Good bye

It is the end of the line today (December 23, 2023) for the research trawler CCGS Alfred Needler as it was towed out of Halifax by the tug Lois M en route to the scrap yard. Built in 1981 by Ferguson Industries Ltd in Pictou, NS it initially served the Fisheries Research Board, then the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and was merged in to the Canadian Coast Guard.

I summarized the ship's recent history in Shipfax on October 4, 2023 and have given more detail in several previous posts, but will go over some of it again.

The Alfred Needler was one to two sisters, the other being the Wilfred Templeman, which was based in Newfoundland. The Alfred Needler, named for the distinguished scientist, administrator, diplomat and statesman Alfred Walker Hollingshead Needler CM OBE FRSC (1906-1998) [links to Wikipedia] was based in Halifax. Its work area extended from the Gulf of St.Lawrence to the Gulf of Maine.

In its earliest years it carried the grey and white colour sheme of the Fisheries Research Board.

As part of widespread departmental re-organizationa the ship was painted in the traditional white colour scheme of hydrographic research vessels. The former Canadian Hydrographic Service and the Department of Fisheries vessels were then included in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and all adopted the red hulls of the Canadian Coast Guard and were designated as CCGS.

The aging process had not been particularly kind to the CCGS Alfred Needeler, as several systems broke down. A serious fire in 2003 could have meant the end of the ship. However with no replacement available, a major rebuild took place and extended the life of the ship well beyond reasonable expectations.

Today the tug Lois M took the 'Needler (now sans name) on the hip and backed away from the jetty at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. (The towing line was already rigged and an insurance line was slung along the starboard side of the ship.)

The tug then proceeded through the Narrows in this configuation until it reached the lower harbour.

 Once there was more room, the tug took up towing mode, with a short line, and several deck hands disembarked to the launch Halmar. They had been aboard to let go mooring lines and stream the pickup line. The ship will be unmanned during the trip.
 

Farther out, the tug gradually lengthened out the tow line and last seen, tug and tow were making for sea. The ship was towing reasonably well and was not wandering too far in channel, but took the western channel leaving room for inbound ships such as the Navios Indigo in the main channel.

 

Last summer the government called for bids to scrap the Alfred Needler and the winning (lowest) bid of $392,529.00 was submitted by Marine Recycling Corp of Port Colborne, ON. That company has a major scrap yard in Port Colborne, ON right at the western (Lake Erie) entrance to the Welland Canal where they break up all sorts of ships up to and including maximum size lakers. They also have a facility at Sydport on the western side of Sydney, Nova Scotia harbour in Edwardsville. It is to the latter destinatIon that the tow is headed. (I believe that sister ship Wilfred Templeman, which had been sold and renamed Blain M was scrapped there too.)

The tug Lois M is operated by McKiel Marine and was built in 1991 by Matsuura Tekko Zosen in Higashino, Japan.  The 4800 bhp twin screw tug has a bollard pull of 80 tonnes. It was built for operation in Australia and named Lambert until 2014. A rugged ocean going tug, it is fitted with a large capacity towing winch.

The tug arrived in Halifax December 17 and had to wait out stormy weather before getting underway today in ideal conditions.

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Round Up and Update

Activity in Halifax Harbour has been a bit thin over the past couple of days, and with the hours of daylight nearing their minimum, it has been a challenge to catch the most interesting ships.

CAM CGM Zephyr arrived this morning, December 16, on the Columbus JAX service. Its route from Colombo, via Suez took it through the Red Sea, apparently without incident. Both Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd ships have been attacked off Yemen, and Maersk specifically, and perhaps others have begun to re-route ships via the Cape of Good Hope.

The CMA CGM Zephyr dates from 2021 when it was completed by Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding, A 154,995 gt, 156,198 dwt ship, it has a "maximum theoretical capacity" of 15,536 TEU. Exactly what that means is open to discussion, but most sources agree that it is in the 15,000 TEU+ category. The ship has an advanced air quality system, but again this is vague, and it only means that its scrubber is capable of running in closed loop mode. (Removing particulate and storing it on board until it can be sent ashore for recycling.) It may also run in open loop mode - washing the material into the sea - which is a controversial technique and banned in many places.

At nearby Pier 27 the Ayita is discharging a cargo of rail from Poland for CN (the Canadian National Railway). It arrived from Szczecin on December 14.

I had no better luck photoing the ship when it was here under a previous name March 4, 2016, also with a load of rail.

