Interesting Times

 The current unpredictability in the Canadian economy thanks to unwarranted tariffs applied by the President of the United States against Canada will certainly show up in the shipping in Halifax harbour. Both imports and exports will be effected, due to the closely integrated economies of the two countries. Not only the amount of cargo, but the number of ship visits and the related truck and rail traffic and spin offs, will take a hit. For example:

Gold Bond Gypsum

The largest open pit gypsum mine in the world is located in East Milford, Nova Scotia and is operated by Gold Bond Canada (formerly National Gypsum.) The mine was developed by the Buffalo, NY based company to export raw gypsum to the United States in bulk. Fom the mine, the raw ore is sent by rail to Gold Bond's storage and shipping facility in Wright's Cove in Bedford Basin.

 

The storage stockpile appeared to be at a very low level as of yesterday when the CSL Tacoma was alongside loading.

 Gypsum from the Nova Scotia mine is primarily used for the production of wall board in the United States. It is a major component in building construction due to its fire resistant qualities. The amount of gypsum leaving the Halifax harbour dock has always been a reliable barometer of the United States' economy. When the US construction industry is booming gypsum export quantities are high. Only a small percentage of the US wall board production comes back to the much smaller Canadian construction industry, but due to the economies of scale, wallboard pricing in Canada has been favourable. If tarifs are applied to raw gypsum arriving in the US from Canada, the cost of finished board coming back to Canada, will certainly be higher - especially if Canada imposes retaliatory tarifs. Gypsum companies in the United States may find other sources of raw material. (See the previous post February 28 where CSL Metis sailed without loading gypsum. CSL Trantau did load last week, see March 1 .

Due to drop in the resultant demand there will likley be fewer ships loading here.

 

The CSL Tacoma at the shiploader, with a thin skim of ice in Wright's Cove in the foreground.

One of Gold Bond's competitors, US Gypsum has a Canadian subsidiary Canadian Gyspum Corp Inc (CGC) with two mines in Nova Scotia. One has been shut down permanently and one was on track to re-open in a few years, but that is now doubtful.  

Nova Scotia Power Corp

As noted in my previous post, electricity for the Halifax area is generated at the Tufts Cove generating station. The plant uses natural gas that arrives by pipeline from the United States. The gas comes from a variety of sources mostly the result of fracking. Electricity is fed back and forth  onto the grid to supplement power generated at coal fired stations in Northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. (That coal comes from the United States.)

If there is an interruption in gas supply Tufts Cove can burn oil, and the recent delivery to its heavy oil storage stockpile came from Houston.

The tanker Larvik unloaded a cargo of black oil at Tuft's Cove. The ship's head lines and stern lines lead out to mooring buoys. A containment boom has also been deployed around the ship by Connors Diving's handsome work boat Eastcom.

 

 If there are obstacles to importing US gas, oil and coal, Nova Scotia Power will need to source fuel from overseas sources, which will almost certainly result in increased power rates. Even that situation will do little to spur NSP's lethargic development of alternate sources such as wind, hydrogen, etc., if they can pass on costs to consumers while still rewarding their shareholders with profits.

Gasoline, Diesel, Avgas, etc., 

Petroleum fuel for heating, cars, trucks, planes and ships arrives in Halifax by ship and is offloaded at two facilities. 

Irving Oil has its terminal in South Woodside, on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. That facility is supplied by ships and by rail and is backed up by a large storage and distribution facility. Irving Oil's refinery in Saint John, NB - the largest refiney in Canada, is the source for most of the product. Irving's two Canadian flag tanker ships (on long term charter) transport the fuel to Halifax, Charlottetown, Saint John's, and sometimes to Quebec.  The current tankers are about to be replaced by new ships (the first is en route from Korea) and the Canadian tanker Sarah Desgagnés has been short term chartered to bring product from Saint John to Woodside.

 Irving Oil also has a refiney in Ireland and a storage terminal in Amsterdam and has the capability to bring in product from those facilities. The majority of the product coming out of the Saint John refinery goes to the northeastern United States. The future of that arrangement is in the air due threatened counter measures.

Sarah Desgagnés sails for Saint John March 4.

Imperial Oil brings in product for its storage and distribution facility in South Woodside, next door to Irving Oil, (its tanks show up in the picture above) also by ship and rail. Algoma Tankers distribute the product to ports such as Sydney, Corner Brook and Sept-Iles. Resupply comes from Antwerp, Belgium or parent company (Exxon Mobil) refineries in the United States and Canada.

 Container Traffic is the big question. Although fourth quarter statistics for the Port of Halifax have not been released yet, I expect TEUs for the year 2024 will be down about 10% from 2023. Add that to the expected decline in bulk and other cargoes in 2025 the Port may expect a dreary year ahead.

