THE Alliance - new to us

As THE Alliance swings into action, its new shipping roster continues to bring ships to Halifax for the first time.
Today there were two "new to us" ships at Fairview Cove.
Bilbao Bridge arrived early in the morning and sailed just at sunset.

The tug Spitfire III waits to put a line up on Bilbao Bridge as the last of the sun strikes the ship about 2004 hrs this evening.

 The ship is one of several K-Line ships that will be maintaining the Transatlantic route for THE Alliance. It is rather lightly loaded, but that is the nature of a new scheduled transatlantic service, as it builds its customer base. One thing of note  was the large number of UASC (United Arab Shipping Company) boxes on deck. UASC has been acquired by HAPAG-Lloyd, on the THE Alliance members.

Built in  2011 by Samsung SB+HI , Koje, the 46,444 grt, 58,200 dwt ship has a capacity of 4526 TEU. It is owned by Seaspan, the international ship financing arm of the Washington Group, based in Vancouver.

Arriving mid-day was the Malleco a member of the Peter Doehle fleet of Hamburg. The 75,752 grt, 60,400 dwt ships was built in 2009 by China Shipbuilding in Kaohsiung. With a capacity of 6589 TEU (including 1162 reefers) the ship flies the flag of Madeira, a Portuguese offshore registry.

 Despite its size, the ship seemed to navigate the Narrows with ease, and tethered escort Atlantic Oak did not have to work to hard to keep the ship in line.
 
A sister ship Maule has been a frequent caller for the old G6 Alliance. 

Wit the addition of these new ships, one wonders how much longer old G6 Alliance ships will continue to call.

The May 8 arrival of OOCL Kuala Lumpur may be the last we see of OOCL ships until a new alliance comes along.

Also among today's arrivals was the Adriatic Highway, which is now monthly caller trying to keep up with the demand for new automobiles in North America.

 Adriatic Highway enters port after a period at anchor offshore. Also anchored outside is the general cargo ship Thorco Luna which has been there for a week or more. It is due to enter port Monday, probably to load undersea cable drums.

Low financing rates and digressive German export policies has put such cars as Mercedes, BMW and Audi within reach of more Canadians.

Saturday sailings

It was a day for outbound ships as all arrivals were in early morning or early evening darkness.

Colorado Highway made a brief visit to Autoport, arriving early morning and sailing before noon.

The K-Line ship was built in 2005 by Naikai, Setoda, Japan with a grt of 44,382 and a very light dwt of 8,546. It was probably not originally intended for round the world service in view of its size, but that is what it is doing now. It is interesting to see how much auto carrier design has evolved in 10 years or so.

USCG Bristol Bay WTGB-102 is on its way from Baltimore via New York and Boston, to the Great Lakes to take up station. Fresh from a Service Life Extension Project [SLEP] refit at the CG base in Baltimore, the light icebreaker looked very spruce as it sailed mid-afternoon. It left its Detroit, MI home port in August 2015 for the extensive upgrade.
 

Six of this "Bay" class of nine icebreaking tugs are based on the Great Lakes. The other three are based in Maine and the Hudson River. Bristol Bay is one of two such boats equipped to handle an Aids to Navigation [ATON] barge to service buoys. The barge carries a crane and workshop for buoy maintenance  and replacement. Many Great Lakes buoys are lifted for the winter due to ice and the barge is well suited for that work in sheltered waters.


The durable Atlantic Huron put in a call at National Gypsum, arriving late last night. It sailed early this afternoon with a full load bound for the St.Lawerence Seaway.

It is the last of three CSL ships with similar names, Atlantic Superior scrapped in 2015 in China and Atlantic Erie en route to scrap in Turkey [see yesterday's post] A fourth ship of similar class, Nanticoke is still sailing as Salarium on charter to Mines Seleine in the Magdalen Islands to carry salt.

Atlantic Huron is a long time caller in Halifax since it was built as Prairie Harvest in 1984. It was converted to a self-unloader 1989 and renamed. After a stint under Bahamas flag  from 1990 -1992 and again as Melvin H. Baker II from 1994-1997 on charter to National Gypsum, it returned to Canadian flag as one of the ships used to deliver magnetite slurry to the Hibernia gravity base, with fleet mates Atlantic Erie and Nanticoke in 1997.  
Over the winter of 2000-2001 Halifax Shipyard replaced its bottom steel and in 2002-2003 it was widened to the new maximum St.Lawrence Seaway width at Port Weller Drydock. Rumours of its demise have been rife for several years, but it soldiers on.

