Big Ship Day

 Today was a day (May 26) for big ships to arrive and sail from Halifax.

The first departure this morning was the heavy load carrier GPO Emerald, which arrived yesterday and berthed at Pier 27-28. It is carrying some wind generator pylons, en route to the Empire Wind 1 project off New York City.

The GPO Emerald is one of four sister ships built by the China Shipbuilding Corp in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. All but one of the ships called here previously with similar cargoes for the Vineyard wind project. Although not large in terms of tonnage, at 46,091 gt, 63,581 dwt, they can carry very large deck cargoes - as it is was doing today.

When it was in Halifax August 22, 2023 [https://shipfax.blogspot.com/2023/08/gpo-emerald.html] it was in a much more photographical position.  

A noon time arrival was the Capesize bulk carrier AM Tarang, which went to anchor in the lower harbour for Canadian Food Inspection Agency examination.
 

 The ship dates from 2019 when it was delivered by Shangahi Wai Gao Qiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd with the name True Valour. It was very soon after renamed AM Tarang. Its China based ship finance company owners placed it under the management of Synergy Maritime of Singapore. It is a 94,408 gt, 180,885 dwt ship of 292m length and 45m depth. With the recent enlargements to the Suez Canal it may now be able to use that waterway, but it is the current political climate that will force it to seek safer routes.

In March it loaded iron ored in Dalrymple, Australia and was next reported May 5 to 10 in Fos, France, then Musel Arnao (Gijon) Spain, May 17 to19. 

After receiving clearance the ship sailed late this afternoon for Port Cartier, QC, where it will likely load iron ore.

The only other arrival of note was the CMA CGM Lapérouse on the Ocean Alliance's Asia-North America service. Its last port was Colombo and it also sailed here via the Cape of Good Hope.

The ship was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Geoje, and registers 151,446 gt and 162,422 dwt with a capacity of 13,830 TEU. It has 800 reefer points on deck for 40 ft containers.

To complete the day's ship movements the autocarrier Marvelous Ace also sailed. It was covered fully in yesterday's post when it arrived from Emden with a cargo of cars from the Volkswagen family. See https://shipfax.blogspot.com/2025/05/you-look-marvelous.html

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Firing on all cylinders

 It was a busy day in the Port of Halifax, with ships working at almost every available berth. This is not unheard of - particularly around a holiday. There is no holiday in Canada, but as yesterday was Thanksgiving in the United States, ships may well have adjusted their schedules to avoid overtime rates and traffic jams farther south.

Of course with containers and RoRo, the labour needed to load and off load ships is not what it once was, and ships can now arrive and leave in a matter of hours. The sight of ships tied up end to end at every berth for several days is not likely to happen as it did up until the 1960s.

 

By my count there are fifteen ships in this 1960s photo, occupying berths from Pier 20 to 39. All the transit sheds, except one at Pier 26 are now gone. The gross tonnage of all the ships would still be less than one of the Ultra Size ships that now calls in Halifax.

All those berths have become under-utlized, and that is why the Port of Halifax can expand the South End Container Terminal (SECT) by demolishing the transit sheds and filling in between the finger piers. The new land space will be used to increase the number of containers that can be handled as larger and larger ships arrive.

Even without those giant ships, the SECT was working three ships today, none exceptionally large. The MSC Alina, arrived at Pier 41 on its return, eastbound, leg of the Indusa service from Baltimore, Savannah, Norfolk and Philadelphia to northwest India.

 The ship was built in 2014 by Hyundai, Samho, registering 94,930 gt, 112,171 dwt, with a capacity of about 9,000 TEU. Operating briefly as UASC Tabuk it was renamed Skyros in the same year and became MSC Alina in 2021.

It was joined at Pier 41 by the Nolhan Ava on its weeekly run to Argentia and St-Pierre et Miquelon for TMSI. 

 

Oddly the Nolhan Ava appeared to be unloading an Eimskip container while the next arrival, the Skogafoss was arriving from Portland, ME en route to Argentia and Reykjavik also for Eimskip.

