Here they come, There they go and a no show

Today (September 22) was a busy day for shipping as several ships made port and hustled to work their cargo in advance of the oncoming Fiona. Expected to be a post tropical storm when it reaches us late tomorrow, it is currently a dangerous hurricane, and is pushing high winds and seas and a storm surge. Ships do not like to be in port in such conditions, which stress mooring lines and anchor chains beyond their capacity, not to mention tossing ships against piers.

A partial tally of the activity: 

Arrivals included the Ultra class CMA CGM Brazil (not pictured) at PSA Atlantic Gateway, Pier 41. At Pier 42 it was MSC Manya (see yesterday's post) which sailed for Montreal on the Canex 1.

Its place was quickly taken by the MSC Angela, also westbound on the Canex 1 service.

A 41,225 gt, 50,568 dwt ship, built in 2008 by Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co in Ningbo, it has a capacity of 4254 TEU including 550 reefers.

Not to be left out PSA Fairview Cove welcomed the Conti Crystal westbound on THE Alliance's EC5 service.

Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industry Co Ltd, built the ship in Koje in 2006. It was delivered as Hatsu Crystal and carried that name until 2018 when it was taken over by Hamburg based Conti. A sizeable ship of 90,449 gt, 106,930 dwt it has a capacity of 8084 TEU including 700 reefers.

The ship used three tugs as it made its way through the Narrows. Atlantic Willow (starboard side forward) was no longer needed when the ship reached Bedford Basin. Atlantic Oak, remained on the port side forward and assisted in turning the ship with Atlantic Bear on the stern giving lateral force.

The auto carrier Morning Chorus arrived early this morning and berthed at Pier 9C to off load RoRo cargo.

Built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, it is a 57,536 gt, 21,276 dwt vessel with a capacity of 6,645 cars.It can carry a variety of other RoRo cargo employing its 150 tonne capacity stern ramp.

Once the RoRo cargo is all landed the Morning Chorus will not go to Autoport as usual, as that facility is working another ship. Torrens also arrived today and is due to sail this evening. 

(Those cylindrical objects on rail cars are not part of this ship's cargo. They are jacking pipe sections that arrived on ACL ships and are headed for a gas pipeline project in western Canada.)

Built by Mitsubishi Nagasaki, the Torrens comes in at 61,482 gt, 21,965 dwt with a car capacity of 6,354 RT43 and a 237 tonne capacity stern ramp.

As Torrens was arriving Canada's naval Memorial, the Sackville was returning to its berth after a ceremony off Point Pleasant Shoal. The corvette was under control of the tugs Listerville on a bow line and the Glenbrook alongside.

One scheduled ship did not appear. Enchanted Princess out of Saint John on a cruise arrived off the pilot station at 1030 hrs. Instead of embarking a pilot and making its way into port, the ship put back out to sea, giving New York as its destination. I am assuming that the ship will head well out into the Atlantic to the east of Fiona's track and return its 3,660 passengers and 1,346 crew to New York intact. The 145,281 gt ship was built in 2020 by Fincantieri, Monflacone and entered service in November 2021 after a year's delay due to COVID.

There were several other movements of domestic shipping. The Irving Oil tanker East Coast went alongside the Woodside terminal after the Ipanema Street sailed [see previous post]. I expect the East Coast will unload and sail before the storm arrives.

Oceanex Sanderling went to sanchor in Bedford Basin indicating a long term stay. It will likely remain in port until after the storm passes and tracks for Newfoundland, which is expecting the brunt on Sunday / Monday.

Nolhan Ava which would also normally sail on Friday for Argentia and St-Pierre also went to anchor, presumably until after the storm passes.

The cruise regular Zaandam sailed this afternoon for Boston. Perhaps hoping to skirt to the west of Fiona and reaching port tomorrow. At time of writing this evening the ship was showing on AIS as bucketing along at 19.2 knots off southwest Nova Scotia. I think the passengers will get a thrill crossing the Gulf of Maine tonight. "Please fasten your seat belts".

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Back to Normal (for now)

 Over night Tuesday - Wednesday  September 20-21, pilotage operations in Halifax were suspended due to the sea state at the harbour entrance. Swells were such that it was too dangerous to embark and disemberak pilots. Conditions improved in the early morning and as of 0500 hrs today, September 21, arrivals and departures resumed. 

This is only a temporary weather window as Hurricane Fiona makes its way in our direction. It is predicted to be a post-tropical storm by the time it passes Halifax Friday September 23 to Saturday September 24, with winds in excess of 120 kph and heavy rain forecast.

There was a great rush of ships to arrive this morning and some delayed departures as ships scrambled to get in and or get out before the second event.

