Two Grachts, etc.,

The Amsterdam based Spliethoff Group, which includes Big Lift Shipping and Forestwave, operates about 145 ships. The company has found several niches for trade that can take their ships to the four corners of the earth. Even so it is rare to have two of their ships in the Port of Halifax on the same day (but not at the same time.)

Today, November 11 was such a day, and despite it being a national day of remembrance, there was some activity in the port. The truck gates at the two container terminals were closed, but the two ships at PSA Fairview Cove sailed in the morning.

The first to sail was the Jamaica followed a bit later by the Muntgracht [see yesterday's post.]

The Jamaica ex ZIM Luanda outbound in the Narrows this morning has cleared the A. Murray MacKay bridge and is passing Pier 9 (left background).

The Muntgracht with a deck load of unusual objects sailed from Fairview Cove and is headed for Matane, QC. Number one hatch has been left clear for future load or unload. That port handles a variety of cargoes including export of paper pulp, import of wind turbine components and due to a train and car ferry services to Baie Comeau and Sept-Iles, can also transship other products.

The second "Gracht" (Dutch for 'canal') arrived this afternoon From Belfast and docked at Pier 9C.  

One of Spliethoff's niche trades is yacht transport, and on this trip, it is carrying new boats representing several models from the same builder. 

Since visiting the Great Lakes in early September, the ship has been to Naples September 30 to October 3, Gdansk October 10-18, then Belfast October 28 -29. On sailing today the ship gave Palm Beach as its destination. (Despite having been to the Lakes, the ship does not appear to have suffered the same case of "lock rash" as its fleet mate.)

On arrival the ship made a neat turn off the dock, assisted by the Atlantic Oak and came alongside starboard side to. 

 

Predictably, the ship off loaded a large aircraft component package (loaded in Belfast), which was landed directly on a trombone (extendible) truck trailer and whisked away.

The Floretgracht is a member of Spliethoff's "F"class and is similar to the "M" class, and was also built in 2012, but by Jiangsu Yangzi Changbo Shipyard Co Ltd. The 8620 gt, 12,500 dwt ship is a multi-purpose type with box shaped holds and full width hatches. It has three cranes rated at 80 tonnes SWL, which can combine and can carry 658 TEU.

 Etc.,

There was also activity at the Irving Oil terminal in Woodside with the Algoma East Coast arriving with product from Saint John.

 And at Autoport it was the Morning Cornelia on an interesting rotation. 

 

The ship sailed from Nagoya September 5 and Toyohashi September 7 and was next reported in Sagunto (Valencia) Spain October 13. That would indicate a Suez passage, but was not reported as such in my usual sources. It then called in Portbury, UK October 18, Zeebrugge October 20-24 and Goteborg October 26 to 28. 

Built by Imabari Zosen in Japan in 2010 it is a 60,002 gt, 22,530 dwt ship with a capacity of 6,458 cars. In addition to the usual stern ramp, it has a small starboard side ramp as well.

As a bit of an update, the asphalt tanker ATB Leo A. McArthur, John J. Carrick was still unloading at the McAsphalt dock, and the orange buoy in the photo above marks the mooring point for the tanker's stern line. (seen from a different view point in the photo below). The sun was behind heavy cloud cover this morning, so there was no glare to spoil a picture.

 

Not to be left out, there was another arrival in Halifax today, the Atlantic Star made its way inbound from Liverpool and berthed at PSA Fairview Cove and then another coincidence occurred.

Later in the afternoon the big stern trawler Mersey Venture moved from its berth at COVE to an anchorage in Bedford Basin.

 It is a 2337 gt freezer trawler built in 1988. Construction was started by Tangen Verft, and completed by Langsten Slip, Tomrefjord. It fishes predominantly in the Greenland area for shrimp and cod but during seasonal layup it is often hired by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for research work. It is likely doing some calibrations or other preparations for another research trip.

