Fogged in again

 For the second day in a row (although today was an improvement some of the time) thick fog covered much of the harbour activity. Yesterday's (July 2) arrival and departure of the Queen Mary 2 was largely invisible - no doubt disappointing the many fans that usually show up for its visits. (There has been no further information about the medical emergency that caused its unplanned visit to Halifax on June 29, when it was visible - see previous post.)

It is futile to try to demonstrate the thickness of the fog by photos, but I tried, and no amount of digital tweeking helped!

 

One arrival yesterday, and departure today that I also would have liked to photograph was Coastal Shipping Ltd's tanker Kitikmeot W.  It is not unknown in Halifax,  but this particular call was a bit unusual. Coastal Shipping, founded by Mel Woodward, Sr, in Goose Bay, NL has had a long-standing relationship with Imperial Oil and distributes their products into many isolated northern and arctic communities. Their tanker fleet is based in Lewisporte, NL - a port that is accessible year round.

 (file photo 2021-02-12)

On this particular trip the Kitikmeot W. has ventured outside its usual range and on May 24 it was upbound in the St.Lawrence Seaway for Imperial's refinery in Nanticoke, ON. It was downbound again June 3, but quickly discharged in the Montreal area and was reported upbound again June 7 for Sarnia. It then made an unusual call to Green Bay, WI before returning to Sarnia. It made another trip from Sarnia June19 to an unknown destination, returning June 24. It sailed June 25 and made its way to Halifax. On departure this afternoon (July 3) it gave its home port of Lewisporte as destination.

Built by Ikdas in Biga, Turkey in 2010 the 13,097 gt, 19,982 dwt ship was originally named Ikdas-09 and was acquired and renamed by Coastal Shipping Ltd in 2018. 

Another notable departure from Halifax today was by a pair of Royal Canadian Navy vessels, sailing for a four month deployment to NATO. HMCS Shawinigan MM704  and HMCS Summerside MM711 and are headed for the Baltic and Operation Reassurance.

 Both ships were built at Halifax Shipyards as part of the twelve ship Kingston class of coastal defence vessels. Shawinigan was launched (conventioanlly) November 15, 1996 and commissioned January 14, 1997. Summerside was the last ship in the series, and was launched September 25, 1998 and commissioned July 18, 1999.

The ships are propelled by azimuthing stern drives, (in reverse position for the launch in photo above) and are thus highly maneurverable.

Unrelated to fog: As predicted there were some delays due to limited berth space at PSA Halifax south end terminal on the long weekend. There was a steady stream of ships from Friday through to today, with some anchoring to await their berth. 

The Atlantic Hub, southend terminal processed a remarkable ten ships from Friday June 30 to Monday July 3 whereas  Fairview Cove had only four. Some of the ships (3 or 4 by my count) were too large to get to Fairview Cove, but I believe some delays could have been avoided by rationalization. (i.e. by relocating some lines to Fairview Cove permanently).

I hear that some changes are indeed planned this month to balance demand for pier space with the under utilized Fairview Cove terminal. Details to follow.

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HMCS Shawinigan

 The RCN Kingston class coastal defence vessel HMCS Shawinigan returned to Halifax today, August 9 after  working with US and Dutch authorities in Operation Caribe.

Over a 10 day period in mid-July Shawinigan participated in four small vessel interdictions in the Caribbean which resulted the seizure of 2800 kg of cocaine valued at $30 million. The drugs were landed and displayed to the public at Port Everglades, FL. Total haul for Operation Caribe was put at $1.6 billion.

There was no fanfare on the waterfront as Shawinigan returned home, with most bystanders unaware of the RCN's important role in policing the Caribbean.  I trust that there was an appropriate reception at HMC Dockyard.

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Big Blow

Mild temperatures mean high winds at this time of year and as the thermometer climbed to 13 degrees C winds clocked gusts of 100 kph along the coast. Naturally this meant that pilotage operations were suspended all day and will not resume until tomorrow morning at the earliest.

There were very high wind gusts in the harbour and the tanker Avon moved from Imperial Oil jetty 3 to an anchorage in Bedford Basin.