 

Also arriving this morning was the autocarrier Grande Halifax for Grimaldi Group. Built in 2018 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, the ship was officially dedicated in Halifax May 16, 2018 with the CEO of the Halifax Port Corporation as sponsor. On this trip it is arriving from Salerno and Livorno, Italy and Valencia, Spain.

The Grande Halifax is a mid-size ship of 62,134 gt,18,353 dwt with a 150 tonne SWL stern ramp and a capacity of 6700 CEU.

At PSA Fairveiw Cove the Oceanex Sanderling was loading for Newfoundland on its weektly trip to St.John's. It was joined late in the afternoon by Atlantic Sail arriving from Norfolk on its eastbound transatlantic run.

As Shipfax has reported before, eastbound transatlantic cargo levels are extremely thin and the relatively few containers on deck is a testament to this fact. The trade imbalance of imports far outweighing exports is seldom more obvious than in the Port of Halifax where finished goods cargoes are predominantly imports - both containers and autos.

As a follow up to yesterday's post, the heavy load carrier GPO Emerald was preparing to get underway as Atlantic Sail arrived. Having unloaded its cargo of wind farm towers, the ship is headed for Rostock, Germany for more. The ship's deck is clear except for the cradles that hold the tower components, and a crib structure (black colour).  

 

Load and Go

 Another load of wind turbine towers was due to leave Halifax this evening (November 23) on the crane ship Orion. The latest batch only arrived yesterday November 22 on the GPO Emerald, so that is very fast work.

 

The Orion returned to Halifax November 16 from the Vineyard Wind project in Massachussets after installing the previous batch of towers. It tied up at the Woodside Industries pier (also known as the IEL or Industrial Estates Ltd pier, or if you are real old-timer, the Sugar Dock) in Dartmouth and raised its 5,000 tonne capacity crane for some preparatory work.

GPO Emerald departed Rostock, Germany on November 7 with its latest cargo of six towers (in sections), and it arrived yesterday in breezy conditions, with heavy rain in the forecast.

Despite the wind and rain and some legendary fog this morning, conditions cleared gradually during the day, as the transhipment continued.

Temperatures also dropped during the day from above 10C (50F) in the morning to nearer 5C (41F) in the afternoon, but that is still far from winter conditions, and did not hinder the operations.

GPO fleetmate GPO Sapphire sailed from Rostock November 19 with another consignment and GPO Grace arived in Rostock November 20 to take on more towers. GPO Emerald is due to sail tomorrow.

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Post, post tropical storm

 The storm system that was Hurricane Philippe but gradually diminished in intensity as it worked its way north from the Caribbean, finally crossed Nova Scotia overnight Saturday - Sunday, October 7-8. It was a post tropical cyclone at that point with a few significant gusts, but mostly high winds and heavy rain. It appears to have had little effect on Halifax, except to disrupt some schedules and create some extra work in battening down. By late morning Sunday the rain had stopped, the wind died off and the skies were clear.

Even so, sea conditions outside the harbour were still sufficiently rough that pilotage operations were suspended during the day (October 8) until after 1800 hrs ADT. I did not venture out along the  coast to see the surf, but from town I could see large swells crashing onto the Maugher's Beach Lighthouse breakwater.

Conditions inside the harbour were quite decent in the morning, allowing the cruise ship Star Pride (see yesterday's post) to move from its anchorage in Bedford Basin to Pier 20. It did take the precaution of having the assistance of the tug Atlantic Oak. The ship tied up bows south - an unusual arrangement at Pier 20, but one which will allow the ship to sail directly to sea without having to turn.(Arriving cruise ships generally dock bows north.)

The large "Yokohama" type fenders, placed along the pier face during cruise season, should protect the ship if there is any residual swell in the harbour.

The other cruise ship in port, Seabourn Quest, seems to have made out all right at Pier 23 as did the heavy cargo carrier GPO Emerald which spent the night at Number One anchorage in the lower harbour. (It needed the extra room provided by that position in case it did drag. Equipped with all kinds of thrusters and DP (Dynamic Positioning), it could probably hold position.) Number One anchorage is normally reserved for short term use, so it seems likely that the GPO Emerald will move up the harbour later. Fleet mate GPO Sapphire has been anchored in Chedabucto Bay since mid-September when it went to shelter from post tropical cyclone Lee.  It also has a full load of monopiles to discharge.

