Saturday roundup - avant le déluge

The early bird was rewarded today as another heavy snow fall began late morning blotting out the view.
CCGS Cape Roger arrived last evening and anchored until this morning when it moved to Imperial Oil to refuel. The ship is on Search and Rescue standby along the South Shore of Nova Scotia.

Also in this week is CCGS Alfred Needler at BIO. Both ship are based in Newfoundland, but are often displaced in winter and spring by ice, and exchange places with Halifax based ships.
 

One visitor this week that I failed to post was CCGS Terry Fox, in for refueling March 25. We have now seen the entire east coast icebreaker fleet this spring - so much for the wisdom of moving them to Newfoundland.

Bow doors open, ramp being lowered on hydraulic pistons.

Bow ramp in lowered position appears very narrow and of a very low weight capacity compared to the stern ramp.     [ Say  AAAAH!]

At pier 9A work on the ferry Canada 2014 is, if you will pardon the expression, "ramping up". This morning workers had both the bow and stern doors open for work.

The stern ramp, with a red painted pedestrian pathway. A temporary partition has been built inside the car deck to retain heat during the refit process. After this photo a mobile crane came along to take the weight of the ramp for work on the bearing.

The ship is expected to enter service between Digby, NS and Saint John, NB, sometime this summer.


See Tugfax for the tug Lois M and barge Nunavut Spirit at pier 9B.


At pier 9C Harefield is still tied up for repairs.

Work continues on the rudder using a raft and various tackles to take the weight off the pintle.

In Bedford Basin the Torm Rosetta lies at anchor until it is time to go alongside Imperial Oil Another handysize tanker product tanker, it was built in 2003 by Onomichi Dockyard in Japan as Rosetta for OMI. It was acquired by Torm A/S in 2008. The ship measures 28,567 grt, 47,038 dwt and is enrolled under the Danish International register. (Denmark and Norway, among others have offshore registers which have different regulations from their national registers, as to foreign crewing, taxes, etc.,)

At anchor the tanker Sloman Hermes will be sailing this afternoon for the St.Lawrence. It has been awaiting the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway, which has been postponed from March 25  27 to April 5 2 due to ice. Rather than anchoring in ice off the Escoumins pilot station or farther upriver, the ship opted for the comforts of Halifax harbour. An ice adviser boarded the ship late in the morning from the launch Halmar.

Autoport is still struggling with frozen in cars - thousands are still in ice up to their hubcaps, but it appears that more recent arrivals are still being processed, as the trains keep rolling out every days with a dozen or more autoracks full of imports. [In the photo of Terry Fox above, there is a string of autorack cars waiting in a siding.] Recent arrivals are leapfrogging ahead of the January and February arrivals which are waiting for natural melting to free them.

Today Mermaid Ace made a morning visit. It was built in 2010 by Minami- Nippon in Usuki, Japan, measuring 58,939 grt, 18,828 dwt, with a capacity of 5,219 cars. It is owned by Masumoto Shipping Co Ltd under the Panama flag, on charter to MOL (Mitsui OSK Lines).

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Sunday activity

Two ACL ships passed in the harbour, with Atlantic Cartier sailing after Atlantic Compass entered Bedford Basin.

Atlantic Cartier passes the Halifax ferry wharf outbound.

Atlantic Compass has turned and begun to back in to Fairview Cove east. There are two tugs on the ship's port side.

I have photographed these ships countless times, but since their replacements will be along later this year, I am taking the opportunity to get in a few last shorts in different conditions and from different angles.  This morning was definitely in the gloomy category.

The other arrival at Fairview Cove today was Herma P for Hapag-Lloyd. This is the second of the Stefan Patjens fleet to call in Halifax after completing Maersk charters last year.

