Colourful Comings and Goings

 There were several comings and goings in Halifax today (June 2) - some of which were notable for their colour.

A quick visit was all that was required for the product tanker Torm India to receive clearance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to proceed on its way from Texas City to Montreal. Presumably the ship was in Asian waters in the last year where it could have picked up an invasive species of moth that would be particularly harmful to Canadian softwood forests.

 Ships of the Danish company Torm A/S always stand out due to their burnt orange coloured superstructure. In addition to the company name on the jet black hull, there is also a version of the company flag.

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co Ltd built the ship in 2010 with the name Atlantic Queen. The 29,141 gt, 46,838 dwt product tanker was renamed by Torm in 2020,

Another outbound was the new tanker Algoma East Coast which will become a regular caller as it delivers Irving Oil product to regional ports. Its deep blue hull is very different from the traditional Irving Oil colours, which will soon be history.

A new sister ship the Algoma Acadian is en route from Hyundai, Ulsan and was last reported in Brasil en route to Savannah. It will replace the Acadian which is still in service in the area en route from Saint John to Portland.

There was another colourful arrival, the ONE Aquila on the Premier Alliance's EC3 Asia-North America service, direct from Colombo via the Cape of Good Hope.

The ONE Aquila used the main channel (not the western deepwater channel as I expected) and met the Algoma East Coast in the Middle Ground between Maugher's Beach and Ives Knoll for a starboard to starboard passing.

It still had lots of room to turn and back into Pier 41, using three tugs.

 ONE Aquila a 145,647 gt, 138,611 dwt ship built in 2018 by Japan Marine United in Kure, has a capacity of just over 14,000 TEU. Most sources have it at 14,065 for ships of this class. It is managed by NYK Line and works in the Ocean Network Express consortium of Japanese container lines, and uses the Latin word for Eagle in its name.

Meanwhile at Pier 41 MSC Cagliari IV was in from Montreal on MSC's North Europe - North America service. Wearing the usual MSC Colours, there was an exceptioanlly large housing for the exhaust gas scrubber system, which was painted out the same buff colour as the adjacent superstructure.

A 2017 product of the Dalian Shipbuilding Co, it started life as the ZIM Genova presumably for a ten year charter, after which it was renamed Genova in 2018, and MSC Cagliari IV in 2022. It is a 40,372 gt, 52,943 dwt ship of the 4250 TEU class, now rated at 4253 TEU, with 400 reefer plugs. 

Most MSC ships that carry a Roman Numeral in their name use a number at the top end of their TEU rating. A "IV" would normally be applied to a ship with a capacity in the high 3,000s of TEUs.

At Pier 20 to 22 were two ships with what might or might not be "colour schemes". Holland America's Zuiderdam follows tradition and is black and white. (Colour theorists will say that black is all colours and white is no colour.) The ship came from Fincantieri Trieste in 2002 and at 82,820 gt has a total passenger capacity of 2278 (or 2388), in 824 cabins, with a crew of 767 (others say 842).

Silverseas Cruises was represented by the Silver Dawn, which is mostly white. A 2021 build by Fincantieri Italiani, Ancona, it is a 40,855 gt ship with a passenger capacity of 660 in 298 cabins and 423 crew in 262 cabins.The ship is enroute from Boston to St.John's, NL.

After a day in port the Zuiderdam was the first to get away, backing out to the number 1 anchorage, turning, then heading for sea - destination Sydney. 

Whether organized or not there was a flypast of two helicopters, both wearing camo paint schemes - clearly not Royal Canadian Navy - but perhaps flying out of Shearwater.

 Shipfax considers its mandate to be "in, on, under and above" the water (hence the "beyond" in the subtitle.)

Silver Dawn got straight away from Pier 20 and headed north about to pass west of George's Island. I thought the ship would be all white, but instead the hull from about deck five down is a non descript browny light gray.

 It was soon shown up - colourwise at least - by the ubiquitous Harbour Hopper in its virulant green hull. (Likely the Harbour Hopper 4, but I did not read the name.)

As far as I can tell from online sources, early Silver Cruises ships were was all white up to 2019, when the two tone new colour scheme was introduced. This ship has always been two tone, but I am suggesting it was designed to be monchrome white as there is no natural break line between colours, such as a deck line (see Zuiderdam above.)

