August 2, with some interesting background. I have therefore made three seperate posts.

An early morning arrival at Pier 22 was the cruise ship Viking Neptune, one of the frequent callers this Summer (see my post of June 25 for more detail) . It tied up at Pier 22 as usual and was soon attended by the tug Dominion Rumbler and the Honey Barge. Meanwhile a utility boat from HMC Dockyard, YFU 121, was in the area. A general purpose workboat, it is constructed as a landing craft (LCVP = Landing Craft, Vehicle - Personnel) and fitted with a bow ramp and reinforced for beach landings. The 35 foot aluminum vessel is often seen at speed (up to 25 knots). Some information sources show it attached to HMC Dockyard Esquimalt.

An even earlier arrival (0100 hrs ADT at the pilot station) was the Irving Oil tanker Nor'easter. This is the ship's second visit recently on the "milk run" delivering product from the Saint John, NB refinery to Irving Oil's terminals in Halifax, Charlottetown and St.John's.

 The ship normally trades from Saint John to US east coast ports and is flagged in the Marshall Islands. It is currently operating under a coasting licnse while the Canadian flagged fleet mate Acadian is in refit in Setubal, Portugal. The expected 45 day duration of the coasting license (July 12 to August 26) covers the period of the Acadian's refit and its transit time to and from the shipyard. Nor'easter's first visit was July 23-24.

The ship is one of five ships under long term charter to Irving Oil from Vroon / Iver Ships of the Netherlands. Four of the ships were built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan in 2005 including the first Nor'easter. It was moved from Marshall Islands flag to Canadian in 2014. Renamed East Coast it joined Acadian and continues to work chiefly in Canadian waters. 

Today's caller, the current Nor'easter, is a  23,589 gt, 37,412 dwt ship built in 2007, also by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, as Iver Progress. From about 2015 it was dedicated to Irving Oil and renamed Nor'easter in 2016. It works with New England and Great Eastern in international service, between Saint John and the United States.

An unsual arrival was next - the French navy vessel Garonne on a courtesy call to HMC Dockyard.

 The offshore support and assistance vessel (bâtiment de soutien et d'assistance métropolitain = BATM) began active duty in January 2020. It is the fourth ship of the Loire class and is based in Brest.  Sister ships Loire and Seine are based in Toulon. Rhône, which visited Halifax in 2018 and 2022, is also based in Brest. [see older posts]

The ship was reported in St-Pierre July 18-20, Quebec City July 25-29 and St-Pierre July 31.

PSA Atlantic Gaetway had the ONE Falcon arriving mid-morning. It is on the eastbound leg of its EC5 route for THE Alliance. It was here July 11 in fog. Today it was only possible to see the ship heavily back lit. Nevertheless these 14,026 TEU ships in their magenta colour scheme are impressive under any conditions.

It was still possible to watch the ship make its way inbound in the deep water western channel, with the stern tethered escort tug assisting in the turns.

to be continued...