The 7813 gt, 10,385 dwt ship with a pair of 80 tonne SWL cranes, was built in 2004 by Damen with the hull built at their Galati, Romania yard, and the work completed at Hoogezand, Netherlands. It started life as the Ile de Molene but was renamed in the same year Ile De Batz and also in 2004 S. Pacific. In 2010 it became Batz and in 2012 BBC Chile. In 2015 it took the name Onego Batz and it was under that name that it called in Halifax. Later in 2016 it changed its name to BF Ayita and kept that name until May of this year when it changed to Ayita with a quick flick of the brush. The ship is still chartered to Onego however.

Unfortunately the view of Pier 27-28 is becoming more and more constricted as time goes by. The new PSA Halifax Gateway maintenance and operations building at Pier 29 has been under construction for some time. With the steel frame now in place cladding has been installed on the south section. 

Although the use of old containers is a novel approach to cladding, there are two problems. The first is that it effectively blocks the view of Pier 28 (just the top of the grain gallery is visible above the roof) and the second is the future maintenance issue as the paint weathers. I doubt that ZIM will want to ante up for re-painting their former seacan. I hope the designers know how to detail a properly vented and draining cavity wall (to be built from the inside out!), as otherwise I give this one about five years before replacement will be necessary.

Arriving at Autoport this morning was the familiar caller Taipan, 57,692 gt, 21,021 dwt, built in 2006 by Gdynia Stozcnia, with a capacity of 6500 RT43 size cars, and a 150 tonne capacity stern ramp.

 The reliable Roseway leads the way toward Autoport to take headlines to the buoy as the tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Beaver assist in the turns.

Once off the dock, the tugs turn the ship to tie up starboard side to the jetty.

This is the ship's third visit this year, with calls on May 11, 2023 and June 13, 2023. As reported then, the ship had also called on September 28, 2019 but on that visit it was wearing Wilhelmsen red/oranage hull paint.

Also as reported the ship was launched as Morning Countess, apparently for EUKOR (which is owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen) but was delivered as Taipan. I wonder if it had EUKOR colours when launched.

Activity at Richmond Terminal yesterday saw arrival of the cable ship IT Integrity at Pier 9C, where it refueled, then moved to the IT International Telecom marine base at Pier 9A.

Built in 2001, its hull came from Aker Tulcea and it was completed by Soviknes Verft, Sovik. The 2244 gt, 3200 dwt supplier was named Highland Fortress and worked for several Tidewater operations in Europe until 2020 when IT acquired the ship and converted it for cable work (including laying, repair, plough burying and ROV splicing).

 Its most recent port was Port Alberni, British Columbia, sailing from there November 12, and transiting the Panama Canal December 1-3. I assume the ship was working on Google's Topaz fibreoptic cable that runs from Port Alberni to Ibaraki and Mie, Japan.

Genco Endeavour Update

Late this evening (December 16) the Genco Endeavour appears underway on AIS at normal speed from its position off Sctarie Island. It may be a on a trial trip as it sailed northwest bound in Cabot Strait, then turned on a southeast bound course. It is still giving Sydney for destination, (As usual many ship's AIS stations give Sydney, Australia for Sydney, Nova Scotia.) The ship had been stationary for most of the week effecting engine repairs [see yesterday's post] . One report had the tug Atlantic Elm ferrying a part from the ship to shore. (It is more likely that a new part was ferried from shore out to the ship.) In any event the tug is still standing by off Main-à-Dieu. Also, and perhaps coincidentally, the slightly more powerful tug Lois M is underway from Sydney Harbour with a destination of Sydney given. Perhaps there will be a rendez-vous to disembark a technician? Revision: the tug is headed for Halifax.

As far as I can tell no high powered towing vessel appears to be in the vicinity or headed in the direciotn of the ship.

With more bad weather coming Sunday and Monday, it would be good news if the ship has been repaired and can be on its way.

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A very full day

 There was lots of harbour activity today, May 4, most of which I was able to observe first hand.

At Autoport the car carrier Goodwood arrived at an early hour from Emden, Germany.

Zodiac Maritime displays their "Z" trademark on the bow.

Operated by Zodiac Maritime, it is one of 14 car carriers in the fleet along with numerous ships of all types. Several of the car carriers are named for famous racetracks. Goodwood Circuit, near the south coast of England  started in 1948 on the perimeter of a wartime airfield.

The ship Goodwood has called here numerous times since built in 2014 by Imabari Zosen, Marugame, Japan It is 59,526 gt, 18,770 dwt Pure Car and Truck Carrier with a capacity of 6203 autos.

