Inaugural Call and Repeat Visitors

It was the inaugural call for Holland America's Zaandam today as the 61,396 gt ship tied up at pier 31.
The regular cruise terminal facilities at pier 22 are not ready for the tourist season yet, so the ship berthed at the open (and highly industrial) pier 31.

Zaandam makes the turn in for pier 31.

Built in 2000 by Fincantieri, Venice and refurbished most recently in 2015, the 1430 passenger ship will become a familiar sight in Halifax this year with  no less than 23 scheduled port calls. The ship replaces the veteran Maasdam (1255 passengers) that has been reassigned to the Alaska/Pacific area.

It is regrettable that ships have to tie up at pier 31, and then have to be bussed off the Port property through other port related activity. However there may be more ships docking there this year as the only two berths for large ships may be occupied by other cruise ships. If ships want to take bunkers, they may have to tie up at pier 31, because tanker trucks can't access the Pier 20-22 seawall and there is no bunkering barge service in Halifax anymore.
The Port's master plan will eliminate pier 31, so there will not be enough berth space at the deep water piers for all the cruise ships that usually call here. - definitely a problem awaiting a solution.

The Canadian owned tanker Kitikmeot W arrived early this evening and tied up at pier 27. The ship was last here, at the same pier, December 30, 2018 to January 2, 2019 and sailed under Marshal Islands flag for foreign going winter work. It returned to Canadian waters last week when it sailed up through the Seaway to Hamilton, ON, arriving there April 22. After unloading, it headed for Halifax in ballast. It will likely be re-flagged Canadian here in the next few days.

Kitikmeot W exhibits a case of "lock rash" from its recent trip through the St.Lawrence Seaway. 

Ships slide along the approach walls to the locks on their "knuckle" and incur serious scraping.

Coastal Shipping Ltd of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, part of the Woodward Group, are owners of the ship. Built in 2010 by Icdas, Biga, Turkey, the 13,097 gt, 19,938 dwt ship sailed as Icdas-09 until last year. It arrived in Halifax May 8, 2018 for AGM inspection, but was still under Marshal Islands flag. It then made a trip to Oshawa, ON to deliver cargo then was first registered in Canada June 5, 2018.

A tanker that was last here in 2012 arrived yesterday for Imperial Oil. At first it tied up at Number 3 dock, then today after  NS Pride sailed, moved to Number 4 dock.

Ance sails for the Latvian Shipping Co of Riga, but is registered in the Marshal Islands.

The 30,641 gt, 52,622 dwt tanker was built in 2006 by 3 Maj Brodogradiliste in Rijeka, Croatia., and arrived from Houston.

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Return of the Prodigal Sun

After yesterday's wintry conditions, it was a return to sunny conditions and better photos today.

The tanker Arctos arrived during all that snow yesterday.

But looked a little clearer today tied up at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal unloading its cargo of refined products loaded in Amsterdam. Irving Oil seems to be importing at least as much fuel for local use as it is producing in Saint John. The vast majority of the product it makes in Saint John is exported to the US.

Arctos is a typical 29,608 grt, 49,999 dwt product of Hyundai, Mipo. It is very new however, delivered in July of this year. Owned by the obscure Libero Panama SA, the ship is managed by Sea World Management and Trading of Liberia (but operating from Greece). Another tanker under its management was found to discharged oil and waste in US waters in 2017 and the company was fined $2.25 mn and the ship's master was jailed for six months.

At Imperial Oil it was possible to get a glimpse of the oddly named Alpine Marina. The ship's name conjures up images of a Swiss yacht club, but is more likely taking a woman's given name.  The ship is another Hyundai Mipo product tanker from 2010, measuring 29,130 grt, 46,162 dwt. It arrived Sunday from Port Neches, TX. Its owners are the improbable Tornado Navigation Inc, and managers Oxygen Maritime Management Inc of Greece. That company manages four ships for Greek owners who are currently embroiled in mortgage and financing issues with creditors . The ship is registered in the Marshal Islands.

