Thursday's report

Halterm was running efficiently this morning with one ship leaving and another arriving right on its tail. The Icelandic Steamship Co (Eimskip) had their regular caller Skogafoss in this morning for a short stay on its westbound trip. It sailed at 1130 hrs.

On sailing Skogafoss has some CMA CGM boxes on deck on for its New England feeder service.

The inbound Jennifer Schepers timed its arrival to take the berth just vacated by Skogafoss.

Skogafoss and EF Ava are the two ships servicing Eimskip at the moment. However a third ship, Lomur is to join the rotation in February. Last year the line increased it to three ships to provide a weekly service to and from Iceland  and a New England feeder from Halifax for CMA CGM.

Skogafoss is a chartered vessel and has been calling here since 2011. Last March 9 its charter was extended for a year, but there has been no word yet on another extension. Built in 2007 by Sainty Shipbuilding in Yangzhou, the 7545 gt, 8210 dwt ship sailed as Ice Bird until 2011 when it took up the Eimskip charter, (Briese Schiffahrts are managers.) Fitted with a pair of 60 tonne cranes, the ship has a capacity of 698 TEU, however that goes down to 425 if they are all loaded to 14 tonnes.

As soon as Skogafoss had passed Jennifer Schepers turned for Halterm. The RCN kindly provided an escort. 

 Jennifer Schepers is also a feeder container ship, serving ZIM with service to New York and Kingston Jamaica.

It is a 21,108 gt, 25,775 dwt ship with a capacity of 1795 TEU (including 319 reefers0 and has two 40 tonne cranes. Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding Co built the ship in 2009 as Mistral Strait, but it was renamed BF Copacabana on delivery, taking its current name in 2016. 

At the other end of the harbour things were more quiet. There were no ships at Fairview Cove, and in Bedford Basin two ships sat at anchor. Onego Rio has been there since January 14 after unloading rails at pier 27. Tomorrow it is due to move to pier 28 - reason not yet known - it is not scheduled to load or unload.

The other Basin resident is the impressive Super Ice tanker Gotland Carolina I am always impressed by these ships. Even though they are the same size (29,283 gt, 53,160 dwt) as most product tankers, they look bigger. Perhaps it is the large superstructure and full width bridge.

The ship was built by Guangzhou International in 2006 and is one of several ships of its class managed by Hafnia of Denmark. A company founded in 2010 by former Torm executives, on January 10, its shareholders agreed to merge with BW Tankers. Hafnia's 37 tankers added to BW's 50 plus will give a sizeable fleet. [ Look back to December 27 for more on BW Tankers.]

Gotland Carolina has also just taken up a new two year charter with Clearlake (the world's largest tanker charterers)  at a rate of $US 12,200 per day. For that kind of money I wouldn't expect the ship to be sitting too long before its next asssignment. Its last port was Paulsboro, NJ, in the Philadelphia chemical region, and it has been in Halifax three or four times in recent years, and is well known on the St.Lawrence River in winter.

.

Early morning in Halifax harbour can be quite spectacular....

At 0800 hrs the sun began to show above some cloud behind Macnab's Island.

However it does make it nearly impossible to photograph inbound ships from the Halifax side of the harbour. Nevertheless I made an effort to catch Jennifer Schepers as it made its way to Halterm for ZIM. It is one of the line's two feeder ships that make a weekly run from Halifax to the Kingston, Jamaica hub to connect with other ZIM services.  

Distortion and refraction makes the ship's hull appear higher than it is.

Jennifer Schepers was launched in 2009 as Mistral Strait by Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding Company in Taizhou (part of the China Commerce Group.) It was immediately renamed BF Copocabana, and carried that name until 2016.  The 21,018 grt, 25,775 dwt ship can carry 1795 TEU (including 319 reefers) and carries a pair of 45 tonne cranes. In 2016 owners became HS Schiffahrts of Ems, Germany and the ship was renamed Jennifer Schepers. The Schepers family has operated in shipping since ca. 1858 when Capt. Heinrich Schepers acquired his first vessel. The fourth and fifth generations of the family run the concern today.
Earlier this year they combined with five other companies to jointly market their container feeders under the Arkon Allied Container (AAC) brand, but the owners remain independent.