Herma P at Fairview Cove

Built in Ulsan, South Korea in 2006 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the 53,481 grt, 53,88 dwt ship has a capacity of 5041 TEU. It sailed as Maersk Dryden until July of last year when it reverted to its owners Stefan Patjens Reederei of Germany.
Sister ship Allise P called here February 17 and March 10. It is the former Maersk Dubrovnik. There are two moire sister ships, Serena P ex Maersk Drummond and Kaethe P ex Maersk Drury in the Patjens fleet. All four ships were launched with their current names, less the letter "P" but took the Maersk names on delivery.


Still at anchor, the tanker Sloman Hermes appears now to be awaiting a berth, since it has not taken bunkers yet.

After yesterday's gloomy morning photo, this afternoon there was sun.

I did not make the long drive to Autoport, so my only view of Opal Ace will be this one, which also includes the Valero oil tanks in Eastern Passage.

(Their is some vertical exaggeration due to air/water conditions.)

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Saturday Roundup and further updates

As usual for a Saturday, there was lots of activity in the harbour - some to do with catching up after many delays due to heavy snow, some in advance of another weather system (this time mostly rain, to herald the arrival of spring) and some just normal activity.

Sloman Hermes arrived for bunkers. The ship was here December 13 at pier 31, apparently for repair.  A small chemical tanker of 11,298 grt, 16,418 dwt it was built in 2012 by  Jiangzhou Union in Rui Chang, China, and operates in the Navig8group tanker pool.

Sloman Hermes waits for bunkers.

Federal Tweed did eventually move to pier 27, but there was some problem after she weighed anchor in the Basin and Dominion Diving's Halmar came out to assist. It appears that a heaving line may have become fouled in the bow thruster. In any event the Narrows was busy with arrivals and departures - see below - and  she eventually was free to move. Whatever her problem (likely a bent prop blade), it is supposed to be fixed by this evening allowing her to sail.

Federal Tweed had weighed anchor, but was holding in the Basin for arrival of the Halmar.

Federal Tweed is owned by Fednav, one of more than 100 owned and chartered ship in the Canada's largest shipping company. At 31,590 grt, 55,317 dwt, with ice class 1C, it has four 30 tonne cranes (and clamshell buckets on deck) and is considered a supramax bulker, i.e. between 50,000 and 60,000 dwt
 -smaller than (old) Panamax and thus handysize. If all these terminologies are confusing, there is a good reference available http://maritime-connector.com/wiki/ship-sizes/

Halmar under the bow, with a number of extra hands on the foredeck peering over the rail. A heaving line is barely discernible from the centre lead down towards the bow thruster.

The ship was built in Oshima, Japan in 2013 and has a new hull design with fuller bow and almost plumb stem, with smaller bulbous bow.

The Narrows was a busy spot for time this morning with the arrival of Atlantic Cartier on its regular visit. First though was Atlantic Willow, putting on a little extra speed to get ahead of the Cartier.

It is unusual to see a tug running at speed thought he Narrows.

Atlantic Cartier with Atlantic Oak tethered astern.

Its berth at Fairview Cove was occupied by NYK Daedalus which departed after the Cartier was in the Basin. Interestingly, the tug Atlantic Oak was tethered escort on both the inbound Cartier and the outbound Daedalus, with the tug Atlantic Willow, unberthing the Daedalus first then going out to the Cartier to free up Atlantic Oak..

NYK Daedalus has cleared the MacKay bridge, and is southbound in the Narrows. Escort tug Atlantic Oak is not visible, but is tethered to astern.

NYK Daedalus first called here July 21, 2014. It was built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, measures 55,534 grt, 65867 dwt, and has a capacity of 4922 TEU.  

 

Meanwhile Yantian Express was still working cargo today, with trucks lined up on several streets leading toward the Fairview Cove terminal. There have been delays of inbound rail cargo due to the heavy snow and clearing the rail yards to move cars - those same cars must be emptied to load outbound cargo.
It is indicative of the problems with these larger ships however. They have so many containers to move that they place big demands on the terminals. Expect this situation to get worse as bigger and bigger ships arrive, even in good weather. Yantian Express arrived Tuesday March 17, the day of a fierce winter storm, with 70cm of snow and there was likely no work that day or most of the following day.

