MSC Baltic III - AGROUND - UPDATE

 A ship that made several calls in Halifax late last year has been reported aground on the west coast of Newfoundand. The MSC Baltic III is assigned to the Mediterranean Shipping Company's Canada Gulf Bridge service and had sailed from Montreal February 2 bound for CornerBrook, NL. It was standing by off the Bay of Islands, for a time, but is now fetched up on the rocky shore off Lark Harbour. The icebreaker CCGS Henry Larsen out of CornerBrook is now nearby and a Cormorant Search and Rescue helicopter has been dispatched.

MSC Baltic III in Halifax December 13, 2024.

 The ship's normal route does not include Halifax, but in November 2024 it was one of two MSC ships that were granted coasting licenses to pick up stranded containers in Halifax and take them to Montreal. The boxes had been left in Halifax when ships were diverted here during a labour dispute in the Port of Montreal. Each ship was expected to make three calls in Halifax between November 24 and December 31 to move the backlogged boxes.

MSC Baltic III dates from 2003 when it was built by Aker MTW in Wismar as Nordbaltic. It was renamed on delivery as CMA CGM Romania. In 2008 it became Nordbaltic again until 2011 when it was economically renamed Baltic but only until 2012. It then took the name Niledutch Gemsbok but reverted to Nordbaltic again in 2015. That lasted until 2021 when it took its present name. The Roman number III in the name indicates MSC's size category. Built to Wismar's MTW 2500 class, various sources rate its actual capacity as 2478 TEU, although some say 2526 TEU. It also has 400 reefer plugs: 300 above deck and 100 below deck. It carries three cranes.

 MSC Baltic III at PSA Fairview Cove, December 13, 2024.

As of Saturday morning February 15, conditions do not appear favourable for refloating the ship which is being swept by wind driven seas. Another storm is due to pass through over the next few days. I expect the first priority will be evacuating the crew. [see Update]

Reports indicate that the ship may have had a blackout in stormy conditions. A photo posted on Facebook shows the ship broadside on an inaccessible shore with steep cliffs, high winds and breaking seas.

Update: Press reports state that the crew have been removed. Some are reported to be injured, but all are safe.

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Where the Action Is

 Once again today, Friday December 13, much of the activity was in the far north end of Halifax Harbour at Pier 9C and in Bedford  Basin.

In chronological order: it was the movement of the offshore installation vessel Symphony from Pier 9C to Pier 9A. The ship has been idle (with some fitting out) in Halifax for months, with fleet mate Connector, awaiting the call to work on an undisclosed project, likely the Vineyard Wind project in the United States. Yesterday it moved from Pier 9A to Pier 9C to make room for the cable ship IT Integrity. In order to make the move the Symphony went out into Bedford Basin, turned, then when the traffic cleared (see below) it came back in alongside Pier 9A.

 The impressive ship belongs to the Dredging + Maritime Management division of the Jan De Nul Group of Belgium. The ship is registered in Luxembourg.

It was built in 2011 as the Fugro Symphony and was renamed Global Symphony in 2017, then becoming Symphony in 2022. The 11,324 gt, 6500 dwt ship is equipped for trenching work, with an onboard ROV, a 150 tonne crane, and can accommodate 105 persons.

Next along in the Narrows was the auto carrier Mignon a familiar caller on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean transatlantic service. It went to Bedford Basin to turn before coming alongside at Pier 9C while the Symphony stood by well north in the anchorages.

Mignon is owned by Wallenius Lines AB of Sweden and was built in 1999 by Daewoo Heavy Industres, Okpo, South Korea. Originally it measured 57,018 grt, 14,841 dwt. In 2005 it was taken in hand by Hyundai-Vinashin Shipyard Co Ltd in Ninh Hoa, Vietnam and lengthened 29 meters by inserting a new section amidships. This 12 deck structure increased tonnages to 67,264 grt, 28,126 dwt and the car carrying capacity from about 3,000 to 7,194 units (Lane length increased from 5700m to 6840m). The ship's stern ramp is rated at 120 tonne capacity. There is also a small side ramp.

