Return of the Regulars

 Two arrivals in Haliax today (July 19) were both regulars - one long term and one shorter term.

The "newer" of the arrivals was MSC Nuria from Montreal on the CANEX 2 service to Mediterranean ports. The ship arrived in light draft condition for St.Lawrence River limits and will top up cargo to ocean draft. The ship arrived in a light drizzle, which fuzzified the image somewhat.

 The tug Atlantic Oak is made up forward portside and Atlantic Fir approaches to make up on the starboard bow.

The ship made its first call here June 4, 2019 for Canadian Food Inspection Agency invasive species clearance. At that time there were no MSC ships calling in Halifax on a regular basis, so it was something of a novelty. That has changed with "draft stops" to decant or top off now a regular occurrence. MSC has also added Halifax to some of its North Atlantic services, including Turkey- Greece, Indusa, North Europe-Ecuador along with CANEX 1 and CANEX2.

The ship was built in 2008 by Daewoo's Mangalia, Romania shipyard and launched as Buxplace but was given its current name on delivery. It is a 50,563 gt, 63,377 dwt ship with a capacity of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers.

There was some sort of problem with the ship as it approached the pilot station inbound, and it had to do a 360 degree turn and make is rendez-vous with the pilot boat a second time before the pilot boarded.

The second arrival, later in the afternoon is a long time regular on THE Alliance's AL5 route from North Europe.

NYK Rumina made its way inbound to Fairiview Cove with the tugs Atlantic Willow forward and Atlantic Bear tethered aft.

Built in 2010 by Hyundai, Samho, the 55,487 gt, 66,171 dwt ship a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers. It has been calling here since at least 2015.

Ships the size of these two were thought to be obsolete a few years ago as larger and larger ships came into service. However the recent COVID/boom in shipping drove their value back up and gave them an extension. With things cooling off, if not slumping now, and with scores of new ships coming out this year and next, there may be a thinning in the ranks.

Nevertheless they are still useful ships on routes that include the St. Lawrence River, and some low volume trade routes.

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Meet and Greet

 There were some "meets" in Halifax harbour today as arriving and departing ships arranged for passing in the Middle Ground area off Point Pleasant Park.

One interesting "meet" was a sort of Hallå  / Hallo as a Swedish built ship met a Norwegian built ship. The harbour tour boat Silva of Halifax was built in 1939 as an auxiliary schooner by Karlsad Varv, in Karlsad, Sweden. After a varied career in Scandanavian waters it was brought to Halifax in 2001 and rebuilt as a tour boat. Its name follows the Swedish tradition of appending the name of the home port to the name of the ship. (It would be "Silva af Halifax" in Sweden.)

Making its way for a tour of the Northwest Arm of the harbour (it returned to base with some sail), it met the inbound icebreaker CCGS Jean Goodwill. The two vessels met in the eastern channel where this lots of room for smaller ships to pass each other.

The Jean Goodwill was built as Balder Viking, an ice breaking anchor handling supply tug. Construction was completed by Havyard Leirvik AS in Liervik, Norway in 2000. It was acquired by the CCG in 2018, converted for CCG use by Davie Shipbuilding and delivered in 2020. 

The Jean Goodwill is returning to its home port after its winter work, icebreaking in the Gulf of St.Lawrence. 

The next meet had some German geography in common. 

The first time cruise ship Hanseatic Inspiration arrived this morning, and due to its small size docked at Pier 23. It was attended by the Dominion Diving tug Dominion Rumbler and the Honey Barge.

 Built in 2019 by the Vard Tulcea yard in Romania (a Fincantieri subsidiary) it is a 15,651 gt ship with a passenger capacity of 230 in 120 (all outside) cabins. It has 110 crew cabins. The ship is owned by TUI Cruises GmbH and wears the HAPAG-Lloyd funnel mark. It arrived from Saint John, NB (where it inaugurated their cruise season) after sailing from Boston and Bar Harbor.

The ship departed late this afternoon for Sydney, NS (not Australia as per some AIS readings). [TUI's itinerary for the ship says Baddeck.] The ship will continue on to the Great Lakes for a summer of cruising in fresh water,

It sailed directly out the main (eastern) channel where the large auto carrier Morning Laura was inbound from Bremerhaven and Zeebrugge. The 70,853 gt, 27,927 dwt ship was built in 2010 by Hyundai, Ulsan and has a capacity of 8,100 cars.

Two tugs were standing by for the ship, and Atlantic Willow was close to the ship's stern, but Atlantic Bear stood off to western edge of the channel and Hanseatic Inspiration threaded the needle, sailing between them. (It looks a lot tighter from sea level.)

As Hanseatic Inspiration sailed it passed ZIM Monaco at Pier 42. It is on the Zim Container Atlantic (ZCA) service with a portion of the slots assigned to Hapag-Lloyd, which explains all the orange containers on deck. ZIM Monaco was built by Samsung, Geoje in 2009 and is a 40,030 gt, 50,775 dwt ship with a capacity of 4253 TEU.

Earlier in the day the South End Container Terminal, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, also hosted the MSC Nuria at Pier 42, topping up cargo en route from Montreal to Barcelona on the CANEX2 service.

MSC Nuria dates from 2008 when it was delivered by Daewoo-Mangalia. in Romania. It is a 50,963 gt, 63,377 dwt ship with a capacity of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers.

At PSA Fairview Cove it was NYK Romulus, this time arriving from Saint John, NB on the eastbound leg of the AL 5 service of THE Alliance. Saint John has been added to the port rotation from the North American west coast, Panama and Caucedo, Dominican Republic for North Europe. I did not take a picture of the ship this time, as it is a sister to the eleven other Daedalus class ships. When it first called here in 2015 it still carried the huge NYK Line banner, which was painted over during the last year or two as NYK is member of ONE.

NYK Romulus made its first call in Halifax July 14, 2015.

Ocean Network Express was formed by the primary Japanese container lines NYK, K-Line and MOL. Individually they were not large enough to compete with the giants such as Maersk and MSC among others. The ONE joint venture seems to have been a success, but it will be some time before the member's ships lose their old identities. Containers carrying those lines names will be around a long time too.

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MSC Nuria

Although we see their containers from time to time on other ships it is rare to see an actual MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Co) container ship in Halifax. As the second largest container shipping line in the world, it calls in many nearby ports including Montreal and Saint John, NB.

MSC Nuria in number one anchorage with the launch Halmar alongside.

Today's arrival of MSC Nuria however was not a sign of things to come. Instead it was a routine matter of undergoing a Canadian Food Inspection Agency examination for Asian gypsy moth. The ship had recently been in the area of Asia where the moth proliferates and before being allowed to proceed farther into Canadian territory it had to be checked. The procedure did not take long and the ship was underway again in about 3 hours, to continue its trip from Liverpool, UK to Montreal.

Making its way outbound passing Thrumcap the ship has its accommodation ladder rigged to disembark the pilot when it reaches Chebucto Head.

The MSC Nuria is a 50,963 gt, 63,377 dwt ship built in 2008 by Daewoo's Mangalia shipyard in Romania, with a capacity of 4884 TEU including 560 reefers. MSC moves its ships frequently from one route to another, to put the most appropriate ship on a given run. With more than 525 ships and a fleet capacity is around 3.3 mn TEUs, they have a wide range to chose from.

MSC also operates cruise ships and has two autocarriers on charter to Grimaldi. MSC Immacolata and MSC Christiana are regular callers at Autoport.

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