Roundabout the harbour

HMCS Toronto put to sea this morning for a day of exercises. With a storm brewing in from the sou'east (again) the ship was back in port by evening.

HMCS Toronto recovers its RHIB. It had returned the navy pilot back to the Dockyard.

The biggest thing that happened in Halifax harbour today was the Malta flag bulk carrier Proti at number one anchorage for Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM) inspection en route from Rotterdam (Maasvlakte) to Sept-Iles for a cargo of iron ore.

Built in 2015 by Japan Marine United, Ariake, as Indomitable, the 93,297 grt, 182,476 dwt ship was sold and renamed in 2016. (Japan United was formed in 2013 by merging Universal Shipbuilding and Ishikawajima - Harima Heavy Industries. It is now the second largest shipbuilder in Japan.)

Inspection completed, the pilot boat heads out to the Poti.

The ship spent no longer in port than it absolutely had to, and was gone as soon as the inspection was completed.


Another arrival for AGM inspection was the tanker Silver Express. A Mid-Range tanker of 26,900 grt, 47,701 dwt, it was built by Onomichi Zosen, in Onomichi Japan in 2009. It also used stay in port to take on bunkers.

 Algoma Dartmouth has taken up position alongside the ship for bunkering.

The ship arrived from New Haven CT, and does not show a destination, but is likely headed for Newfoundland.


Another Mid-Range tanker arrival was the NS Stella 27,357 grt, 47,197 dwt arriving from Saint John for Irving Oil.

Owned by the Russian company Sovcomflot, it is nevertheless registered in Liberia and managed from Dubai by SCF Management Services (a SovComFlot subsidiary). It was last in Halifax in Septmber 2016 when it docked at Imperial Oil.


There has been a bit of an unveiling at the Bedford Institute, as the hoarding around the wheelhouse and bow of CCGS Hudson has been removed. Bridge window replacement was apparently part of the refit work that the ship had yet to complete when it returned from Hamilton, ON last fall. The ship is looking pretty good, so it seems possible that it will make the revised completion date of April.

On March 7, work was still underway from staging around the bridge and bow.

Also a number of fenders had been rigged. 
The yellow bags are in fact water weight used to test the ship's davits.

Today all that was cleared away and the ship is returning to normal appearance.

Also in at the BIO is the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell after assisting the distressed vessel Nordika Desagagnés off Louisbourg. [see Tugfax].

The ship was built originally as an anchor handling tug supplier and although converted for Search + Rescue, it still has its stern roller and winch house.

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Sunday round up

Sunday callers at Autoport are not unheard of, but they are fairly rare. Today's arrival was Crystal Ace  It was a hazy day so the ship's starboard side, was free of the deep shadow which would normally be the case.

While alongside at Autoport, ships send their head lines out to a pair of mooring buoys. The tug Roseway tends these lines, making its way from Dartmouth Cove to Autoport to meet the ship on arrival and back again to let it go.

Once the lines are free, tugs (not visible behind the ship) ease the ship off the berth and it exits Eastern Passage for the main harbour and off to sea.

Crystal Ace dates from 2012 when it emerged from the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Kobe shipyard. It is operated by Mitsui OSK Lines under the Marshal Islands flag and measures 60,131 grt.

Later in the evening the tanker Silver Express came to anchor for inspection. It was met by the tug Atlantic Oak which stood by, and the launch Halmar which took inspectors out to the ship. The ship's last port was Freetown, Sierra Leone, so let's hope they inspected for Ebola.

Built by Onomichi Dockyard, it is a 26,900 grt, 47,701 dwt product tanker operated by Doun Kisen of Japan, under the Panama flag.

It was a quiet day at HMC Dockyard, as the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 flotilla rests in port for the weekend. All crammed together at Jetty November Bravo, the ships form a solid looking mass.

From the left TCG Kemalreis F-247 Anzac* class (Turkish), USS Anzio CG-66 (tan mast) and Leyte Gulf  CG-55, Ticonderoga class, on the south side of the pier. On the north side the massive USNS Medgar Evers T-AKE 13 Lewis and Clarke class, dwarfing FGS Niedersachsen F-208  Bremen class.
* [Kemalries shares the MEKO-200 platform with the ANZAC's, but it would probably be a stretch to say they are the same class. Portuguese run the MEKO-200s, as well as a few others, but the equipment fits are all different, and I'm not certain the ANZACs were even the first to hit the water.]

HMCS Regina was a member of the group but peeled off and headed for the Panama Canal on her way home to Esquimalt.

The ships are due to sail Tuesday morning for exercises, starting at 0900 on half hour intervals. Medgar Evers will move to Imperial Oil at 1100 and spend the day taking on fuel.

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