 

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Interesting Times

 The current unpredictability in the Canadian economy thanks to unwarranted tariffs applied by the President of the United States against Canada will certainly show up in the shipping in Halifax harbour. Both imports and exports will be effected, due to the closely integrated economies of the two countries. Not only the amount of cargo, but the number of ship visits and the related truck and rail traffic and spin offs, will take a hit. For example:

Gold Bond Gypsum

The largest open pit gypsum mine in the world is located in East Milford, Nova Scotia and is operated by Gold Bond Canada (formerly National Gypsum.) The mine was developed by the Buffalo, NY based company to export raw gypsum to the United States in bulk. Fom the mine, the raw ore is sent by rail to Gold Bond's storage and shipping facility in Wright's Cove in Bedford Basin.

 

The storage stockpile appeared to be at a very low level as of yesterday when the CSL Tacoma was alongside loading.

 Gypsum from the Nova Scotia mine is primarily used for the production of wall board in the United States. It is a major component in building construction due to its fire resistant qualities. The amount of gypsum leaving the Halifax harbour dock has always been a reliable barometer of the United States' economy. When the US construction industry is booming gypsum export quantities are high. Only a small percentage of the US wall board production comes back to the much smaller Canadian construction industry, but due to the economies of scale, wallboard pricing in Canada has been favourable. If tarifs are applied to raw gypsum arriving in the US from Canada, the cost of finished board coming back to Canada, will certainly be higher - especially if Canada imposes retaliatory tarifs. Gypsum companies in the United States may find other sources of raw material. (See the previous post February 28 where CSL Metis sailed without loading gypsum. CSL Trantau did load last week, see March 1 .

Due to drop in the resultant demand there will likley be fewer ships loading here.

 

The CSL Tacoma at the shiploader, with a thin skim of ice in Wright's Cove in the foreground.

One of Gold Bond's competitors, US Gypsum has a Canadian subsidiary Canadian Gyspum Corp Inc (CGC) with two mines in Nova Scotia. One has been shut down permanently and one was on track to re-open in a few years, but that is now doubtful.  

Nova Scotia Power Corp

As noted in my previous post, electricity for the Halifax area is generated at the Tufts Cove generating station. The plant uses natural gas that arrives by pipeline from the United States. The gas comes from a variety of sources mostly the result of fracking. Electricity is fed back and forth  onto the grid to supplement power generated at coal fired stations in Northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. (That coal comes from the United States.)

If there is an interruption in gas supply Tufts Cove can burn oil, and the recent delivery to its heavy oil storage stockpile came from Houston.

The tanker Larvik unloaded a cargo of black oil at Tuft's Cove. The ship's head lines and stern lines lead out to mooring buoys. A containment boom has also been deployed around the ship by Connors Diving's handsome work boat Eastcom.

 

 If there are obstacles to importing US gas, oil and coal, Nova Scotia Power will need to source fuel from overseas sources, which will almost certainly result in increased power rates. Even that situation will do little to spur NSP's lethargic development of alternate sources such as wind, hydrogen, etc., if they can pass on costs to consumers while still rewarding their shareholders with profits.

Gasoline, Diesel, Avgas, etc., 

Petroleum fuel for heating, cars, trucks, planes and ships arrives in Halifax by ship and is offloaded at two facilities. 

Irving Oil has its terminal in South Woodside, on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. That facility is supplied by ships and by rail and is backed up by a large storage and distribution facility. Irving Oil's refinery in Saint John, NB - the largest refiney in Canada, is the source for most of the product. Irving's two Canadian flag tanker ships (on long term charter) transport the fuel to Halifax, Charlottetown, Saint John's, and sometimes to Quebec.  The current tankers are about to be replaced by new ships (the first is en route from Korea) and the Canadian tanker Sarah Desgagnés has been short term chartered to bring product from Saint John to Woodside.

 Irving Oil also has a refiney in Ireland and a storage terminal in Amsterdam and has the capability to bring in product from those facilities. The majority of the product coming out of the Saint John refinery goes to the northeastern United States. The future of that arrangement is in the air due threatened counter measures.

Sarah Desgagnés sails for Saint John March 4.

Imperial Oil brings in product for its storage and distribution facility in South Woodside, next door to Irving Oil, (its tanks show up in the picture above) also by ship and rail. Algoma Tankers distribute the product to ports such as Sydney, Corner Brook and Sept-Iles. Resupply comes from Antwerp, Belgium or parent company (Exxon Mobil) refineries in the United States and Canada.

