Canadian Pacific Railroad to Newfoundland

When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949 its railroad was taken over by Canadian National Railway (CNR) which was then a crown corporation. The CNR also took over coastal steamship operations including the Gulf ferry service. The CNR thus had a presence in all ten Canadian provinces as a matter of government policy.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) on the other hand, had no presence in Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland. CPR was a private corporation and had to show profitability to its shareholders and did not have to venture into these areas unless there was money to be made.

In 1971 both CNR and CPR were competing to deliver new automobiles to Newfoundland. An estimated demand of 15,000 cars per year was the attraction. (Newfoundlanders must be incredibly hard on cars! That works out to one NEW car for one out of every 46 Newfoundlanders). CNR was using its North Sydney to Port aux Basques ferry service, but this was very inefficient, since most demand for new cars was in the eastern part of the Province. When Autoport opened in Halifax in November 1971, CNR finally had a more effective way to ship automobiles to Newfoundland.

That is not to say that the CPR did not put up a fight for a time. CPR had contracts with GM and Ford to ship new cars from Saint John direct to St.John's. They chartered a pair of RoRo ships. Renamed RoRo New Brunswick and RoRo Newfoundland, for a time, but they were only able to carry automobiles and could not carry trucks or general freight.

The two ships, equipped with bow doors, were built originally for the Swedish owners Olof Wallenius. They were equipped with hatch covers and masts for derricks in case they didn't work out, and could be converted to general cargo ships. They had a capacity of 240 cars.

Aniara, built in 1963 by Lodose Varvet was acclaimed as the world's first RoRo vessel. Renamed Apollo New Brunswick in 1971 and RoRo New Brunswick in 1972. Bess built by the same yard in 1965 became Apollo Newfoundland in 1971 and RoRo Newfoundland in 1972.

The first Princess of Acadia was much more comfortable running between Digby, NS and Saint John, NB as a passenger and vehicle ferry.

CPR then moved to convert the ferry Princess of Acadia (i) (ex Princess of Nanaimo) and renamed it Henry Osborne. It was capable of carrying trucks, and with its passenger amenity areas converted to car decks its capacity was increased from 120 to 225 cars. However it was not a real ocean going vessel, and it had a hard time keeping up a weekly service to St.John's and Corner Brook. It entered service in November 1972 but was not a success. It finally ran aground while returning to Saint John May 16, 1973 and was sold for scrap.

Autoport and CNR now had the Newfoundland car business to themselves.

To be continued.

More going and going

It seemed to all about going today.

The cable ship Responder sailed this morning after an overnighter at pier 26. It is a sister ship of Decisive and Resolute that were here earlier in the year laying the new Hibernia Express cable between Halifax and Ireland.

Built in 2010 by Keppel in Singapore as Tyco Responder, the ship arrived from Portsmouth, NH and sailed for New York.

There were two autocarriers in Halifax today and I happened to be in position to see them sail.

Hoegh Xiamen was the morning ship. It was built in 2010 by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry in Xiamen, China.It sails under the Norwegian flag for Hoegh Autoliners.

Taking its place and sailing late in the afternoon was CSCC Tianjin. Despite its China Shipping billboard, it is owned by Ray Car Carriers of the Isle of Man and managed by Stamco of Piraeus, Greece, under the Bahamas flag. It was built in 2008 by Uljanik in Pula, Croatia.

Also going, was the last cruise ship of the season, Seven Seas Navigator is an exclusive ship with only 250 cabins and a crew of 345. It was built originally in 1999 in St.Petersburg, Russia to be a USSR naval support vessel to be named Akademik Nikolay Pilyugin. However it was completed by T.Mariotti of Genoa for cruising. It has been a Halifax caller since 2003.

Also going was the Princess of Acadia. Not sailing however for the Turkish scrapyards (at least not yet) it is only going as far as Sydney, NS. That suggests a cold layup of many months until a sale can be arranged.

Arriving today, but going tomorrow, the tug Boa Odin and Boa Barge 33 will be taking away the second and last section of the Novadock floating drydock.

The drydock's departure leaves Halifax with no available drydocking capability for civilian ships. Halifax Shipyard's Graving Dock is continuously occupied by refitting naval vessels, and HMC Dockyard's synchrolift is for the exclusive use of the relatively light weight naval vessels, mainly submarines.

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Princess of Acadia: Going, Going.........(not gone yet).......

Sunday November 1, 1300 hrs AST Princess of Acadia is due to sail. This may be it. (To be continued......)

Departure was postponed until mid Monday morning.

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Responsible Ship Scrapping

Another pair of Canadian ships have arrived in Aliaga, Turkey for scrapping.