 The crane ship Orion remained alongside at the IEL dock in Woodside last night, and seems to have completed loading as many monopiles as it can handle.

The only other commercial ship in the harbour over night - the Augusta Luna at pier 27 - was working today when I went by in mid-afternoon, off loading bagged nickel sulfides from Cuba. It is scheduled to sail mid-day tomorrow.

The pilot boat went out toward the pilot station at 1800 hrs to observe conditions and it was determined to be safe to disembark pilots. Star Pride, Seaborn Quest and Orion then all established sailing times between 1900 and 2000 hrs.

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, 1900 hrs to 2000 hrs (regrettably after dark). Star Pride, Seaborn Quest and Oiron will all be sailing this evening.

Unusual preparations

 Hurricane Philippe, downgraded to a post tropical cyclone, inexoribly making its way toward Nova Scotia, and weakening as it does so, has shipping making various preparations for diversions, reroutings, and in the case of ferries, outright cancellations of some crossings.

For the cruise ship industry ships generally prefer to sail as far away from disturbances as possible, and do not like to be in port during major storms. Late this afternoon (October 7) however there was an exception for the small (by cruising standards) Star Pride (ex Seabourn Pride) arriving in Halifax from Eastport, ME.

The ship was in Halifax September 30 and was covered in this blog. The difference this time is that the ship did not tie up at a pier, but instead headed directly for Bedford Basin and went to anchor. 

The unusual sight of a cruise ship in the Narrows and passing beneath the harbour bridges is only possible because the ship is small, and thus has a relatively low air draft.

Some passengers took in the unique experience by crowding onto the open observation bridge above the navigation bridge.

 While the ship was entering the Bedford Basin, the container ship ZIM Virginia was getting underway from PSA Fairview Cove, and held up long enough for the Star Pride to clear.

Hyundai Heavy Industries built the ZIM Virginia in the Ulsan shipyard in 2002. The 53,453 gt, 66,686 dwt ship has a capacity of 4839 TEU, and it flies the Israeli flag.The ship is bound for New York, so may be able to skirt the storm's path by sailing south and keeping to the east.

Bedford Basin is not exceptionallly good holding ground for ships with high windage to anchor, but is is a sufficiently large body of water (8 km x 5 km) that a little dragging in high winds can be tolerated. It does mean that a ship may have to steam ahead on its anchor during sustained winds. Constant monitoring is necessary while at anchor. Both the ship's bridge watch and Halifax VTS have auto alrms as well as human radar monitoring to detect dragging.

Likely due to the downgrade for Philippe another cruise ship, the Seabourn Quest elected to stay in port, tied up at Pier 23. The camber is relatively sheltered, but I would not be surprised to see some waves sloshing in if there is any storm surge. Again the ship will heve to remain vigilant during the night when the highest winds are expected.

The cargo ship Augusta Luna (centre in photo below) in port from Cuba for Nirint Shipping also opted to remain in port, tied up at Pier 27.

The Articulated Tug / Barge (ATB) Leo A. McArthur / John J.Carrick arriving from the Great Lakes with a cargo asphalt (leftmost in photo above) will remain at the McAsphalt jetty in Eastern Passage over night. It will likely have to suspend unloading operations when the wind picks up, because the mooring is partially secured to buoys.

Eastern Passage is relativeley well sheltered, so sea conditions will likely not be too severe, but there will still be high winds and strong gusts.

The heavy load ship GPO Emerald is due to move back out to anchor this evening. It has been berthed alongside the crane ship Orion (with the barge Atlantic Swordfish between them). 

It is due to move back alongside tomorrow to continue the transfer of six monopiles (in sections) and other gear for the Vineyard wind project offshore Massachusetts. Once loaded the Orion will return to the Vineyard project site and use its 5,000 tonne capacity crane to install the monopiles.

Two other ships that remained in port over night last night sailed today, having given the storm time to move away from their tracks. (Both ships were covered here yesterday)

Balmoral may be able to skirt the storm to the east and south on its way to Portland, ME but there may still be rough seas to contend with.

  CMA CGM Andromeda will likely be following a similar route, but heading farther south for New York.

