Two for One - UPDATED

 PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway was a busy spot today, April 27. No sooner had they completed work on one ship, but two arrived to take its place.

The 14,026 TEU ONE Stork arrived yesterday [see previous post] and occupied pier 41-42 until about 1700 hrs today. It sailed in a rain shower, so I did not get a photo of it on departure. However it was well loaded from what I could see earlier.

 

The next ship for the berth, MSC Roshney V, does not show on any of MSC's regular schedules and seems to be an extra sailing or sweeper. It is arriving from Boston, but before that called at three German ports, Wilhelmshaven April 12, Hamburg April 12-13, Bremerhaven April 13-14, arriving in Boston April 24 and sailing April 25. [See Update at the end of this post.]

 

MSC Roshney V arriving today, lightly loaded.

The ship is not unknown in Halifax as it was once a regular caller under its previous name. NYK Deneb

 

NYK Deneb arriving Halifax June 23, 2022.

Built by Hyundai, Ulsan in 2007 the 55,487 gt, 65,953 dwt ship has a capacity of 4922 TEU. One of a dozen ships in the Daedalus class it operated in THE Alliance services along with several sisters (see yesterday's post). It was acquired and renamed by MSC as of February 2023.
  

Following close behind, in another rain shower, was the ZIM China. It took its time, waiting for the MSC Roshey V to secure.

 

A recent addition to ZIM's ZCA service, it made it first call in Halifax December 27, 2022. Built in 2008 by Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry in Geoje, South Korea, it is a 40,487 gt, 51,733 dwt ship with a capacity of 4275 TEU. It carried the name Hanjin Kenya from 2008 to 2017 then after a brief spell as Seaspan Kenya it became ALS Fauna later in 2017. It became ZIM China as of April 1, 2022.

With both berths, Pier 41 and Pier 42, occupied the Oceanex Sanderling completed loading at Autoport and will spend the night at anchor and move in the PSA Halifax in the morning.

Update:

Thanks to a reader for providing the following info on the MSC Roshney V. The ship is on the Boston Express service which MSC inaugurated in April 2022. Initially the service ran from Antwerp and LeHavre direct to Boston, then to Montreal. It appears that the European ports have been revised to Bremerhaven and Antwerp.

 The ship was due in Montreal April 24, with a sailing date of April 30, but it could not ballast down enough to reduce its air draft to clear the Laviolette bridge at Trois-Rivières. Spring water levels on the St.Lawrence are high and are expected to keep rising for the rest of the week and so the ship was diverted to Halifax.

On completion of working cargo in Halifax early in the morning of April 28, the ship sailed for Antwerp and Bremerhaven.

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Back to Normal

 After a brief period of record cold temperatures February 3-4 when the mercury dropped to -25 degrees C (-13 F) in Halifax, there was a quick return to normal, and above, on February 5-6 when the high reached  +5C (41F). Several ships were late in arriving, probably to avoid the high winds and dangerous freezing spray.

Among the February 5 arrivals were two ships coming from the south, where conditions were slightly better. Viviene Sheri D running for Eimskip was en route from the US to Argentia, NL then Iceland and AS Felicia was on ZIM's Florida feeder service. 

Vivienne Sheri D had a dusting of frozen spray on its sides forward.
 

There was no frozen spray visible on AS Felicia.

On February 6 the NYK Deneb and Algoma Integrity arrived from the south, Cartagena and Portsmouth (Newington), NH respectively:

NYK Deneb headed directly for Fairview Cove.

Algoma Integrity also headed for Bedford Basin, but anchored waiting the CSL Kajika which was loading at Gold Bond Gypsum.

On February 6 the container ship MSC Alyssa arrived from Montreal, having travelled through a lot of ice on the St.Lawrence and very rough conditions in the Gulf. By the time it arrived in the afternoon, any sign of frozen spray had disappeared. It will top up cargo to ocean draft before heading back across the Atlantic.

The Siem Cicero Confucius arrived off Halifax February 3 and waited out the cold spell offshore until February 6 to enter port and tie up at Autoport. The ship sailed from Emden and is now headed for Baltimore.

The pilot boat Scotia Pilot accompanies the ship outbound. Rather than standing by at the pilot station in the lingering slop and swell, it remained in the harbour until it was time to set out to disembark the pilot.

