Mostly Tankers - updated

Aside from tone container ship, and the mandatory autocarrier, there was a preponderance of tanker activity today.

Oregon Highway arrived with another load of autos. The K-Line ship dates from 2007 when it was built by Toyohashi Shipbuilding. At 57,147 grt, 17,699 dwt, it has a capacity of 6,135 cars.

The ship's last port of call was Portbury, UK and it is destined for Cristobal, Panama.

Imperial Oil wasted no time in sailing one ship and berthing another. Star I [ referred to as Star i , not Star one] sailed for Freeport, Bahamas.

It passed the inbound Kitikmeot W. at Middle Ground, which went directly to number 4 dock.

Kitikmeot W. appears to be shuttling from Montreal as is Algonorth, reducing the need for imported product. If so there is a chance it will be remaining under Canadian flag for the winter.

Meanwhile Kitikmeot W.'s sister ship Qikiqtaaluk W., which has been flagged out for the winter, is at pier 31 for repairs, but is expected to sail this afternoon evening. It has what was described as a "propulsion failure" after leaving Montreal December 23, and presumably another yesterday, when it had to be towed into port.

 Through fences and between poles, and over machinery - the fleeting glimpse of pier 31.

Trade to Cuba must be booming, as Melfi is bringing in larger ships all the time. Also the ships are gearless, indicating better container handling facilities in Mariel.

The lone container ship today is Artemis for Melfi Lines. The 26,358 gt, 34,439 dwt ship has a 2546 TEU capacity. Built by Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard, in Jiangyin, China in 2008 it has carried the names 08: TS Korea, 08: Artemis, and 17: Independent Venture and was renamed earlier this year under the management of Peter Doehle. It is due to sail later today.

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Early morning in Halifax harbour can be quite spectacular....

At 0800 hrs the sun began to show above some cloud behind Macnab's Island.

However it does make it nearly impossible to photograph inbound ships from the Halifax side of the harbour. Nevertheless I made an effort to catch Jennifer Schepers as it made its way to Halterm for ZIM. It is one of the line's two feeder ships that make a weekly run from Halifax to the Kingston, Jamaica hub to connect with other ZIM services.  

Distortion and refraction makes the ship's hull appear higher than it is.

Jennifer Schepers was launched in 2009 as Mistral Strait by Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding Company in Taizhou (part of the China Commerce Group.) It was immediately renamed BF Copocabana, and carried that name until 2016.  The 21,018 grt, 25,775 dwt ship can carry 1795 TEU (including 319 reefers) and carries a pair of 45 tonne cranes. In 2016 owners became HS Schiffahrts of Ems, Germany and the ship was renamed Jennifer Schepers. The Schepers family has operated in shipping since ca. 1858 when Capt. Heinrich Schepers acquired his first vessel. The fourth and fifth generations of the family run the concern today.
Earlier this year they combined with five other companies to jointly market their container feeders under the Arkon Allied Container (AAC) brand, but the owners remain independent.

 A construction crane is set up to work on the McAsphalt jetty adjacent to Autoport.

An earlier arrival was Wilhelm Wilhelmsen's Tiger at Autoport. Arriving before sunup, it required a trip to Dartmouth to catch the ship in more favourable light. The 74,255 gt, 30,140 dwt ship, built by Daewoo, Okpo in 2011 is a 7th generation autocarrier of the 7800 CEU class, but capacity is quoted as 7,934 cars.
 

Irving Willow pushes up on the bow to bring the tanker alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal with a cargo loaded in Amsterdam..

Staying with the large African feline theme, BW Lioness arrived with the sun behind it at Irving Oil, and could only be photographed decently from Dartmouth. It is a fairly typical tanker of 29,737 gt, 49,999 dwt, built in 2014 by SPP Shipbuilding Co in Geosong and originally named Elandra Lion.

It changed owners (and gender) in 2014 when the BW Group acquired ten product tankers from the Elandra Tankers fleet and in 2016 formed BW Tankers as a separate product tanker company within the BW Group, with financial partner PAG.

BW was formed in 2003 when World Wide Steamship Company (founded in the 1960s by Sir Yue-Kong Pao) acquired Bergeson d.y. ASA of Stavanger, Norway and formed Bergeson Word-Wide , abbreviated to BW. The result is a conglomerate of companies in tanker and drybulk shipping and offshore floating structures. BW Tankers alone has more than 50 product tankers, but the total BW fleet includes about 300 ships, many of which are crude oil and gas tankers operating in their own fleets such as BW LPG and BW LNG.

 The Bergeson Word-Wide initials are prominent on the funnel and hull stripe.

Early in 2019 a merger with Hafnia Tankers is expected to be finalized. Hafnia based in Denmark by former Torm exectives, has 37 product tankers in its fleet. The resulting 86 ship product tanker fleet will be one of the largest in the world. At the same time BW may be selling off its 15 chemical tankers.

BW's chemical and other tankers have green hulls. Bulkers and some product tankers have blue.

BW Osprey seen here on the St.Lawrence is one of 22 Medium Range (49,999 dwt) tankers in the fleet. The colours of the hull strip are reversed blue for green.