The coincidence is that it is also based in Liverpool, but not the same Liverpool. Liverpool, Nova Scotia is a small port on the southeast shore of Nova Scotia, predictably situated at the mouth of the Mersey River. (The original British settlers had a cruel sense of humour). It is home to Mersey Seafoods, owners of the trawler pictured above. 

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Cars and Tar

Cars need roads to run on, but it is only a coincidence that the automobile import (and export) facility, Autoport, is directly adjacent to the McAsphalt terminal where the component of road paving is stored and blended. Both are located in the Eastern Passage of Halifax Harbour, a narrow and shallow arm between McNabs and Lawlor's Islands and the mainland.

It is also a coincidence that there would be a ship at each dock at the same time. Today, November 9, the auto carrier Future Way arrived at Autoport while the asphalt tanker (Articulated Tug/Barge) Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick was unloading at the McAsphalt terminal after arriving yesterday.

Due to poor timing on my part, the sun was in a direct line with the ATB, so only a portion of the barge is visible beneath the bow of the ship.

The Future Way is a "ship of the future" featuring many innovations and new features. It was built by Yantai  CIMC Raffles, Longkou in 2024 and features gas / diesel / synthetic diesel fuel engines, can sail fully loaded with no ballast water, has a shore power connector and can be converted to add battery power. It reduces fuel consumption by prop design, hull shape and aerodynamic features. The 62,432 gt, 18,565 dwt ship has a capacity of 6500 CEUs. 

It is on long term charter to Volkswagen which may explain its unusual origin port of Barcelona. VW manufactures several models at a large plant in Barcelona. The ship sailed this afternoon for Davisville, RI, a typical destination for VW ships.

The barge John J. Carrick and its companion tug Leo A.McArthur were built in China in  2007 by Penglai Bohai Shipyard Co Ltd. The barge is equipped with boilers to keep the cargo in a liquid state, and the Halifax terminal has a heated pipeline connecting the jetty to the tank storage on the other side of Main Road, about 1500 feet away (crossing to the left and behind me in the photo).

 When McAsphalt Marine Transportation Ltd  took delivery of its new tanker ship the McAsphalt Advantage  [see September 11, 2025 ] I speculated on whether the tug/barge duo would be confined to the Great Lakes / St.Lawrence or whether McAsphalt would be expanding its range with the new ship. It appears that the latter may be case as the McAsphalt Advantage arrived back in Montreal November 7 from a trip to Paulsboro, NJ and Philadelphia, PA - deep in refinery territory. The tanker and the barge are also able to carry other bituminous cargoes including Bunker C and other heavy fuels.

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McAsphalt Advantage - first timer

 A ship that is sure to be a regular caller for years to come arrived in Halifax for the first time today, September 11. Bearing the name McAsphalt Advantage, it is a state of the art bitumen tanker, especially built to keep the cargo heated to maintain its liquid state.

Built by the Wuhu Shipyard Co Ltd in China, it is a dual fuel ship of 12,534 gt, 12,917 dwt. It was delivered to McAsphalt Transportation Ltd just a year ago and was registered in Canada in November of 2024. Aside from an inaugural visit to its home port of Hamilton, ON, it has been idle in Montreal until August 30 of this year when it made another trip to Hamilton ca. September 1. Once loaded it headed down the Seaway directly for Halifax.

McAsphalt has its own marine terminal and storage tanks in Eastern Passage where the ship docked today. The company also provides shipments to General Liquids Canada which has its terminal nearby in Eisner's Cove. Both facilities store and provide asphalt for road construction. McAsphalt is part of the Colas Group which also includes Miller Group and several other paving companies. General Liquids is owned by the Municipal Group, a road construction company and competitor in the paving business. Both asphalt terminals also have rail access. 

After hiring tugs and barges for some time, McAsphalt started its own fleet when it acquired the tug Tusker in 1979 and used to tow and push barges starting in 1980.

After a few adventurous years, they acquired a larger tug and formed one of the first Canadian flag ITBs (Integrated Tug and Barge) where the tug remains connected to the barge at all times with a flexible coupler allowing for some independant movement. 

