New pilot boats for APA - revised

 The Atlantic Pilotage Authority (APA) has taken delivery of two lightly used pilot boats from the Port of Milford Haven in Wales. Named St.Brides and St.Govans, they were built in 2016 by Mainstay Marine in Pembroke Dock. The 48gt, 19.75m x 5.5m boats were designed by the noted pilot boat designers CAMARC for extreme weather. Powered by Cat engines of 670 hp, and good for 14 knots, they were rated for operation in 6 meter waves and tanker turbulence and were to be able to handle 1,000 boardings per year before maintenance.

The two boats arrived in Halifax today, July 11, on board the heavy lift ship BBC Virginia and were offloaded at Pier 9C using the ship's cranes.

 

 Once in the water Dominion Diving's Halmar shifted the boats, one at a time, to Dominion Diving's dock in Dartmouth Cove.

 

 

Pilot boardings in Halifax in particular have been difficult in recent years as some of the pilot boats are not suitable for operation in rough weather. Cancellations and delays have resulted. Perhaps these boats have been acquired to correct that situation. See correction below

 

I hope they work out here, as they were not successful in Milford Haven where they were declared "not fit for service"and placed on "operational pause" after only a couple of years use. Granted Milford Haven has just about the worst sea states of any of the world's ports, with huge Atlantic swells to cope with. But these boats were supposed to be designed for those conditions. Crew members however claimed they were built in a rush, were "cheap" and under powered. There were also concerns about the fenders.

The boats they were intended to replace were returned to service and tenders were issued for new boats for delivery in 2024.

A third sister boat the St.Davids "t-boned" a gas tanker and three crew members were injured, and the boat's bow severely damaged. It remains in Milford Haven.

When the boats were offered for sale, they were asking approximately US$1,000,000 each. Engines had about 1500 hours, and they were reported to be extremely well maintained and were ready to run.

Currently the APA operates two boats in Halifax. Capt E.T.Rogers (built orginally in 2010 as the Chebucto Pilot for Halifax) is an all weather boat. The sister boat Capt. A.G.Soppitt is used in Saint John, NB. Both were built by ABCO in Lunenburg.

 

 

APA also operates the smaller 20 knot boat Scotia Pilot in Halifax and its sister Nova Pilot in Saint John. The smaller boats use steerable jet propulsion and were built as crew boats - not as pilot boats. Built in 2012, they were purchased used in the Netherlands in 2017. They are not suitable for rough conditions.

 

BBC Virginia was built in 2010 by Jiangdong, Wuhu and measures 9618 gt, 12,657 dwt, and carries a pair of 180 tonne SWL cranes, which can be used in combinaiton for a 360 tonne lift. The ship is also rated to carry 665 TEU (nominal) or 528 TEU at 14 tonnes and has 50 reefer plugs. 

 

BBC Heavy Lift has come in for heavy criticism in Australia recently and has had two ships banned for multiple inspection failures. All BBC ships entering Australian waters will now require inpsection every three months until April 2024. In June BBCWeser was banned for 90 days and this month BBC Pearl was banned for 180 days after its second detainment.

BBC ships are frequent callers in Canadian ports, and are often seen on the Great Lakes, but I am not aware of any Port State Control detentions in the last three years.

Itwill be interesting to see if the new APA boats are repainted in higher visibility colours, as the current British Racing Green looks somewhat somber in the fog and rain.

Correction

I had heard that the APA was acquiring new boats for Halifax, and assumed (incorrectly) that these were the ones. Those boats are still under construction in Spain. 

Thanks to a reader, I have learned that the boats that arrived in Halifax today (July 11) are intended to replace the pilot boats in North Sydney and St.John's. Those legendary boats, built in the 1970s to Gulf of Mexico crew boat design and called "Breau boats" are aluminum hulled vessels of 680 hp, built at Breton Industrial and Marine in Point Tupper, NS. As of today A.P.A.No.1 (built 1976) is operating in North Sydney and A.P.A. No.18 (of 1974) is operating in St.John's. A third boat, A.P.A.No.20,  (also 1974) is laid up at the Dartmouth pilot dock.
 