 This afternoon's (March 5) misty arrival of the 14,052 TEU ONE Aquila may not be a sign of things to come. The ship is eastbound from New York for Europe and appears fully loaded, at least by volume if not by weight. The proposed tarifs would certainly not have had much effect when the ship loaded at its last ports.

(It was in Halifax February 1 to 2, westbound, and has since been in New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, and New York again.) Much of the import cargo on the ship was for the US and some the cargo unloaded in Halifax on its westbound leg would have been sent to the US mid-west by train through Canada. 

What sort of disruption will result if that arrangement is disturbed and how it will add to existing congestion in US ports and rail lines can only be imagined at this point.

 Autoport is eastern Canada's automobile import facility. An estimated 185,000 import vehicles arrive by ship every year and are prepped and dispatched by rail and truck on an as needed basis. These cars are exclusively for the Canadian market as far as I know, but the disturbance in domestic car production due to US tarifs will likely increase demand for foreign cars. While that may satisfy car buyers, it will add to the grief in Canadian car making if they cannot meet demand. Or worse, a crippled Canadian economy will reduce the demand for cars of any sort.

 

On February 27 the Emden brought in the latest consignment of Volkswagen products. The ship went on to US ports. The ship has a capacity of 7,000 CEU (Car Equivalant Units) and is usually loaded to capacity. Frequency of calls and quantity of cars could well change with the new tarifs.

Cruise Ships are a major interest of Halifax Port Authority, which recently announced the 2025 schedule (See previous post: February 14 ) with an anticipated 188 calls and 328,000 visitors. A large percentage of the latter will be US residents, whose US dollars will go a lot farther in Canada. I am sure they will still receive the friendly welcome that Halifax is known for, but I do wonder how many will be willing to come to Canada under the circumstances.

The last cruise ship of the 2024 season was the Insignia sailing on November 3.

 

Conclusion

I do not normally stray too far from the topic of shipping in these blogs and will try to refrain from getting off topic in future. But I do have to declare deep ancestral roots in the United States, both paternal and maternal. Without going into detail I do wish to proclaim my own allegiance to Canada while acknowledging my affinity for the United States and its peoples several of whom are blood relatives! (My mother was born on this day in 1915 in Collamer, Ohio.)

The current situation is so personally disturbing that I cannot bear to dwell on it in this blog in an objective manner, so will have to avoid discussing it except as it may apply peripherally to ships and shipping.

As usual I do not publish comments submitted to this blog. It is, and will remain, my personal ship watching diary - not a discussion forum.

 .

 

Oil for Power

 The Nova Scotia Power Corporation, a subsidiary of Emera Corporation operates the electricity generating facility at Tufts Cove on the east side of Halifax harbour. The plant is located on The Narrows, directly opposite "Ground Zero" - site of the 1917 Halifax Explosion.

The plant has been built in stages since 1965 and now consists of three large steam turbines and three gas combustion turbines. The orginal unit, built in 1965 could burn coal or oil, and subsequent units built in 1972 and 1976 were built for oil only. In 2000 the facility was reconfigured to burn oil or natural gas. Gas comes to the plant via the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, originating in Dracut Massachusetts, where it connects to the North American natural gas grid. In 2003 and 2004 two gas combustion turbines were installed and in 2011 a sixth unit, a combustion-cycle generator was added. The total nominal generating capacity is now 500 MW. Each of the gas /oil burning plants has a 152 m (500 ft) tall chimney, painted red and white for aircraft warning.

Although the facility uses natural gas primarily it does use oil from time to time and stockpiles oil on site in case of a disruption in gas supply. This morning, March 2, the tanker Larvik arrived from Houston with a cargo of heavy oil.

 The Larvik was built in 2006 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering (SHME) in Yokosuka. It is classed as a crude oil / product tanker of 35,711 gt, 61,213 dwt. Presumably that means that the ship has heating coils to keep black oil flowing for offloading.

The ship's commercial management is in the hands of Polyar Tankers AS of Oslo, hence the Norwegian name, but its technical operation is handled by World Tankers Management Pte of Singapore. Both those companies are in fact arms of the Cypriot  Greek ship owner Polys Haji-Iannou, whose father Loucas was one of the world's largest tanker owners at one time. The family has since branched out into airlines and other businesses and now owns about twenty tankers.

The tugs Atlantic Willow (foreward) and Atlantic Oak (aft) bring the ship alongside the Tufts Cove jetty. Not seen is Connors Diving's boat Eastcom taking lines to mooring buoys. The ship's 213.4m (700 ft) length contrasts with the 152m (500 ft) stacks.