That tug, renamed Everlast (ex Bilbino) in 1996, is still running, with its barge Norman McLeod, although now largely confined to the Great Lakes. It seems likely to live up to its name. 

 

A second, more modern combination, built to order for ocean conditions in 2008 is the tug Leo A. McArthur (ex Victorious) and barge John J. Carrick which are regular callers in Halifax.

 

It is as yet undetermined if the older units will be retired, or if the McAsphalt Advantage signals an increase in the volume of business for McAsphalt. The company does have competition from Transport Desgagnés which has at least one tanker dedicated to the carriage of asphalt, but the Damia Desgagnés appears to work exclusively in Quebec.

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RoRo and PoPo updates

 There are some updates to yesterday's long post:

RoRo

The latest Roll On operation at Halifax Shipyard proceeded today, December 6, as scheduled. The sixth and last of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels for the RCN was rolled onto the Boabarge 37. The ship, for now called AOPV 435, was carried aboard on a flotilla of SPMTs (Self Propelled Modular Transporters.)

The tug Atlantic Larch stood by alongside the barge to ensure that it stayed in position during the transfer. 

Once safely aboard the barge, the ship, on its cradles, was lowered down onto the barge deck. (The SPMTs show as a thin red line, and the cradles are gray.)

The barge will remain alongside Pier 6 overnight, then tomorrow it is due to move out to Bedford Basin where the barge will semi-submerge and the ship will be floated off. (So in this case I guess it is not a RoRo but a RoFo operation.)

Once the ship is completed it will be handed over to the RCN to be fitted out and will be commisisoned as HMCS Robert Hampton Gray.

While all this was going on ceremonies were underway on the high ground just behind the shipyard on Fort Needham. This was the annual commemoration of the Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917 which leveled the north end of the city. An estimated 1,782 people died and 9,000 were injured. 

As part of the commemoration ceremony, bells on a memorial structure on Fort Needham rang shortly after 9 am and ships in the harbour sounded their horns for a prolonged period as they did in 1917. That futile warning could not prevent the massive eruption of high explosives on the ship Mont Blanc which caught fire after colliding with Norwegian ship IMO. The explosion took place where the Shipyard's Assembly Hall stands today.

Also during the Roll On operation the lead ship of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel  program HMCS Harry DeWolf AOPV 430 transited the Narrows, returning to HMC Dockyard from exercising in Bedford Basin, with Dockyard tugs to assist in docking.

Built at Halifax Shipyard it was launched from the same barge on September 18, 2018 and was commissioned into the RCN on June 26, 2021. The ship has recently returned from a trip to the Great Lakes, including the ports of Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton and Windsor. A similar trip last year had to be cut short due to a COVID-19 outbreak onboard.

The ship's namesake, Vice Admiral Henry George DeWolf CBE, DSO, DSC, CD , was born in 1903 in Bedford, Nova Scotia, and was a survivor and certainly a witness to the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1918 and rose through command appointments to Chief of the Naval Staff. One of his World War II commands was HMCS Haida which is preserved in Hamilton, ON, one of the ports the ship visited in October.

PoPo 1

On the other side of the harbour, and well to the south, the articulated tug / barge Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick resumed "Pumping Off" operations this morning at Eisner's Cove. The pair had moved out to harbour anchorage last night due to high winds. The mooring arrangement for the tug and barge consists of a small deck barge across the end of the Cherubini dock, which carries the piping ashore. Any breach in that connection could have very undesirable consequences, so no chances are taken when high winds are forecast. The barge's cargo of asphalt is pumped ashore to the General Liquids Canada tank storage facility.