The ship was ready to sail late this afternoon and its place at the number 4 dock will be taken by Kitikmeot W

The Canadian flag Kitikmeot W was acquired by Coastal Shipping Ltd earlier this year from Turkish owners and was among the first of a wave of new tankers acquired by Canadian owners recently. Both Algoma Tankers and Desgagnés / Pétro-Nav have also added to their fleets. Now McKeil Marine has announced that they have purchased two Turkish built tankers. Currently named Topaz-T and Turquoise-T.
The pair are trading in the far east, so are unlikely to be seen in Canadian waters before spring.

At Halterm the 9415 TEU CAM CGM Fidelio arrived with the appearance of being fully loaded.

This is good news for the Port of Halifax and the terminal as tenders closed today for Phase 2 of the South End Container Terminal Expansion which will allow for two ship's of this size or larger, to berth at the same time.

Phase 1 - the tender for dredging was awarded to McNally Construction last month, and although the dredge and support plant have been mobilized, work is not expected to start until January.

Phase 2 - the construction and placement of the caissons and pier extension is the larger portion of the project, and although the contract has not been awarded yet, the tender results from today are:

Waterworks Construction Ltd $19,940.00
McNally Construction Ltd $19,059.00

Once construction starts the winter bird life may be disturbed somewhat by all the activity. This suspicious looking loon may be among them.

CMA CGM Fidelio was built in 2006 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan and the ship comes in at 107,898 grt, 113,964 dwt. Although just under the 10,000 TEU threshold it is large enough at 9,415 including 700 reefers to take up a good chunk of the existing berth space at pier 41-42. The new extension will allow two 10,000 TEU ships to tied up at the same time.

East Coast North America port trends indicate that ships of up to 14,000 TEU are now calling, and the worry is that the extension will still not be big enough.

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Coastal Shipping Ltd - update

 Kitikmeot W getting under way from anchorage for Argentia with a chemical cargo.

 Since making yesterday's post on Coastal Shipping Ltd's latest acquisition, the tanker Kitikmeot W, I have learned that the company has acquired three tankers, not two. I mentioned that a sister of Kitikmeot W, the Icdas-11 has been purchased, but not delivered yet, nor renamed as far as I know.

The third tanker is to be named Tuvaq W. It is currently sailing under the Swiss flag as San Pietro. Built in 2012 by Taixing Ganghua as Bering it was acquired and renamed by the current owners in 2013. It is a small ship of 5422 grt, 7598 dwt, and will be used to supply some of the ports that larger ships cannot service.

Once again the ship's new name has significance for Coastal Shipping and the Woodward Group, recalling a previous ship named Tuvaq and using the letter "W" for Woodward.

The first Tuvaq was an impressive ice breaking tanker, built in 1977 by Werft Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, Denmark, for Neste O/Y of Finland. Neste was a pioneer in winter navigation in the Baltic and the ship was built to operate without icebreaker assistance when the Baltic was iced in. It was named Tiira by Neste and measured 10,929 grt, 15,954 dwt and was powered by two V-12 Atlas engines delivering 15,600 bhp through controllable pitch propellers. Neste thought enough of the ship to re-engine it in 1997 with new MaK engines giving 15,999 bhp. Such a major expenditure is unusual in a twenty year old ship.   

Coastal Shipping purchased the ship in the autumn of 2002 for delivering their own petroleum products, but also for chartering out to others. It was registered in St.John's, NL February 14, 2003 and named Tuvaq. The word means edge of the ice, an important interface in the arctic where sea life is abundant. Under Canadian registry the ship measured 11,290 grt.

The ship made many northern trips for Coastal, but also did charter work with Ultramar and likely others, and made some trips to the Great Lakes.

Some of its calls in Halifax were documented here in 2009 and 2012.

In early 2013 Coastal sold the ship to Panama flag owners called Tuvaq International Inc, and the Canadian register was closed June 11, 2013. Identified as a crude oil carrier by this time, the ship's movements have been difficult to trace, but by October 2015 it was laid up in Magdalene River, Barranquilla, Columbia, apparently abandoned.

The new Tuvaq W has sailed from the Netherlands as San Pietro and is due in St.John's, NL next week where it will be brought under Canadian flag and renamed.
Icdas-11 is reported anchored in Singapore.

