Changes Coming

 Shipping industry experts (and I am  not one) have been predicting big changes in container shipping in 2023 for a number of reasons. 

The increasing costs of goods due to inflation coupled with rising interest rates introduced to fight inflation, have reduced demand and thus there is less cargo for container ships to carry. However the shipping industry, during the recent boom times for container operators, ordered scores of new ships for delivery in 2023 and 2024.

There is thus a growing surplus capacity, and shipowners are faced with having to winnow out their fleets, disposing of the ships that are the costliest to operate. Those costs may be related to fuel efficiency, crew size, or the maintenance requirements for older ships. 

Redeploying or laying up ships will not solve the problem entirely, and so older ships will be heading to the scrap yards in increasing numbers. The world's environmental and safety watchdogs have had some success in forcing third world ship scrap yards to clean up their acts and the EU has introduced strict regulations for disposal of EU owned ships. The term "recycling" has become a common synonym for "scrapping" (but ship scrappers have always been recyclers).

So expect to see some familiar ships disappearing from their customary routes.

One of the frist to go that I have heard of is the MSC Veronique a familiar ship in Halifax from time to time and under different names.

 The ship was built in 1989 by Odense Staalskibs, in Odense, Denmark. At the time, the shipyard was owned by AP Moller-Maersk (it has since been closed) and the ship was named Mette Maersk. A 52,191 gt, 60,900 dwt ship, it had a capacity of 4437 TEU including 500 reefers. Maersk operated its own transatlantic container line and it was an on and off regular in Halifax. (In the above 1997 photo it was carrying a rubber tired gantry on its after deck for delivery to a US port.)

Over time the ship was sold to investors and chartered back. Renamed Maersk Merritt in 2006, then MSC Sweden in 2007, and back to Maersk Merritt in 2010. It became MSC Veronique in 2011.

Under the latter name it operated on MSC's St.Lawrence River service and was occasionally diverted to Halifax, particularly during 2021 when the Port of Montreal was shut down by labour disputes.

This week it was announced that the ship had been sold for "green recycling" but no location was given.  It has recently been operating in the middle east and was reported departing Mundra March 23 and arriving in Abu Dhabi March 26, then sailing for Saudi ports. One of the conforming scrap yards in India or Pakistan seem the most likely destination. In any event it is certain that the ship will not be seen in Halifax again.

 

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MSC out, MSC in

MSC Stella departed this morning after its inaugural call on MSC's Indus 2 service. 

This was the first visit to Halifax for the 6724 TEU capacity ship, which is now underway for Norfolk.

This afternoon's arrival is a regular caller in more ways than one. Since 2020 MSC Veronique has been calling Halifax en route to or from Montreal on MSC's Canada Express 2 service. 

Today the 4437 TEU ship was escorted to its berth at PSA Halifax by the tugs Atlantic Oak (not visible - on the starboard side) and Atlantic Hemlock. (The latter is in port temporarily from Saint John as the big tugs are needed there for an LNG tanker).

MSC Veronique was a regular caller in Halifax as far back as the 1990s when it was the Mette Maersk. Built IN 1989 by Maersk's own Odense shipyard. the 52,1919 gt, 60,9000 dwt ship is one of the oldest on transatlantic routes, but in these boom times (for shipowners) it will likely be kept in service for a while longer.

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A mixed bag

 Ships big and small at PSA Halifax today show the wide range of vessels used to carry shipping containers.

Another of CMA CGM's Ultra size ships made a return appearance. CMA CGM Panama first called here in September 2020.  Built in 2019 by Hyundai, Samho, the 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt ship has a reported container capacity of 14,855 TEU [although it has a theoretical capacity exceeding 15,000]

With containers stacked nine high, only PSA's largest cranes could manage to work the ship.

It was not the only ship using PSA Halifax's facilities however. Eimskp's Selfoss was also a caller.

At 7676 gt, 8627 dwt and a capacity of 724 TEU (including 144 reefers) it is a very convenient size for its regular route between Iceland, Canada and the USA and providing a feeder service between Halifax and Portland, Maine.

Oceanex Sanderling moved from PSA Halifax to Autoport then out to anchorage over night.

It will move in to Pier 41 tomorrow where it will use the RoRo ramp to load drop trailers and the crane for containers.

Also at PSA Halifax, the MSC Véronique moved out from Pier 36 to number one anchorage for trials.

With the assistance of Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Beaver the ship approaches the inner anchorage. Normally ships must have operable main engines if they are anchored in the harbour, and there was exhaust visible from the funnel, but the ship still had restrictions preventing it from leaving port.

Oddity

An unusual ship arrived at Pier 9B today. Northstar Challenger is a United States flagged research / workboat.

Based in Clermont, New Jersey the small vessel, only 92 feet long, is equipped to carry out various offshore tasks using its A-frame to deploy hydrographic and geophysical survey gear. Its visit hear is no doubt due to the impending arrival of Post Tropical storm Elsa over the next few days.

