Busy

 It was a very busy day today (September 30) in the Port of Halifax, with ships at most berths. Dense fog early in the day had mostly burned off by mid-afternoon, but there was still a noticeable haze of forest fire smoke from western Canada.

There were four cruise ships- two arriving in the early morning; the familiar Jewel of the Seas and Silver Shadow; the Star Pride arriving at noon time and the Crystal Serenity in the early evening (it will stay over night).

The Star Pride is the former Seabourn Pride built in 1988 by Schichau Seebeck in Bremerhaven. Originally 9975 gt with a passenger capacity of 212 maximum and 164 crew, it was lengthened by Fincantieri, Palermo in 2021 with a new 25.6m mid-section and re-powered with four new engines and generators. The addition of 50 suites upped the passenger capacity to 312.

Star Pride at Pier 23 with the tug Dominion Rumbler and barge collecting waste.

Autoport had the SFL Composer with import Volkswagens loaded in Emden.

It is a 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship with a capacity of 6500 CEU. Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe, it was originally the Excellent Ace becoming Glovis Composer in 2012 and SFL Composer in 2020.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company had two ships in port - one for each container pier.

MSC Carmen on the Turkey-Greece service, westbound from Sines, arrived at PSA Fairview Cove.

Launched as the Buxcity it was delivered in 2008 by Daewoo-Mangalia as MSC Carmen. The 50,963 gt, 63,359 dwt ship has a capacity of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers.

MSC Esthi arrived at the Southend terminal, PSA Atlantic Hub, in the late afternoon from Baltimore on the eastbound leg of the Indusa service to India.

Built by Samsung, Geoje in 2006, it is a 108,930 gt, 132,035 dwt ship with a capacity of 9178 TEU including 700 reefers. Predictably eastbound ships are more lighly loaded and the MSC Esthi had topped off its deck load at four boxes high, and had a lot of empty space aft.

Tomorrow (October 1) will also be a busy day, with five cruise ships including the Queen Mary 2.

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Containers in, containers out...

 It was a busy day today, July 9, at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, with three ships.

 MSC Esthi, which arrived yesterday, departed mid-morning, eastbound on the Indusa service. Next stop: Port Said, ETA July 19. It was last here March 9 - a four month rotation to the day.

Despite heat warnings for some of the region, there was a definite chill in the air as fog was still lingering in the harbour approaches as the ship sailed just after 1000 hrs ADT.

The MSC Esthi was built by Samsung, Geoje in 2006 and is a 108,930 gt, 117,310 dwt ship with a capacity of 9178 TEU including 700 reefers. The ship has been retrofitted with an exhaust gas scrubber which seems to have been installed without the loss of any container capacity.

A couple of crew members are enjoying the view on a walkway just above the lifeboat. It is hard to tell where superstructure ends and scrubber housing begins.

 Volga Maersk arrived late in the morning from Montreal on the return (eastbound) leg of its St-Laurent 1 voyage. Unusually it stopped here westbound on July 1. It is due to sail for Bremerhaven this evening.

 The afternoon arrival was ONE Crane the eighth "Bird" class ONE ship to call in Halifax on the EC5 Europe - North America route for THE Alliance.

The ship used three tugs on its arrival with both Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Oak as tethered escorts astern and Atlantic Bear with a line forward. The stern tugs were called upon to really "put on the brakes" as the ship made its approach.

Built in 2016 by Japan Marine United in Kure, the 144,285 gt, 139,335 dwt ship has a capacity of 14,026 TEU. It was named NYK Crane on delivery, and was renamed ONE Crane and repainted in the Ocean Network Express magenta hull colour in 2019.

There are still three "Bird" class ships that we have not seen yet in Halifax. Sister ship ONE Falcon is due tomorrow. ONE Ibis and ONE Grus are due in the next few weeks.

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