The Mists of Time

 A clear view from the Halifax waterfront was obstructed from time to time as fog drifted in and out during the day today, June 25.

Interestingly the fog formed a backdrop to the shore at Imperial Oil giving a somewhat clearer view of the tanker Pyxis Theta unloading at Imperial Oil dock number 3.

 With the George's Island lsnding stage standing out in the foreground and Imperial Oil's disused crude oil dock number 5 silhouetted at the left, the fog blotted out the background and much of the ship's hull.

The Pyxis Theta is a 30,159gt, 51,462 dwt LR tanker built by SPP Shipbuilding Co in Tongyeong in 2013. It arrived from Antwerp yesterday, June 24.

There was a somewhat clearer view of Irving Oil's Woodside dock, and the tanker East Coast which arrived from Saint John this morning, June 25.

Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan delivered the ship in 2005 as Nor'Easter. As such it operated under Marshall Islands flag delivering Irving Oil products to US ports. In 2014 it was brought under Canadian flag and renamed. It is a 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt ship and operates from Saint John to supply eastern Canada ports such as Charlottetown and St.John's. However it has also been to Portland, ME twice this month. 

(The Imperial  Oil tank in the photo is on the adjacent property. Irving Oil's tanks are farther inshore to the left.)

Also sailing off into the fog banks was the cable ship Ile de Molène - see yesterday's post. Even though there were periodic tendrils of fog, sometimes concealing the ship's waterline, it was possible to see the deckhouse that was installed when it was converted for cable laying and repair.

 

As usual when cable ships sail they have undisclosed destinations or vague descriptions such as this one did: "North Atlantic Ocean". It is headed southwesterly on AIS.

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Cable ship Ile de Molène

 Fog and mist shrouded the arrival of the cable ship Ile Molène this morning June 23. The ship tied up at Pier 9B where it became more visible before heavy rain set in.

Now a state of the art cable laying and maintenance vessel, it dates from 2006 when it was built by Yantai Raffles Shipyard in Yantai China as a North Sea offshore standby and rescue vessel. Named Caledonian Vision it operated for a BP subsidiary called Vector Offshore carrying a number of fast rescue craft that could be deployed rapidly if needed.

In 2021 it was sold and renamed GSP Phoenix by GSP Offshore, but later in the same year it was re-sold to current owner ASN Marine.

ASN Marine is an arm of Alcatel Submarine Networks based in Paris, which in turn is owned by the Finnish company Nokia. Alcatel had the ship reconfigured for cable laying, repair, post-lay inspection, burial and pre-lay grapnel runs. An enclosed workshop house was built on deck and the hull outfitted with 450 cubic meters of cable stowage space. The ship is under the management of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS, a major French shipping and trading house.

Based in Curaçao, the ship is available for cable repair in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific America west coast. It works under the Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement, a co-operative arrangement among member cable companies to ensure rapid response to emergencies. Alcatel has a network of 750,000 and 800,000 km of optical undersea cable world wide and deploys a seven ship fleet world wide.

Whether by coincidence or not the cargo ship Franbo Logic is at anchor in Bedford Basin.

 It arrived off Halifax May 29, and moved in to Pier 9B on June 6. It was then fitted with cable storage racks and moved out to the Basin June 15. It is not unusual for ships to stand by in the Basin for extended periods before heading to Portsmouth, NH (Newington) to load fibre optic cable. The cable racks are fairly light and do not add much to the ship's unladen draft, so it is riding high at anchor.

The Franbo Logic is a 13,110 gt, 16,969 dwt ship built in 2016 by Honda Heavy Industry Ltd in Saiki, Japan as Thorco Logic. It carries two 50 tonne cranes and has a container capacity of 160 TEU. It was renamed in 2021 and is one of several Thorco and Franbo ships that have been fitted out in Halifax to carry cable. 

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