Many Canadian ships that have been sent overseas in recent years have gone there, not only because it is closest, but because among ship scrapping operations it is thought to be the least environmentally damaging. Its work practices are also much more safety oriented than scrapyards in Asia..

News from India indicates that two yards in Alang have achieved international certification of its shipbreaking techniques.  This may force other Indian yards and those in Pakistan and Bangladesh to follow suit. Export restrictions in the EU prevent ships from going to those countries due to environmental and safety concerns.

The two Canadian ships from Canada Steamship Lines have been replaced by new ships, and sailed under their own power to Turkey.

First to go was Birchglen, once a Halifax caller when it was newly built.
It came from Govan Shipbuilders Ltd in Scotland in 1983, one of three bulk carriers built for Great Lakes  and ocean work. Canadian owners Misener Transportation named the ship Canada Marquis after the early maturing, high yield wheat that revolutionized wheat farming on the Canadian prairies.
Worth reading: Canadian Encyclopedia entry on marquis-wheat

In its early years Canada Marquis brought grain to Halifax, and as a gearless ship, it used the grain leg at pier 26. Self-unloaders supplanted the gearless ships, and now discharge directly into the grain conveyor. 

In 1991 the ship was sold and became Federal Richelieu then Federal Mackenzie and in 2001 Mackenzie. It continued to trade into the Lakes, but under the Hong Kong and Philippine flags.

In December 2002, CSL acquired the ship and renamed it Birchglen under the Canadian flag in early 2003. It did however go back to international trade in 2004 under Barbados flag, but came back to Canadian flag in 2006. It was laid up in Montreal at the end of the 2014 shipping season and was not reactivated in 2015 until it sailed for Turkey. It arrived in Aliaga October 15.

The second ship, Mapleglen was built in 1980 by NV Cockerill, Hoboken, Belgium as Federal Maas. It became Lake Michigan in 1995 and continued operating into the Great Lakes for Fednav. I have no record of it ever calling in Halifax.

Not at sea, but in Lake Erie, the ship Lake Michigan heads to sea. The photo was taken in the Pelee Passage, south of 42 degrees lat. but still in Canadian waters.

 
CSL bought the ship in 2008 and it became Mapleglen in 2009. It was also laid up  at the end of the 2014 season.

Mapleglen sailed from Montreal September 27, and after a boiler burn out it stopped over in Quebec City. The boiler was used to heat heavy fuel, and was beyond repair. After unloading its heavy fuel and loading diesel fuel it was able it to continue its trip. It took shelter off Tracadie, NS for a couple of days around October 5 as Tropical Storm Joaquin passed offshore. Once clear, the ship transited the Canso Canal and made its way out in to the Atlantic.It arrived in Aliaga October 17.

One last run for Princess of Acadia as she sailed from Halifax October 14 for naval exercises. She returned to port October 16.

The next Canadian ship to go may be Princess of Acadia, which returned to Halifax Friday night after military exercises off Yarmouth.  Its machinery is still in good condition, so there would be little reason for it not to sail on its own, and probably to Turkey. If it has to go through the cumbersome Crown Assets Disposal process, it could be many months before that actually happens however. 

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Oldies Day

It was a day for a pair of oldies to add something extra to the usual activities in Halifax harbour

Princess of Acadia sailed for the Yarmouth area to participate in a naval counter-terrorism exercise.

Something of a sad sight, the run down Princess of Acadia is still elegant as it sails out at noon.

What the fate of the ship will be after the exercises is pretty certain except for the details. The ship will be heading for the scrappers, likely in Turkey, but the only question is when.

Squeezing in to a familiar berth at pier 23, Saga Sapphire took a tug to do it, since Pearl Mist was at pier 24 following an unscheduled overnighter due to weather. After Pearl Mist sailed, there was a clear view - except for a number of speculative gulls.

Stern in at pier 23, with Serenade of the Seas in the background at pier 22.

In its earliest iteration as Hapag-Lloyd's Europa, this was also the ship's usual berth, and it was also an over night caller in those days, and often the last ship of the cruise season.

Bow in at pier 23 back in 1991 as Europa.

 Built in 1981 for Hapag-Lloyd by Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack, the ship took the name of its illustrious predecessor, the lovely former Kungsholm. While it didn't have the clasic looks of that ship, it was still a striking looking ship of 37,012 grt.

Hapag-Lloyd moved on with another Europa in 1999 and this ship was sold and carried several names since, finally ending up under Acromas Shipping's banner in 2012. See Wikipedia's potted history:
MS_Saga_Sapphire
 
Saga Sapphire will also stay overnight, so there may be a chance for a photo again tomorrow.

I couldn't resist dipping into the files for Hapag-Loyd's previous Europa simply because it was such a beautiful ship.