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Make Way for More

 Expansion of the Port's two container handling facilities is well underway. When completed, scenes such as this morning's (November 7) at Fairveiw Cove will be a thing of the past.

Yesterday morning's arrival, NYK Deneb on THE Alliance's AL5 service from North Europe - North America completed cargo work and got underway, while this morning's arrival ONE Hangzhou Bay on the EC5 Asia - North American route, waited for the berth (and cranes) to come alongside.

ONE Hangzhou Bay Bridge stands by as machinery spreads fill off the east end of the pier. Built in 2012 by IHI Kure as Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the 96,790 gt, 96,980 dwt ship has a capacity of 9120 TEU and is amongst the largest ships to call at Fairview Cove regularly. It was renamed in 2021 when the three Japanese shipping companies NYK, MOL and K-Line merged their container lines. (The NYK Deneb was also part of that merger, but was not renamed as it may be a chartered vessel.)

The huge area of fill accumulating off the east end of the Fairview Cove terminal will eventually allow for a near doubling of the size of the current land area.

The November 4 view (with the MSC Jersey  and Nolhan Ava alongside) shows the length of the extension beyond the smallest (inoperable) crane.

Fairview Cove will need more cranes eventually too when it welcomes more ships at the same time. It only has three working cranes at present.

Despite restricted air draft clearances under the two harbour bridges, Fairview Cove can still handle  most of the container ships operating on the North Atlantic. 

NYK Deneb, built in 2007 by Hyundai HI, Ulsan is a 55,497 gt, 65,953 dwt ship with a capacity of 4922 TEU. Ships of this size, once thought to be inefficient, were in great demad post-COVID. However they may soon be victims of the current slump. In any event, 10,000 TEU plus size ships will never completely replace smaller ships on most trade routes, and there will be lots of work for Fairview Cove for the foreseeable future.

With both Halifax container facilities under PSA management, lines and ships can be shuffled to maximize efficiency at the terminals. There are no restrictions for the largest ships to use the southend terminal.

As of today, November 7, filling has started (at least officially) in the Pier A-1 / Pier B basin. The multi-year project will see the elimination of conventional finger pier berths (numbers 34 to 37) at the Ocean Terminals to create more backup land for the PSA Atlantic Hub. Additional cranes and expanded rail capacity are also part of the work.

Before containerization had completely taken over general cargo work the finger piers were lined with cargo sheds and ships took up many of the berths as they loaded or unloaded goods piece by piece. Most of the sheds are gone now and space betweeen the two piers in this 1973 photo will be filled in over the next three to five years.

The Port will bring in pyritic slate from building excavations in Halifax. The form of shale that underlays most of the peninsula and some of the mainland is highly acidic and once exposed to air cannot be re-used as backfill for buildings. To neutralize and store it safely, the material is "sequestered" - immersed in salt water and covered with clear fill. Much of the Fairvew Cove filled area was constructed with the slate, and is now being topped with clean fill. The slate fill operation has now been transferred to Pier A-1 / B. The completion date for the filling will depend on the level of construction activity in Halifax over the next few years.

Coupled with a major re-organization within the southend terminal, construction of new buildings, truck gate, employee parking and pedestrian access, the project will change the landscape of the above photo perhaps beyond recognition.

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More busy

 Container traffic was only part of the activity in Halifax harbour today, June 23. The long awaited (and waiting) Vistula Maersk arrived on the joint Maersk and CMA/CGM St.Lawrence River service. This is the ship's first trip after replacing older Maersk ships.

 

Built in 2018 by COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard Co, it was the first of a series of ice class ships built as Baltic feeders. The 34,882 gt, 40,000 dwt ship has a capacity of 3600 TEU including 600 reefers. It has also been joined on the St.Lawrence run by sister ship Vayenga Maersk. Both ships became available when Baltic trade patterns changed after sanctions were imposed on Russia.

It arrived off Halifax from Montreal on June 20 and has been waiting at anchor until space was available at PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub (Southend terminal). It will top up its cargo here and depart for Europe late tonight.

Also at the Southend terminal is the Navarino on MSC's Indus 2 service from North India via Suez.

Navarino dates from 2010 when it was built by Hudong-Zhongua, Shanghai as MSC Navarino. It was renamed Carmen shortly after, then in 2011 became Hyundai Navarino. It reverted to Navarino in 2012. Owners Costamare provides ships to major container lines for varying charter durations, often renaming them to suit.The 91,354 gt, 102,302 dwt ship has a capacity of 8530 TEU.

