Variety

Even though Halifax is a relatively small port in some ways, it still has an interesting variety of shipping. Sometimes this is due to local industries, but it can also be simply as a result of our geographical position.

Today (July 10) was typical in that variety. Among the callers:

Morning Carina could be considered a mid-size pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) at 60,876 gt, 22,755 dwt it has a carrying capacity of 6,502 autos - well shy of the 8,000 CEUs of the Large Car and Truck Carriers (LCTC). It was built in 2007 by Imabari Zosen  in Marugame, Japan.

 

The ship is owned by the Japanese company Shoei Kisen, and operates nominally for EUKOR, but EUKOR is majority owned by Wallenius Wihelmsen, and the ship appears to be operating on WW's regular Transatlantic route, from Bremerhaven, Goteborg, Zeebrugge and Southampton. 

Capesize bulk carriers, as the name implies, are too large to use the Suez or Panama canals when fully loaded, and so must sail via Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope if they wish to go from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. They are also generally rare callers in Halifax since their usual cargo is iron ore.

KSL Stockholm arrived in ballast from Gdansk, Poland today. It anchored for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection, but will be moving to Pier 27 for some maintenance. Built in Shanghai in 2015 by Waigaoqiao, it is a 94,528 gt, 181,043 dwt gearless bulker. Normally I would suspect the ship to be headed for Port Cartier or Sept Iles to load iron ore. Its sister ship KSL San Francisco is currently in Quebec City loading iron ore. The ship is part of the Golden Ocean Group Ltd, owned by the Norwegian-born tycoon John Frederiksen. He also owns Frontline, the world's largest tanker company, amongst other things.

A geared bulker is equipped with cranes, and sometimes grab buckets, to handle its cargo, however there is another sub-species of bulker - the self-unloader - which has built in conveyor belts and a swing out boom to unload its cargo. The cost of equipping a ship with this system is offset by the speed at which it can unload, and the precision of cargo placement when it does so. Algoma Integrity, a typical self-unloader, sailed this evening for Portsmouth, New Hampshire with a load of gypsum for Gold Bond's plant in Newington, NH.

Built especially to carry gypsum, the ship can unload that material at a rate of 2,500 tonnes per hour. It can unload aggregates at 3,000 tonnes per hour. With a deadweight tonnage of 47,556 tonnes, it has a hold capacity of 45,708.5 cubic meters. Gross tonnage is 33,047. It was built as Gypsum Integrity in 2009 by EISA-Ilha in Rio de Janiero and originally sailed for competitor US Gypsum, but was sold to Algoma and renamed in 2015 after USG ceased its operations in Nova Scotia. It now operates in the CSL Americas pool and carries a variety of cargoes including coal, sand and aggregates.

Another carrier of cargo in bulk form is of course the tanker. The tanker type we see most frequently in Halifax is the product carrier (as opposed to a crude oil carrier) and usually of the MidRange type - the world's most common tanker. Today's arrival is therefore in no way remarkable. Dee4 Elm is a 26,900 gt, 47,401 dwt vessel, built in 2009 by Onomichi Zosen, in Japan.

Originally the Maersk Maya it became Rich Wind in 2018 and Dee4 Elm in 2020. A near sister vessel from the same shipyard, the Dee4 Dogwood was in port June 29 but for Imperial Oil. Dee4 Elm arrived from Saint John, NB, where it had delivered a part load. The only unusual thing about the ship is its odd name. It is managed by the Danish company Norden, but unlike it fleet mate it is registered in Singapore.

Tomorrow it is back to container ships, the real bread and butter of the port.

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Algoma Integrity - a new name

 A ship with strong Nova Scotia connections is returning to Canada, but under a new name.
The Panamax self-unloader Gypsum Integrity has been acquired by Algoma Central Marine and will be renamed Algoma Integrity.

Built in Rio de Janeiro by Estaleiro Ilha SA (EISA) in 2009* for Gypsum Transportation, the ship was designed to operate from Hantsport, NS or Little Narrows, NS to export gypsum from Canadian Gypsum's mining operations to U.S.Gypsum plants in the United States.

When the Hantsport operation was closed due to weak demand after the US recession, the virtually new ship was reassigned to world trade by operators Beltship Management (a joint venture between Gyspum Transportation Ltd and Globe Master Management, based in Monaco). For the past few years the ship and sister ship Gypsum Centennial have been operating an iron ore shuttle in Sierra Leone while larger port facilities were under construction. The ships have now been freed up as that project is complete.