Avon at Imperial Oil yesterday.

The ship is less than a year old. Delivered by Hyundai Mipo in January 2019, it measures 29,528 gt, 49,999 dwt.

Tugging at its anchor this morning in Bedford Basin.

The wind driven salt spray restricted visibility somewhat but HMCS Shawinigan was able to carry out some exercises in the same area. It was joined by HMCS Glace Bay.

Ships requiring pilots have been standing by off Halifax until conditions improve. The small container ship Tropical Lissette which sailed yesterday afternoon sought shelter overnight in St. Margaret's Bay, anchoring well up the bay off Fox Point all day today and likely all night tonight. The Bay, just west of Halifax, is not a mandatory pilotage area.

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Veendam - first cruise ship and other business as usual

The 2016 cruise ship season began today with the arrival of the Veendam. Built in 1996 as a Statendam class ship, it was refitted in 2009 with the extension of two decks aft and a "duck tail". Now rated for 1295 passengers (maximum) and 568 crew, it is still one of the smaller cruise ships we will see this year.
 

A pair of hardy kayakers greet the ship as is arrives for the first time this year.

A regular caller since 1996 it will have different fleetmates this year with the reassignment of former sister ship Maasdam. Instead Rotterdam and Zuiderdam will do the honours. In 2014 it had propellor problems and had to cancel three October cruises when it went into drydock for three weeks.

Veendam rounded north of George's Island on its way in to pier 22.

Otherwise it was business as usual in the port: 

The Liberian flag Callisto followed and and anchored for Asian gypsy moth inspection. It is the third ship to arrive for clearance by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. (MSC Cristiana was first March 20, and Cap Lara was the second last Saturday)

Built in 2010 by Yamanishi in Ishinomaki, Japan, the 15,861 grt, 25,981 dwt ship carries three cargo cranes. It is owned by Heinz Corleis of Germany and is bound from Providence, RI for Montreal.

In the afternoon the Canadian tanker Havelstern anchored for bunkers and will remain in port over night.

There was Naval and Coast Guard activity as SAR crews (likely CG college students) exercised with CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell outside, on returning to port, it tied up at the old Coast Guard base.

HMCS Charlottetown and HMCS Shawinigan both sailed.

HMCS Charlottetown takes aboard several matelots from a RHIB as it sails. This was the mooring line party that let the ship go when it slipped its berth at HMC Dockyard.

HMCS Shawinigan builds up speed after passing George's Island.

See also Tugfax.

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Clover Ace, CMA CGM Almaviva - big car boat, big box boat and other doings

The autocarrier Clover Ace arrived at Autoport this morning. Its 6400 car capacity puts it among the largest size of ships in the Mitsui OSK Line (MOL) fleet.

The already crammed Autoport will somehow find room for all the cars it is likely carrying.

Built in 2008 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding in Japan the 60,065 grt, 17,280 dwt ship flies the Liberian flag for Osaka Fleet Co Ltd.


Halterm also hosted a large ship this morning. CMA CGM Almaviva is one of the 8465 TEU ships on regular rotation on the Columbus Loop service.

It was built in 2011 by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries in Koje, South Korea. Its tonnages are 96,817 grt, 109,000 dwt.

It appears to be carrying more boxes than it did on its last visit, December 12, 2015, confirming in my mind at least, an uptick in cargo volumes for the port.

It was a pretty quiet Saturday in the harbour with the only other ship of any size, the oft photographed Maersk Pembroke also at Halterm.

HMCS Shawinigan arrived from some sea time, make a sharpish turn to avoid George's Island.

This is the time of year that the naval reserves ramp up their activities and the Kingsyton class ships return to service.

And in Bedford Basin CCGS Earl Grey did some calibration trials in preparation for a return to service after a mid-life refurb.

As with most shipyard visits, Davie Quebec painted the ship's hull up to deck level. leaving the upper works for the crew to attend to as part of regular maintenance.

There are still some traces of Friday's snow fall, such as the roof of the Burnside water tank, but it is rapidly disappearing as daytime temperatures rise.