PSA also had the Oceanex Connaigra at Pier 36 for RoRo trailers and cars (generally used ones and fleet cars). The ship shifted to Autoport for more cars (new ones) then was due to move to anchor over night. It will load containers tomorrow and depart for St.John's. 

This is supposed to be the ship's last call in Halifax as fleet mate Oceanex Sanderling is now due back from refit in Amsterdam before month's end, resuming duties from St.John's June 27 and Halifax June 30. Oceanex Connaigra and Oceanex Avalon have been alternating a weekly Montreal and Halifax service to St.John's since January when Oceanex Sanderling went off to the Damen shipyard in Waalhaven. That has meant only alternate week RoRo to Newfoundland from each port. Once Oceanex Sanderling is back there will be weekly RoRo service again from Halifax and Montreal.(The Con Ro Oceanex Connaigra and the non-RoRo Oceanex Avalon will each resume weekly sailings from Montreal).

PSA's Fairview Cove terminal hosted two ships today - both regulars. Nolhan Ava calls weekly on its container and RoRo service to St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia, NL.

 Nolhan Ava cuts through the glassy waters of the Narrows this morning en route to Fairview Cove.

There was news today that the Atlantic Pilotage Authority (APA) has made Belledune, NB, Sheet Harbour, NS and Argentia, NL mandatory pilotage ports. Until now the three had been non-compulsary, meaning that engaging harbour pilots was optional. In the case of Nolhan Ava the cost of pilotage in Argentia may be a severe blow to the operation's bottom line. However the vessel's master may qualify for a pilotage certificate, which would in fact be a waiver from the requirement for an APA pilot.

Later in the day it was NYK Deneb arriving on its regular slot on THE Alliance's AL5 route.

The 4922 TEU capacity ship was built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2007 and it is rated at 55,487 gt, 65,953 dwt.

Non-container activity included the quaintly named tanker The Sheriff which anchored for a good part of the day. (It was scheduled to get out of Dodge about mid-afternoon)

 

The ship was built by 3 Maj Brodogradiliste, Rijeka, Croatia in 2013 and is a 10,866 gt, 14,936 dwt asphalt  / bitumen carrier. It appeared to be carrying cargo, but since sailing from Langshan, China, and calling in Long Beach, CA (May 31 - June 1), it has transited the Panama Canal (June 12) and has been awaiting orders for a destination.

The purpose of its call in Halifax is unknown, but it is likely that it had a CFIA inspection for LDA moth larva. If so that would indicate a possible Canadian destination.

Returning to Halifax from unspecified exercises offshore the Canadian Navy's supply ship Asterix tied up at its usual berth in HMC Dockyard. HMCS Fredericton has been operating off Halifax for the last several days, so it may have been conducting refueling / stores transfer at sea trials.

Also on some unspecified activity with the RCN is the offshore tug/supplier Atlantic Osprey which docked at Jetty Alpha, at Shearwater.

Built by Halifax Shipyard in 2003 the 16,000 hp vessel, like many Canadian offshore support ships, has been idle but is therefore available for other work. Atlantic Osprey was laid up in Stephenville, NL until earlier this month. It departed St.John's five days ago (June 18).

 Tied up at Navy Jetty Alpha, the ship overlooks boats of the Shearwater Yacht Club.

Despite concerns about the herring stock and the closure of the herring and mackeral fishery in some areas such as the Bay of Fundy, there are fish off Nova Scotia as the two seiners Lady Melissa and Morning Star are bringing their catches in daily and pumping off into tanker trucks. As soon as they are unloaded the boats head back out to sea. The trucks head for Comeau Seafod's herring processing plants in Saulnierville or East Pubnico, NS.

Lady Melissa heads back to sea for more with its skiff perched on the stern ready to deploy the seine net.

At the Cherubini Metal Workers dock in Eisner's Cove, next to Shearwater, the latest bridge for Toronto Harbour has now been loaded aboard the barge Glovertown Spirit. Once fully secured to the barge it will be taken in tow by the tug Beverly M1 for the long trip to Lake Ontario.

(Note the bright sunlight, but band of thick fog in the background.)

