Two Grachts, etc.,

The Amsterdam based Spliethoff Group, which includes Big Lift Shipping and Forestwave, operates about 145 ships. The company has found several niches for trade that can take their ships to the four corners of the earth. Even so it is rare to have two of their ships in the Port of Halifax on the same day (but not at the same time.)

Today, November 11 was such a day, and despite it being a national day of remembrance, there was some activity in the port. The truck gates at the two container terminals were closed, but the two ships at PSA Fairview Cove sailed in the morning.

The first to sail was the Jamaica followed a bit later by the Muntgracht [see yesterday's post.]

The Jamaica ex ZIM Luanda outbound in the Narrows this morning has cleared the A. Murray MacKay bridge and is passing Pier 9 (left background).

The Muntgracht with a deck load of unusual objects sailed from Fairview Cove and is headed for Matane, QC. Number one hatch has been left clear for future load or unload. That port handles a variety of cargoes including export of paper pulp, import of wind turbine components and due to a train and car ferry services to Baie Comeau and Sept-Iles, can also transship other products.

The second "Gracht" (Dutch for 'canal') arrived this afternoon From Belfast and docked at Pier 9C.  

One of Spliethoff's niche trades is yacht transport, and on this trip, it is carrying new boats representing several models from the same builder. 

Since visiting the Great Lakes in early September, the ship has been to Naples September 30 to October 3, Gdansk October 10-18, then Belfast October 28 -29. On sailing today the ship gave Palm Beach as its destination. (Despite having been to the Lakes, the ship does not appear to have suffered the same case of "lock rash" as its fleet mate.)

On arrival the ship made a neat turn off the dock, assisted by the Atlantic Oak and came alongside starboard side to. 

 

Predictably, the ship off loaded a large aircraft component package (loaded in Belfast), which was landed directly on a trombone (extendible) truck trailer and whisked away.

The Floretgracht is a member of Spliethoff's "F"class and is similar to the "M" class, and was also built in 2012, but by Jiangsu Yangzi Changbo Shipyard Co Ltd. The 8620 gt, 12,500 dwt ship is a multi-purpose type with box shaped holds and full width hatches. It has three cranes rated at 80 tonnes SWL, which can combine and can carry 658 TEU.

 Etc.,

There was also activity at the Irving Oil terminal in Woodside with the Algoma East Coast arriving with product from Saint John.

 And at Autoport it was the Morning Cornelia on an interesting rotation. 

 

The ship sailed from Nagoya September 5 and Toyohashi September 7 and was next reported in Sagunto (Valencia) Spain October 13. That would indicate a Suez passage, but was not reported as such in my usual sources. It then called in Portbury, UK October 18, Zeebrugge October 20-24 and Goteborg October 26 to 28. 

Built by Imabari Zosen in Japan in 2010 it is a 60,002 gt, 22,530 dwt ship with a capacity of 6,458 cars. In addition to the usual stern ramp, it has a small starboard side ramp as well.

As a bit of an update, the asphalt tanker ATB Leo A. McArthur, John J. Carrick was still unloading at the McAsphalt dock, and the orange buoy in the photo above marks the mooring point for the tanker's stern line. (seen from a different view point in the photo below). The sun was behind heavy cloud cover this morning, so there was no glare to spoil a picture.

 

Not to be left out, there was another arrival in Halifax today, the Atlantic Star made its way inbound from Liverpool and berthed at PSA Fairview Cove and then another coincidence occurred.

Later in the afternoon the big stern trawler Mersey Venture moved from its berth at COVE to an anchorage in Bedford Basin.

 It is a 2337 gt freezer trawler built in 1988. Construction was started by Tangen Verft, and completed by Langsten Slip, Tomrefjord. It fishes predominantly in the Greenland area for shrimp and cod but during seasonal layup it is often hired by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for research work. It is likely doing some calibrations or other preparations for another research trip.

The coincidence is that it is also based in Liverpool, but not the same Liverpool. Liverpool, Nova Scotia is a small port on the southeast shore of Nova Scotia, predictably situated at the mouth of the Mersey River. (The original British settlers had a cruel sense of humour). It is home to Mersey Seafoods, owners of the trawler pictured above. 

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ZIM shifts gears and a "One Of"

 

A ship that has been calling in Halifax for fifteen years arrived again today, November 10, but this time with a different name. The familiar ZIM Luanda, is now sailing as the Jamaica, and for a while at least, will still be serving ZIM's ZCA service from the Mediterranean to the North American Atlantic coast.

 On a windy and rainy day the Jamaica makes its way through the Narrows - with tug escorts - to PSA Fairview Cove.