Also displaying a letter "Z" but his time on the funnel is the tanker Kibaz arriving from Saint John, NB and docking at Irving Oil, Woodside. Sources indicate that the ship is owned by Zenith Shipping through a single ship entity called Kibaz Shipping LP.

The ship apparently discharged most of its cargo of refined petroleum products in Saint John. Built in 2004 by Onomichi Zosen, in Japan, it is a 28,517 gt, 47,094 dwt vessel. It carried the name Baizo from 2004 to 2016.

Imperial Oil also received a ship today, but unlike recent fuel deliveries, this time it was domestic product. Algoscotia arrived from Imperial's refinery in Nanticoke, ON.

Algoscotia was also built in 2004, but by the Jiangnan Shipyard Group, Qiuxin Shipbuilding in Shanghai, China. It is a 13,352 gt, 18,601 dwt ship owned at operated by Algoma Tankers, mostly for Imperial Oil. The ship was laid up in Montreal from January 2 to April 25 when it sailed to Nanticoke, loading there April 27.

Heading for the St.Lawrence Seaway en route to Toronto, the tug Lois M sailed from the Cherubini dock in Eisner's Cove towing the barge Glovertown Spirit. On board the barge is one of five bridge sections for a new waterfront development in Toronto's docklands. The first bridge section was shipped on the same tug and barge last October.

The remaining bridge sections in the $100 million contract will also be shipped from Cherubini's own dock over the coming months.

Yesterday's arrival August Sun completed unloading its cargo of nickel sulfide from Cuba at Pier 31 and is expected to sail late in the day. The Pier 30-31 berth is virtually "unphotographable" from the shore side in Halifax, but given the right conditions it can be seen from the Dartmouth side of the harbour, and can be captured with a long lens.

 Augusta Sun 12,993 gt, 17,531 dwt, with a capacity of 1118 TEU and two 60 tonne cranes, has been a regular for Nirint Lines since 2017 under two different names. (It has had six). See several previous references, including: June 8, 2020

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Fairviewmax and bridge ready

 Fairviewmax?

With the proliferation of "max" ships, such as Panamax, post Panamax, Suezmax, Kamsarmax and others, I imagine today's visit of Dalian Express at Cerescorp's Fairview Cove container terminal  may represent the largest type of ship that can reach the facility in Bedford Basin. Air draft would seem to be the controlling factor as opposed to length, breadth or even draft, since ships must pass beneath two bridges, the A. Murray MacKay being the lower of the two. So would this be a Fairviewmax?

Yes, Dalian Express managed to squeeze beneath the MacKay bridge as it sailed from Fairview Cove on THE Alliance's EC5 service today.

Built in 2001 as Hamburg Express the 88,493 gt, 100,006 dwt ship has a container capacity of 7506 TEU, including 700 reefers. It has carried its current name since 2011 and has been a regular caller in Halifax for several years.

Bridge ready

The latest bridge for a large Toronto Island project is now loaded onto a barge and ready to leave Halifax. The second of four bridges in a $100 million project, it was built by Cherubini Metal Workers of Dartmouth at their waterfront plant. Yesterday it was rolled out onto the barge Glovertown Spirit.

Late today workers were doing final securements and the tug Lois M had refueled and repositioned the barge at Cherubini's dock, ready to sail. There is a tentative pilot order for 2200 hrs tonight, unlike the last bridge that sailed last October in daylight.

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Toronto Bridges - Part 2

The Halifax company, Cherubini Metal Workers, has been contracted to build four bridges for a new waterfront development in Toronto. The company is uniquely placed to build bridge structures with one of its plants on the Halifax waterfront, incorporating its own dock. The company has built bridges for locations all over North America, including deck replacement sections for the Angus L. Macdonald bridge in Halifax, several of which have been delivered by barge.

The first Toronto bridge, for Cherry Street North was shipped by barge last fall. See posts of October 24 and October 29. That structure, weighing 375 tonnes was built to carry LRT and pedestrians 57 meters to a new island to be named Villiers Island.

Today the second bridge was loaded aboard the same barge, Glovertown Spirit at Cherubini's dock in Eisner's Cove, between South Woodside and Shearwater.

With the tug Lois M holding the barge in line with the dock, the bridge is wheeled aboard using self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs).

The bridge contract, estimated to be worth $100 million, consists of two 57 meter spans for Cherry Street North (the second of which will be for road traffic), one for Cherry Street South, 109 meters long, and one for Commissioners Street, 152 meters long (to be built in two sections). It is likely that two more of the bridges may be delivered this year. One unpainted unit is visible in the fabrication yard.