 A construction crane is set up to work on the McAsphalt jetty adjacent to Autoport.

An earlier arrival was Wilhelm Wilhelmsen's Tiger at Autoport. Arriving before sunup, it required a trip to Dartmouth to catch the ship in more favourable light. The 74,255 gt, 30,140 dwt ship, built by Daewoo, Okpo in 2011 is a 7th generation autocarrier of the 7800 CEU class, but capacity is quoted as 7,934 cars.
 

Irving Willow pushes up on the bow to bring the tanker alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal with a cargo loaded in Amsterdam..

Staying with the large African feline theme, BW Lioness arrived with the sun behind it at Irving Oil, and could only be photographed decently from Dartmouth. It is a fairly typical tanker of 29,737 gt, 49,999 dwt, built in 2014 by SPP Shipbuilding Co in Geosong and originally named Elandra Lion.

It changed owners (and gender) in 2014 when the BW Group acquired ten product tankers from the Elandra Tankers fleet and in 2016 formed BW Tankers as a separate product tanker company within the BW Group, with financial partner PAG.

BW was formed in 2003 when World Wide Steamship Company (founded in the 1960s by Sir Yue-Kong Pao) acquired Bergeson d.y. ASA of Stavanger, Norway and formed Bergeson Word-Wide , abbreviated to BW. The result is a conglomerate of companies in tanker and drybulk shipping and offshore floating structures. BW Tankers alone has more than 50 product tankers, but the total BW fleet includes about 300 ships, many of which are crude oil and gas tankers operating in their own fleets such as BW LPG and BW LNG.

 The Bergeson Word-Wide initials are prominent on the funnel and hull stripe.

Early in 2019 a merger with Hafnia Tankers is expected to be finalized. Hafnia based in Denmark by former Torm exectives, has 37 product tankers in its fleet. The resulting 86 ship product tanker fleet will be one of the largest in the world. At the same time BW may be selling off its 15 chemical tankers.

BW's chemical and other tankers have green hulls. Bulkers and some product tankers have blue.

BW Osprey seen here on the St.Lawrence is one of 22 Medium Range (49,999 dwt) tankers in the fleet. The colours of the hull strip are reversed blue for green.

BW tankers are noted for their elaborate colour scheme, unlike many other tanker operators in the word. A case in point is Star I which arrived last night for Imperial Oil.

Star I , operated by Scorpio [see the recent takeover of Nordic American Offshore by Scorpio Offshore, thwarting Horizon Offshore's bid] , is a 23,248 gt, 37,900 dwt product tanker from Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan. Built in 2007 as Alcor for Turkish operators, it was renamed in 2013. The ship has been in Halifax several times since 2015 bringing in refined product for Irving Oil and for Imperial Oil. On this trip its last port is given as Baton Rouge, LA.


 
 

Container Change for Melfi, ZIM and Maersk

Perhaps by coincidence or perhaps with the coming of winter, both Melfi Marine and ZIM are changing out some ships on their Halifax routes.

Melfi, which trades between Europe and Cuba, with three ships on a 12 day rotation, has concluded charters for the ships Jona and Catharine Schulte

Melfi

Jona, a 2007 TEU ship with 510 reefer spots, made its last call October 30. It was Voyage number 008 for the ship since December 2017. Built as Rio Stora in 2007 byZhejiang Yangfan Shipbuilding Co in Ningbo, and measuring 26,358 grt, 34,438 dwt. It was renamed CMA CGM Togo in 2007, Rio Stora in 2012 and Jona in 2013. Despite the similarity in names to the biblical character that was swallowed by a whale, the ship did not seem to have brought any bad luck to Melfi.

Jona

Its replacement is to be JPO Aries due on December 6, a larger ship at 2546 TEU. Both ships carry three 45 tonne capacity cranes.

Catharina Schulte, built in  2006 by STX Shipbuilding Co, Jinhae, with a capacity of 2602 TEU and four 45 tonne cranes, carried the name Cape Bon between 2006 and 2012. It arrived on Halifax on its Voyage 008 on November 14, but due to weather related congestion at Halterm, it moved from pier 41 to pier 36 to complete cargo work yesterday, then proceeded to anchor in Bedford Basin. A violent winter storm moving through the area was no doubt the cause.