This Europa was very little changed from its days as Kungsholm when it called in Halifax in 1978. Hapag-Lloyd had initially painted the ship's hull black, but it had really meant to be white, just as it was when built, and so it was repainted and started the 'modern' Hapag passenger colour scheme. Wisely they did not add the blue painted cap to the funnels, which were among the most beautiful ever applied to a ship.

I had a great affection for the ship ever since my grandmother sent me this postcard in 1959

For those of you who are wondering - no I never throw anything out.

Kungsholm was built for Swedish America Line in 1953, became Europa in 1965, and Costa Line's Columbus C. in 1982. After striking a breakwater at Cadiz in July 1984 it sank and was declared a total loss. It was raised and broken up at Barcelona in 1985.

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Big Sunday

With ten arrivals and six departures, today was an unusually busy day for a Sunday. Tomorrow, although it will be a holiday, Canada's Thanksgiving Day, the port promises to be even busier, so I will cram much of today's activities into one post.

The early riser was rewarded with an impressive sunrise, even though cloud cover actually blocked out direct sunlight for the rest of the day. I like sunrises, but don't usually see them unless they coincide with ship arrivals.

Eurodam leads the inbound parade at sunrise.

A triple arrival at sunrise was worth getting up for, so I took it in this time. In the lead, Eurodam was followed by Albatros and finally CMA CGM Tancredi.

Eurodam is a regular caller in cruise season, but on departure passengers were given a pair of treats. First was Atlantic Oak going full speed in reverse. The tug was outbound to meet the arriving OOCL Washington (see later) and because of that timing, Eurodam took the western channel, giving the second treat coming close to the shore off York Redout.

  

 Next inbound was Albatros.

Albatros came in east of George's Island to tie up at pier 20.

Albatros has now reached the veteran status. Built in 1973 by OY Wartsila, Helsingfors as Royal Viking Sea, it was lengthened in 1983, adding a new 93 foot long mid-section. It became Royal Odyssey in 1991, Norwegian Star in 1997, Norwegian Star 1 in 2001, Crown in 2002 and Albatros in 2004.
 

Royal Viking Sky was one of the best looking ships of its day.

The albatross was thought to be the bearer of bad luck by ancient mariners, but it must have been good to current operators Phoenix Reisen, since this is the second ship to carry the name for them.

The first Albatros' ancestry was well hidden by many changes to convert it to cruising.

 
The first Albatros was also a veteran. Built on the Clyde in 1957 by John Brown as Sylvania, it was the last of four Cunard transatlantic liner sisters initially operating to Quebec and Montreal in summer and Halifax in winter. It was also given the R.M.S. designation as it carried mail on its regular liner service.

In 1961 it was transferred to year round operation Liverpool to New York, It was sold in 1968 becoming Fairwind, the Sitmar Fairwind in 1988, Dawn Princess in 1988 (and refitted for cruising), and Albatros in 1993.
In 2003 it was renamed Genoa for its trip to the breakers in Alang, arriving there in December of that year.

A well loaded CMA CGM Tancredi takes its tugs off Halterm.

Another first time caller for CMA CGM's joint service followed the cruise ships. CMA CGM Tancredi is another 8530 TEU ship (including 700 reefers). Built by Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industries in 2011, it measures 91,498 grt, 101,386 dwt. Owners Danaos Shipping Co Ltd of Piraeus operate it on long term charter to CMA CGM.

A pair of Algomas at pier 25-26.

A rare arrival for Halifax in recent years, is a ship with grain. Algoma Mariner arrived from the Great Lakes mid-morning and began to unload what seems to be a partial cargo. Before unloading operations began, the ship bunkered from fleet mate Algoma Dartmouth.

 No matter that she is old and worn, Hudson is still a classy ship.

After hydrographic work south of Nova Scotia CCGS Hudson returned to the Bedford Institute. I will be sad to see this classic ship go, which it will do, probably next year*, when its replacement is completed. First steel for the new ship was cut by Seaspan in Vancouver in June. [*Oops, replacement due in 2020 ar the earliest - see comment below. First steel was cut of the trawler type researchers.]

Speaking of classics that will go: Princess of Acadia remains tied up at the old Coast Guard dock in Dartmouth, but has been kept in ready condition. It was said that this was to enable the ship to sail to the breakers under its own power, and that will likely be the case. But in the meantime, as reported by the Ottawa Citizen, the ship will be used in naval exercises starting next week. It will pose as a "vessel of interest" in counter-terrorism training operations south off Yarmouth.

Last inbound ship of interest for me was OOCL Washington, which arrived for Halterm, taking CMA Tancredi's berth. (It took the western channel to allow room for the inbound.)