The Volga Maersk, which arrived from Montreal this morning sailed early this evening for Bremerhaven, so will probably be ahead or well to the east of the storm.

Permanent residents of the port are accustomed to rough weahter by now, so are likely well buttoned down for the night, and will wait to see what the morning llight reveals.

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Preparing for Lee

 Hurricane Lee is making its way up the United States eastern seaboard heading directly for southwestern Nova Scotia. By the time it gets here it may be downgraded slightly to a Tropical Storm or Post Tropical storm, but it will still be acccompanied by very high winds, very heavy rain and a storm surge. Highest winds as usual will be on the western side of the track, which would be the Bay of Fundy and southern New Brunswick. However Halifax will not be completely spared, and preparations were well underway today (September 15) to secure ships and boats that will remain in port, and hasten the departure of others for sea.

The heavy load ship GPO Emerald, which arrived August 22, and has been in number one anchorage since September 8, moved alongside the IEL dock in Woodside yesterday. It is the only large ship to remain in port and may require tugs to stay alongside if its lines threaten to part.

The corvette Sackville moved to HMC Dockyard at some point today where it will be sheltered, but also where there are sufficient personel to monitor conditions and lines. (Its lines parted during Hurricane Juan in 2003 and it sank an adjacent luxury yacht.)

Numerous small craft were sent to the shelter of Mill Cove in Bedford Basin. Among them: pilot boats Scotia Pilot and APA No.20, harbour tour boats Silva, Harbour Queen I and Kawartha Spirit, Eagle Beach Construction vessels including Eagle Fury, Eagle Leader and their workboats and floats.

Several pleasure craft were also anchored in the Cove. When Hurricane Juan tracked directly through Halifax Harbour in 2003 it took the harbour tour boat Mar II from its berth in Halifax and cast it up on shore at Dook's Dock (now McAsphalt) in Eastern Passage. The lone crew member on board was helpless and could only ride it out.

All remaining commercial shipping had sailed by 2000 hrs September 15 and there are no pilot orders for arrivals (or departures) for tomorrow when Lee is expected to make landfall. The last ship to sail was ZIM Iberia which followed the cruise ship Zaandam which however gave a destination of Halifax again on September 16. Normally it would be headed for Sydney, but Lee is expected to track in that direction.

The chaos that ensued in 2003, when large ships were allowed to remain in port during Hurricane Juan, will not be repeated but little can be done about flooding along the waterfront due to storm surge. Flooding on shore and power outages could limit port activity for a time.

When Saufi Tabuk's lines parted during Hurricane Juan, it was blown across the camber and struck the Albert Oldendorff damaging containers on deck and the ships themselves. (Both ships were carrying National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia containers.)

Most ships are safer at sea where they can steam well away from the storm track given the advance warnings now available, and can miss the worst conditions. 

With power failures anticipated Shipfax may be off line during the next few days.

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GPO Emerald

 Another heavy load ship arrived today, August 22, with six more wind turbine towers. The GPO Emerald tied up at the Woodside dock where its sister ship GPO Grace had been tied up. The latter ship moved out to anchorage yesterday after off loading some smaller components.

GPO Emerald approaches the dock, and looms over the ferry Viola Desmond as it leaves the adjacent dock. 

The GPO Emerald is the newest of the four GPO heavy load sister ships. It was delivered in October 2021, but its hull paint looks freshly applied. Those draft marks are displayed to boat deck level, because the ship has semi-submersible capability and can submerge its cargo deck to 15 meters below the surface.

Sister ship GPO Grace has been in port since July 5 awaiting the return of the offshore installation vessel Orion to transfer its six wind tower components. With two ships in at the same time again  - it can only mean that installation off Massachusetts must be very slow.

GPO Grace waiting patiently at anchor, was built in 2017, and is the "oldest" of the four GPO ships.

All four ships were built by the China Shipbuilding Corp in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and have a deadweight capacity of 63,581 tonnes. The GPO Sapphire, also built in 2017 was here in June. The fourth sister, GPO Amethyst (built in 2018), has not been in Halifax, however it was in Providence, RI from July 25 to August 4, possibly in connection to the same Vineyard Wind project.

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