Ships of Wallenius Line and Wilhelmsen have been given a common colour scheme, but they are still owned and managed by the individual component companies. There are still traces of the old colour schemes, such as this ship's name board in the gold and green of the old Wallenius funnel colours.

The ship is flying the flag of Canada as a courtesy, the flag of Sweden, where the ship is registered, and, barely visible, the Wallenius flag -  green with a gold W. Normally ships fly the red and white "Hotel" flag when they have a pilot aboard, but I could not see one this time.

When the Mignon was safely alongside the Symphony came back from the Basin to Pier 9C, which had by this time been vacated by the IT Integrity.

 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 International Telecom acquired the ship and converted it for cable work (including laying, repair, plough burying and ROV splicing). It is based in Halifax but spends extended periods away from port depending on cable work. It is now headed for Rose Blanche, NL according to AIS.

 If all of this was not enough activity, the container ship MSC Baltic III departed PSA Fairview Cove, headed for Montreal. 

 The ship is working between Halifax and Montreal on a coasting license in order to move the large number of containers stranded in Halifax from the port workers strike in Montreal. With fleet mate MSC Sagitta III, also with a coasting license, they have until December 31 to move the boxes. Both ships were taken off MSC's Canada Gulf Bridge service but the MSC Baltic III is scheduled to sail from Montreal December 24 on that service, so this may be its last call in Halifax.

There are still lots of MSC containers in Halifax, but they are mostly regular traffic by now.

 Once the MSC Baltic had cleared the west berth at Fairview Cove, the Oceanex Sanderling moved in from anchorage #7 to finish loading for Newfoundland. The ship usually anchors over night after working cargo at Autoport.

It is due to sail for St. John's early this evening.

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MSC boxes begin to move

 The great stacks of MSC containers began to diminish somewhat today, November 30, as two ships started to load boxes that were stranded in Halifax during the Montreal port workers strike. The federal government has presumably now issued coasting licenses to the foreign flag ships MSC Baltic III and MSC Sagitta III that will allow them to move the containers from Halifax to Montreal (see previous posts).

MSC Baltic III arrived off Halifax November 21 and entered port this morning, tying up at PSA Fairview Cove.

Fleetmate MSC Sagitta III which had been idle at Fairview Cove since November 19 and may have begun loading last night, moved this morning to PSA Atlantic Gateway.

This photo shows the MSC Sagitta III on a prior visit June 29, 2024:

 

MSC Baltic III dates from 2003 when it was built by Aker MTW in Wismar as Nordbaltic. It was renamed on delivery as CMA CGM Romania. In 2008 it became Nordbaltic again until 2011 when it was economically renamed Baltic but only until 2012. It then took the name Niledutch Gemsbok but reverted to Nordbaltic again in 2015. That lasted until 2021 when it took its present name. The Roman number III in the name indicates MSC's size category. Built to Wismar's MTW 2500 class, various sources rate its actual capacity as 2478 TEU, although some say 2526 TEU. It also has 400 reefer plugs: 300 above deck and 100 below deck. It carries three cranes.

There was a better view of the ship when it was last here October 12:

The ship is normally assigned to the Canada Gulf Bridge service out of Montreal for Freeport, Bahamas and Mexican ports and return via Saint John, NB. It would usually not call in Halifax.

Each ship was expected to make three calls in Halifax between November 24 and December 31 to move the backlogged boxes. Now with nearly a week's delay in issuing the coasting licenses, there may have to be an adjustment in the ship's schedules, such as dropping one or more  port calls in Mexico, or "feedering" Mexico cargo from/to Freeport. 

