Quite a Parade

 With three ships all arriving at the pilot station for 0600 hrs ADT, there was an interesting procession. Not long after that there was another procession of outbound naval vessels, making for a busy morning.

The inbound ships, all regular callers in Halifax in order of arrival were:

Irving Oil's Acadian on one of its last trips through Halifax. Its replacement the new Algoma Acadian is due today in Savannah, Georgia on its working delivery trip, via Brazil, from Korea.

 Nirint's Gotland with another delivery of nickel sulfides from Cuba:

 and Tropical Shipping's Tropic Hope on the weekly service from the Caribbean.

 Morning deparures included a naval contingent heading to near shore areas for exercses:

The Royal Canadian Navy charter Asterix was first to leave (no photo here- I had to eat breakfast sometime) and HMCS Montreal:

 ... followed by an as yet unidentified, by name, US submarine:

 and the visiting Danish air defence frigate HDMS Vaedderen:

 There was also later activity, stretching through to noon time.

The cable carrier Fairwind Legion arrived for Pier 9B to load cable racks.

and the cable ship IT Infinity:

Then there was a departure from Autoport. Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Oberon is on the usual route from north Europe.

Aside from the Danish visitor, all of these ships are regular callers and have been covered in detail previously in this blog, so no details are given here.

 There were some other arrivals and departures today, so it was a very busy day in the port.

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Themis - two stops

 The Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean RoRo ship Themis made a two point stop in Halifax today (October 5). Its first call was at Autoport to discharge automobiles, which was accomplished by noon time. It then moved to Pier 9C to off load a variety of other RoRo cargo. This of course gave an opportunity to see the ship from both sides.

 Transiting the Narrows north bound, the Themis approaches the A. Murray MacKay bridge.

Once into Bedford Basin, the ship begins to make its slow turn to port.

The tugs Atlantic Oak (forward) and Atlantic Fir (aft) provide braking and turning assistance.

Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, it is a 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt ship with a capacity for 8,000 RT43 size cars and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. As with many newer autocarriers, it has no side ramp. It is also fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber, and is emitting water vapour from its scrubber vent.

Once the turn is completed, the ship glides back to the Narrows to berth starboard side alongside Pier 9C. [In the background - under the ship's bow - HMCS Montreal is discharging munitions at the Bedford Magazine (Jetty November November) , having returned yesterday from a six month assignment with NATO.]

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Something for everyone

 It was a real mixed bag in the harbour today, March 27, with several ships sailing and arriving. In more or less chronological order:

HMCS Montreal was in and out of the harbour as it works up for its deployment for the Indo-Pacific in the latest Operation Projection (see yesterday's post).

above: time stamp 15:58 hrs ADT

It sailed "officially" yesterday, but is expected to be in and out for the next few days, but not tying up in port.

                                                above: time stamp 16:52 hrs ADT

A pilot was ordered for 1600 hrs to sail the container ship Humen Bridge. It was some time before the ship was actually underway, and it departed Pier 41 with tug assistance. It kept the Atlantic Bear as stern tethered escort because the ship needed to make a sharp turn to use the western channel.

The Humen Bridge was built by IHI Kure in 2007 and is a 98,747 gt, 98,849 dwt ship with a capacity of 9040 TEU. Assigned to THE Alliance's EC5 service, it would normally have been handled at PSA Fairview Cove. But due to its size and the arrival of Atlantic Sky the  ship was handled at PSA Atlantic Gateway, (southend terminal).

Using the wesrern channel allowed the inbound tanker Great Epsilon to use the main channel.

The Great Epsilon was arriving from Antwerp with refined product for Imperial Oil. It is a 30,237 gt, 49,998 dwt MidRange 2 tanker built in 2020 by New Times Shipbuilding Co in Jingjiang, China. It is also scrubber fitted, allowing its Hyundai-built main engine to burn heavy fuel.

Also sailing was the cable ship IT Intrepid. The ship left its berth at Pier 9A early in the morning and  carried out trials in Bedford Basin before putting out to sea for more trials. It is expected back in port early this evening.

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RCN

 It was a busy morning (July 15) for the Royal Canadian Navy. Two frigates returned from NATO assignments, accompanied on the last leg of the trip by a supply ship.

The first movement however was the departure of HMCS Moncton MM 708, displaying its Battle of the Atlantic disruptive (camouflage) paint scheme. It met the inbound ships outside of the Maugher's Beach lighthouse.

 

The frigates emerged from the fog and were greeted in the Middle Ground and escorted into the harbour by the Halifax Fire and Emergency Services Fireboat 1, Kjipuktuk, with an impressive water display.

The first ship in line was HMCS Montreal FFH 336, which has been away since January 19.

 It was followed by HMCS Halifax FFH 330 which left its home port March 19.

The ships sailed in west of George's Island, allowing close up views, and meant that the ships were within vocal range of shore. Spectators at Pier 20 could see and hear (and be heard by) those on the ships. As usual, all available hands were on deck.