 

Aside from eliminating the pilot house side doors, the boats are virtually unchanged since they were built. They are handsome boats with a distinctive colour scheme.

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Back to Normal

 After a brief period of record cold temperatures February 3-4 when the mercury dropped to -25 degrees C (-13 F) in Halifax, there was a quick return to normal, and above, on February 5-6 when the high reached  +5C (41F). Several ships were late in arriving, probably to avoid the high winds and dangerous freezing spray.

Among the February 5 arrivals were two ships coming from the south, where conditions were slightly better. Viviene Sheri D running for Eimskip was en route from the US to Argentia, NL then Iceland and AS Felicia was on ZIM's Florida feeder service. 

Vivienne Sheri D had a dusting of frozen spray on its sides forward.
 

There was no frozen spray visible on AS Felicia.

On February 6 the NYK Deneb and Algoma Integrity arrived from the south, Cartagena and Portsmouth (Newington), NH respectively:

NYK Deneb headed directly for Fairview Cove.

Algoma Integrity also headed for Bedford Basin, but anchored waiting the CSL Kajika which was loading at Gold Bond Gypsum.

On February 6 the container ship MSC Alyssa arrived from Montreal, having travelled through a lot of ice on the St.Lawrence and very rough conditions in the Gulf. By the time it arrived in the afternoon, any sign of frozen spray had disappeared. It will top up cargo to ocean draft before heading back across the Atlantic.

The Siem Cicero Confucius arrived off Halifax February 3 and waited out the cold spell offshore until February 6 to enter port and tie up at Autoport. The ship sailed from Emden and is now headed for Baltimore.

The pilot boat Scotia Pilot accompanies the ship outbound. Rather than standing by at the pilot station in the lingering slop and swell, it remained in the harbour until it was time to set out to disembark the pilot.

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Bluenose II - arrival armada

 This year marks the 100th anniversary of the launch of the original schooner Bluenose. To commemorate the event the controversial, and much rebuilt (but still beloved) replica Bluenose II will be touring Atlantic Canada. It will not be spending much time in Halifax, with today's visit to an anchorage off Bedford as its only Halifax call. Due to COVID restrictions imposed earlier in the year all sail tours were cancelled, although there will be "open deck" at some port calls. See the 2021 schedule here

The Bluenose II's arrival in Halifax today was a foggy drizzly affair, but there were some spectators on the waterfront. The more interesting aspect, at least to me, was the flotilla of harbour craft on hand to greet the schooner.

Scotia Pilot, inbound from an assignment joined the party.

HMCS Oriole went out earlier in the morning to greet the arrival.

YDT 325 Defender is a Canadian navy "Cutter, Area Command" a 32 footer built by ABCO as a patrol and workboat, and works under the Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic.

The harbour tug Atlantic Oak also went out to great Bluenose II and accompany it inbound.

Dominion Enforcer is one of the two new tugs built in the Netherlands for Dominion Diving Ltd.

Sister tug Dominion Rumbler  also joined the party.

Ocean Seeker owned by Kraken Robotics, and based at the C.O.V.E. in Dartmouth has been conducting seabed mapping in the area in recent weeks. It is the former RCMP Murray.

Alutasi is Canada's first hybrid diesel / battery - electric powered 12 plus passenger boat. The former Peggy's Cove Express has been retrofitted with lithium-ion batteries and now carries out some of its fishing tours using slow speed (and quiet) electric power.

Carrying the identifier 1C-2870 this RHIB is operates as a private patrol boat by Sma'knis Maritime Safety + Security Inc, based at the C.O.V.E. in Dartmouth.

Local  builders Rosborough Boats turns out a wide variety of craft (such as the RHIB in previous photo). This twin hull centre console is a new type to me. Outboard motors, as they increase in power for small size,  are becoming more popular as a means of propulsion where inboard used to be the norm.