.

 

Weather

 A major nor'easter winter storm working its way across Atlantic Canada from New England brought the usual accumulations of heavy wet snow, sleet and freezing rain. More concerning to shipping however were the very high winds with extreme gusts. By mid-morning Sunday January 30 wind speeds in the harbour were beginning to taper off from 60 kph (37 mph). Gusts in excess of 80 kph (50 mph) were recorded around 0600 hrs.

It was around 0600 that the MSC Sandra, which was docked at Pier 41 PSA Halifax, apparently began to come off the pier. From the ship's recorded AIS track it apppears that some lines must have parted.When that happens there is more stress on the remaining lines and it is not long before they part also. The ship called for tugs and a pilot was dispatched to assist in bringing the ship back alongside and running new lines. Presumably there was also a call for line handlers, as the ship's own crew would not be able to make the ship fast by themselves.

 MSC Sandra arriving in Halifax on an earlier visit in calm conditions.

(December 17, 2021 photo)

As of mid-morning the tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Willow were being kept alongside the ship, as there were still occassional bursts of high wind.

Also wandering about was the tanker STI Modest which was waiting out the storm at anchor in Bedford Basin. From its AIS track it appears to have been dragging its anchor quite a bit, but as there was no other shipping nearby there was no cause for panic, however I am sure a close watch was being maintained. Nobody wants to see a loaded tanker adrift. I am not aware that a pilot was called, but I assume the ship was steaming up on its anchor line to control drift.

STI Modest in its original anchorage position as pictured Friday January 28. It will dock at Irving Oil when calmer conditions prevail.

 

Another tanker, the Larvik which was discharging heavy fuel at Nova Scotia Power, Tufts Cove, left off unloading and put out to sea. At first it was in the outer anchorages but that is not a good holding ground, so the ship is just steaming about until conditions are right to return to port.

Also pictured January 28, the Larvik has only a light jetty to secure to at Tuft's Cove, and it would not be safe in high winds.

Several ships which are expected in Halifax are holding off until condiitons improve.

The bulker Efficiency OL which has some technical problems on the St.Lawrence River and was detained for thirteen days in Quebec City by Ship Safety is sheltering in Chedabucto Bay.

The tanker Minerva Xanthe from Port Neches, TX and bound for Imperial Oil was due yesterday but is still at sea somewhere off the east coast.

Some container ships that were due have held off for a day or two. These include Tropic Hope and MSC Tianjin. Maersk / CMA CGM's weekly caller from Montreal, Maersk Patras which would normally arrive on Saturday, is now due Monday January 31.

.

Oil Heat

 The Nova Scotia Power Corp is taking a cargo of oil at its Tuft's Cove generating plant in Halifax today January 27. Delivering the load of heavy oil is the Bahamas flag crude oil tanker Larvik coming from Freeport, Bahamas (January 20-21) and Saint Rose, Louisiana (January 14-16).

 The current very cold weather places extra demand on power generation, and Tuft's Cove appeared to be going full tilt today with billows of steam emitted from its burners.

The Tuft's Cove facility, located on the Narrows, usually burns natural gas, but has the capability to store and burn heavy oil. Built originally to burn oil or coal, it was modified to use gas when Nova Scotia's offshore gas fields came on line. Once those fields were exhausted, Nova Scotia Power continued to access gas from their partly owned Maritimes and Northeast pipeline, which is connected to the North American network in Massachusetts. 

Since a major oil spill at Tuft's Cove in 2018, the NSPC has upgraded some of the oil storage and pipeline at the site, but has not notably used much if any heavy oil.

By coincidence NSP has acknowledged the delayed retirement of its coal fired generating stations in Trenton, NS and Point Aconi, Cape Breton because the new hydroelectric power transmission line from Newfoundland has not proven reliable. The Muskrat Falls hydro electric project in Labrador sends some of its power by undersea cable across the Strait of Belle Isle and the Cabot Strait to Nova Scotia, but this has not yet lived up to expectations.

The tanker Larvik, despite its Norwegian sounding name, is owned by Polys Haji-Ioannu family of Greece. Technical management is entrusted to their Singapore based World Tankers Management, and commercial management is done by Polyar Tankers of Oslo. The ship is apparently time chartered to the Heidemar pool.

Built by Sumitomo, Yokosuka, Japan in 2006, the Larvik measures 35,711 gt and 61,213 dwt which is very small for a crude tanker, but more common for the DPP "dirty petroleum products" or black oil trade. It is an (old) Panamax size.

Emissions from Tuft's Cove are fairly clean when it is burning gas, but is not quite so white when burning oil. It appeared to be running only two of three generators today.
 

.