 PoPo 2

An addition to the Pump On Pump Off category is yesterday evening's arrival at Imperial Oil. Seen only partially in the background is the YASA Pelikan. Built in 2019 by Hyundai Mipo, it is a typical LongRange1 size ship of 29,681 gt, 50,215 dwt. It appears to be owned by the Turkish company YASA Tankers, and operates in the Equinor tanker fleet. (Equinor ASA, formerly Statoil, is the Norwegian state owned petroleum giant.) It is unloading refined product from Antwerp at Imperial Oil's number 3 dock. It is worth noting that it did not move out to anchor due to winds, so the dock's new mooring arrangements seem to be doing the job.

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Unusual preparations

 Hurricane Philippe, downgraded to a post tropical cyclone, inexoribly making its way toward Nova Scotia, and weakening as it does so, has shipping making various preparations for diversions, reroutings, and in the case of ferries, outright cancellations of some crossings.

For the cruise ship industry ships generally prefer to sail as far away from disturbances as possible, and do not like to be in port during major storms. Late this afternoon (October 7) however there was an exception for the small (by cruising standards) Star Pride (ex Seabourn Pride) arriving in Halifax from Eastport, ME.

The ship was in Halifax September 30 and was covered in this blog. The difference this time is that the ship did not tie up at a pier, but instead headed directly for Bedford Basin and went to anchor. 

The unusual sight of a cruise ship in the Narrows and passing beneath the harbour bridges is only possible because the ship is small, and thus has a relatively low air draft.

Some passengers took in the unique experience by crowding onto the open observation bridge above the navigation bridge.

 While the ship was entering the Bedford Basin, the container ship ZIM Virginia was getting underway from PSA Fairview Cove, and held up long enough for the Star Pride to clear.

Hyundai Heavy Industries built the ZIM Virginia in the Ulsan shipyard in 2002. The 53,453 gt, 66,686 dwt ship has a capacity of 4839 TEU, and it flies the Israeli flag.The ship is bound for New York, so may be able to skirt the storm's path by sailing south and keeping to the east.

Bedford Basin is not exceptionallly good holding ground for ships with high windage to anchor, but is is a sufficiently large body of water (8 km x 5 km) that a little dragging in high winds can be tolerated. It does mean that a ship may have to steam ahead on its anchor during sustained winds. Constant monitoring is necessary while at anchor. Both the ship's bridge watch and Halifax VTS have auto alrms as well as human radar monitoring to detect dragging.

Likely due to the downgrade for Philippe another cruise ship, the Seabourn Quest elected to stay in port, tied up at Pier 23. The camber is relatively sheltered, but I would not be surprised to see some waves sloshing in if there is any storm surge. Again the ship will heve to remain vigilant during the night when the highest winds are expected.

The cargo ship Augusta Luna (centre in photo below) in port from Cuba for Nirint Shipping also opted to remain in port, tied up at Pier 27.

The Articulated Tug / Barge (ATB) Leo A. McArthur / John J.Carrick arriving from the Great Lakes with a cargo asphalt (leftmost in photo above) will remain at the McAsphalt jetty in Eastern Passage over night. It will likely have to suspend unloading operations when the wind picks up, because the mooring is partially secured to buoys.

Eastern Passage is relativeley well sheltered, so sea conditions will likely not be too severe, but there will still be high winds and strong gusts.

The heavy load ship GPO Emerald is due to move back out to anchor this evening. It has been berthed alongside the crane ship Orion (with the barge Atlantic Swordfish between them). 

It is due to move back alongside tomorrow to continue the transfer of six monopiles (in sections) and other gear for the Vineyard wind project offshore Massachusetts. Once loaded the Orion will return to the Vineyard project site and use its 5,000 tonne capacity crane to install the monopiles.

Two other ships that remained in port over night last night sailed today, having given the storm time to move away from their tracks. (Both ships were covered here yesterday)

Balmoral may be able to skirt the storm to the east and south on its way to Portland, ME but there may still be rough seas to contend with.

  CMA CGM Andromeda will likely be following a similar route, but heading farther south for New York.

The Volga Maersk, which arrived from Montreal this morning sailed early this evening for Bremerhaven, so will probably be ahead or well to the east of the storm.