The OOCL ship called here for the first time September 29 at Fairview Cove on the G6 westbound service. Now that it has discharged at US ports and is on the return eastbound leg, it is high in the water, and berthed at Halterm to avoid bridge clearance issues. Built in 2010 by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries in South Korea, it measures 89,097 grt, 99,631 dwt. Its container capacity is 8,063 TEU, including capacity for 1400 reefers.

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BIG Changes

It is a time of big changes in Halifax's port and on many other fronts.

To pick up where I left off, the veteran ferry Princess of Acadia was laid up in Saint John after its replacement Fundy Rose came into service. After de-storing by operators Bay Ferries, and their corporate symbols were painted over, it was handed over to owner, the Minister of Transport.

Saint John is not an ideal layup port, due to its high tides, requiring a lot of line tending. On September 11, it arrived in Halifax where it tied up at the old Coast Guard base in Dartmouth. That unused facility is still government property, so presumably there are no berthing fees, and Halifax's feeble tides require very little line tending.

  

Still handsome, but looking bare without its Bay Ferries markings, and still wearing storm shields over the lounge windows, Princess of Acadia awaits its fate. A sale for scrap is almost certain, but it may take a while.

 Halifax Shipyard finally rid itself of the decommissioned Novadock floating drydock. Its Canada registry was closed August 18 and it has been renamed F.D. Novadock under an undisclosed foreign flag, likely St.Vincent and the Grenadines. As reported in Halifax Shipping News, a flotilla of McKeil tugs moved the dock to the IEL pier in Dartmouth, where it has since been cut into two sections.

Novadock was originally built in two sections (not the same two sections which it now appears) by Marine Industries Ltd in Sorel and Ferguson Industries in Pictou, for the government of Nova Scotia. It was intended to bring Panamax ships to Halifax for repairs. It certainly did that, and when Irving Shipbuilding took over the yard, they also gained ownership of the Novadock.

Following award of the  National Shipbuilding contract for naval vessels, Halifax Shipyard rapidly lost  interest in ship repair in Halifax. (Irving Shipbuilding Inc still operates its smaller repair yard in Shelburne.)
With demolition of its older facilities and during construction of the new assembly building, the yard had no facilities available for ship repair anyway. The Novadock will not be replaced per se, but a new launching dock will be required for the new construction. No announcement has been made on where it will be procured or when.

With Novadock gone from the Shipyard, the full extent of the mammoth new building is revealed in all its splendour.

Steel has now been cut for the first hull under the new shipbuilding program and the first module is underway.

More work remains to the roll out area to the north, where the new Pier 6 cope wall is now under construction, and work has started on the huge roll out pad.

Changes are also underway at the Angus L. Macdonald bridge where the deck replacement project is about to begin in earnest.

Atlantic Cartier [see below] passes beneath the bridge, denuded of its walkway and bike lane and fitted with a traveler for the work, the bridge is ready for its first new deck section starting next weekend.

 The Cherubini dock is all set up to transport the sections with their giant crane and chartered barges.

Atlantic Container Line has started the process of retiring its G3 ships, with Atlantic Concert the first to go. It arrived off the Bhavnagar anchorage in India September 5. The first new G4 ship, Atlantic Star, was registered in England September 1. It is still at the shipyard Zhonghua Shipbuilding in Shanghai, but is due for imminent delivery, followed every two months by is four sisters.

ACL'S schedule still shows Atlantic Concert's next call in Halifax on October 18, so that is the likely arrival date for the first new ship.

A sight soon to be no more, Atlantic Cartier  clear of the Narrows and heading on a course to pass east of George's Island.

More big ships are coming. Ships of the size of  Ningbo Express and OOCL Southampton are joined by CMA CGM ships as lines try to increase efficiency and as the "superships" displace the merely big or not so big on the main trade routes.

Some other changes noted after my return from my August vacation:

McNally Marine has started work on the new HMC Dockyard Jetty under the Macdonald bridge, to accommodate the Arctic Offshore patrol vessels.

Work continues on the new Irving Oil dock in Woodside, also by McNally. Irving Oil has taken delivery of the refurbished Acadian now fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber, just like sister East Coast, both under Canadian flag. As soon as the new dock is completed, Irving ships will  no longer call at the Esso docks.

Of the Marshall Islands pair of the Irving quartet, Great Eastern has now gone to Gibraltar for its similar refit and New England has a Canadian coasting license until September 26.

The navy has revealed the desperate condition of the Athabaskan (no surprise) but it has gone to sea again in recent days.

With no operational supply ship to support its fleet, the RCN is turning to Davie to rebuild a container ship as an interim supplier. Preserver is now a floating feul depot in the Dockyard, no longer moving under its own power when it shifts from one berth to another.

There are other changes too, but perhaps the more relevant here is the upcoming change to Shipfax as I transition to a more relaxed format, but more on that later.

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