Most of the arrivals made their way in before daylight. One of these was MSC Manya at Pier 42 on the Canex 1 service from Italy, Spain and Portugal. It will decant some containers here before moving on to its terminal port of Montreal. 

 Built by the Koyo Dockyard Co in Mihara, Japan, the 34,610 gt, 43,093 dwt ship has a carrying capacity of 2762 TEU including 300 reefers. Initially named OOCL Melbourne in 2003 it was renamed Taroko on 2011 and became MSC Manya on 2017.

Vacating the adjacent berth at Pier 41 was the Ultra sized CMA CGM T. Jefferson on the Ocean Alliance joint service with CMA CGM, Evergreen, and COSCO.

 CMA CGM T. Jefferson moves off the pier and into a rain shower, with the tug Atlantic Oak assisting.

A 140,872 GT, 148,992 DWT ship with a capacity of 14,414 TEU, it was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan in 2017.

Both the above ships had been anchored off Halifax for several days. I intially thought this might have been due to the optional holiday on Monday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, but that was not a holiday for longshore workers. Terminals were coping with cargo backlogs and were working full out to handle ships.

Ocean Alliance partner COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Company) will be making a single "unscheduled" visit to Halifax on September 28. Their 14,568 TEU size ship COSCO Shipping Himalayas will be calling at PSA Atlantic Gateway to more or lesss "test the waters" on one of their regular services to the US.With the current congestion and other isssues at US east coast ports, calling in Halifax allows lines to deliver boxes, particularly to mid-west US destinations, more quickly. The "shorter sea route / longer land route" has always been a selling point for Halifax, as trains can move those boxes faster than ships do.

Another arrival this morning was Oceanex Sanderling from St.John's. The newly refurbished ship looked neat and tidy despite the misty / rainy conditions.

Its normal Friday departure may be delayed by weather.

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MSC Extra Caller

 The ship MSC Manya arrived at the Atlantic Hub (southend) terminal this afternoon on Voyage No. XA217. This seems to be an unscheduled extra call for the Mediterranean Shipping Company, perhaps with overflow cargo. In any event the ship's last few ports of call are not typical for MSC ships in Halifax. It was reported in Valencia April 10-11, Sines April 15, Liverpool April 19-20 and Sines again April 25-27.

 MSC Manya dates from 2003 when it was completed by Koyo Dockyard in Mihara, Japan as OOCL Melbourne. It was rnamed Taroko briefly in 2017 before taking its present name. 

At 34,610 gt, 43,093 dwt it has a fairly modest capacity of 2762 TEU including 300 reefers, which is rather small for a long range carrier. However these are strange times and there is such demand for ships that there should be few surprises.

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More Business for PSA

PSA Halifax's southend terminal, the Atlantic Hub, was busy today, May 2, with two small ships working at Pier 42 and one medium sized ship arriving for Pier 41.

 Tropic Lissette was working at Pier 42 south. Halifax is a terminal port for Tropical Shipping, so it unloads and loads a significant nimber of boxes on each trip.

 With Tropical Lissette at Pier 42 south, and Eimskip's Vivienne Sheri D at Pier 42 north, there was still room at Pier 41. And it was another ship with a female name: MSC Brianna 4168 TEU.
 

 MSC Brianna arrived from Montreal to top up to deep sea draft on MSC's Canada Express 2 service to and from Italy and Spain.

There are press reports that the Mediterrean Shipping Company, MSC, will be bringing another line to Halifax. Although no official announcement has been made, the new Mediterranean Express (MX) will originate in Turkey and Greece, and after calls in Italy, Spain and Sines, Portugal, will stop in Halifax starting May 6, en route to the US. The first ship is reported to be Seamax New Haven, 8084 TEU, which was here in March on the Indus 2 service.

According to the reports I have seen, the new service will employ ships that can use either the Atlantic Hub or Fairview Cove terminal. (In other words, 9,000 TEU or less.)

MSC will also be sending an "extra loader" ship later this week. MSC Manya, 2762 TEU, is due May 5 to pick up empties and redistribute them to "needy" ports. MSC has recently passed Maersk to claim the title of world's largest container line in terms of carrying capacity. 

MSC Santhya 3007 TEU is due tomorrow, May 3, on the Canada Express 1 service en route to Montreal. On this trip the ship is skipping Sines, Portugal and coming directly from Naples, making Halifax a true "express" port, rather than just a convenient place to reduce draft.

I can see MSC rationalizing its services through Halifax in a similar way as back logs now begin to plague US east coast ports too. The added perk is "two terminals - no waiting".

MSC's putty coloured boxes are the most common sights, but they also use red oxide coloured boxes too. I believe they are rentals, like this Florens Container Leasing box marked for MSC. Like other lines it also has reefer boxes that are generally white.

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