 

Following the frigates was the supply ship Asterix [not pictured] which sailed from Halifax July 6. It met the frigates off Newfoundland and accompanied them for a port call in St.John's last weekend.

Although Montreal and Halifax have returned from Operation Reassurance, two RCN coastal defence vessels, HMCS Kingston and HMCS Summerside sailed from Halifax June 26 for the Baltic to join the same operation. 

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More Weather, More Boxes

 Thursday's heavy snow vanished over night Saturday / Sunday (December 11-12) as another storm blew through with thunder, lightning, wind and heavy rain. Snow removal is a huge headache for container terminals, and it is a time consuming and costly operation to clear and dispose of the white stuff. However when rain washes it away for you, operations can get back to normal very quickly.

PSA Halifax was wall to wall with three ships alongside Sunday morning December 12. MSCLeigh took the centre berth with Eimskip's Vivienne Sheri D at Pier 41 (right in photo) and ZIM's feeder Taipei Trader at Pier 42 (left in photo).

MSC Leigh arrived from Montreal December 11 to top off  before setting out for Valencia and Barcelona on MSC's Canada Express 2 service.

Built in 2006 by Daewoo Mangala the ship was launched as Buxtime but was delivered as MSC Leigh. It is a 50,963 gt, 63,411 dwt ship with a capacity of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers.

Things were also busy at Fairview Cove, with NYK Constellation arriving in the morning of December 11, and sailing mid-morning today, Sunday December 12.

NYK Constellation outbound with the pilot boat Capt. E.T. Rogers in attendance, bound for Southampton.

NYK Constellation is on THE Alliance's North Europe - North America AL5 service, eastbound. The ship was built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2007 and is a 55,534 gt, 65,919 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers.

As soon as the NYK Constellation was clear of the berth, the Hyundai Faith began to move in. It had arrived late yesterday afternoon, December 11 and spent the night at anchor in Bedford Basin.

The HMM ship (Hyundai Merchant Marine rebranded itself as HMM in 2020) was built by - wait for it - Hyundai, Samho in 2008. The 95,681 gt, 98,967 dwt ship has a capacity of 8562 TEU. It is on THE Alliance's EC5 Asia-North America run and arrived directly from Singapore.

 

All was quiet in the rest of the harbour, but was considerably brightened in the "grey ship" zone, where HMCS Montreal was showing off its new, bright blue, anti-fouling hull paint.

 

The ship is perched on the Syncrolift, an elevator - like platform that was built to lift ships (including submarines) out of the water, using banks of electric motors (the light blue objects), all carefully synchronised as to speed. The facility is being upgraded to increase its capacity for the future drydockings of new frigates (not yet built), but it does not have the capability of lifting the very heavy Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels. They will have to be drydocked in Newfoundland or Quebec, or on a semi-submersible barge.

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The Idiot Factor

The Idiot Factor I refer to is a non-scientific measurement which operates in direct proportion to the number of Personal Water Craft. The more PWC's - the more idiots. However there is an "escalator clause" which increases the ratio close to 1:1 as relates to rental operations. Apparently anyone with a credit card can rent a PWC on Halifax harbour and are thus entitled to risk their own and other's lives with impunity.

Hardly a day goes by tat I don't see someone taking an unnecessary chance with one of these craft. Today took the cake however as HMCS Montreal had to warn off several of these pests with whistle signals - not once, not twice, but three times.

The frigate was exercising in Bedford Basin when it was "swarmed" by three PWCs, cutting close in under the ship's bows. Certainly a mindless maneuver, even if the ship was operating at slow speed. And of course there was no means of identifying the operators  - except by someone like me who took pictures.

 (They should be equipped with GPS trackers like those silly road scooters that are also heavy on Idiot Factor.)

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Delays, Stays and Make Ways

 The passing of Hurricane Larry, well offshore from Nova Scotia, but making a direct hit on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland September 11 caused wild weather and sea conditions over a large area. Several ships steered wide of the storm, delaying their arrival or remained in port or returned to port. 

Among the delayed arrivals was EM Kea on its regular run from Montreal to northern Europe on the Maersk./CMA CGM service. It would normally arrive in Halifax on a Saturday, but instead steamed slowly across the Gulf of St.Lawrence, missing some of the worst conditions, and arrived today (Sunday instead.) This did not pose a problem for PSA Halifax, with only one other ship to handle.

EM Kea at PSA Halifax pier 42 had two cranes while MSC Veronique at Pier 41 got three.

Opting to stay in port, Oceanex Sanderling did not make its usual Friday (September 10) departure for St.John's (scheduled arrival September 12) but instead remained in Halifax. After a time at anchor it moved to Pier 9B, perhaps to give the crew some shore leave. Update: Later reported the ship had a stack fire shortly after sailing October 10 and returned to port.

Conditions remain somewhat chaotic in Newfoundland with damage ashore and power outages, so no new departure date has been set for the ship, but also a  hint that the ship may be here for more than a day or two.