Also sailing this afternoon was the somewhat scruffy looking OOCL Kuala Lumpur. Ships of OOCL usually have smarter looking paint, but this ship has been hard driven with no time out. Built in 2007 by Koyo Dockyard Co in Mihara, Japan, the 66,462 grt, 66,940 dwt ship has a capacity of 5888 TEU (including 586 reefers) and was a post-Panamax ship until the opening of the new Panama Canal this year. Since 2010 it has been flying the Singapore flag for Kowloon owners Grace Ocean Investment Ltd, carrying on a charter to OOCL by original owners Nissen Kaiun.

The ship sails for the G6 Alliance which will be overhauled over the next year, along with several other container ship groupings.

With the return of Standard Time, we revert to the Dark Ages of Ship Watching. I will attempt to make up with items from various past eras.

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Holiday Catch Up

It was a busy day in the harbour to make up for the Christmas Day holiday when there was almost no activity. Longshoremen do not work on Christmas Day, so there were idle ships waiting to work cargo.

The big bulker Xin Hong arrived on Christmas Eve and tied up at pier 28. It loaded soybeans in Sorel, QC, to maximum allowable draft on that portion of the the St.Lawrence River, and will top off here.

Xin Hong is a product of the Dalian #2 shipyard in China and  measures 44,5453 grt, 82,226 dwt. Owned by FEH Shipping of the Cayman Islands, it is managed by Global Marine Ship Management of Qingdao and flies the flag of Hong Kong. It remained idle on December 26, also a holiday in Halifax, which means that longshoremen get paid overtime.

Two other ships in port on Christmas Day were Kobe Express [see below] and Dinkeldiep, the St-Pierre et Miquelon feeder ship. The latter's Ukrainian crew have spent Christmas in Halifax for many years.

There was also an early morning sailing from Imperial Oil on Christmas Day. Zambezi Star arrived on December 21 and was originally due to sail December 24, but likely remained in port due to very high winds on Christmas Eve.

December 22 photo

Zambezi Star was built in 2010 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, and measures only 23,312 grt, 37,814 dwt (most handysize tankers are in the 50,000 dwt range). It is owned by Rigel Schiffahrts of Bremen, Germany and flies the Isle of Man flag.

Among the few vessels moving in Halifax harbour on Christmas Day was the tour boat Haligonian III. It was on what would be called a re-positioning cruise if it had been carrying any passengers. There was no one aboard however, except the crew - and a small one at that - as the boat moved from its summer berth at the Cable Wharf to Bedford Basin where it joined its fleet mates in winter layup.

Haligonian III has been a fixture in Halifax harbour since 1972 when it was built at Wheatley, ON by Hike Metal Products Ltd..
And why is it named Haligonian with a three?  There actually were Haligonians I and II, which were replaced when this boat was delivered.  They were wooden vessel, built on the lines of fishing boats. I caught Haligonian II in spring refit in Sambro in April 1970:

Built in 1968 by Deschamp + Jackson in Shelburne, NS, it was sold to owners in the Gaspé and is still in operation taking tourists to Percé rock. It was extensively rebuilt in 1997, but looks very much the same and surprisingly still carries its original name.

Mar (background) Haligonian III, Harbour Queen I, Summer Bay and Silva of Halifax at their winter quarters in Mill Cove, Bedford. Missing from this grouping is Theodore Too.

In recent years these boats have wintered at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth or at the Cable Wharf, so this is a new arrangement for them. The entire fleet and related business including Murphy's restaurant and gift ship was acquired during 2014 by Ambassatours, owners of a fleet of doubledecker and other tour buses and the Harbour Hoppers.


Both container piers were busy today, with two arrivals each. At Fairview Cove, the first in was OOCL Kuala Lumpur, a ship I have never photographed before, although it called in Halifax first July 30, 2012.

 Kuala Lumpur Express strides up the Narrows and into a brisk northerly wind with Atlantic Larch forward and Atlantic Oak as stern tethered escort. 