 Container Traffic is the big question. Although fourth quarter statistics for the Port of Halifax have not been released yet, I expect TEUs for the year 2024 will be down about 10% from 2023. Add that to the expected decline in bulk and other cargoes in 2025 the Port may expect a dreary year ahead.

 This afternoon's (March 5) misty arrival of the 14,052 TEU ONE Aquila may not be a sign of things to come. The ship is eastbound from New York for Europe and appears fully loaded, at least by volume if not by weight. The proposed tarifs would certainly not have had much effect when the ship loaded at its last ports.

(It was in Halifax February 1 to 2, westbound, and has since been in New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, and New York again.) Much of the import cargo on the ship was for the US and some the cargo unloaded in Halifax on its westbound leg would have been sent to the US mid-west by train through Canada. 

What sort of disruption will result if that arrangement is disturbed and how it will add to existing congestion in US ports and rail lines can only be imagined at this point.

 Autoport is eastern Canada's automobile import facility. An estimated 185,000 import vehicles arrive by ship every year and are prepped and dispatched by rail and truck on an as needed basis. These cars are exclusively for the Canadian market as far as I know, but the disturbance in domestic car production due to US tarifs will likely increase demand for foreign cars. While that may satisfy car buyers, it will add to the grief in Canadian car making if they cannot meet demand. Or worse, a crippled Canadian economy will reduce the demand for cars of any sort.

 

On February 27 the Emden brought in the latest consignment of Volkswagen products. The ship went on to US ports. The ship has a capacity of 7,000 CEU (Car Equivalant Units) and is usually loaded to capacity. Frequency of calls and quantity of cars could well change with the new tarifs.

Cruise Ships are a major interest of Halifax Port Authority, which recently announced the 2025 schedule (See previous post: February 14 ) with an anticipated 188 calls and 328,000 visitors. A large percentage of the latter will be US residents, whose US dollars will go a lot farther in Canada. I am sure they will still receive the friendly welcome that Halifax is known for, but I do wonder how many will be willing to come to Canada under the circumstances.

The last cruise ship of the 2024 season was the Insignia sailing on November 3.

 

Conclusion

I do not normally stray too far from the topic of shipping in these blogs and will try to refrain from getting off topic in future. But I do have to declare deep ancestral roots in the United States, both paternal and maternal. Without going into detail I do wish to proclaim my own allegiance to Canada while acknowledging my affinity for the United States and its peoples several of whom are blood relatives! (My mother was born on this day in 1915 in Collamer, Ohio.)

The current situation is so personally disturbing that I cannot bear to dwell on it in this blog in an objective manner, so will have to avoid discussing it except as it may apply peripherally to ships and shipping.

As usual I do not publish comments submitted to this blog. It is, and will remain, my personal ship watching diary - not a discussion forum.

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ONE Aquila

 Another of the "Bird" class of container ships arrived on THE Alliance's EC5 service today, June 11.

ONE Aquila a 145,647 gt, 138,611 dwt ship built in 2018 by Japan Marine United in Kure has a capacity of just over 14,000 TEU. Most sources have it at 14.065 for ships of this class. It is managed by NYK Line and works in the Ocean Network Express consortium of Japanese container lines, and uses the Latin word for Eagle in its name.

The ship has just completed the long slog from Colombo, departing there May 10, and sailing non-stop for Halifax passing Cape Town May 23. It will sail later this evening for New York.

The ship's impressive deck load was visible from Halifax while docked at Pier 41, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. Its magenta hull colour could only be seen from the Dartmouth side of the harbour however, giving a very different impresssion.

In the foreground at the Woodside dock, the tug Atlantic Elm is alongside, but will soon be heading to Hudson's Bay with a barge for cargo lightering work. With fleet mate Atlantic Beech the two tugs shuttle the year's necessities between anchored ships to the shallow water ports of Baker Lake at the head of Chesterfield Inlet or to Rankin Inlet. The first deep draft Desgagnés Transarctik ship is due in that area about July 19.

(If you missed yesterday's post, there is link to the recent amended Tugfax blog post about Halifax tugs, and with a note about the names for Atlantic Towing tugs.)

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