More Cars

 Traditionally as spring returns, car sales increase and so do the numbers of European import cars arriving at Autoport. Even with the current economic uncertainty this year, there does seem to be the usual influx.

Today, March 12, saw two ships in succession at Autoport. MOL's Supreme Ace arrived early this morning and sailed early this afternoon. The Siem Confucious arrived in the afternoon and is due to sail this evening. The two ships did not meeet in the harbour as I expected, and the Siem Confucious waited outside the pilot station until the Supreme Ace had cleared.

The Foundation Pilot makes its way outbound as the Supreme Ace leaves Eastern Passage to swing into the main harbour.

Owned by Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan and operating under their Auto Carrier Express (ACE) fleet of about 110 ships, the Supreme Ace was built in 2011 by Minami Nippon, Shitanoe. The 59,022 gt, 18,834 dwt ship has a capacity of 6,183 small cars or 5,063 medium size or 4,425 large cars. It has the usual stern ramp and a smaller starboard side ramp.

 The ship is taking an unusual port rotation. Since leaving Kanda, Japan on January 30 it has stopped in Mazatlan, San Juan, New York and Baltimore (Dundalk). It is now headed for Brunswick, Georgia.

The second arrival was Siem Confucius, on charter to Volkswagen. It is the first of Siem's Super-Ecos, and was delivered by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry in 2020. It first called here in August 2021. The 72,090 gt, 19,090 VLPCTC (Very Large Pure Car and Truck Carrier) has a capacity of 7500 CEU, which works out to about 4800 vehicles of Volkswagen's normal mix. The ship has a 200 tonne capacity stern ramp, 45.1m long x14.94m wide and a 20 tonne capacity starboard side ramp 25m long x 7.7m wide. The ship uses LNG fuel, which is available at VW's home port of Emden.

 The ship was previously here on January 25 and has since called in Sparrows Point, and Veracruz. It sailed from Emden Febraury 27 and seems to have taken a long time to reach Halifax. Siem Car Carriers AS, an arm of the Norwegian Siem Group, operates five autocarriers. The parent copmany is also active in reefer and bulk shipping and offshore petroleum support.

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All Points Bulletin

 There was activity at almost every point in the harbour today, March 20.

Autoport had the Supreme Ace in from Emden (which means Volkswagen). The 59,022 gt, 18,334 dwt ship dates from 2011 when built by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe. It has a capacity of 6163 CEU and uses a 100 tonne capacity stern ramp and a smaller starboard side ramp.

MOL (Mitsui OSK Lines) operates under the ACE - Auto Carrier Express - name for its fleet of more than 100 autocarriers. It also has something like 375 dry bulkers, 195 tankers and a number of container, ferry and cruise ships. It is part of the Ocean Network Express pool of Japanese container ships.

Volkswagen and its owned brands such as Audi and Porsche, prefers to charter vessels instead of using common carriers such as Wallenius Wilhelmsen. This may allow for more control, but does not mitigate losses when one of their charters catches fire and sinks as the Felicity Ace did in February 2022. Several limited edition Porsches and Bentleys could never be replaced. The possible lithium-ion battery related fire could not be extinguished at sea and the vessel eventually sank with a reported 3,965 cars worth $400 million dollars on board. MOL valued the ship at $32.6 million and apparently has sued Porsche for the loss.

Across the harbour at PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub there were two ships working.

At Pier 42 it was MSC Shristi on the Canada Express 1 service en route from Sines, Portugal to Montreal. The ship started life as the Venice Bridge for K-Line, and used to call in Halifax in pre THE Alliance days (before 2016).

Venice Bridge arriving in Halifax February 15, 2010, followed by the ZIM New York.

Hyundai Ulsan built the 54,519 gt, 64,989 dwt ship in 2005, with a capacity of 4738 TEU including 374 reefers. In 2019 when ONE was formed, it was sold and renamed Baltic East and was swept up by MSC in 2020 becoming MSC Shristi.

Immediately astern under the big cranes at Pier 41 it was the first time caller CMA CGM Symi on the Ocean Alliance service.

The ship is one of the pioneering LNG powered container ships and has made the news several times as a result. Unfortunately it also made the news on November 24, 2023 when it was struck by a "suicide" drone in the Indian Ocean. Damage was not severe and there were no injuries.

Hyundai Samho delivered the ship in March 2022. It is a 150,844 gt, 159,614 dwt vessel with a capacity of 15,400 TEU. It is big, but not as big as the current Halifax record holder CMA CGM Marco Polo with a 16,020 TEU capacity.