BW tankers are noted for their elaborate colour scheme, unlike many other tanker operators in the word. A case in point is Star I which arrived last night for Imperial Oil.

Star I , operated by Scorpio [see the recent takeover of Nordic American Offshore by Scorpio Offshore, thwarting Horizon Offshore's bid] , is a 23,248 gt, 37,900 dwt product tanker from Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan. Built in 2007 as Alcor for Turkish operators, it was renamed in 2013. The ship has been in Halifax several times since 2015 bringing in refined product for Irving Oil and for Imperial Oil. On this trip its last port is given as Baton Rouge, LA.


 
 

Seeing Stars

The tanker Star N arrived September 23 as previously noted, and moved to Imperial Oil dock 4 to unload on September 24.

Star N at Imperial Oil dock 4 has offloaded its cargo from Milford Haven is preparing to sail this evening..

Then on September 25 the tanker Star I arrived for Irving Oil. Not only do the ships have similar names, but their tonnages are almost identical and they were built by the same shipyard, but two years apart.

Star I is unloading its cargo from Amsterdam at Irving Oil.

Star N dates from 2009 when it was built as Mekong Star by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan and measures 23,312 grt, 37,836 dwt. It was renamed in 2013. It is a MidRange 1 chemical / products tanker.
Star I was built as Acor by the same yard in 2007, and measures 23,348 grt, 37,900 dwt, and was also renamed in 2013.

That is apparently where the similarities end. Star N is registered in Panama by Alkmene Shipping Corp (likely based in Greece) and is under Navios Tankers Management Inc of Piraeus, Greece.
Star I flies the Maltese flag for Star Transportation LLC, and  is chartered to Scorpio Tankers Inc of Monaco (and other principal ports) until March 2019. (It was previously in Halifax in October, 2015, then under Turkish ownership.)

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Full House container traffic, not to mention more cars and product tankers

There were four container ships in port on Saturday and three more on Sunday, making for a very full house.

Saturday's arrivals for Fairview Cove were Herma P for Hapag-Lloyd on the G-6 service and Atlantic Compass for ACL.

The big Lift project, to replace the roadway of the Angus L. Macdonald bridge got underway on Saturday, with the first old section lowered to a barge and continued on Sunday with the raising of the first new section. In all 46 sections will be replaced in this way, working across the centre span of the bridge. There were no ship traffic restrictions this weekend (except the cautionary for ships to make a low wake in the area). As the project continues however, there will be over night stoppages for harbour traffic. The process of roadway replacement will take until 2017 and will be done in this way to allow for normal bridge traffic during the day.

 The first new section of roadway was lifted into place on Sunday. It was hoisted from a barge by the yellow gantry unit.

See also Tugfax: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2015/10/big-lift-small-tugs.html


Meanwhile on Saturday at Halterm EM Kea (under charter to CMA CGM) made another call for the Maersk /CMA CGM transatlantic service. First time caller UASC Zamzam called on the other CMA CGM far east service operated jointly with United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) and China Shipping Container Line (CSCL) called Ocean Three.

 UASC Zamzam was here for the first time. Renamed this year from Asiatic Summer it is a 94,784 grt, 112,171 dwt ship with a capacity of 9034 TEU - the largest yet to visit Halifax. It flies the Singapore flag for owners Asiatic Lloyd and was built in 2014 by Hyundai Samho.
It arrived and sailed in the dark.
 
 On Sunday Fairview Cove was full again with NYK Demeter and NYK Rumina  Halterm had 'only' Berlin Express on its east bound call. [The later ship has eluded my camera on several occasions, including today.]

 
Autoport was chock a block once again, with Pleiades Spirit on Saturday, Grande Napoli early Sunday and Hoegh Bangkok later, staying until Monday.

Pleiades Spirit was built in 2008 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding and measures 60,330 grt, 17,424 dwt. It is owned by Mizuho Sangyo and flies the flag of Panama. It is operated by World Wide Marine but its commercial activities are managed by Nissan.

Product tanker traffic was busy too, with BW Panther arriving Friday, STI Seneca sailing Saturday, via anchorage, and Star I  arriving Sunday.

STI Seneca stopped at anchorage for a few hours to pump out something into containment units on a Dominion Diving barge, with tug Roseway in attendance.

Diehards got in some of their last sailing on Saturday as BW Panther  occupies number 4 berth and Algoma Dartmouth uses number 3 berth at Imperial Oil.

BW Panther was launched by SPP Shipbuilding Co of Goseong, South Korea in 2014 as Elandra Panther, but was renamed on delivery to BW Maritime of Singapore. It has typical handysize dimensions of 29,737 grt, 49,999 dwt.

If that wasn't enough the offshore supply boats seemed to be busy with all three Shell charters gearing up for work, as the drill ship Stena Icemax is finally on its way toward the Shelburne Basin to begin drilling for Shell Oil. The ship is off Florida now and will be in position in a few days. It not expected to call in Halifax.

See also Tugfax for more on the suppliers.

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