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More than Weather

 That old quote "Everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it*" has certainly applied to Shipfax during the past week. A series of fine days at the end of January followed by three days of rain, fog, more rain, freezing rain, some snow, and then cold have played havoc with shipping to a certain extent, but more particularly to ship observation. Barely passable roads and low visibility have kept my direct observation to a minimum. 

Numerous ships were delayed, with some steaming back and forth off Halifax, or anchoring depending on conditions, and some bypassing entirely. Icing up of facilities on shore is believed to be at least part of the problem, but high winds were also a factor.

The longest delay was MSC Tianjin, which arrived off Halifax January 31 and finally tied up at PSA Halifax today, February 7. There have been several other delays too including NYK Deneb which arrived off Halifax February 5, and docked at Fairview Cove February 6. It is due to sail early in the morning of February 8.

The ship is a regular on THE Alliance's AL5 service. Built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, it is  55,487gt, 65,953 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4922 TEU. 

Winter conditions on the St.Lawrence River are believed to be the reason for the arrival of the bulk carrier Star Pyxis on February 2. Since anchoring in Bedford Basin the ship has received extended visits from the launch/tenders Captain's Pride and Dominion Bearcat, both of which are used for diving work and transporting agents, technicians and others to ships at anchor. 

Built as Pyxis in 2013 by Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry Co and taking its present name in 2019 it is a 33,114 gt, 56,615 dwt bulker equipped with four cranes and clamshell bucket grabs. (The grabs are stowed on the crane pedestals, close to deck level).

Operated by the Piraeus based Technomar, the ship has also been equipped with an exhaust gas scrubber system, which appears like a second funnel just aft of the orginal.

The ship is in ballast, having discharged cargo (likely urea) at Contrecoeur, QC at fertilizer giant Yara Canada Inc's import terminal. It sailed from Contrecoeur January 30 and put in to Quebec City briefly the same day. Ships navigating in icy conditions can suffer from a variety of maladies, and there are several ships in various states of "ill health" in various St.Lawrence ports as of today.

One that was bound for Halifax was the bulker Efficiency OL It had engine trouble in Lac St-Pierre January 8 while outbound from Montreal. Tugs ecorted the ship to Trois-Rivières. It then moved on to Quebec City January 12 where it was detained by Port State Control for a variety of deficiencies until January 27. Most sources gave its destination as Halifax with an optomistic due date of January 29. High winds offshore caused the ship to seek shelter in Chedabucto Bay January 30. On February 1 it sailed giving its destination as "open sea" . It certainly skipped Halifax and is now off Florida en route to Puerto Cabello, Venezula. (At one point it also gave its destination as Kahlifa, UAE. In some languages "H" and "KH" are the same sound, so this was likely a mistranslation as it appeared on Halifax "due" lists for several days.)

*According to Wikipedia, the "weather" quote has long been mis-attributed to Mark Twain, but was apparently coined by his friend Charles Dudley Warner. No matter who said it first, it is still true.

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Frosty Winds Make Moan

One of the lines in the Christmas song In the Bleak Midwinter says that "frosty winds make moan". There was no frost but a fair amount of moaning today as high winds wreaked havoc on transportation generally with the usual Fundy and Newfoundland ferry cancellations, bridge and causeway restrictions against high sided vehicles and numerous shipping delays and incidents.

In Halifax the tanker Ridgebury Cindy A began to drag anchor in Bedford Basin and a pilot was called to re-secure the ship. And at pier 42 Halterm, the container ship ZIM Virginia also called for tugs and pilot, likely due to parting lines. It kept the tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Willow alongside all day.

Surf crashes the onshore at Herring Cove, with Chebucto Head in the background.

Several arrivals were also been delayed due to unfavourable conditions at the pilot station and farther afield. NYK Deneb, CSL Tacoma and Bruarfoss all postponed arrivals in Halifax until later in the day. They had been scheduled for early this morning but those ETAs were adjusted yesterday in view of the forecast. They finally made it in starting at 1530.

NYK Deneb was doing some pretty good rolling off Herring Cove.

CSL Tacoma was in ballast but didn't seem to be rolling too much.

Bruarfoss was pitching more than rolling

All ships are trying to get in and out before the New Year's Day holiday, so they are squeezing up against deadlines with these delays (hence the moaning).

The only departure was the supplier Venture Sea.