The Coast Guard lifeboat Hare Bay was part of the flotilla. Delivered by Chantier Naval Forillon in Gaspe in May, the boat is temporarily assigned to Sambro while the local boat is in refit. Hare Bay will be assigned to Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.

CCGS Ann Harvey returning from SAR East patrol brought an end to the escorts. On loan from the Newfoundland region while Halifax based boats are in refit or are reassigned, it has now been joined by the George R. Pearkes also from Newfoundland.

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HMCS Fredericton off to NATO

 HMCS Fredericton sailed this morning for a six month stint with NATO's Operation Reassurance.

A helo made a few low passes and hovered over the deck as the ship made its way outbound. The waterfront was lined with family and well wishers on a warm summer morning, and were rewarded with a single whistle salute.

Fredericton hoisted a huge naval ensign in addition to other flags and signals.

About an hour before Fredericton departed the navy's supply vessel Asterix also put out to sea.

Asterix requires a civilian pilot since it is not a commissioned naval vessel. The duty pilot boat Scotia Pilot accompanied the ship to the pilot station to disembark the pilot.

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Pilot Boat Changes

The Atlantic Pilotage Authority has made another change in pilot boat assignments in Halifax as its fleet of boats goes through refits. The Captain A.G.Soppit (see October 13 post) has returned to its normal post in Saint John, NB.

Its place has been taken by Captain E.T.Rogers, also normally based in Saint John, but fresh from refit in Meteghan. The Rogers was built in 2012 by Abco Industries in Lunenburg as Chebucto Pilot for service in Halifax.  Captain A.G. Soppitt was built to the same design and APA chose to group similar boats in the same ports for operational familiarity and maintenance.  Chebucto Pilot went to Saint John and was renamed.

The usual Halifax pilot boat Scotia Pilot is presumably still in refit, and for now the Rogers shares duties with the Nova Pilot.

The pilot boats have moved from the north to the south side of the former Foundation / ECTUG / Svitzer pier, giving room for a floating landing stage. The Province of Nova Scotia purchased the dock and the adjacent former salvage dock to the south which I expect will be demolished as an eyesore. Both piers are old timber pile construction and would need extensive repairs if they were to be re-purposed.

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Slow Rush Hour

The end of the workday usually results in a build up of harbour traffic. Hardly a rush hour really, but usually a good time to do some shipwatching in a short period of time.

Today's miniature rush hour saw two departures and an in-harbour move all happening with a few minutes of each other. Before those however the pilot boat set out for the station.

Outbound ahead of the departures, Scotia Pilot catches a sunbeam as does HMCS Ville de Québec at anchor.

The container ship Budapest Bridge sailed from Cerescorp's Fairview Cove container terminal at 1700 but it was a full hour before the ship arrived in the lower harbour.

The sun was disappearing again as the ship made its way outbound.

As soon as the big ship was clear, Trinity Sea moved from the Exxon Mobil dock in Dartmouth to pier 27 in Halifax. This seems to be a popular layby berth for offshore suppliers. They don't usually load or unload there, but could take fuel if the Irving Oil terminal is occupied, as it was today with Irving Oil's East Coast.

A very dark squall chased the vessel across the harbour.

Horizon Star followed, heading for sea trials. The big offshore craft has been idle at the Cove in Dartmouth, since January 25 when it returned from the Yantian Express salvage operation.That ship is still stuck in Freeport, Bahamas with no destination yet revealed to unload its un-damaged cargo.

As the photos indicate the sun was in and out from behind clouds and rain squalls with gusty winds blew through every few minutes. Typical April weather.

Meanwhile dredging continues round the clock off pier 42. Two complete crews work 12 hour 7 to 7 shifts from  1900 Sunday night until Friday.

 Yesterday the dredge Derrick #4 was enshrouded in fog  and looked like it was in outer space.

 Note the water depth, from the height of the 70 foot spuds above the deck of the dredge.

There is still about three weeks of dredging left to do.