Gypsum Integrity will be handed over in Las Palmas later this month and will begin operations under the new name Algoma Integrity under the Canadian flag.It will shuttle iron ore from Port Cartier, QC to Contrecouer, QC fr ArcelorMittal. Since the ship will not need to pass though Seaway locks on this trade, it will allow Algoma to free up Seaway size ships for other work.

The ship measures 33,047 grt, 47,761 dwt and can unload at a rate of 3,000 tonnes per hour (gypsum) and 2,500 tph for coal. Its boom has an 18 degree uplift and can swing out 90 degrees from the ships centre line, allowing for considerable flexibility during unloading.

Another recent development at Port Cartier is the acquisition of a third tug to be operated by Svitzer Canada (see recent Tugfax postings). With frequent additional calls by this large ship (a round trip would take less than a week) it can now be understood why a third tug is needed.

I have never seen this ship, but as she is a sister ship to Gyspum Centennial, see Shipfax November 15, 2014 for an idea of her size and shape, although she will look quite different at first, since I believe she is currently painted read, but will eventually acquire Algoma's deep blue hull paint..

* Construction of the ship was delayed from the original delivery date off fall 2007 to fall 2008 or perhaps even later. Some sources give the ship's completion date as 2009.

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Gypsum - Part 2 - no rebound for Hantsport

The expansion of the National Gypsum quarry in Milford, NS (see Part 1) solidifies the future of gypsum shipments from the company's facilities in Halifax. A recovery of the US economy, and a low Canadian dollar are largely responsible for this turn of events, but that does not seem to have had any effect on their competitor United States Gypsum, or USG Corp as it is now called.

That company shut down its mines near Windsor, NS and storage and shiploader in Hantsport, NS permanently in 2011 and although much of the infrastructure remains, there is little hope that it will reopen. The short line Windsor + Hantsport railroad that carried the gypsum from the mines to the pier has also been mothballed.

The fascinating little port of Hantsport, governed by extreme tides, was one of the most interesting operations in Nova Scotia. Ships were limited to only a three hour window for loading at high tide, and had to beat a hasty retreat from the Minas Basin to the Bay of Fundy while there was still water enough to float the ship.

Winter operations were also awkward due to caked ice on the bottom at the pier, and heavy broken flows in the approaches. Some winters the port was closed to shipping, and through some form of cooperation between the competitors, the ships came to Halifax to load at National Gypsum. Through subsidiary Canada Gypsum (CGC) the company also operates a gypsum and anhydrite quarry at Little Narrows in Cape Breton. It is a seasonal operation from roughly May to December, when the port facility is free of ice. Ships that called in Little Narrows in summer moved to Hantsport in winter - conditions permitting.

Also early adopters of the self-unloader systems, the ships of the Gypsum Packet Co (later Gypsum Transportation Co) were built uniquely to serve Hantsport and the plant facilities of US Gypsum in the United States. They were built with the wheelhouse well forward to keep a clear deck space over the cargo hold for the slewing loader arm at Hansport. They did have a general cargo hold forward, which was used to carry plant equipment or other supplies for the company.

There were four generations of ships owned by the company following World War II.
The first generation were built in Kearney, NJ by the Federal Shipbuilding + Dry Dock Co and measured 7969 grt.

Bulk Queen at Halifax Shipyard in 1980.

Gypsum Queen was built in 1947 and sold in 1975, renamed Bulk Queen in 1978 and was used on and off until it went into a long layup in Bath, ME and was eventually towed out for scrap in the Caribbean in April 1987.

The second generation, and by far the most stylish were the European built series. Their self-unloading gear was completely concealed, with twin conveyors running up each side of the hull through the engine room to a transverse conveyor near the stern. Doors on each side closed off that "shuttle" conveyor space when at sea.The ship's steam turbine machinery allowed for placement of boilers fairly high in the engine space, and the turbine low, allowing the conveyors room to work.

Gypsum Duchess makes a winter arrival in Halifax to load from its competitor's dock.

Gypsum Duchess and sister Gypsum Emporess were built in 1956 by Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, measuring 8240 grt, 10,677 dwt Gypsum Duchess was sold in 1986 and renamed Duchess I, but was broken up in Brazil in 1987.

Gypsum Empress departs loaded, having just passed the inbound Gypsum Duchess.

Gypsum Empress was sold directly to scrappers in Tuxpan, MX and arrived there in early 1984.

Gypsy Countess from the stern. The arrow points to the conveyor door.

Gypsum Countess, came from Atelier et Chantier de la Seine-Maritime, Le Trait in 1960, and also measured 8240 grt, 10,720 dwt. Equally elegant, it had the same raised forecastle and streamlined forward house. It was sold in 1989 becoming Gypsy Countess. It arrived in Halifax in tow of Point Halifax November 17, 1991 after losing power. It was repaired and in 1994 became Josiff I . It was broken up in 1998 - reportedly in Canada, but I have my doubts.

