More Firsts, Updates, but first an Oops

Oops

Following upon yesterday's Firsts (October 29) is a needed correction regarding the new Canadian Coast Guard ice breaking patrol vessel Donjek. 

In fact it was rolled out in two sections (not in one piece as stated yesterday) which were very quickly aligned  ready for joining.

What I saw yesterday was the bow section, which later emerged by itself, then was moved laterally in position in front of the other (western) door. (Although it appeared to have burst through a blue screen, it was some distance away from the roll up curtain/door.)

 

 

This apparently allowed the remainder of the ship to be rolled out and moved well away from the assembly hall.

 

The bow was moved into position in very short order, and was soon aligned ready to be joined. The red and white power plant chimneys and Canadian Tire containers in the background and foreground made for a colourful scene.

It will be interesting to see the ship in one piece and to compare it to the original RCN design. The two CCG version ships will have some differences in accommodation and other features such as helicopter facilities. The recent transfer of the Canadian Coast Guard from the federal government's Department of Fisheries and Oceans to the Department of National Defence, so far at least, does not signal a militarization of the CCG. It will still be a civilian service, with civilian crews, and as such will mean some very different features in these ships.

More Firsts

Among today's (October 30) firsts were an auto carrier and general cargo ship.

The NOCC Atlantic is a member of the Norwegian Car Carrier AS fleet. Built in 2009 by the Samjin Shipbuilding Industries Co Ltd shipyard in Weihai, China, it is a 60,868 gt, 22,500 dwt ship with a capacity of 6754 CEU. It has a 125 tonne capacity stern ramp and four hoistable car decks to make space for oversize loads. It also has a small side ramp.

 The ship is on an unusual routing. Instead of coming from western Europe it is arriving from Pyeongtaek, Masan and Ulsan, South Korea. Asian car makers are beginning to send cars to east coast North American cities directly, rather than facing congestion and other issues with west coast ports. Subaru is reported to be one of the manufacturers.

The general cargo ship is the Lady Diana from the well known Netherlands small ship operator Wijjnne & Barends  (part of the Spliethoff Group). A typical European style ship with box shaped holds, it was built in 2020 by Hexing Shipbuilding & Repair in Wenling, China. The 2862 gt, 4092 dwt ship is gearless and has a traveling gantry to move hatch covers.

The ship arrived from Belfast, so must be carrying aircraft components. A mobile crane was brought in to unload the cargo. (It looked to me like they first rigged some cargo-specific spreaders that stay in Halifax for use by the stevedores, Logistec.)

Update

As reported yesterday the disabled ship AT Revelin completed cargo transfer to the bulker Eva Bright at Pier 27-28, using the latter's cranes. They employed buckets from one ship or the other - more likely the AP Revelin.

 

The Eva Bright then moved to Number 10 anchorage in Bedford Basin...

 

...and AP Revelin was moved, cold move, by tugs to Pier 26, astern of the tug Ezra Sol.

 

 The Eva Bright did not appear fully loaded and the AP Revelin did not appear fully unloaded, so this operation may be reversed to complete the work after the predicted bad weather (wind and rain from post tropical storm Melissa) passes in the next two days.

 Lasts

Cruise ships are making their last appearances for the season, and in a traditional gesture, ships often salute the port in thanks for hospitality on their final departure. This evening (October 30) the Brilliance of the Seas sent out three window rattling blasts when it sailed from Pier 22 and headed for Boston. They may be headed into some rough weather, so Bon Voyage!

The ship was built by Meyer Weft, Papenburg, Germany in 2002. It can carry 2140 passengers (double occupancy) / 2543 maximum berths, with a very busy crew of 848.
 

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Dartmouth - where the action is

 The eastern shore of Halifax harbour is still identified as Dartmouth even though it was amalgamated with Halifax, along with the town of Bedford and Halifax County to form the Halifax Regional Municipality (generally called Halifax) in 1996. Mail addressed to Dartmouth will still reach its destination however as there are numerous duplicate street names on the two sides of the harbour. The Dartmouth side has significant shipping activity, as today's four piloted arrivals were all destined for berths in Dartmouth.

The tug Atlantic Elm arrived from Saint John, NB towing the barge Atlantic Marlin and tied up at the IEL dock in the Woodside neighbourhood. (The City of Dartmouth annexed numerous suburbs in 1961, most of which are still identified with their traditional names.) The IEL dock is the site of the former Acadia Sugar Refinery, which was later used as a Volvo car assembly plant.

The barge will be used to transfer bow fabrications from Irving Shipbuilding Inc's Woodside Fabricators plant to the Halifax Shipyard, where they will be incorporated in construction of Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels for the RCN. Interestingly the same tug and barge are usually to be found in the arctic during the summer months, transferring supplies to remote communities.

 The Atlantic Marlin was built in 2000 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, China as Boa Barge 18. Atlantic Towing Ltd acquired, and renamed, the 2318 gt barge in 2010 from BOA Offshore AS of Norway. It is a flat deck project cargo barge, but also has built up bulwarks to support or protect cargo.

The 3460 bhp tug Atlantic Elm dates from 1980 when it was built in Saint John as Irving Elm. It took its present name in 1995 as part of a company wide renaming program.

Also arriving in Woodside (or maybe South Woodside) later in the morning was the tanker Claxton Bay with a cargo of refined product for Irving Oil from Amsterdam.

 A handysize vessel of 23,373 gt, 36,686 dwt, it was built in 2010 by Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan. Operators Cido Shipping Hong Kong Ltd own and manage about 65 ships of all types.

The third arrival, was actually for Eastern Passage which was never part of the "old" Dartmouth, but is on the eastern side of the harbour, in what was once Halifax County. Autoport, owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway (CNR) is the port of entry for new cars to eastern Canada.

The car carrier NOCC Atlantic is a first time caller as far as I can tell. The ship was built in 2009 as Dyvi Atlantic by Samjin Shipbuilding Industries Co in Weihai, China. It was renamed in 2011 following the formation of Norwegian Car Carriers in 2010 when Eidsiva Rederi ASA and Dyvi Shipping AS merged.  (Dyvi owned the first true car carrier in 1964).

NOCC Atlantic is a 60,686 gt, 22,500 dwt Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) with a capacity of 6,754 Car Equivalent Units. In addition to the usual stern ramp of 125 tonne capacity, it also has a side ramp.

The fourth arrival for Dartmouth took place after dark, so I do not have a fresh photo. The Articulated Tug Barge (ATB) Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick brought in a load of asphalt from Hamilton, Ontario for owners McAsphalt Industries. The barge is equipped with boilers to maintain the asphalt in liquid form. Paving season is about to start and the asphalt plants are gearing up. I do hope they get into production soon as "pothole season" is in full swing.

McAsphalt has its own dock in Eastern Passage. Once known as Dook's Dock it is immediately adjacent to Autoport and connects to storage tanks on shore by means of a heated pipeline. McAsphat then delivers by truck to customers including its own parent company Miller Group (owned by Colas Canada). It can also receive asphalt by rail at the Eastern Passage depot.

I am assuming the pair have not changed appearance since this photo was taken May 23, 2021.

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