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What's the Hold Up

 The transfer of containers stranded in Halifax from the Montreal lockout and strike does not seem to be happening very quickly. As previously noted trucks and trains have done what they could do, but they also have the normal regularly scheduled containers moving through the port.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company applied for coasting licenses to use the foreign flag MSC Sagitta III and Baltic III as no suitable Canadian ships are available. They made the application to the Canadian Transportation Agency on November 15 and as far as I can tell the Agency made its recommendation to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on November 20 with a proposed start date of November 24. 

As reported the MSC Sagitta III is alongside at PSA Fairview Cove and MSC Baltic III is anchored standing by offshore, but as of today, November 27, there has been no start to load. What is the hold up? Surely the Minister is not so busy that they can't apply a signature. 

As ZIM's H Cygnus (nearest camera) prepares to sail from PSA Fairview Cove this morning the MSC Sagitta III (background) sits idle.

 I wonder if the stranded containers are clogging up the normal flow in the terminals. The truck lanes are certainly chock full and lined up out into the streets at PSA Fairview Cove and there are MSC boxes stored in places that I don't normally see.

 Things appear to be closer to normal at PSA Atlantic Gateway but there are lots of MSC boxes there too, stacked well to the south of the main terminal (left background in the photo) at the Pier 30s.

 

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Montreal Strike Fall out

 The large quantities of containers stranded in Halifax due to the recent port workers strike and lockout in Montreal is diminishing somewhat, but by most reports there are still hundreds if not thousands of containers waiting for transport westbound. (There may have been as many as 5,000 containers off loaded here.) The terminals, and CN Rail, are coping with the extra boxes while still serving their regular customers and have pretty much maxed out the ability to move the containers any faster. The limited number of Halifax longshore workers has also been maxed out according to some reports. Fleets of trucks have been brought from Quebec, but each moving one container at a time is a slow go.

MSC has applied for a coasting license to use two foreign flag ships to carry some of the stranded boxes from Halifax to Montreal. (See November 20 post.) Both ships were en route to Halifax and had extra capacity.

MSC Sagitta III moved in to Fairview Cove Saturday, November 23 in hopes of a speedy Ministerial approval of its coasting license application, which may happen today. However when I passed the area late this morning there was no activity on the ship.

MSC Sagitta III alongside as in the background HMCS Ville de Quebec sails into Bedford Basin. (The Port of Quebec City has no container pier and has labour issues of its own.)

The second ship, MSC Baltic III has been standing by offshore since at least November 21 awaiting its turn for a license. There is no ETA in Halifax for it yet.

CMA CGM operates a four ship transatlantic service from Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp to Montreal called St Laurent 1, jointly with Maersk. Because there are draft restrictions on the St.Lawrence River, ships often call in Halifax on the return eastbound leg from Montreal to top off their loads to oceangoing draft. They rarely if ever call in Halifax westbound.

CMA CGM also operates a joint service with Hapag-Lloyd from Mediteranean ports to Montreal called MEDCAN, using seven ships. 

During the recent port workers strike and lockout in Montreal, CMA CGM diverted one of the Medcan ships, the Barcelona Express to the Port of Saint John, NB where it offloaded containers bound for Montreal.

CMA CGM then applied for a coasting license to use one of the St-Laurent I ships, the EM Kea, on its westbound leg, to pickup the boxes in Saint John and take them to Montreal. Some of the boxes were temperature controlled and there was a risk of spoilage if they were deayed too long.

In the end, the New Brunswick Southern and CPKC railways were able to move the 143 containers and the coasting license application was withdrawn.

Meanwhile in Halifax today, November 25, the CMA CGM Paranagua arrived on the eastbound leg of the St-Laurent 1 service to top off.  CMA CGM Paranagua is very similar in appearance to the 2007 built EM Kea, but is two years older, dating from 2005. The ships were built, in series of a dozen or more sister ships, by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland over period of several years. The are readily identifiable by the sloped fairing on the after side of the superstructure.