The ship sailed from Los Angeles January 2 and made its way to Oakland, Kaohsiung, Nansha, Yantian, Singapore, Port Klang and Colombo on its usual route but then diverted to the southern route round the Cape of Good Hope to Tanger Med, Morocco arriving March 9. It then sailed directly for Halifax on March 11.

At Pier 9C (see yesterday's post) BBC Topaz was preparing to load by removing and stacking its hatch covers. More news on that ship in future posts.

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Famous Fog

 Halifax certainly lays no claim to be the foggiest port in eastern Canada (two other ports, which shall remain nameless here, may fight it out between them for the title*.) Never mind, there is often fog in Halifax in June, and if it is not within the port, it is lingering not far offshore and creeps in and out with the tide or the breezes.

Today, June 17, there were lingering traces for most of the day, but they held off enough so that arriving and departing ships were visible.

Among the arrivals was the auto carrier Supreme Ace. When it docked at Autoport the fog had pretty well lifted, but the undergrowth has sprung up to partly block the view.

By comparison. last August 8 when the ship was here, the undergrowth was shorter (and there was no fog).

    The ship was built in 2011 by Minami Nippon in Shitanoe, Japan. It is a 59,022 gt, 18,384 dwt vessel with a capacity quoted at 6,183 small cars, 5,063 medium cars or 4,425 large cars. As it was on its last visit the Supreme Ace is not following the usual trajectory for imports, but is eastbound from Houston, Veracruz, and Davisville, Rhode Island heading for Emden, Germany. Most of the major auto manufacturers build cars in Canada, and although most are exported to the United States, some are presumably exported to Europe.

Another arrival was the familiar MSC Tamara arriving from Sines, Portugal on the CANEX1 service from Italy for Montreal. The ship was delivered by Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co, Ningbo, China in 2008. With tonnages of 41,125 gt and 50,446 dwt, it has a capacity of 4254 TEU including 550 reefers.

The ship was in the clear by the time it reached the PSA Halifax Gateway terminal and tied up at Pier 42 to reduce draft for the St.Lawrence River. The ship certainly looked well laden. (Draft was reported as 12.3 meters / 40 feet 4 1/2 inches).

The early morning arrival at Pier 41 was still in port when the MSC Tamara arrived, but there was lots of room for the two ships, even though the other ship was the Ultra size CMA CGM Chile. Its 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt size and capacity of 15,072 TEU made it the largest container ship to call in Halifax when it began calling here in 2020. It has since been surpassed by the CMA CGM Marco Polo at 176,546 gt, 187,625 dwt and 16,020 TEU capacity.

On departure the ship was quickly swallowed up in the evening fog.

Cruise ship passengers on the Seven Seas Navigator may be in for an unpleasant night of it as high winds are predicted.  

The ship got away from Pier 20 and headed north about George's Island, which was still visible (the fog was still well offshore - that is MSC Tamara docking in the backgound.)

The story of the Seven Seas Navigator may be well known, but is worth repeating. Laid down in 1988 by the Admiralty Shipyard in St.Petersburg, USSR, it was to be the satellite tracking ship named Akademik Nikolay Pilyugin. It was launched in 1991 but not completed, and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises bought the ship as an unfinished hull. Mariotti Shipyard in Italy built a new superstructure and fitted it out as a cruise ship in 1999. It has a capacity of 490 passengers and a crew of 340.

The converison process also included fitting sponsons on the stern to improve the ships behaviour at sea. 

The ship is en route from Montreal, Quebec City, Port Alfred and Sydney to Hamilton, Bermuda. Its four planned calls in CornerBrook, NL in May and June have been cancelled due to lingering ice off the west coast of Newfoundland. 

 * Famous Fog

The Fourchu fog signal in Yarmouth set a record in July 1938 when it blew for a total of 498 1/2 hours out of the 744 total hours in 31 days (it blew 180 hours in 1936 and 457 hours in 1937). At one point it blew 121 hours straight (= 5 days 1 hour). The resident light keeper and others living in the immediate area must have had a ringing in their ears well into August.

I don't know what records are kept these days, but as most signlas are automated perhaps some computer somewhere logs the hours.

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Supreme Ace at Autoport

 The auto carrier Supreme Ace arrived today, August 8, from Emden, Germany. After a brief stop at anchorage (likely for Asian LDA moth examination by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency) the ship proceeded to Autoport.

 

Owned by Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan and operating under their Auto Carrier Express (ACE) fleet of about 110 ships, the Supreme Ace was built in 2011 by Minami Nippon, Shitanoe. The 59,022 gt, 18,834 dwt ship has a capacity of 6,183 small cars or 5,063 medium size or 4,425 large cars. 