Returning to port, smaller naval vessels that were participating in Operation Cutlass Shield 2021, avoided the severe conditions, and instead exercised in Bedford Basin yesterday. This morning they sailed again, accompanied by the fishing trawler Patrick and William*, which appears to have been hired to work with the operation. HMCS Summerside and HMCS Moncton sailed while HMCS Kingston remained in Bedford Basin.

Lead by HMCS Montreal, the small flotilla sails out the main channel while the container ship MSC Maria Clara takes the western channel and hoots for some pleasure craft to clear the way.

MSC Maria Clara arrived to anchor in the lower harbour for Canadain Food Inspection Agency clearance. The ship, which has only recently been acquired as part of MSC's ship buying binge, was no doubt in Asian ports recently and needs to be inspected for Limantria Dispar larvae. No stranger to Halifax in its varied career, the ship deserves a post all of its own, which I will file later.

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* Footnote

Patrick and William showed up in port September 3.

Built by Glovertown Marine Ltd in 2001 as Katrina Charlene it was renamed in 2019 by RS Marine Ltd of St.John's. 

Frigates

The political spin doctors are at work again, trying to find something positive to say about the Royal Canadian Navy.  Thus the press releases went out playing up the fact that four RCN frigates (two on each coast) have concluded their mid-life refits, and the first will "hit the seas" [where did this expression come from?] in 2015 when HMCS Fredericton will be deployed. HMCS Halifax on this coast should not be far behind.
The story, if there is one, is that the FELEX program is on schedule. Other than that there is really no news here. As ships emerge from Halifax Shipyard and Seaspan, they are handed over to HMC Dockyard where naval and defence contractors' crews complete the remainder of the work within navy territory, and then start work ups.

HMCS Montreal has been busily doing just that over the last several weeks, as it was today.
The FrigatE Life EXtensions will mean  that the ships will remain in service until the 2030s - at least - when their replacements [maybe] are ready.

HMCS Montreal was laid dopwn by Saint John Dry Dock and Shipbuilding February 9, 1991, floated up on February 26, 1992, handed over to the RCN July 27, 1993 and commissioned June 21, 1994.

 HMC Montreal fully operational in 1996.

I do give credit however to those reporters that saw fit not to just regurgitate the press releases, but also to include in their articles the unfortunate fact that we will still  be short two destroyers and two supply ships for up to ten years or more, and therefore no matter how up to date the frigates are, we will only have a half a navy.

This situation must be terrible for internal RCN morale. It is certainly an embarrassment on the world stage.

Perhaps the idea of NATO taking over Russia's Mistrals and loaning one to Canada will take hold ... again.........http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30190069

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HMCS Montreal - at moorings in the Basin

HMCS Montreal has been in and out of harbour countless times over the past few weeks, obviously working up after Life Extension  work. This morning she was mooring in Bedford Basin, with lines out to a number of navy dolphins, and a covey of tugs and other water craft attending.

From the lines going out it seems likely she will be there for the weekend.

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Harbour Roundup

Lots of activity in Halifax today - here's a quick summary:

Mainport Pine made its way in to pier 26 this afternoon on its first return trip from BP's seismic exploration project offshore. The boat took fuel from Irving Oil trucks and likely stocked up on other stores before sailing this evening. It takes turns with Scotia Sea in supplying necessities to the seismic fleet. Note the inflated rubber fenders fitted to the hull, which allow it to come alongside the ships while at sea. It also has accommodation for crew changes.

Meanwhile the tanker Challenge Paradise was preparing to put to sea. In port for a only a few hours for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection, the ship is bound for Saint John. NB. Owned by affiliates of the NYK Line, the ship was built in 2007 by Shin Kurushima, Onishi Shipyard in Imabari, Japan, and despite its size of 28,063 grt, 45,980 dwt, it looks like a large crude tanker.

A more typical looking product tanker, NCC Rabigh moved from anchorage in Bedford Basin to number 4 oil dock on departure of Cenito. Both were pictured in a previous post.  NCC Rabigh is probably the first Saudi Arabian flagged tanker to call in Halifax, although Saudi container ships have been calling here for decades.

 

 

The familiar herring fleet is back again on its seasonal hunt for the migratory fish. This time round all the boats are blue, including Sealife II which used to be red. Lady Melissa, Dual Venture, Leroy and Barry II and Morning Star tied up amid yachts and tourists at the Maritime Museum and Queen's Wharf.

Despite each being distinctly different, they are all fitted  out with similar gear, including a skiff perched on the stern to take the purse seine net out and surround the fish, and pumping gear to pump the catch ashore..

Atlantic Companion sailed late this afternoon - the third ACL ship in as many days. (There were two on Monday.)

 

It was followed a few minutes later by HMCS Montreal from its anchorage position. It is always a pleasure to see these ships accelerate away from a standing start.

Also in port, but at pier 9 is the researcher Coriolis II . Earlier in the day it was stationary off Musquodoboit Harbour.

It was not all work in Halifax however. The weekly sail race from the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron took place against a background of black fog, that was beginning to creep inside Meagher's Beach. The boats managed to stay their course and remain in bright sunshine before they were blanketed in.

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