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Pilot Boat follow up

In my last post I mentioned that the regular pilots are out of service and back up boats have been brought in. It now transpires that on January 16 while Scotia Pilot was approaching to board the pilot on the container ship YM Enlightenment, the boat lost power and collided with the ship. There was damage to the boat but it was able to regain power and return to base. There were no injuries to the three persons aboard the boat.

Later in the day it moved to Dominion Diving's dock in Dartmouth Cove and Fundy Pilot, which had been tied up there, was brought into service.

This morning Scotia Pilot was still at Dominion Diving, but had its engines running. Due to the extreme cold  (-10C) I could not tell if this was exhaust smoke or vapour from cooling water.

Whatever damage there might have been to the boat it must be on the port side (against the dock) and was not visible from my vantage point.

 Engine reliability is critical to safe pilot operations, so until the boat is operating reliably, it is not likely to return to service.

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Weather fallout

As predicted Sunday's storm resulted in the suspension of pilotage operations in Halifax from Sunday pm until 1500 Monday.

Some ships managed to squeeze in and out of port before conditions worsened. The container ship Paxi sailed and the bulker Salarium arrived. Thorco Liva also sailed, but continued on to Portsmouth, NH where it will eventually load cable at Newington. East Coast also sailed, and headed for Portland, ME. It must not have unloaded all its cargo here at Irving Oil and Imperial.

Scheduled arrivals put back out to sea. Maersk Penang and Algoma Integrity stood well offshore and although pilotage operations resumed at 1500 hrs today, it took the ships until 1630 and 18630 respectively to reach the pilot station. Although not listed on yesterday's arrivals, APL Detroit would normally have arrived Saturday or Sunday. It arrived at the pilot station at 1700 today.

Tropic Hope went to anchor well into St.Margaet's Bay and put off arrival until tomorrow. Since the preferred berths at Halterm are now occupied there was no point in coming in tonight and having to shift berths again tomorrow. The autocarrier Delhi Highway has also put off coming in until tomorrow.

Salarium is listed to depart tomorrow also. Since the storm moved off in a northeasterly direction, it ran the risk of catching up with it before reaching Cabot Strait. Also Algonorth will move from its standby berth at Pier 9C to Imperial Oil.

It seems that there have been many more suspensions of pilotage operations in the last six months than anyone can recall. Scientists have observed that weather is becoming more severe, and that storm events in particular are more intense. Therefore the risks to vessels and to pilots are increasing, and it is with safety in mind that these suspensions are becoming more common.

The Atlantic Pilotage Authority is also at something of a disadvantage at the moment with both its regular Halifax pilot boats out of service.

The Nova Pilot and Scotia Pilot were only acquired in the summer of 2017 and have been less than reliable. In part this is due to their water jet propulsion system, which is apparently somewhat fragile and prone to leaking. Both boats were built as pilot transfer and crew boats for use in protected waters, and may not be durable enough for the rigours of offshore pilotage.

Nova Pilot was sent to Meteghan for repairs late last year and has not yet returned. Scotia Pilot was removed from service last week and is tied up at Dominion Diving in Dartmouth. Filling in are the veterans A.P.A. No.18 (built in 1974) and Fundy Pilot (built 1983). Both were serving as backup boats elsewhere, but are now in daily service here.

The veteran APA No.18 is one of three similar boats built in the 1970s and still answering the call.

Fundy Pilot has been here since June, orginally to fill in for the Scotia Pilot. It is now in regular use  as both Nova Pilot (shown here) and Scotia Pilot are out of service.

Certainly conditions have been extreme lately, and it is unlikely that any pilot boat could have stood up to some of the recent weather. However that may be the new normal, and if so durable pilot boats will be essential to the smooth running of the port.

I saw three ships come sailing in

Despite the obscurity of the reference to ships, the Christmas carol "I saw three ships come sailing in on Christmas Day in the morning" has been a favourite for many years. As some spoil sport observed, Bethlehem is 20 miles from navigable water, and to see even one ship would require extraordinary visual acuity.

Sharp vision was not necessary this Christmas morning as three ships did indeed come 'sailing" in, although none were secure before noon.

