More Tankers and a catching up

 There was tanker activity at both Imperial Oil and Irving Oil, and there were also tankers at anchor today (October 13).

At Imperial Oil, the Stolt Sisto arrived at Dock #3 with more refined product from Antwerp.

 Built by SLS Shipbuilding Company in Tongyeong, South Korea in 2010, it is a 26,329 gt, 46,011 dwt chemical and product tanker.

Despite being one of the world's largest tanker operators, with no less that 170 ships under control of its Stolt Tankers BV subsidiary, Stolt-Nielsen ships seldom call in Halifax these days. The company was founded in 1959 by Jacob Stolt-Nielsen as a pioneering operator of parcel tankers. He built ships to carry many small quantities of liquids, largely chemicals for the plastics industry. Keeping the commodities separate without contamination required elaborate pumping arrangements, and sometimes special tank construction due to the corrosive nature of acids or the hazardous nature of some materials.

The last Stolt Tankers ship that I recall seeing in Halifax was the Glory ex Stolt Glory (still in the Stolt Tankers fleet despite the name change) that called at Imperial Oil on a voyage from Rotterdam to Searsport, ME May 11, 2012. I covered a bit of the company history in the Shipfax post on that day. Among its many business interests Stolt-Nielsen owns several chemical terminals, and fleet of tank containers that are often seen in Halifax.

In order for Imperial Oil to accommodate the Stolt Sisto at its one remaining operable oil dock (docks number 4 and 5 are inoperable, and there is no longer a dock 1 or a dock 2) the coastal tanker Algoscotia moved to anchor in Bedford Basin. 

 It really was the calm before the storm as glassy calm water in Bedford Basin reflected a threatening sky, which was soon followed by thunder, lightning, rain and rare for Halifax - hail.

Another tanker also arrived to anchor in Bedford Basin just before the intense rain began. The economically named Pag arrived from Houston, and will be unloading at Imperial Oil in turn.

 The Pag operates for Tankerska Plovidba of Croatia. It is a MidRange type of 29,735 gt, 49,990 dwt, built in 2015 by SPP Shipbuilding Company in Sacheon, South Korea.

One of the Ultra size container ships that has been on the CMA CGM Columbus JAX service as part of the Ocean Alliance, the CMA CGM G.Washington, arrived again in Halifax this afternoon. I was not able to get much in the way of photos of the ship on its previous visits, November 16, 2022 and May 20, 2023, so I was pleased that the rain had eased up to light drizzle when it hove into view.

Built by Hyundai, Ulsan in 2017 it comes in at 140,872 gt, 148,992 dwt with a capacity of 14,360 TEU. Although large, it is still well shy of the current size record holder for the Halifax, the CMA CGM Marco Polo with a capacity of 16,020 TEU.

CMA CGM has various name themes for different classes of ships. Ships such as this one are named for Presidents of the United States, following the tradition of APL, formerly the American President Line, which CMA CGM acquired in 2016 when it bought Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) which in turn had acquired APL in 1997.

The ship arrived from Asia via the Suez Canal and stopped in Tanger Med, Morocco after traversing the Mediterranean.

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What's in a name

Ship's names are always an interesting topic for research and speculation. These days ship names are becoming longer, often accompanied by a series of initials, or worse still, numbers, and thereby depersonalizing the ships.

The arrival on January 10 at Irving Woodside of a tanker with the three letter name Pag was therefore intriguing. Turns out there is no great mystery.

Pag is owned, indirectly, by Tankerska Plovidba DD of Zagreb, Croatia, a small operator of five tankers, but part of a larger company that also operates bulkers and cargo ships. Pag is the name of an island, and a town on the island, just off the Croatian coast in the North Adriatic. Croatian owners are fond of naming ships after their towns, and therefore this is a logical choice.

The ship was built, apparently under Turkish auspices by SPP Shipbuilding Sacheon in 2015. It is typical 
of its type, at 29,735 gt, 39,900 dwt, and flies the Croatian flag. It arrived from Saint John, NB with a partial cargo of refined product for Irving Oil, loaded orginally in Amsterdam.

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Cinnamon and some weather

Normally thought of as a spice, cinnamon is also a colour, and that is why this particular ship carries the name it does. Like all ships in the Canfornav fleet, it is named for a species of duck, and the Cinnamon Teal has a cinnamon coloured body.

RST trucks provided bunker fuel to the Cinnamon at pier 9C south today. Note the rain water pouring out of the stern scuppers. Not so evident is the wind blasting down through the Narrows.

Built by the Wuhu Shipyard in China in 2003, Cinnamon is a geared bulker of 18,311 gt, 26,737 dwt and carries three 40 tonne cranes. Its last port of call was Bécancour, QC, where it unloaded a bulk cargo, and it is now in ballast. It anchored off Halifax yesterday but came into port in the evening to get ahead of high winds. Bunkering from trucks began today. RST, a J.D.Irving trucking company, delivered the fuel.

Cinnamon is part of the 40 ship fleet of the Montreal based Canadian Forest Navigation. Founded in 1976 the company has a long standing agreement with Navarone S.A. of Greece to  operate the ships, and most are registered in Cyprus.

Canfornav is privately owned, and is "dedicated to serving the St.Lawrence and Great Lakes" according to the company's website. Since 2000 it has been building progressively larger ships - some of which are too large for the Seaway, while also renewing its Seawaymax bulkers.  Traditionally it has chartered all its ships, but has begun to take up ownership of some ships, including buying some of the previously chartered vessels.

Cinnamon is one of five ships of the 26,000 dwt class, the smallest in the fleet. Most ships are in the 30,000 to 37,000 dwt size but is also has five 57,000 tonners and two 64,000 tonners.

The company's interest in ducks is not limited to naming their ships. They have also supported Ducks Unlimited and purchased a three island sanctuary area in the St.Lawrence River called Batture-aux-Loups-Marins (Sewolf Flats) off l'Islet. It is home to eiders, night herons and other species, and is a resting spot for large numbers of sandpipers and snow geese during spring and fall migration.

Weather Footnote:

Cinnamon docked at pier 9C south, at the berth previously occupied by Thorco Liva. That ship went out to anchor in Bedford Basin last evening, but was found to be dragging its anchor a couple of times today in the very high winds. Pilots were sent out to re-anchor ship early this morning and again early this afternoon.

Those winds have also caused delays in port activity. The economically named tanker Pag from Saint John for Irving Woodside has been holding off port as have Bomar Rebecca and YM Modesty. Pilotage operations were suspended for today and tonight and will be reviewed in the morning.

The only arrival has been Oceanex Sanderling which is self-piloted, so there was no need to board a pilot in dangerous sea conditions.

There are a couple of other arrivals scheduled for tomorrow that might have arrived today had conditions permitted.

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