Permanent residents of the port are accustomed to rough weahter by now, so are likely well buttoned down for the night, and will wait to see what the morning llight reveals.

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Recent Tankers

 Both Irving Oil and Imperial Oil had foreign flag tankers in Halifax recently and McAsphalt had their articulated tug/tanker barge in port.

     Irving Oil's Woodside terminal took cargo from STI Marshall, a 29,991 gt, 47,499 dwt ship, dating from 2019. It was built by Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard Co in Ninh Hoa Vietnam. The ship arrived from Amsterdam August 9 and is due to sail August 11.

The ship was named Marlin Marshall from 2019 to 2021 when it was taken over by Scorpio Tankers International. It displays the stylized scorpion logo on it oversize funnel, which incorporates an exhaust gas scrubber. It seems likely that the scrubber is original equipment, but might have been added later. (The green stripe on the scrubber housing may be left over from the Marlin era).

The ship is registered in the port of Majuro, the registry port for the Marshall Islands, a popular flag of convenience for tankers, particularly American owned. (Scorpio, founded by Emanuele Lauro is headquartered in Monaco, but listed on the New York stock exchange. It owns 128 product tankers.)

    The Malta flagged Hellas Fighter arrived off Halifax from Antwerp August 6 and anchored before coming alongside Imperial Oil August 7. It sailed in ballast August 10 for Houston.

Built in 2015 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, the 29,410 gt, 49,997 dwt ship is managed by Latsco Marine Management, the operating arm for the 41 ships of the Latsis shipping companies of Greece. It carries the large letter "L" on the funnel. (Fleet mate Lady Malou was in port  July 30 - see post of that date).

      As the name implies McAsphalt is a specialist asphalt company part of Miller McAsphalt, owned in turn by the French conglomerate Colas SA. The tug Leo A. McArthur and barge John J. Carrick are regular callers in Halifax, the last time was July 21-22. The company operates it own jetty in Eastern Passage next to Autoport (once known as Dook's Dock), with a heated pipeline to storage tanks on shore. (It also has a rail connection there.)

 

Both tug and barge were built in China in 2009 and delivered in 2010, with the tug carrying the name Victorious. It was renamed in 2017 in honor of one of the founders of McAsphalt Industries. The high heat cargo barge, named for the other McAsphalt founder, has a capacity of 11,100 cu meters (70,000 bbls) and has boilers to keep asphalt and similar cargoes in the liquid state.

McAsphalt returned to China for construction of an asphalt tank ship with a 11,700 cubic meter (73,600 bbls) capacity. Powered by LNG/LBG it also has battery storage capacity. Named McAsphalt Advantage, the ship was launched in July and is expected in Canada later this year.

When the tanker is delivered we will likely see it here and the tug barge will concentrate mostly on the Great Lakes area. McAsphalt's older tug / barge combo Everlast (1976) / Norman McLeod (2001),  which is restricted to the Lakes / Seaway area may be retired or repowered / rebuilt.

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Picture Perfect and Imperfect

 In today's world of digital photography taking pictures is nearly idiot proof - unless of course you forget to check the setting and forget to check the image immediately after taking the picture. That happened earlier today (May 27) when I spent hours driving to the other side of the harbour via Bedford (one bridge was closed for repairs and the other was backed up for miles) and back by the same route. 

It was only when I was back home and downloaded the pictures that I discovered the setting error. I salvaged what I could by fine tuning, but the result is far a from ideal way of noting the first arrival in Halifax of the container ship CMA CGM Pride. 

Delivered in October of 2022 by Hyundai Ulsan Samho it is a 150,783 gt, 160,194 dwt ship. Various sources claim its capacity at 15,264 TEU (nominal) / 10,370 TEU (@14 tonnes) and 1,000 reefer plugs (CMA CGM lists the capacity at 14,806 TEU nominal).

Barely visible in the photo is the proclamation that the ship is LNG Powered - as if to underline the point - in three places on each side of the ship. Whether that is the reason for exceptionally high funnel is a question I can't answer.