The ship appears to be on a variation of the company's normal Atlantic service, so is perhpas servicing a large demand for Volkswagen. Its previous ports were Veracruz, Mexico Jun 24-26; Sparrows Point, MD July 1, Davisville, RI, July 3, then to Emden July 25-28.

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Back to Busy - amended

 

After yesterday's big visitor at PSA Halifax's Atlantic Hub, CMA CGM Magellan (13,880 TEU - sorry no photo) the facility was busy again today, with the Oceanex Connaigra in for Newfoundland cargo. While Oceanex Sanderling is in Amsterdam for refit the Connaigra provides RoRo service once every two weeks, as it alternates with Ocean Avalon (no RoRo) on the Montreal / St.John's and Halifax / St.John's routes. There were a lot of truck trailers waiting for the ship this time, in addition to the usual containers. [Oceanex is no longer showing a June 15 return to service of Oceanex Sanderling in its on-line schedule - it now shows July 8 as Voyage 1 from Halifax to St.John's.]

Oceanex carries 53 foot containers aboard ship - a very rare feature.

The PSA Atlantic Hub was also expecting the arrival of MSC Shanghai on an "unscheduled call", so they diverted the MSC Sao Paulo to Fairview Cove, now also under PSA management.

MSC Sao Paulo, built in 1998 by Hyundai, Ulsan, 53,324 gt, 63,537 dwt, has a capacity of 4688 TEU. It was built as CSAV Pyrenees and carried the name Pohang briefly in 2013 (under Laiesz ownership, the once famous "Flying P" line of square riggers) until adopting its current name. The ship serves MSC's Canada Express I service from Italy and is inbound from Gioia Tauro. After off loading some containers to reduce draft, it will head for Montreal. 

Whether these drop offs and top ups will move to Fairview Cove now that both terminals are under common management has not been announced. This may be a once only.

 

The other expected MSC ship arrived in late afternoon, and anchored for CFIA inspection. It is expected to move alongside early this evening.

 

MSC Shanghai was renamed just last year after nearly twenty years as ZIM Shanghai. (The ZIM banner is still visible on the ship's side. Built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2002 it is a 53,453 gt, 66,685 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4839 TEU. It arrived from Malaga, Spain, so may be a "sweeper" or an "extra" to meet added demand. The ship was once a regular caller in Halfax as ZIM Shanghai. See what it looked like June 18, 2011, here: Shipfax 2011

Amendment:The ship is apparenelt on the new service from Turkey and Greece.

 

 

PSA was not the only busy operator today, as Autoport was going full out. Morning Lena (see yesterday's post) sailed late this morning, and its place was taken almost immediately by Supreme Ace.

Supreme Ace took a big loop around number one anchorage to make room for Morning Lena (in the background) to clear Eastern Passage.

The ship was built in 2011 by Minami-Nippon in Shitane and is 59,022 gt, 18,384 dwt. In a reversal of the usual autocarrier routing it arrived from Davisville, RI and sailed for Emden, Germany. It took another loop through number one anchorage outbound to clear the MSC Shanghai.

 

At the same time it made a neat passing arrangement with Oceanex Connaigra which was on its way to occupy the Autoport berth.

 

As if that were not enough business for Autoport, another ship was "lurking" offshore waiting its turn. Lake Wanaka is due tomorrow.

 

Bonus Feature

Now for a complete change of pace: Today was moving day for Sackville, Canada's Naval War Memorial. Each year,  just before the Victoria Day weekend, Sackville moves from its winter berth at HMC Dockyard to Sackville Landing where it is open to the public in the summer. No longer self-propelled, the World War II corvette relies on Dockyard tugs to make the move, which usually involves a short "tour" of the harbour around George's Island.

CNAV Glenevis provided the power, and Listerville stood by for mooring as the last remaining World War II corvette made tthe annual move. Another Dockyard craft, YDT-325 Guardian accompanied the procession.

 

Also on the move this morning was the RCN sailing ketch HMCS Oriole.

 

It has the honour of being the oldest vessel in commission in the RCN (and the longest serving). Built in 1921 it also saw naval service in World War II. It was transferred back to Halifax from the west coast in 2018.

One Last Word

Today was the first really hot day this spring, with temperatures rocketing up to the 20s C (70s F). This brought out the "yachtsmen" - the bane of harbour pilots and other mariners.

The outbound tanker Algoscotia sounded five warning blasts, twice, to warn this sailor to clear the track, but I am not sure it did any good. The sailor blithely kept his course, coming about only after the tanker had passed by. 

Algoscotia had delivered a cargo from Imperial Oil's refinery in Nanticoke, ON. Nevertheless we will be paying world price for fuel at the pumps in Halifax: $190.9 / liter, but likely to go up again tomorrow.

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