There were some fair swells off Macnab's Island - but probably much larger at sea.

Farther afield the bulk carrier Atlantic Huron took shelter well into St.George's Bay, at the western entrance to the Strait of Canso, far off its intended course for Halifax. Had the Canso Canal been open, the ship would likely have transited yesterday afternoon. However the Canal has been closed since November 1 and will not re-open until mid-May to allow for bridge repairs. That meant that Atlantic Huron will have to go around Cape North to reach Halifax. With winds in that area predicted to exceed 170 kph, the ship sailed down the west coast of Cape Breton instead and sought shelter in the lee of the land. It will mean at least two days extra sailing time once the winds abate. Former fleetmate Atlantic Erie (renamed Spirit of Shpongle) also took shelter near the same area last month while in tow of the tug Pacific Hickory for the trip to the breakers in Turkey.

Fortunately the frost in Christina Rossetti's words is not present. In fact some of the warmest temperatures in Canada accompanied the winds, with +7 to +9 degrees C common in many areas.

Both CSL ships Atlantic Huron and CSL Tacoma will be loading gypsum in Halifax, but another one of their fleet mates, once a frequent caller, will not be back in Halifax.


CSL Atlas was sold recently and is heading for the breakers in Bangladesh under the name of Anita.
Under the current economic conditions, with widespread scrappings in the container and bulk carrier market, ship owners are favouring India for container ships, but Pakistan and Bangladesh are getting the bulk carriers. India's move toward responsible practices is attracting many ships, particularly from German and EU owners. Pakistan's appalling safety record, particularly after recent tanker fires and huge loss of life, has seen only a short-lived drop in business, due in part to the desperate need to scrap ships.


CSL Atlas , built in 1990 with a deadweight capacity of 67,634 dwt and 41,173 grt, was too large to take complete loads at National Gypsum in Halifax, but it was a frequent caller at Auld's Cove where it loaded stone for the US market. Nevertheless it made many trips from Halifax as backhauls after unloading coal in Cape Breton. Its last call in Halifax was June 11, 2016.

CSL Atlas in January 2016 was looking quite seedy when it anchored in Bedford Basin. The writing must have been on the wall even then.

When built in 1990 in Brazil it was the only panamax self-unloader in the world. Its holds were lined with Teflon and it had a revolutionary boom, with the outward 100 ft slewing on a pivot from the inner boom which swung from its own pivot. This arrangement allowed it much greater flexibility in unloading.


I wrote about the ship here: http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2011/04/csl-atlas.html


Interestingly the ship's last port of call was Iskenderun, Turkey. Apparently scrap prices at Chittagong were higher than Turkish prices, warranting the trip all the way to Bangladesh. The ship is now mid-way down the west coast of India, in the Arabian Sea.

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A high level view of proceedings

There was concentrated activity in the harbour for a short period late this afternoon, and I took a high level view.

Outbound at the time was HMCS Windsor:
 

The cruise ship AIDAdiva cleared her berth at pier 20 and moved out into number one anchorage for a compass swing.

Windsor was able to squeak in between the ship and George's Island. (That is Oceanex Sanderling in the background at Autoport, loading for a mid-week trip to St.John's.)

All this activity caused NYK Deneb (Panama flag) to proceed inbound west of George's Island. Although not a large ship by current standards, it did make an impressive sight.

I have not been paying enough attention to the NYK ships of this class. No less than a dozen, all named for heavenly bodies, are NYK's contribution to the G6 Alliance. 
NYK Deneb was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan in 2007. The 4922 TEU ship measures 55,487 grt, 65,600 dwt. It is owned by Sumitomo Finance SMFL and operated by NYK Line.

Once AIDAdiva had completed its compass swing, it remained in the anchorage, but backed north, until the inbound Agios Minas (Liberian flag) had passed en route to Fairview Cove. It was able to take the usual path east of George's.

Built in 2001 as CMA CGM Ravel by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Ltd in Okpo. It is a 73,059 grt, 79,465 dwt ship with a 6627 TEU (including 500 reefers) capacity. It took its present name in 2014 when it returned to International Maritime Enterprise of Athens, after the CMA CGM charter.

Back at ground level again, the Norwegian Dawn was tied up at pier 22 (not pictured) and Celebrity SUMMIT stern in at pier 31.

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