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MSC Double Header

 MSC, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, seems to have become an important caller in Halifax. When their ships diverted to Halifax during the recent longshore strike in Montreal, it was only to be a temporary measure. Since the resolution of the labour issues, the ships have continued to call in Halifax, supposedly only to reduce draft inbound and to top up outbound from Montreal. However judging by the number of containers on trains and the length of stay for some of the ships, it is apparent that they are moving a lot more than just a few extra boxes.

MSC Veronique arrived June 30 from Sines, Portugal and was still working cargo at PSA Halifax this morning. Late this afternoon it moved from Pier 42 to Pier 36 (where there are no container cranes) apparently in no rush to get to Montreal.

MSC Veronique is an ancient ship by today's standards. Built in 1989 by Maersk's own Odense shipyard in Denmark, as Mette Maersk (one time caller in Halifax) it became 2006: Maersk Merritt, 2007: MSC Sweden, 2010:  Maersk Merritt and taking its current name in 2011. 

It is due for a major survey in a year's time, which would normally mean a trip to the scrappers, but in light of current high demand for ships - no matter how reliable - it may well get a reprieve. The 52,191 gt, 60,900 dwt ship has a capacity of 4437 TEU including 500 reefers.

Also arriving today was MSC Mediterranean from Marsaxlokk, Malta. Another classic, but of slightly more recent vintage, it was built in 1995 by the Flensburger shipyard in Germany.

Starting life as the James Lykes it was renamed James in 1996 as the famous Lykes Lines was swallowed up in the CP Ships / Canada Maritime mergers that ended when CP was sold to HAPAG-Lloyd in 2005. The ship became CMA CGM Monet in 2000, Nautic II in 2002 and MSC Veronique Mediterranean in 2004. The stylish sloped fairings on the superstructure were quite avant-garde and were a trade mark of Flensburger. A 29,181 gt, 41,583 dwt ship it has a modest capacity of 2480 TEU.

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Return of the Regulars, Updates and Miscellany

 It was a day for the return of two regular callers, and while this would not normally be worthy of extra notice, there was a difference.

First in this morning was the ONE Motivator renamed as recently as March from its original name MOL Motivator. That is the name it carried on its last visit to Halifax. The 78,316 gt, 79,278 dwt ship has a capacity of 6724 TEU including 500 reefers. A 2011 product of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, it is still operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, but works under the banner of Ocean Network Express (ONE), the combined container shipping segments of MOL, K-Line and NYK. 

On departure late this afternoon the ship showed off its still fresh magenta hull paint, the unique trademark of ONE. That coating was likely applied when the ship underwent its most recent surveys last month, probably in Singapore. The ship sailed from Colombo, Ceylon on April 5, so was not held up while transiting the Suez Canal April 14-15. The ship Ever Given had been refloated and the backlog of delayed ships had been cleared by then.

To see what the ship looked like in MOL colours just over a year ago see: March 2020.

The return of another regular was not greeted with much fanfare, but it was a welcome sight. The Eimskip container/cargo ship Lagarfoss ran into trouble 230 miles east of Iceland on December 27, 2020 and had to be towed back to Reykjavik due to engine breakdown. Dramatic photos taken at the time showed the ship labouring in heavy seas, see: Lagarfoss .

The ship was not labouring today, but it was certainly rolling even in the relative calm inside Maugher's Beach in the Middle Ground area. (You can see the top of the containers).

The Lagarfoss was built in 2014 by Shenfei Shipbuilding Co in Rongcheng, China. With a gt of 10,119 and dwt of 11,811 it has a container capacity of 880 TEU and carries a pair of cranes. The nearly six day run from Iceland must have been a rough one as weather between here and Newfoundland has been particularity windy with resulting high seas. 

That weather was no doubt the cause of the bulker Thunder Bay moving from Gold Bond Gypsum to anchorage after completion of loading last night. It is the ship's first visit this year after a winter layup from January to March in Montreal.

A Trillium class self-unloader, the 24,430 gt, 34,433 dwt ship was built by Chenfxi Shipyard in Yangyin, Jiangsu, China and entered service in 2013. Originally intended for Great Lakes / Seaway trade it has been strengthened, allowing it to travel to the Atlantic coast. However there may be restrictions (or prudence) that keeps the ship in port during bad weather.

The ship arrived in ballast from Sept-Iles, QC, where it had planned to load iron ore pellets. However a fire in one of the reclaimers at Rio Tinto -IOC on March 31 has shut down ore shipments for some time, and the cargo of gypsum may be a scratch backhaul to get the ship back to the lakes. It is expected to sail tomorrow when sea conditions improve.

