New Name Times Two

 Two ships arrived in Halifax September 13 wearing new names. Both ships have been calling in Halifax for some time under their previous names, so they are familiar to the port.

First to arrive was the Netherlands flag Trinitas arriving from Cuba for Nirint Shipping BV. The ship was a regular in Halifax under the name Hollandia with cargoes of nickel sulfide from Moa, Cuba as back haul cargo on Nirint's Netherlands and Spain to Cuba container and generals service.

Built as Trinitas in 2007, with the hull by Damen Okean, Mykolayiv and completed by Damen Hoogezand, Foxhol, the ship was delivered as Nirint Hollandia. It was renamed Hollandia in 2012, but remained on Nirint service. It started to call in Halifax in 2014.

It is a 8,999 gt, 12,016 dwt vessel with a container capacity of 684 TEU, including 80 reefer plugs on deck. It uses a pair of 80 tonne SWL cranes to handle cargo, which in the case of the nickel concentrates is in bulk bags. It has movable tween decks and ventilated box shaped holds, so is an adaptable multi-purpose vessel capable of carrying bulk cargoes.

The ship was renamed Trinitas again in 2019, but had not called in Halifax under that name until now. Normally a name change while under charter indicates a change of owners, but this ship is still owned by a single ship company called JW Danser + PJ Danser of Delfzijl, Netherlands and managed by Wagenborg. The ship is not shown on future Nirint schedules so may be reassigned soon.

The second renamed ship is now called Vivienne Sheri D. While still carrying the Antigua and Barbuda flag, it has reportedly been sold to the Doornekamp Shipping of Odessa, ON. They have just started a container service from Europe to the Great Lakes and will include a feeder service out of Halifax. Their first ship Peyton Lynn C is currently on the Great Lakes after inaugurating a service with Spliethoff's Cleveland-Europe Express. The ship will also call at Doornekamp's home port of Picton, ON. Its calls here in Halifax will more likely be in the winter when the Seaway is closed to traffic.

Vivienne Sheri D has been so recently renamed that it has no name on the bows yet (too difficult to reach I guess) but only on the stern. A 10,905 gt vessel built in 2009 by Naval Gijon, Spain, it measures 12,640 dwt with a container capacity of 925 TEU including 200 reefers. Classed as a container feeder it has no cargo cranes.

Better known as Pictor J until 2020 and Pictor since earlier this year, it has been working on Eimskip's Green Line from Reykjavik, Argentia, Halifax, Portland, Maine and return since 2019. Eimskip also operates the ship as a New England feeder for such lines as CMA CGM. That may be supplemented by Doornekamp's feeder service.

According to media reports Doornekamp will keep the ship on the Eimskip charter for up to two years, but plan to place it on the Cleveland-Europe Express eventually.

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Pictor - catching up with Eimskip

 With one of their ships out of service, the Icelandic shipping company Eimskip has responded by transferring ships and chartering in tonnage to meet schedules. On December 27 Lagsarfoss lost power and was towed back to Reykjavik, arriving December 30. Since then EF Ava has been transferred back to the Green Line (which serves Argentia, Halifax and Portland, Maine). This has allowed the line to catch up with the lost trip.

Today's arrival in Halifax is the regular caller Pictor, which began working for Eimskip on their Green Line in May 2019. At that time its name was Pictor J. That changed in August 2020 when it appears that the ship was sold by a one ship company manged by Jungerhans to Pictor Atlantic Feeder AG, managed by F+L Schiffahrts.

The ship was built in 2009 by the Naval Gijon shipyard in Spain, measuring 10,965 gt, 12,640 dwt. It is a gearless container ship with a capacity of 925 TEU including 200 reefers. That large reefer capacity is needed due to the large quantity of fish exported by Iceland.

The ship is due to sail this afternoon for Portland. 

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Pictor J for Eimskip

Since joining Eimskip in May 2019, Pictor J has been in and out of Halifax many times working the company's Green Line service linking Iceland with Argentia / Halifax / Portland.

It had been my intention to get a better photo of the ship than the one in my May post:
http://shipfax.blogspot.com/search?q=pictor+j

Events conspired against that until today when I was able to be in the right place at the right time.
As expected the ship carries a great many reefers (the white containers) although I expect most of the visible ones are empty, and on their way back to Iceland.

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Pictor J - new to Eimskip and an exercise

It was my intention to to get a photo of the latest addition to Eimskip's Green Line service from a good angle. However the onset of rain deterred me, and I had to settle for another "going away" view. Maybe next time.

 
Pictor J joined the rotation in April, replacing Lomur (which was also in port today for SPMI's St-Pierre et Miquelon service) but did not call in Halifax on its first trip.

The gearless 10,965 gt, 12,640 dwt ship with a 965 TEU (including 300 reefers) capacity dates from 2009 when it was built by Naval Gijon S.A. as one of series built to the Sener 950 design. Featuring a full width wheelhouse, sheltered forecastle peak it is classified as Ice Class III . 

The ship is owned through the Jüngerhans Group, a German company of long standing, but is registered in Limassol, Cyprus. See their interesting web site: https://www.juengerhans.de/en

As the ship was getting away from pier 42, Halterm, a Royal Canadian Air Force CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue helicopter was hovering at very low altitude over Dominion Diving's Halmar just south of Ives Knoll. Four Cormorant helos and a Hercules are tasked to SAR work and operated by 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron based in Greenwood, NS, covering a gigantic area of 1.8mn square miles, stretching from Nova Scotia, to Quebec City, to Baffin Island and out so sea.

This was some form of exercise presumably, not a real life emergency, as the pilot boat Nova Pilot hastened past to work the outbound Pictor J.

Both Scotia Pilot and Nova Pilot are back in full service after several months, and APA No.18 has returned to Saint John, NB.

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