The arrows point at a portion of another bridge, still unpainted, just visible between some of Cherubini's buildings. (If you are sharp eyed you may see another ship spotter in the photo.)

All the bridges will be delivered in the same way, by tug and barge, using the St.Lawrence Seaway system to deliver the units to their precise destination.

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Bridge

 An unusual tow left Halifax harbour this afternoon,  but if you missed it you may have three more chances. 

Essentially it was the tug Lois M. and the barge Glovertown Spirit, but it was the barge's cargo that was unusual.

The cargo is in fact a bridge, built by Cherubini Metal Works in Dartmouth and loaded aboard the barge at their own dock in Eisner's Cove. The 340 tonne structure measures 57m x 21m x 10.21m high and is destined for Toronto. There it will be put to use as the Cherry Street North transit bridge linking the mainland to Villiers Island.

Cherubini Metal Workers Ltd has a contract to build four such bridges, all of which will be transported by barge to Toronto. 

The tug and barge owners, McKeil Marine Ltd of Hamilton, ON have a fleet of tugs and deck barges suitable for such work.

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Lois M back again

 A sometime visitor, Lois M has made another arrival in Halifax. It arrived October 24 with the flat deck barge Glovertown Spirit to take away a heavy load.

Both vessels are owned by McKeil Marine of Hamilton, ON, but generally work in the Nova Scotia / Newfoundland region - last port was Sydney, NS.

The Japanese-built Lois M dates from 1991 when it was built as Lambert for service in Australia. A 4800 bhp ASD, it was acquired by McKeil and renamed in 2014.  For more see: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2014/09/first-of-two-for-mckeil.html

The barge will load a bridge built by Cherubini Metal Workers, which should be well within its 4800 tonne capacity. The barge was built by Damen, Gorinchem, Netherlands in 2012.

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Barge Day

 Today (October 24) should have been designated "barge day" in Halifax as there was one large barge arrival and one even larger barge move.

The arrival was the barge Glovertown Spirit from Sydney, NS in tow of the tug Lois M. The 2073 gt barge was built in 2012 by Damen Shipyards, Gorinchem, Netherlands for use in the Newfoundland oil projects, and is named for a town on the east cost of the island of Newfoundland. Both barge and tug are owned by McKeil Work Boats GP of Hamilton, ON.

The barge was secured at the Cherubini Metal Workers dock in Eisner's Cove, Dartmouth, to load a bridge built  by Cherubini.

The barge measures 74.25m x 23.5m and has a capacity of 4800 tonnes.

With the Imperial Oil docks in the background, Lois M springs the barge into position.

 The second barge is Boa Barge 37 on long term charter to Halifax Shipyard. As a foreign flag vessel, it requires a coasting license to operate in Canadian waters. The current license running from October 15 to November 6 allows the vessel to transport sections of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships and cradles and trestles from the shipyard's Woodside fabrication facility to the main yard. Six units and 27 cradles totaling 503.044 tonnes are to be moved using wheeled transporters to drive the components on and off the barge.

Although the barge is semi-submersible, that capability will not be needed for this move. However its ballasting system will be used to ensure that the barge deck is level with the dock.

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An unusual winter

It has been an unusual winter so far in Halifax Harbour. With generally above normal temperatures, and stretches of sunny days, one would be forgiven for claiming to detect spring in the air.

Today's sighting of a family out for a sail certainly could reinforce that sensation. Aside from a few bewildered gulls and an anchored tanker this small craft - which looks brand new- and bearing the sail number USA 2264- had the main harbour pretty much to itself.

Algoscotia is running a shuttle from Quebec for Imperial Oil and has been a regular caller this winter.

The Coriolis II is in winter layup at the Cove, while Algoscotia takes a break before heading back to Quebec.

There is lots of ice in the Gulf and ships heading a bit farther north are certainly encountering it, as well as colder air temperatures and freezing spray.

Atlantic Fir made some ice on the way down the coast returning from Newfoundland. However warm sun yesterday and today was making short work of it.

Just in from New York this morning, the tug Lois M and barge Tobias had no sign of frozen spray.

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Jana Desgagnés update

Jana Desgagnés remains in heavy ice off the mouth of St.George's Bay in western Newfoundland. According to reports CCGS Captain Molly Kool has resumed towing (hooray) until conditions improve and the tug Lois M can take up the assignment.

In my previous report I stated that the nearest ice class tug to the scene was Océan Arctique. That was not strictly true since another Groupe Océan ice class tug, Océan Sept Iles is based in Gaspé this winter, however it is kept busy docking ships at the McInnis Cement plant in Port Daniel, QC. Océan Arctique is also busy with ship docking assignments in the port of Sept-Iles. Neither one was dispatched to the scene.

