Beans and Gas

 The Port of Halifax welcomed two ships today with totally unrelated cargoes (despite the headline above.)

First in was the bulk carrier Tufty. From the Canadian Forest Navigation fleet, it is named for species of ducks. See Canfornav for more on the company.

The ships are regular traders to the Great Lakes carrying a variety of cargoes, but at this time of the year they usually load export grains. On this trip the ship departed Antwerp, Belgium September 15 and unloaded in Quebec City, Cote-Ste-Catherine and PortWeller, ON, then loaded soy beans at Johnstown, ON, to the maximum allowable St.Lawrence Seaway draft. Departing Johnstown October 19 it made good time to Halifax, arriving this morning for the start of the work day at 0800 hrs.

Inbound the Tufty is met by tugs, and the usual gull (which was not added by photo editing).

Built by Shanhaiguan Shipyard in Qinhuangdao, China in 2009 the 19,814 gt, 30,803 dwt ship carries three 30 tonne capacity cranes. It docked at Pier 28 (the worst place in Halifax harbour to try for a photo) and will top up its cargo which is stored in the Halifax Grain Elevator.

This not the first time the ship has called in Halifax. It was also here November 29, 2013, also to top up its cargo of soybeans. See Tufty

The other arrival of note was the tanker Iver Prosperity which tied up at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal.

The ship is on charter to Irving Oil and usually trades between Saint John, NB and US east coast ports. However with the Saint John refinery shut down for maintenance, the ship was sent to Europe to load refined product. It sailed from Amsterdam October 6 and delivered some cargo to Saint John October 17. It then proceeded to Halifax but anchored offshore from October19 until today.

The name "prosperity" seems entirely appropriate as gasoline prices in Halifax have reached $1.47 per litre (for regular grade) - the highest in history - even though the price is government regulated.  (Canadians inexplicably insist on using the word gas to mean gasoline or natural gas, thus making for confusing conversations at times, particularly with the British and Europeans who also inexplicably use the word petrol to mean gasoline.) 

Iver Prosperity dates from 2007 when it was built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan and measures 23,421 gt, 37,456 dwt. It is the same size as Irving  Oil's other tankers chartered from the Vroon company Iver Ships, but which were given Irving hull and funnel colours and local names. Vroon ships, including offshore support vessels, usually wear the large  "V" painted on the hull.

.

Iver Prosperity

Today Irving Oil took delivery of another cargo of petroleum product from Amsterdam with arrival of the Iver Prosperity.

 

Built in 2007 by Hyundai, Mipo, it is a 23,421 gt, 37,456 dwt Midrange/ Handysize product tanker owned by the Dutch company Vroon. The company operates more than 150 ships of all types, but only six product tankers - all of which, including this one, are on charter to Irving Oil. The others wear Irving colours, have Irving themed names, and are fitted with exhaust gas scrubbers. Two fly Canadian flag and the others Marshall Islands. This one was was brought into Irving service in 2014 after  Nor'Easter was transferred to Canadian flag as East Coast.

.

Look what the wind blew in

A first arrival for Irving Oil took place on Sunday November 1 with the arrival of the tanker Nor'easter from Ijmuiden, Netherlands. The ship is one of five on charter from Vroon BV of the Netherlands, but is the "odd man out" in that it was not one of the original four. Those four ships consisted of the Acadian to be Canadian flag, Nor'easter, Great Eastern and New England to be Marshall Islands flag.  All were built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan in 2005 and were 23,356 grt, 37,515 dwt more or less.

After Esso closed its refinery and Irving Oil withdrew from the common storage facilities it shared with Esso, they had an increased demand for a Canadian flag tanker and transferred the first Nor'easter to Canadian registry. However the name was already taken by another ship and so it was renamed East Coast in 2014.

In the meantine Irving Oil had been using another Vroon ship, Iver Progress and in 2016 it was folded into the fleet as the second Nor'easter. Also a product of Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, it was built in 2007 , and has tonnages of 23,421 grt, 37,412 dwt so is essentially the same size. It was also refitted with the same exhaust gas scrubber system as the other four ships, and in profile looks quite similar.
There are differences in its appearance however, most notable is the black trim around the wheelhouse windows. It also appears to have a slightly more raked bow.

Nor'easter anchored in the harbour yesterday, and will await the arrival and departure of Acadian (expected tonight) before unloading at Woodside. Interestingly the ship is carrying a cargo from the Netherlands. It usually trades along the US east coast.

A sixth ship, Iver Prosperity, a sister to Nor'easter is also dedicated to Irving Oil work, but has not been renamed. Also it has not been fitted with the SOx scrubber sytem.

A Friday arrival anchored in Bedford Basin due to high winds and remained there until yesterday when it moved to Imperial Oil #4 dock.

Jinan was last here in June ( see http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/06/early-riser-rewards.html, ) and as noted then it is a rare Qatar flagged ship. On that visit is came from Port Neches, TX. Port Neches, Beaumont and Port Arthur are all ports on the Neches River, which at its mouth forms the border with Louisiana.

.