The ship was built by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries in Geoje, South Korea in 2009. It had been ordered by Seaspan Corp but was delivered in June 2009 to Danaos Corp to take up a charter to ZIM under the name ZIM Luanda. It made its first call in Halifax on January 31, 2010 and has been a regular ever since on the ZCA route.

Sailing from Halifax on its first call, January 31, 2010, the ship appeared to be fully loaded. One Maersk and a few Evergreen boxes peeked out from a load of mostly new looking ZIM containers.

It carried the ZIM logo on its hull until fairly recently when it, and other ships connected to Israel, became targets for demonstrations and threats of various sorts, and chose to reduce their profile. 

Earlier this year the Danaos charter may have come to an end. It would be normal to have a ten year charter with a five year extension, and that would explain a renaming in June of this year to Luanda. In September / October it was renamed Jamaica perhaps in recognition of ZIM's hub in the Port of Kingston, which is now the end point of the ZCA's North American calls. Ships return from there directly to Spain and on to the eastern Mediterranean.

ZIM schedules show the ship continuing on the ZCA service for at least one more call in January.

 While tugs turned the ship to back in to PSA Fairview Cove,the bulk carrier Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin was outbound from Gold Bond Gypsum for sea. 

Since at least 2006 the ZCA has also been carrying Hapag-Lloyd boxes. The agreement has survived Hapag's withdrawal from the THE Alliance as ZCA ships can still be seen to carry Hapag's orange boxes.

A One Of 

Ships of the Spliethoff Group call in Halifax on an irregular basis. The company maintains a Europe / Great Lakes service, seasonally, and sometimes its ships call here in winter. Today's arrival of their Muntgracht was certainly a "One of" as the ship has already made a Great Lakes call.

 The ship tied up at the east end of the PSA Fairview Cove terminal and appears to have used one of its own cranes to handle cargo.

Built in 2012 by Zhejiang Ouhua in Zhoushan,it is a 9524 gt, 11,744 dwt general cargo ship.With a Finnish Ice Class I it is also rated for heavy loads and heavy lifts. It has three cranes listed at 80, 65 and 50 tonnes SWL and can combine them for a 160 tonne lift. It can also carry up to 696 TEU containers.

It has certainly made the rounds in recent months. Sailing from Sauda, Norway September 9 it entered the St.Lawrence Seaway September 22 (after an inspection in Montreal). It called in Hamilton September 24 to 28, then went all the way to Burns Harbor, Indiana for October 1 to 4. It headed for sea again with a brief stop in Detroit October 6. After exiting the Seaway October 9 it was unreported for nearly a month, then appeared in Bay Bulls, NL November 2-3.  It may well have been standing by awaiting orders, or possibly calling at a remote port that did not register on AIS. 

At time of writing there was no indication of the ship's next port of call, but this will be updated when more info arrives. 

Update: the ship did not sail until November 11 - see that day's post. 

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Canada 2, Netherlands 1

No not the final score in a game, but the results of some photo taking today.

The Netherlands flag Muntgracht arrived for Spliethoff's on its regular visit. This is an "M' class ship, instead of the usual "F" class. Somewhat larger at 9524 grt, 11,744, it carries three 80 tonne cranes on the starboard side. Built in 2012 by Zhejiang Ouhua in Zhenshan, it appears to have more accommodation sace than other ships of its size.

With the St.Lawrence Seaway re-opening at the end of this week, Spliethoff will be resuming their monthly Cleveland-Europe Express service for container and breakbulk. They recently announced the addition of a second ship to the route to meet demand.

Also St.Lawrence related, but not the Seaway itself, CSL's Ferbec arrived flying the Barbados flag. It is in port to re-flag to Canadian and take on a Canadian crew. The ship was flagged out in December 2017 to work overseas, but will soon resume its dedicated run between Havre-St-Pierre, QC and Tracy, QC for Rio Tinto Fer et Titaine. carrying iron and titanium ore. (The ship is too large to fit the St.Lawrence Seaway locks).

The ship was brought to Canada last year after working as CSL Melbourne since 2015. It was built in 2002 by Nantong Cosco as Orientor, but was soon renamed Orientor 2, a name it carried until acquired by CSL in 2010. The 27,198 grt, 49,502 dwt handymax bulker carries four cranes and grabs for unloading.


The dual fuel Canadian flag tanker Damia Desgagnés remained at anchor today, but will move back to McAsphalt later this evening when the wind dies down to resume unloading.

Instead of the usual slop tanks on deck, the ship carries its LNG fuel in large cylinders.

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