The third generation were Canadian  built by Collingwood Shipyard, and were among the last steamships built in this country. The layout of that machinery allowed for the self-unloading gear to pass through the engine room, which it would not be able to do with a bulky diesel engine.

 Gypsum King fresh from drydock in Halifax in 1998 sported the traditional Fundy Gypsum colour scheme of white over black with rusty red deck and boot topping. The conveyor door is just above the stern tug's bow.
 

Gypsum Baron shows the new blue hull colour in 2002. The conveyor door is visible just forward of the rudder, below the weather deck.

 Gypsum Baron (1976) and Gypsum King (1975) measured 12,272 grt and unloaded at a rate of 1800 tonnes per hour. This was quite slow by modern standards, but suited USG's needs. Gypsum King was sold in 2003, renamed G.King and arrived in Alang for scrap May 20, 2003. Gyspum Baron was renamed Baron in 2007 and arrived in Alang August 23, 2007 for scrap. Both ships called in Halifax for drydockings, bunkers and occasional winter loads of gypsum.

A.V. Kastner sails from Hantsport at high tide with hatches still open. The ship had to leave on tide time, whether fully loaded or not.

A single ship A.V. Kastner followed in 1987 from Hyundai. Ulsan. It measured 12,702 grt, 19,075 dwt and featured an unique stern mounted slewing unloader boom. Sold in 2010, it became Silica II for owners in Dubai. It arrived in Alang July 18, 2014 where it was broken up.

The final generation, built after the company increased its load out rate at Hantsport with twin arms and extended the dock to deeper water, had a short lived career at Hantsport.

They are still operating however, but now in Africa as previously reported:
http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2014/11/gypsum-centennial-from-where-are-they.html

As an update to that post, when the ship returned to Africa after its refit, it took much needed supplies for the fight against ebola.

There was also a post when USG closed the facilities permanently in November 2011:
http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2011/11/usg-pulls-plug.html

USCG was not the only gypsum producer in Nova Scotia to close down. Georgia-Pacific in Cape Breton, with quarries at Sugar Camp (River Denys) and Melford, and ship loading facilities at Point Tupper announced its closing in December 2011. There has been no indication that they might resume operations any time soon either.

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Gypsum Centennial - from the where are they now department

Staff in the Where are They Now Department have been working tirelessly for the past many moons to dig up the latest news on ships of days gone by. This time, not too many years have gone by since we saw the last gypsum exported from Hantsport, NS. The United States Gypsum Company, and their subsidiary Fundy Gypsum Company, had a long history at the tiny tidal port on a branch of the Minas Basin. They had made a science of loading out their product despite enormous tides and a three hour loading window.
However a downturn in the US economy saw parent company USG Corporation closing the mines and shiploading facility permanently in 2011. This was only ten years after the company celebrated is centennial in Hantsport with delivery of the state of the art ship Gypsum Centennial and a new high speed shiploader system.

 Gypsum Centennial loading at the high speed loader in Hantsport in 2004.

In 2008 a sister ship Gypsum Integrity was also delivered to USG's shipping arm Gypsum Transportation. Both ship are operated by Beltship Management Ltd, a joint venture between Gypsum Transportation and Globe Master Management of Monaco (and Cyprus and Singapore).
With closure of the Hantsport operation, work had to be found elsewhere for the ships. It turned out to be in Sierra Leone where African Minerals Ltd is developing a new mining operation at Tonkolili to export iron ore to Shandong Iron and Steel Group in China. The mine is 200km inland, and is linked to the coast by a new railway, and a new port is under construction.In the meantime an older shallow water pier at Pepel  is used to shuttle the ore to waiting Capesize bulkers at an anchorage off Tagrin Point. 
Gypsum Centennial and Gypsum Integrity are the ships used for the shuttle work.
On November 11 Gypsum Centennial arrived in Falmouth, England for refit after three years in Sierra Leone. Needless to say, the crew is under watch for ebola.
When the Phase II port is completed the Capes will be load directly, and the two Gypsum boasts will no longer be needed.

Gypsum Centennial sailing from Hantsport for the first time.

US Gypsum also operates Little Narrows Gypsum or CGC Little Narrows in Cape Breton, and it is still operating. It ships gypsum and anhydrite to the Great Lakes and US east coast, but is closed due to ice for up to three months a year. [Anhydrite is essentially the same mineral as gypsum but with the absence of water.]

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