I did not count on the McKeil tug Lois M which has been tied up in North Sydney and not dedicated to any particular work. I am not sure of the tug's Ice Class (if any) - none appears to be listed in any source I can find.

Lois M in Quebec City last summer when it was working for Groupe Océan.

However this is the tug hired to assist Jana Desgagnés. It required CCGS Louis S. St-Laurnet to escort the tug to the tnaker's position. Ice conditions in the Gulf are the worst off the west coast of Newfoundland as several days of westerly winds have pushed the ice eastward. Shipping though the Gulf is now routing south of the Magdalen Islands, rather than north, to take avoid the heaviest ice concentrations.

The plan is to tow the Jana Desgagnés to Sydney, which appears to be largely free of ice, thanks to the wind. However getting through the Cabot Strait will be the challenge.

Jana Desgagnés was seen in Halifax more frequently as Jade Star .

Jade Star topping up the tanks at Nova Scotia Power's Tufts Cove generating station in 2005

As mentioned in the last post, the ship arrived in Canada for the first time in March 1994 and its name was changed from Jadestern to Jade Star while docked at the Ultramar jetty in Eastern Passage.

 Crew members are overside repainting the name and port of registry on the stern, March 6, 1994. The ship's registration in Canada was effective March 7, 1994.

The ship was operated by Desgagnés for several years before they purchased it outright in 2008 and renamed it in 2010.

Saturday roundup - avant le déluge

The early bird was rewarded today as another heavy snow fall began late morning blotting out the view.
CCGS Cape Roger arrived last evening and anchored until this morning when it moved to Imperial Oil to refuel. The ship is on Search and Rescue standby along the South Shore of Nova Scotia.

Also in this week is CCGS Alfred Needler at BIO. Both ship are based in Newfoundland, but are often displaced in winter and spring by ice, and exchange places with Halifax based ships.
 

One visitor this week that I failed to post was CCGS Terry Fox, in for refueling March 25. We have now seen the entire east coast icebreaker fleet this spring - so much for the wisdom of moving them to Newfoundland.

Bow doors open, ramp being lowered on hydraulic pistons.

Bow ramp in lowered position appears very narrow and of a very low weight capacity compared to the stern ramp.     [ Say  AAAAH!]

At pier 9A work on the ferry Canada 2014 is, if you will pardon the expression, "ramping up". This morning workers had both the bow and stern doors open for work.

The stern ramp, with a red painted pedestrian pathway. A temporary partition has been built inside the car deck to retain heat during the refit process. After this photo a mobile crane came along to take the weight of the ramp for work on the bearing.

The ship is expected to enter service between Digby, NS and Saint John, NB, sometime this summer.


See Tugfax for the tug Lois M and barge Nunavut Spirit at pier 9B.


At pier 9C Harefield is still tied up for repairs.

Work continues on the rudder using a raft and various tackles to take the weight off the pintle.

In Bedford Basin the Torm Rosetta lies at anchor until it is time to go alongside Imperial Oil Another handysize tanker product tanker, it was built in 2003 by Onomichi Dockyard in Japan as Rosetta for OMI. It was acquired by Torm A/S in 2008. The ship measures 28,567 grt, 47,038 dwt and is enrolled under the Danish International register. (Denmark and Norway, among others have offshore registers which have different regulations from their national registers, as to foreign crewing, taxes, etc.,)

At anchor the tanker Sloman Hermes will be sailing this afternoon for the St.Lawrence. It has been awaiting the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway, which has been postponed from March 25  27 to April 5 2 due to ice. Rather than anchoring in ice off the Escoumins pilot station or farther upriver, the ship opted for the comforts of Halifax harbour. An ice adviser boarded the ship late in the morning from the launch Halmar.

Autoport is still struggling with frozen in cars - thousands are still in ice up to their hubcaps, but it appears that more recent arrivals are still being processed, as the trains keep rolling out every days with a dozen or more autoracks full of imports. [In the photo of Terry Fox above, there is a string of autorack cars waiting in a siding.] Recent arrivals are leapfrogging ahead of the January and February arrivals which are waiting for natural melting to free them.

Today Mermaid Ace made a morning visit. It was built in 2010 by Minami- Nippon in Usuki, Japan, measuring 58,939 grt, 18,828 dwt, with a capacity of 5,219 cars. It is owned by Masumoto Shipping Co Ltd under the Panama flag, on charter to MOL (Mitsui OSK Lines).

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