The ship was built by Koyo Dockyard Co in Mihara, Japan in 2007 for Nissen Kaiun Co and has been chartered to OOCL ever since. In 2012 it was sold to Grace Ocean Investment of Kowloon, Taiwan and reflagged from Hong Kong to Singapore. It measures 66,462 grt, 66,940 dwt and has a capacity of 5888 TEU including 586 reefers.

As the ship nears the A.Murray MacKay bridge the tug Atlantic Willow comes alongside. As soon as the ship clears the bridge, Atlantic Oak will cast off and return to the lower harbour for the next ship. Atlantic Larch and Atlantic Willow will berth the ship at Fairveiw Cove west, under the big cranes.

Atlantic Oak has control of  Oakland Express as it takes a broader turn around the knuckle at Pier 9-9A. It will go out into Bedford Basin to await its berth at Fairview Cove east - occupied by fleet mate Kobe Express.

By coincidence the ship was built as Kuala Lumpur Express in 2000 by Hyundai Mipo. Built for Costamare Shipping Co of Greece it has been on charter to Hapag-Lloyd ever since. It was renamed in 2008 to free up the name for a larger ship. In 2013 Costamare shifted its operation to a Chinese subsidiary and reflagged the ship from Greece to Hong Kong. It has been a regular caller in Halifax under both names.

Another regular caller in Halifax, Kobe Express arrived on the morning of December 24. It got about a half day's work then and finished up with a half day today sitting idle on Christmas Day.  It dates from 1998 when it was produced by Samsung, Koje as Shanghai Express. It rates 4612 TEU , including 350 reefers, carried by 52,523 grt, 67,058 dwt. The ship has always been owned by Hapag-Lloyd directly and received its current name in 2002 when a larger ship rated the Shanghai name.

Not to be outdone by commercial shipping, the sailing catamaran Butterflies are Free took a leisurely Boxing Day cruise around the harbour. In the background Wilhelmsen's Toledo unloads at Autoport. It later moved to Pier 31 to unload before sailing for New York.

Although identified as Butterflies are Free (US flag) on AIS, I believe this boat to be Pride MMXVI  A Dufour 44' built in 2014 and registered in Halifax on November 10. Perhaps it is time the owners reset the AIS.

Also getting in a last cruise, several kayakers round Point Pleasant Park as the next inbound arrives.

That inbound was due for Halterm where an early arrival was the regular Maerk Pembroke in from Montreal on the transatlantic Maersk - CMA CGM service.

It had no operational bow thruster on arrival, but it may have been fixed by the time the ship sailed.


The next arrival was another CMA CGM ship far from its usual run.

 A group of eider ducks, recently arrived for the winter, seems undisturbed by the arrival of a ship.


CMA CGM Lavender is one of seven ships on the Panama Direct Line, operated by CMA CGM, ANL and Marfret. [ANL is the former Australian National Line, now part of CMA CGM. Marfet (Marseille-Fret) is an independent, serving the Mediterranean, Caribbean and South Pacific.]

Its normal route is Tilbury - Rotterdam - Dunkerque - LeHavre - New York - Savannah - Kingston, Jamaica - Cartagena - Papeete, then returning northbound via Noumea - Sydney - Melbourne - Wellington - Tauranga - Napier - Lyttleton - Manzanillo - Savannah - Philadephia - Tilbury.

This is the first time I have seen Marfret containers in Halifax, but they are not likely to be unloaded here. Instead, I conjecture that the the ship will take on some of the containers left by HH Emilie and forward them on to another shipping hub, such as Kingston.

 The ship was built by Hyundai, Mipo in 2006 and measures a modest 28,927 grt, 39,418 dwt, with a nominal capacity of 2,824 TEU. It is very lightly loaded, so should be able to take a fair chunk of the boxes left by HH Emilia.

There was also a ship for Imperial Oil today. The colourful Inyala arrived mid-afternoon.

Another smaller handysize tanker of 25,400 grt, 40,037 dwt, it was built by SLS Shipbuilding Co, Tongyeong, South Korea in 2008 for Unicorn Shipping of Durban, part of Grindrod Shipping.

The Unicorn motif appears on the funnel and the bridge front, but the Inyala is a South African antelope with two horns, as far as I can tell..

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