Not on Schedule

 The unscheduled arrival of the autocarrier Horizon Highway was brought about by a power failure of some sort about 120 miles off Halifax. The tug/supplier Siem Commander was dispatched early yesterday morning (October 19) to the disabled ship and towed it into port this morning.

Once inside the harbour the tow was passed off to three harbour tugs, but Siem Commander stood by until the ship was secured at Pier 9C. Spitfire III took the bow tow line and Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Oak made up near the stern.

It is not often that we see autocarriers in the Narrows, since their usual berth is at Autoport, but if the ship does not have any cargo for Halifax there would be no need to tie up at Autoport. Pier 9C is a good location for a possible long stay for repairs.

The ship's last port is given as Southampton, UK, and it was bound for US east coast destinations.

Thanks to an alert Shipfax reader in Australia who noted the ship's "not under command" status on AIS I was alerted to the ship's arrival and managed to reach the Narrows in time to see its arrival.

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Seeing the Light of Day - maybe

An early morning visit to Autoport was intended to get a view of Horizon Highway from the sunny side. Unfortunately my arrival coincided with sunrise and a blaring golden light washed out the colour of the ship from my usual vantage point. Moving to other locations didn't quite seem to capture the essence of the ship as it was partly blocked by construction equipment, Tim Horton's signs, railway tracks or McAsphalt tank trucks. But to paraphrase the adage of one of my early mentors - any picture is better than no picture / and you can always take a better picture.

Herewith the results.

Exhibit A

The land of the rising sun apparently arrived in Halifax along with the ship- even though it is registered in Panama.

Exhibit B

The "new" K-Line RoRo  / Car Carrier livery was the main reason for the visit, so I did manage to capture it despite the busy foreground.

Built in 2016 by Shin Kurushima, Onishi, the ship is a 7,539 CEU carrier of 75,036 gt, 20,586 dwt.

Another vessel that may or may not see the light of day in its entirety is the Defence Research and Development Canada-Atlantic (DRDC) barge that is normally anchored in Bedford Basin off Birch Cove.
It was recently moved to HMC Dockyard for refit, possibly with the intention of lifting it out of the water on the synchrolift.

Tucked at HMC Dockyard, with the tank cleaning barge YRG-62, the DRDC barge awaits a refit.

However I hear that the synchrolift is out of commission due to a burnt out lift motor, temporarily trapping HMCS Windsor in the sub barn and preventing Sackville from going in for finishing touches on its major refit.

The DRDC barge, believed to be YLP 451 and built at Halifax Shipyard in 1959, gets a refit every five years or so. It was last reported here in the spring of 2014 on the synchrolift. See: Shipfax 2014-05-22

Meanwhile its place in Bedford Basin is occupied by the Dockyard camel YC 600 which is illuminated at night and provides an alternate perch for the resident gull population during the refit.

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