 

It is a 35,881 gt, 41,801 dwt ship with a capacity of 3091 TEU with 500 reefer plugs. Unlike its younger sister however, it is equipped with three cargo cranes.

Originally named Cosima by the Peter Doehle organization, it was renamed Norasia Atlas in 2005, and Letavia briefly during 2006 becoming Emirates Freedom to 2009 when it was again named Letavia until 2021. CMA CGM then acquired the ship and it took its present name, and placed it under the management of NSB Niederelbe.

Paranguá is a major port in the south of Brazil, and its name comes from the indigenous Tupi language, and means "great round sea".

The other ships on the CMA CGM /Maersk St.Laurent 1 service do not seem to have been held up very much by the Montreal strike, which lasted from October 31 to November 14:

 EM Kea had sailed from Montreal before the strike and called Halifax October 30. It is now en route from Antwerp (November 15) and is due in Montreal November 25. 

The Volga Maersk was in Halifax eastbound October 19 and is now due in Montreal again November 24. It appears to have been slow steaming for a time since it left Antwerp November 9.

Vistula Maersk sailed from Montreal November 1 and was in Halifax eastbound on November 5. It sailed from Antwerp November 22 and is due in Montreal December 6, possibly slow steaming for a time.

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MSC Diversion fallout

 Short term work stoppages followed by an indefinite longshore workers strike in the Port of Montreal started on October 31. The employers then declared a lock out as of November 10. The strikers were ordered back to work, by government edict, effective today, November 16, with binding arbitration to follow. As a result of the Montreal shutdown The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) diverted ships to Halifax. The scale of the diversions was apparent from the number of MSC boxes piled up at the two container terminals. [see previous posts]

It is also apparent that clearing those boxes and sending them back on their way to Montreal now that the strike is over will be a major operation. CN Rail has added extra trains, but that is apparently insufficient to move the large number of stranded containers on top of the normal amount of cargo moving through the port at the height of the consumer goods season.

Montreal is a terminal port, where ships unload completely then load new cargo. Halifax in the other hand is usually a waypoint, handling only a portion of the cargo aboard any given ship. When Montreal is unavailable the ships that divert to Halifax must offload all their cargo here. It is fortunate that the Port of Halifax has the additional capacity available so that ships can keep moving instead of being stalled at anchor for the duration of a strike.

MSC has applied for coasting licenses to use two foreign flag ships to move the stranded boxes from Halifax to Montreal. There are no Canadian ships able to handle the amount and type containers, so it is expected that permission will be granted. Trade between Canadian ports is restricted by law to Canadian flagged ships. If no suitable Canadian ships are available a coasting license may be granted to a foreign flag ship by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness upon recommendation by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

In their application to the CTA, MSC requested permission to use the MSC Baltic III 2526 TEU and MSC Sagitta III 3426 TEU for three trips each between November 24 and December 31 from Halifax to Montreal. The ships normally operate on the Canada Gulf Bridge route from Montreal to Mexico, so may be calling in Halifax on their northbound legs and adding the diverted boxes to whatever cargo they may already have on board or they may be making special trips. They also have relatively large reefer capacity - in excess of 300 TEU each.

In its application to the CTA MSC noted the names of ships that were diverted to Halifax while en route to Montreal: MSC Nahara, MSC Levina III, MSC England and MSC Jordan III [see previous posts]. The application suggests that in excess of 5,000 containers are involved, both loads and empties. There are several hundred temperature controlled containers included, that must be maintained in operation.

Readily identifiable MSC boxes, and others that may have been carried on MSC ships, are stacked in all available space in the two terminals sharing space with the regular number of containers from other lines.

A letter from the Port of Halifax supporting the CTA application states that yard utilization stands at 60% for PSA Fairview Cove and 92% for the PSA Atlantic Gateway. Plug in space for temperature controlled boxes stands at 95% for Fairview and 65% for the Atlantic Gateway.

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