Update

Yesterday's post on MSC Veronique had the ship sailing for Montreal as the next port, however the ship went to anchor outside Halifax instead.  The scheduled longshore labour strike began this morning in Montreal and operations there have ground to a halt. The federal government threatened to legislate an end to the strike, but as a minority government it will need the support of the opposition parties to pass the legislation, and the cooperation of the Senate, which could take a week or more.

Early this afternoon (April 26)  MSC Veronique was seen to get underway and headed northeast at 13 knots. Whether this was to get out of an anchorage with poor holding capability, or due to an optimistic outcome for the strike remains to be seen.

Miscellany

While commercial shipping was not enjoying the conditions outside, the Royal Canadian Navy appeared to be taking advantage of an opportunity for rough water boat handling. HMCS Goose Bay has been anchored outside Maugher's Beach for a couple of days now, and several small craft were noted nearby today.

Several of the Kingston class Coastal Defence Vessels have been active in recent days, as they usually are at this time of year. The vessels are used for Reserve training which ramps up at the end of university academic year.

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Montreal strike - here we go again

 With another longshore labour action planned for Monday in Montreal, we will again be watching for ships diverting to Halifax. After on again off again negotiations resulted in no new contract, the union announced last week that they would be declining overtime and weekend work. Then at the end of the week they announced a general strike to start Monday April 26. Several ships sailed from Montreal Friday in ballast, heading for New York - the closest port for truck connections to Montreal (and fewer COVID restrictions). 

So far no diverted ships have arrived in Halifax, but oddly one ship sailed for Montreal this afternoon April 25. MSC Veronique has been calling here to offload some cargo to reduce draft for the St.Lawrence River, and apparently did so this time. Perhaps MSC is hoping for a labour resolution before the ship reaches Montreal. Either that or timely delivery of cargo is not a major concern.

MSC Veronique with the pilot boat Scotia Pilot outbound for Montreal this afternoon in the Eastern Channel. The new HK17 Ferguson's Cove buoy in the foreground marks the deep water, Western Channel which will be used by larger ships that are too deep for the Eastern Channel.

A prolonged strike in Montreal could have serious economic impacts. Most import container cargo would be diverted to Halifax, Saint John or New York, causing delivery delays. Export cargo could clog the rail systems even though the ports have surplus capacity. 

One particular concern is the import of fertilizer for spring planting. Other ports are not equipped to handle this product and so the impact could be quite serious. Grain exports are not effected by the strike as grain cargo has long been designated as an essential commodity and is exempt from strike action.

Diverted containers due to labour problems in Montreal have played a part in increased cargo numbers in the Port of Halifax. The first quarter of 2021 showed a 25% increase over last year from 110,084 TEU to 137,2181 TEU. There were other factors at work including a major drop in container activity in 2020 over 2019 (507,185 TEU in 2020 versus 546,691 in 2019. ) Container throughput has been on a downward slide since the record year of 2017 with 559,242 TEU.

Some cargo has already been redirected to Halifax by shippers chosing different shipping lines that already call in Halifax. In those cases we don't see different ships. Increased rail traffic in recent weeks including extra trains, certainly confirms the fact that the port is busier. A lengthy strike will certainly cause ships to divert to Halifax, and that will be more noticeable.

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MSC Veronique at last, and MOL double header

 The container ship MSC Veronique tied up at PSA Halifax this morning after better than two weeks anchored outside the port. The ship arrived from Sines, Portugal on March 7 and has been at anchor or hove to at sea ever since. [The ship went out to sea as a storm passed, since the anchorage area is not considered suitable in periods of high winds.]

 The ship appears to be fully loaded, so customers awaiting their cargo must be getting impatient by now. I am no expert on the intricacies of MSC scheduling, but the ship appears to be part of the CANEX 1 service, which is West Mediterranean-Canada run from Malta, Naples, Leghorn, Genoa and Sines to Montreal, with top off and decanting for draft in Halifax eastbound and westbound.

The extended stay at anchor is almost certainly related to labour issues in Montreal. Longshore workers there have once again failed to agree to terms with employers and have withdrawn their services. It seems to be a re-run of last August's shutdown in Montreal which jammed the port of Halifax with diverted containers and took CN Rail some time to clear.

Another MSC ship, MSC Angela is also anchored off Halifax. It arrived March 18, and seems to be on the CANEX 2 service which runs Valencia, Halifax, Montreal, Halifax, Barcelona.

It was a double header day at Cerescorp's Fairview Cover terminal with two MOL ships in quick succession. MOL Maneuver 6724 TEU arrived early this morning and was off the berth again by 1530 hrs. It moved well out into Bedford Basin to leave for the inbound. Once clear it proceeded outbound for New York.

The inbound ship was fleet mate MOL Glide 5100 TEU, from New York.

MOL Glide only began calling here in January, and this was my first chance to see it underway. Both ships are part of Ocean Network Express (ONE) which is a partner in THE Alliance with HAPAG-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Yang Ming.

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