Catharina Schulte

It will be replaced by the Artemis a 2546 TEU ship,  with no cranes. I understood that ship's cranes were needed to handle cargo in Cuba, but perhaps they have shore cranes available. It's first scheduled call in Halifax is December 20.

The third ship on the Melfi service is Julius S [ see October 16, 2018 ] which made its first call August 27. It appears to be remaining with Melfi, although published schedules do not run past year end.

ZIM

The new service started by ZIM in April, called Canada Florida Express (CFX) apparently does not call in Florida at all, but operates between Kingston, Jamaica, New York and Halifax as a feeder to ZIM's other services.  It has been operating two ships, AS Felicia and Arsos since it began. Both of those ships have now been replaced.

AS Felicia made the first call for CFX April 3 and its last call November 1. Built in 2006 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co Ltd in Zhoushan, with tonnages of 15,375 grt, 18,291 dwt, it had a capacity of 1296 TE, including 390 reefers, and had two 45 tonne cranes. It was launched as Medocean but entered service as EWL Cribbean. In 2007 it became APL Managua and in 2014  Medocean and in 2015  AS Felicia.

AS Felicia

Its replacement, Jennifer Schepers arrived Thursday November 15 and sailed early November 16. A 21,108 grt, 25,775 dwt ship, it was built by Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding Co (China Commerce Group). Taizhou in 2009 as Mistral Strait, but was renamed BF Copocabana on delivery, and carried that name until 2016. It has a capacity of 1795 TEU, including 319 reefers and has two 40 tonne cranes. [Weather did not co-operate with photo attempts.]

Its running mate Arsos dated from 2007 when it was also built by Zhejiang Ouhua, with similar measurements of 15,375 grt, 12,700 dwt and a capacity of 1296 TEU and a pair of 45 tonne cranes. Its first ZCX arrival was April 10 and last was November 8.
As mentioned in a May 22, 2018 post, Arsos also worked a short lived CMA CGM feeder serice here in 2010.

 

Arsos

Its replacement will be RHL Agilitas due November 22, It has a capacity of 1732 TEU.

It appears that ZIM is increasing the capacity of ships on the service - a good sign, that perhaps as predicted, that there would not be a reduction in ZIM business in Halifax despite the loss of its traditional ZCS service, split between ZCX and slots on THE Alliance and 2M (MSC Maersk).

Maersk

Not to be outdone in the replacement department Maersk Canada's Montreal Mediterranean Express (MMX) is also still bringing in short term charters. Jonni Ritscher was due yesterday but has opted to skip Halifax this time and is heading direct for Algeçiras from Montreal.

Speaking of skipping, Maersk / CMA CGM's Canada Atlantic Express (CAE) has also been skipping Halifax in recent weeks. Both the November 3 and November 10 ships were no shows, heading directly for north Europe, and no ship is currently scheduled for this weekend, as EM Kea was scheduled for November 18, and is en route directly to Europe. With Maersk Penang now due in Montreal on November 17 (it was anchored in the St.Lawrence until today) , it will now try to meet a November 24 target. Maersk Patras is in the eastern Atlantic, heading well south for the Azores to escape weather, and may still reach Montreal by November 26.

The extreme weather, now off Newfoundland will undoubtedly throw off a number of scheduled arrivals, and pilotage services are still suspended in Halifax tonight. A number of ships are also held in port awaiting clearance.

The bulker Centennial Harmony (92,752 grt, 181,338 dwt) heavily laden with iron ore from Sept-Iles for Port Talbot experienced flooding and main engine failure yesterday, 270 mi from St.John's. With seas of 18 to 20 meters and winds of 85 knots, there were fears that the ship would founder, and the crew even considered abandoning. However they were eventually able to make sufficient repairs to get underway again. A RCAF Hercules aircraft and CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell responded but there was little they could do to assist.

 Maersk Cutter

The tug / supplier  Maersk Cutter was 80 miles away standing by the FPSO Terra Nova and was prepared to assist if needed. However given the conditions it would have taken half a day or more to reach the ships, let alone make a towing connection or attempt to rescue crew.

.