Cars and Gas for Same

 Halifax is the entry point for imported automobiles, and in a perverse sense of logic it is also the entry point for imported petroleum products to fuel them. In the past few days the tanker Largo Elegance brought in refined product from Antwerp for Imperial Oil. [see previous posts] And today, May 8,  the autocarrier Violet Ace brought in a quantity of cars from Emden, Germany.

 As the Violet Ace rounds Ives Knoll outbound from Autoport, Eastern Passage, the tug Atlantic Fir returns to its temporary base at the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE).

Built in 2011 by Ha Long Shipbuilding Co in Vietnam, Violet Ace is a 49,708 gt, 13,370 dwt ship with a capacity of 5,000 CEU. It's next scheduled port is Houston. ["Ace" stands for Auto Carrier Express, a division of  MOL (Mitsui OSK Lines) of Japan.]

Also today, Irving Oil's tanker Acadian docked at Imperial Oil to off load some more fuel. This is the second time in recent days that Irving Oil has delivered fuel to Imperial.

Dominion Diving's workboat Boss Hog tows a string of floats as Acadian heaves up its anchor to move to Imperial Oil.

The Acadian was reported in Saint John April 17-18, then in Quebec City April  23-24 and Montreal April 24-25. It presumably loaded there. It stopped over in Charlottetown before arriving at Irving Oil's terminal here May 6. It moved out to anchor yesterday awaiting the Algoscotia to clear the berth at Imperial Oil. (Algoscotia sailed for Sydney this morning).

The crane ship Orion was using its 5,000 tonne main crane today at the IEL dock to lift some large components. J.D.Irving Equipment also had its huge Liebherr crawler crane and a truck crane on site too. The ship is preparing for construction to install the foundations for a wind farm off Massachusetts.

 As previously reported the activity with the crane ship at the IEL dock has temporarily displaced the Atlantic Towing Ltd tugs from the north end of the IEL dock to the COVE docks at the former Coast Guard base.

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Saturday traffic

 Aside from the departure of the bulker UBC Tampico (see previous post) today, May 6, there was notable other traffic in the harbour.

The auto carrier Bess made a call at Pier 9C to unload RoRo traffic before proceeding to Autoport to discharge cars.

Bess made its turn in Bedford Basin, and with the UBC Tampico at Gold Bond Gypsum in the background, made its way in glassy calm waters, toward Pier 9C.

A caller in Halifax since it was built in 2010 by Shin Kurushima, Toyohashi, it has appeared in its current Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean livery, and the previous green and white colour scheme of Wallenius Lines. The ship has a capacity of 6,284 cars. It has been mentioned in this blog many times.

The small bulker Endurance arrived at Pier 27 from Moa, Cuba, with a consignment of nickel sulfides. Nirint Lines handles this cargo normally, but this ship does not appear on Nirint schedules, so may be a last minute substitute.

The Endurance was built in 2012 by Nanjing Huatai in Nanjing and is a 5632 gt, 7825 dwt multi-purpose, single decker, with box shaped holds. It is carrying containers on deck for Nirint's general cargo service from/to Europe, and has two 30 tonne SWL cranes

At Imperial Oil the tanker Largo Elegance (see May 4) got underway for Falmouth, UK. It used the western channel outbound. 

That left the entire eastern channel for the tug Atlantic Elm, which was returning to port after an outing to Sheet Harbour to undock the bulker Mediterranean Spirit.

 

The Mediterranean Spirit is hull down on the horizon as it arrives off Halifax to disembark its pilot from Sheet Harbour. The ship arrived in Sheet Harbour May 4 from Vitttoria, Brazil and is sailing for Montreal.

Sheet Harbour is a non-compulsary pilotage port, but most large ships use a Halifax based pilot there. The smaller ship Onego Bayou arrived and anchored in nearby Mushaboom Harbour this morning, May 6, to await the sailing of the Mediterranean Spirit and did not order a pilot.
 

Once the Imperial Oil #3 dock was clear the Canadian tanker Algoscotia moved across from Pier 28, where it has been idle since arriving May 2.

 Algoscotia usually operates between Halifax, Sydney and Corner Brook, with occasional trips to Sept-Iles, QC. It distributes various products from the Halifax storage depot. Product arrives there by rail car, Canadian tanker from Montreal, Nanticoke or Sarnia and on foreign flag tanker, from Antwerp as in the case of the Largo Elegance.

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