Picking up its pilot at 1100hrs (AST) the self-unloading bulker Algoma Integrity (ex Gypsum Integrity) made its way through to Bedford Basin anchorage.

The ship will wait at least a day before it moves to National Gypsum to load. The ship has become a regular recently making one or two calls a month.

There was a stiff northerly breeze blowing and when the pilot boat returned it was bathed in spray.

A little behind the scheduled 1130 hrs at the pilot station, as it moved from an outer anchorage,, CMA CGM Orfeo had plenty of time since it was not to tie up at Halterm before 1300 hrs. The tug Atlantic Bear met the ship well out and tucked in astern as tethered escort. Atlantic Fir also went past the Beach to take up position on the port bow, ready to turn the ship to back into berth 41 at Halterm.

The ship is carrying boxes from all the partners in the Columbus JAX service: CMA CGM / APL, COSCO and Evergreen. As mentioned yesterday, the ship is chartered from Claus-Peter Offen interests, and that company's symbol is posted below the bridge, even with the top row of containers (Santa's gloved hand added by me).

Last in, and self piloted, was Oceanex Sanderling returning from its weekly trip to St.John's.  It tied up at pier 36, filling the last berth at Halterm. (Asian Sun is still at pier 42 - see yesterday's post.)

On deck is one of Canadian Tire's 53 foot containers. These are not normally "seagoing" since they do not fit normal container ship cellular cargo bays, but Sanderling can accommodate them either on skeleton trailers or lift on/ lift off.
The ship will off load tomorrow, then move to pier 34 for maintenance. Its next scheduled sailing is not posted online, so may well be in 2019.

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More wind more rain

More high winds and periods of rain are nothing new in recent forecasts, and typical for this time of year. The harbour was a little lumpy this morning as the pilot boat Scotia Pilot returned from the station off Chebucto Head. It had just embarked a pilot for the APL Houston and was returning to base for another pilot. 

Before the rain started in earnest APL Houston arrived on the CMA / CGM JAX service. The 109,712 grt, 108,000 dwt ship, built in 2014 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd in  Okpo  has a container capacity of 9500 TEU. Although not over the 10,000 TEU capacity that the port seeks to have established as the threshold for large ships, this one is big enough. Its very high sides and towering deck load make it very much subject to windage and requires careful handling.

The tug Atlantic Fir squares up at the bow and the Atlantic Bear on the stern are both braking and  starting to turn the ship. The busy pilot boat, with lots of wind driven spray, heads out to meeet the next ship.

It required three tugs to come alongside at Halterm, including Atlantic Bear, the largest of the tugs based in Halifax.


Amongst the other arrivals and departures today there are a couple of in harbour moves. One is a bit unusual. The tanker Ardmore Encounter will be moving from Irving Oil to Imperial Oil.

Ardmore Encounter has discharged a partial load at Irving Oil.

It is rare to see a ship with a split load, but again this may be due to Irving Oil's troubles after a fire at its refinery. Built in 2014 by STX Offshore + Shipbuilding in Jinhae, the ship was originally named Front Clyde for Frontline Tankers. Current owners, a single ship company, acquired the ship in 2016 and renamed it in line with the fleet operated by Anglo Ardmore Ship Management. A Medium Range 2 handysize tanker of 29,993 grt, 49,478 dwt, its last port of call was Beaumont, TX.

East Coast appears to be fully loaded.

Waiting at anchor, Irving Oil's tanker East Coast will move alongside immediately after the Woodside berth is clear. A Mid Range 1 tanker of 23,356 grt, 37,515 dwt, it was built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan as Nor'Easter for long term charter to Irving Oil under the Marshall Islands flag. In 2014 it was brought under Canadian flag and renamed. Owners, associated with Vroon / Iver Ships of the Netherlands assigned other ships to the Irving work between Saint John and US east coast ports, but without renaming them or giving them Irving Oil colours.
As with the three other ships in the Irving fleet, it was fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber system in 2015.

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