The ins and outs of it

Late afternoon today was the busiest I have seen Halifax in some time. In the space of little more than an hour there were two arrivals and three departures of large ships.

First off the mark was the autocarrier Hoegh Bangkok one of about 55 ships in the well known Norwegian fleet. The ship has been a caller here on several occasions.

Hoegh Bangkok has made the turn around the Ives Knoll buy and is outbound for the western channel. A continuous line of autorack rail cars stretches across the background.

Built in 2007 by Uljanik shipyard in Pula, Croatia, the ship has a capacity of 6500 CEU and measures 55,775 gt, 16,632 dwt. Its next port of call is Davisville, RI.

Next out was Vuoksi Maersk, a very new ship, delivered from the COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard Co in September. It made its first Halifax call December 8, 2018 on the Maersk / CMA CGM  Canada Atlantic Express. One of seven ships in a new "Baltic Feeder" or "V" class, reputed to be the world's largest ice class container ships, it also uses diesel fuel to comply with the latest emission standards. Despite its capability it was slowed by ice on its westbound leg to Montreal, so its arrival here was also delayed - it would normally have called on Saturday.

Easily distinguishable by the nearly plumb stem and high superstructure, the V-class are striking ships. Other ships of the class are trading to Russia, which explains the name.

A 34,882 grt, 39819 dwt ship it has a container capacity of 3596 TEU including a large reefer capacity of 600 TEU - ideal for the Canadian service.

Typical of ships trading to the St.Lawrence River, it is not loaded to capacity, to keep draft within safe limits.

Following close on its heels was the departing Budapest Bridge. Built in 2011 by Samsung it is a 46,441 gt, 58,200 dwt ship of 4526 TEU. It is one of five ships on the AL1 service operated by THE Alliance and ACL.

Owned by Seaspan Corporation it is on charter to K-Line, but is now the merged entity of K-Line, MOL and NYK called ONE Ocean Network Express.

The next ship was the inbound MOL Paramount also a ONE ship, but on THE Alliance's EC5 route.

Well loaded, the ship catches a few rays of late afternoon sun.

 

Built in 2005 by Koyo Dockyard in Mihare it is a 71,902 gt, 72,968 dwt ship with a capacity of 6350 TEU, including 500 reefers.  It is also third party owned, by Tokei KK Ltd, and on charter to ONE.

With the merger of the three Japanese container lines, ships will remain in their original colours for some time to come.  New ships are being delivered in the same eye-searing colour as the new ONE containers.

The last inbound was Atlantic Sail which would not be close before the light was gone. It was following the MOL Paramount to the Cerescorp terminal at Fairview Cove, which would have to dock first.

 Atlantic Sail looms out of the haze as Budapest Bridge makes its way to the pilot station.

 

 Dredging continues at Halterm, as it will for some time. The McNally dredge Derrick No.3 4 is working close in along the most recent Pier 42 extension.

The Port is under considerable pressure to upgrade facilities as new larger container ships are delivered. They will displace slightly smaller ships in a "cascade" effect that will see those ships coming to Halifax. Projections for increased terminal demand for 2019 remain around 4%, representing a world wide increase of 30 mn TEU to over 800 mn TEU in 2019. Terminal expansion is seen by many as a good investment despite market uncertainties brought on by Brexit and US-China and Canada-China disputes.

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Sunday traffic jam

With ships arriving and leaving at the same time - normally at the end of the day shift for port workers - traffic can get janmed up a bit. Fortunately, there are two channels that ships can use to avoid close quarters meets.

 

Three ships - two  outbound in the western or deep water channel and one inbound in the main channel.

Today was a very minor jam, with one inbound and two outbound.


Outbound in the lead was the impressive Crystal Symphony. Now considered a classic - not only because it has no unsightly hull graphics - but also because of its graceful proportions and swooping bow. Remarkably unchanged in appearance since it was built by Kvaerner Masa, Turku in 1995, the 51,044 grt ship has a passenger capacity of 922. It has undergone three extensive refits, one in 2006, one in 2009 and another in 2012. During its long career it has cruised in many parts of the world, but only in this area in 2012 and 2013.

The second departure was Hoegh Bangkok built in 2007 by Uljanik, Pula, an autocarrier of 55,775 grt, 16,632 dwt, with a 6500 CEU capacity. It fell in behind Crstal Symphony and took the western channel.

The one inbound ship was Thermopylae operating for Wallenius Wilhelmsen, but owned by Wilhelmsen. Its company theme name, beginning with the letter "T" recognizes the Greek site of the 450 BC battle between Leonidas of Sparta (loser) and Xerxes (winner). The name means "Hot Gates" and it certainly was a hot time for the defenders in one of the most famous "last stands" of all time.  For ship lovers however the name is associated with the famous China tea clipper Thermopylae, built in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1868 and setting a never since broken outbound time to Melbourne and defeating the Cutty Sark in a homebound race from Shanghai.

Wilhelmsen ships' nmaes begin with "T" and thier hulls are apainted a red-orange colour. However someone needs to change the formula since this one was has faded dramatically in only three years.

This Thermopylae was built in 2015 by Hyundai Samho and measures 75,283 grt, 75,283 dwt with a capacity of 8,000 autos. A post-Panamax ship, it is a member of the HERO (High Efficiency RoRo) class, with significant capacity break bulk and non auto cargoes.

In the background the tanker Ardmore Encounter now at Imperial Oil (see yesterday's post) was continuing to unload and is now high out of the water.

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