To make room for all these ships in the fleet, Coastal has recently sold Nanny (register closed March 9, 2018) and Travestern (registry closed March 19, 2018). These follow the sale of Alsterstern in April 2017 and Havelstern in October 2017.

Of these one recent caller here was Nanny, which brought in several loads for Wilson's Fuel from Come by Chance in 2015 and 2016.

Built in 1993 by Hyundai Ulsan, as Natalie Sif, the 6544 grt, 9176 dwt ship also called in Halifax in 1998 under its original name and Danish flag.  After leaving the Coastal fleet it sailed to Taipei, Taiwan.

The Coastal fleet also includes the Sten Fjord, 8882 grt, 13,670 dwt, built in 2004 as Falcon by Jiangyang, Shanghai, which joined the fleet in June 2017. It has been chartered out over the winter, and is en route from Montreal to Estonia but is expected back in Canada in time for summer arctic work.

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Kitikmeot W - new for Coastal Shipping

The Newfoundland based tanker operator Coastal Shipping Ltd, has acquired two tankers for its fleet this spring, to replace older units that have been sold. The first of the two additions arrived in Halifax today (May 8) for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection, with a cargo of refined petroleum product from Emden, Germany.

Named Kitikmeot W the ship's new name reflects two aspects of Coastal's operations. The first is that it supplies fuel to far northern communities during the short summer navigation season. Kitikmeot is the name of a large administrative region covering the north and western portion of the Nunavut territory. Although geographically large (171,150 square miles) it is sparsely populated by 6,543 people. It has several settlements that are well known by their former names including Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuutiaq) and Gjoa Haven (Uqsuqtuuq). Kugaaruk (Pelley Bay), Kugluktuk (Coppermine) and Taloyoak (Spence Bay) are the other hamlets in the region. The entire region is accessible only by air or by sea (in season).

The letter "W" denotes the Woodward family, founders of the Woodward Group and owners of Coastal Shipping. It has been many years since the company used the letter "W" in its ship's names , so it is a nice touch to recall some of the early Woodward tankers such as Jenny W and Sibyl W.

Kitikmeot W was built in 2010 by Icdas in Biga, Turkey and measures 13,097 grt, 19,983 dwt. It sailed as Icdas-09 until acquired by Woodward. A sister tanker Icdas-11 has also been purchased by Coastal Shipping, but has not joined the fleet yet.

Although founded in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Coastal Shipping operate its tankers from Lewisporte, NL and it is expected that the ship will head there for transfer from Marshall Islands to Canadian registration.

Woodward Gallery "W" Gallery

Tana Woodward was built in 1956 by Rowhedge Iron Works in Essex, England as Ben Bates. Before Woodward's Oil Ltd acquired the ship in 1973, it had been lengthened increasing its grt from 489 to 522.It was laid up in 1986 and scrapped by Unimetco in Point Edward, NS.

Sibyl W (i) was the former Imperial Quebec, built by Collingwood Shipyard in 1957. It was rebuilt with a bulbous bow when the St.Lawrence Seaway was opened and served Imperial on the east coast and as faras Venezuela until 1987. Woodward's made many northern trips with it to such ports as Frobisher Bay (Iqaluit). In 1992 it was sold to become Panama Trader and was finally broken up in Guyamas, on the Baja Gulf coast of Mexico in  1996.

A second Sibyl W, acquired in 1992 was also a former Imperial Oil tanker. Imperial Tofino dated from 1973 when it was built in North Vancouver. It was lengthened 28 feet in 1979 raising tonnage from 650 to 764 grt.

 After Woodward service it went to the Honduran flag in 2009 as a bunkering tanker on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. It was reported sold in late 2016, but nothing further has been heard of it.

Jenny W was a former Shell tanker, built in 1965 by Grangemouth Dockyard as Falmouth It became Shell Mariner in 1980 and joined Coastal Shipping Ltd in 1992. The 982 grt ship was sold in December 1995 to a Peruvian company. The delivery crew eventually arrested the ship in St.John's for unpaid wages and it was sold at auction in May 1999 becoming Orfeo.under the Mexican flag. On January 14, 2005 it was wrecked while entering the port of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico.

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