While in Dartmouth I was able (using a different camera, with the correct settings) to get some other images, including the articulated tug / barge Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick . The duo arrived May 25 from Hamilton, ON with a cargo of asphalt for McAsphalt's depot in Eastern Passage. 

I was interested to see the mooring arrangement (at low tide) which helps (?) to secure the pair at the jetty. They will be sailing again this evening returning to the Great Lakes.

Also in Dartmouth, work is progressing on the transfer and assembly of the wind farm towers from the heavy lift ship GPO Grace to the installation ship Orion.

 The Orion is due to sail tomorrow for Massachusetts to begin the installation process.

And finally conditions for photography were ideal in the early evening, and with the proper settings on the camera, pictures of the arriving tanker MRC Beliz turned out well.

Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan built the ship in 2007 as NCC Sudair for National Chemical Carriers Co of Saudi Arabia. Fitted with polymer lined tanks and equipped to carry 22 different parcels of cargo, it is a 29,575 gt, 46,012 dwt ship. In September of last year the ship was acquired and renamed by MRC Dentzcili Turizm, part of the Mercan Holding family group.

Unusually, the ship is arriving from Galveston, TX for Irving Oil. Irving Oil rarely brings in product that is not from their own refinery in Saint John, NB or from storage in Amsterdam.

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Saturday Report

 The CMA CGM Osiris was a first time caller when it arrived in Halifax this morning April 29.

The ship used two stern tethered escort tugs and took the western, deep water, channel inbound, giving a nearly broadside view as it approached the south end terminal. The use of two escort tugs is part of a familiarization exercise for pilots and tug operators. In case of propulsion or steering failure in one of these large ships, it would take two tugs to control the vessel. The two 5,000 bhp tugs are in fact more effective than one 10,000 bhp tug (no such tug exists in Halifax) as they operate independently to steer and / or brake the ship as needed.

Use of the western, deep water, channel will become standard for large ships and new buoyage was put in place last year to mark the course. The main or eastern channel is quite straight, but the western channel has a dogleg bend and requires good tug coordination to make the turns. A third tug is made up well forward to assist in turning and docking.

The CMA CGM Osiris is a 154,995 gt, 155,979 dwt ship with a capacity of 15,536 TEU. It was built in 2021 by Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing. It operates in the Ocean Alliance service from Asia with its last Asian port call in Colombo, April 5-6, and after transitting the Suez Canal April 14-15 it also called on the Tanger Med port in Morocco April 22-23.

As predicted yesterday the auto carrier Grand Pavo moved from Pier 9C to Autoport this mornnig and finally discharged a quantity of cars. Whether some of them were the ones that had a brief shore excursion at Pier 9C yesterday, I cannot tell.

 

It sailed this afternoon for New York.

Although it is still early in the cruise season there were two cruise ships in port today - albeit small ones. Coincidentally both ships were also in Halifax May 1, 2022. [see my post of that date for details]

Ocean Explorer arrived from Gloucester, MA, and once again squeezed in to Pier 24. It was interesting to see its X-bow from a different angle as it departed for Louisbourg, NS.

Ocean Navigator, which has called here under most of its previous names, again tied up at Pier 23. It is en route from Portland, ME to Charlottetown and on to the Great Lakes where it will operate all summer.

 

To round off the day's activities there was a perhaps less noteworthy arrival. It was the articulated tug / barge combination Leo A. McArthur /  John J. Carrick with a cargo of asphalt from the Great Lakes for General Liquids. They tied up at the Cherubini dock in Eisner's Cove and offloaded by pipeline to General's tanks nearby.

The lattice boom crane in the photo has nothing to do with the unloading process, and in fact blocks the view of the ship's sold black boom which appears to support the offload pipeline. Cherubini Metal Workers, the owners of the dock, are a steel fabrication company and own a number of cranes for use in their own projects and for rental under the R+D Cranes company name.