Yantian Express partially surrounded by snow dumped from clearing operations in the terminal.

Yantian Express, which sailed as Shanghai Express until 2012, was built in 2002 by Hyundai, Ulsan and measures 88,493 grt, 100,003 dwt, with a capacity of 7,506 TEU (700 reefer). It has just been displaced on the Asia-Western Europe service by even larger ships as Hapag-Lloyd rationalizes its fleet. It has announced that it will sell or scrap 16 ships - all of smaller size.

Updates:

At pier 9c Harefield was receiving the ministrations of Connors Diving under its stern, thanks to ice damage.
 
At Autoport: Tosca finally sailed and Opal Ace took its place.   
At Imperial Oil: Seavictory sailed in ballast for Saint John and Prisco Irina took its berth.

And in partial answer to the burning question How Much Snow Was There? I offer this photo of a gang of workers on the roof of the New Halifax Shipyard Assembly Hall, removing snow from the lowest roof,  - by hand (they also had a snow blower). The size of the drift against the higher wall is in excess of 10 feet, and is packed hard because it faces south and is exposed to sun all day.

The accumulation of snow and ice, melting and refreezing and fresh drifted snow on top has resulted in many roofs now loaded in excess of their design capacity. Tonight's rain, will result in untold additional stress, particularly when drains are blocked. 

According to most sources there has been 100cm in March, with 70 cm on March 21 alone..

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Saturday Roundup

The fog lifted at least for a time in Halifax allowing for a look at what was going on in the port.

At Autoport the car carrier Swan Ace was finished unloading by noon time. It was the second MOL car carrier in two days, with fleet mate Mermaid Ace in port on Thursday and Wilhelmsen's Torino slotted in between on Friday.

With the McAphalt pier in the foreground, Swan Ace still has its stern ramp down at Autoport.

Built in 2008 by Minanaminippon Shipbuilding in Usumi, Japan, the 58,628 grt Swan Ace flies the Bahamas flag and is owned directly by Mitsui OSK Lines and operates under its offshoot MOL Ship Management of Singapore.

The Bahamas flag tanker Gotland Marieann moved to Imperial Oil dock 3 from Valero in Eastern Passage.

Atlantic Fir nudges the ship alongside Imperial Oil dock 3.

It is a 29,283 grt, 53,143 dwt product of Guangzhou International Shipyard in China  Hafnia Tankers provides commercial management and Wisby Ship Management provides technical management to owners Gotland Tankers of Sweden.


Meanwhile in Bedford Basin Australian Spirit rest quietly at anchor (and with no standby tug) awaiting arrival of fleet mate Americas Spirit due tomorrow to start transferring its cargo.

The dead calm conditions in Bedford Basin are a contrast to the wild seas the ship experienced when adrift without a rudder for a day and a half off Halifax.

 At pier 31 another tanker, Sloman Hermes lies idle, also possibly for repairs.
 

 A huge gangway has been deployed to the pier.

It is a smaller chemical tanker of 11,298 grt, 16,418 dwt, one of three sisters built in 2012 by Jiangzhou Union Shipbuilding in Rui Chang, China. It is owned by Sloman Neptun of Bremen, Germany ( http://www.sloman-neptun.com/ ) but operates in the large Navig8group under tanker pool Brizo8, a spot market pool that includes Songa and Schulte tankers - frequent callers in the Great Lakes.


Amongst all these tankers, the bulk carrier Green Phoenix got underway from Bedford Basin anchorage. It arrived Friday and had divers down earlier in the day.

HMCS Windsor (far right) was also anchored in the Basin today.

It was built in 2011 by Mitsui Ishihara Engineering + Shipbuilding in Japan, and measures 31,763 grt and 56,116 dwt. It is fitted with four neatly stowed cranes and operates for MMS Tokyo, flying the Panama flag.

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