An event which took place yesterday, April 28 is also worthy of note. It was the official naming ceremony for the William Hall, the fourth Arctic Offhsore Patrol Ship to be built by Irving Shipbuilding Inc's Halifax Shipyard. It is designated AOPV 433.

The ship was floated out November 27, 2022 and is fitting out at Pier 7.  The ship is named for a Nova Scotia who was awarded the Victoria Cross. His Wikipedia entry is worth reading at: William Hall VC

 

 

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Dartmouth - where the action is

 The eastern shore of Halifax harbour is still identified as Dartmouth even though it was amalgamated with Halifax, along with the town of Bedford and Halifax County to form the Halifax Regional Municipality (generally called Halifax) in 1996. Mail addressed to Dartmouth will still reach its destination however as there are numerous duplicate street names on the two sides of the harbour. The Dartmouth side has significant shipping activity, as today's four piloted arrivals were all destined for berths in Dartmouth.

The tug Atlantic Elm arrived from Saint John, NB towing the barge Atlantic Marlin and tied up at the IEL dock in the Woodside neighbourhood. (The City of Dartmouth annexed numerous suburbs in 1961, most of which are still identified with their traditional names.) The IEL dock is the site of the former Acadia Sugar Refinery, which was later used as a Volvo car assembly plant.

The barge will be used to transfer bow fabrications from Irving Shipbuilding Inc's Woodside Fabricators plant to the Halifax Shipyard, where they will be incorporated in construction of Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels for the RCN. Interestingly the same tug and barge are usually to be found in the arctic during the summer months, transferring supplies to remote communities.

 The Atlantic Marlin was built in 2000 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, China as Boa Barge 18. Atlantic Towing Ltd acquired, and renamed, the 2318 gt barge in 2010 from BOA Offshore AS of Norway. It is a flat deck project cargo barge, but also has built up bulwarks to support or protect cargo.

The 3460 bhp tug Atlantic Elm dates from 1980 when it was built in Saint John as Irving Elm. It took its present name in 1995 as part of a company wide renaming program.

Also arriving in Woodside (or maybe South Woodside) later in the morning was the tanker Claxton Bay with a cargo of refined product for Irving Oil from Amsterdam.

 A handysize vessel of 23,373 gt, 36,686 dwt, it was built in 2010 by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan. Operators Cido Shipping Hong Kong Ltd own and manage about 65 ships of all types.

The third arrival, was actually for Eastern Passage which was never part of the "old" Dartmouth, but is on the eastern side of the harbour, in what was once Halifax County. Autoport, owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway (CNR) is the port of entry for new cars to eastern Canada.

The car carrier NOCC Atlantic is a first time caller as far as I can tell. The ship was built in 2009 as Dyvi Atlantic by Samjin Shipbuilding Industries Co in Weihai, China. It was renamed in 2011 following the formation of Norwegian Car Carriers in 2010 when Eidsiva Rederi ASA and Dyvi Shipping AS merged.  (Dyvi owned the first true car carrier in 1964).

NOCC Atlantic is a 60,686 gt, 22,500 dwt Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) with a capacity of 6,754 Car Equivalent Units. In addition to the usual stern ramp of 125 tonne capacity, it also has a side ramp.

The fourth arrival for Dartmouth took place after dark, so I do not have a fresh photo. The Articulated Tug Barge (ATB) Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick brought in a load of asphalt from Hamilton, Ontario for owners McAsphalt Industries. The barge is equipped with boilers to maintain the asphalt in liquid form. Paving season is about to start and the asphalt plants are gearing up. I do hope they get into production soon as "pothole season" is in full swing.

McAsphalt has its own dock in Eastern Passage. Once known as Dook's Dock it is immediately adjacent to Autoport and connects to storage tanks on shore by means of a heated pipeline. McAsphat then delivers by truck to customers including its own parent company Miller Group (owned by Colas Canada). It can also receive asphalt by rail at the Eastern Passage depot.

I am assuming the pair have not changed appearance since this photo was taken May 23, 2021.

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