Catch Up Day

 It was unusually busy in the Port of Halifax today, December 27. There were several reasons for this, including improved weather and the end of the Christmas break (not for ships and terminals,but for truck traffic). Ships had been holding off shore to avoid the recent high winds and others scheduled arrivals to avoid overtime / holiday pay for longshore workers.

Although the weather was benign here (cloudy with snow showers, no appreciable wind, temperature around or above Zero C) the weather inland as far as the US mid-west has had a major impact on rail traffic. A derailment at Grafton, ON, December 24, blamed on a faulty switch, but in the midst of a snow strom blocked the CN main line between Montreal and Toronto. The derailed train was number 121, out of Halifax with a lot of international containers and intermodal boxes bound for Toronto, Detroit and beyond as far as Chicago. With the line blocked, train traffic bound for Halifax has been held in Toronto and west.

It was also an unusual day, with four ships calling in Halifax for the first time (to my knowledge).

At Autoport the Eukor carrier Morning Charlotte arrived from Goteborg and other European ports.

A flotilla of Mallard ducks wintering over in ice-free Halifax, took off en masse when I arrived.

The 61,002 gt, 22,362 dwt ship was built in 2007 by Imabari Zosen in Marugame, Japan. It has a capacity of 6502 CEU and is operating on Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic service.

It is also unusual to have two autocariers in port at the same time, but the second arrival headed for Pier 9C first to offload heavy machinery and other RoRo cargo. Talia carries a Wilhelmsen name and is also operating for Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean. It will move to Autoport tomorrow after Morning Charlotte leaves.

Talia glides through the Narrows to Bedford Basin with the tugs Atlantic Fir (forward) and Atlantic Oak (aft).

Once in the Basin the ship begins a wide "U- turn" and returns to the Narrrows.

 

The ship must berth starboard side to the dock at Pier 9C.

 

 Talia is a 57,692 gt, 21,021 dwt ship with a capacity of 6500 RT43 autos and is equipped with a 150 tonne capacity stern ramp. It was built by Stocznia Gdynia in 2006.

 

 

PSA Halifax's Atlantic Hub hosted two ships today, both first time callers.  ZIM China is a newcomer on ZIM's ZCA service.It tied up at Pier 42.

Built in 2008 by Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry in Geoje, South Korea, it is a 40,487 gt, 51,733 dwt ship with a capacity of 4275 TEU. It carried the name Hanjin Kenya from 2008 to 2017 then after a brief spell as Seaspan Kenya it became ALS Fauna later in 2017. It became ZIM China as of April 1, 2022.

 

Later in the morning it was joined at Pier 41 by MSC Margarita a 67,466 gt, 67,644 dwt ship with a capacity of 5770 TEU including 632 reefers. It was also built by Samsung SB + HI, Geoje.

The ship was originally named Santa Virginia, but was renamed OOCL Thailand on delivery. It became Santa Virginia again in 2009 then Cap Verde in 2010 and Santa Virginia again in 2013. It was renamed MSC Margarita in 2014. It is now operating on MSC's Turkey / Greece to East Coast North America service.

Another caller, which arrived yesterday, is certainly not a first timer, but is a regular for Irving Oil. East Coast discharged product at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal then this morning shifted to Imperial Oil's number 3 dock.

The various competing oil companies in easternn Canada make transfers to meet demands, so it it is not unheard of to see an Irving Oil tanker at Imperial Oil. This is the second time I know of that it has happened in 2022. Product from Suncor in Montreal and Valero in Lévis also arrive at Imperial Oil's depot from time to time.

While observing the ship from afar (that is from Halifax) it appears that two of Imperial's mooring buoys have been brought ashore. This could be regular maintenance or the result of storm damage. Imperial has upgraded the moorings at number 3 dock to withstand heavier weather, but it is still an exposed location and ships frequently move off the dock in times of high winds.

Two red and white buoys can be seen under the bow of the ship and a couple of backhoes seeem to be working in the area too.(Apologies for the out of focus view - too far for my camera.)

.

A sub and more cars

The absence of a submarine in Halifax harbour for many months was broken for a short spell yesterday and today as HNLMS Zeeleeuw [Sea Lion] put in for a brief visit. One of four Walrus class subs of the Dutch navy it has been in commission since 1990.

An RCN sailor stands by to pipe a salute as the pup tug Granville turns the sub off the pier. 

The civilian tug Atlantic Willow did the work of "lifting" the sub away from the jetty.

 

HNLMS Zeeleeuw underway for sea.

The Dutch diesel electric subs have been instrumental in numerous intelligence gathering operations and have been deployed in anti-piracy operations.


Our own local submarine HMCS Windsor (all the others are on the west coast) has been invisible for many months. However it was announced last week that the RCN will keep the subs for another decade or more, which will mean many billions in refits to extend their life expectancy from 2020 to the 2030s. New subs will then not be needed until the frigate program is complete.

A much more common sight in Halifax is car boats - love' em or hate' em they are a fact of life, and their daily (or more frequent) arrivals and departures create lots of work for pilots, tug crews and longshoremen. 

 Talia has rounded Indian Point headed for Ives Knoll- at the north end of Macnab's Island. 

Note the ship's sloping forepeak, which improves visibility forward, but also improves areodynamics.

Talia arrived this morning and sailed late afternoon. A  57,692 grt, 21.021 dwt ship, built in 2006 by Gdynia Shipyard in Poland, the ship is owned by Ray Car Carriers and is on long term charter to Wilhelmsen Lines. Although auto carriers look alike, there are subtle differences in appearance and size.

From nearly broadside, the ship's immense size becomes apparent - it has a capacity in excess of 6,500 cars. The tug Spitfire III follows the ship outbound for its next assignment (see below)

As Talia left, the next Autoport customer was arriving. Viking Queen is a new name for ship that has been in service for nearly ten years. Built as Hoegh Delhi by Uljanik Shipyard in Pula, Croatia, the 55, 775 grt, 16,890- dwt ship was renamed earlier this year, reflecting an ownership change that took place in 2014. Current owners are listed as Gram Car Carriers Holdings, but the original owners were Viking Car Carriers, so this might have been an internal transfer rather than an actual sale. Nevertheless it is unusual for car carriers to change names.

Viking Queen has a slightly more conventional appearance, and somewhat smaller tonnage, but can still carry 7,000 cars.Tug Spitfire III has made up aft and Atlantic Oak moves in forward, to assist the ship to Autoport.

.

Long Weekend Roundup

Thanks to an interruption of internet service from March 23 to 28, I was unable to post my usual weekend round up until now. Here are the highlights on a better late than never basis:

The Atlantic RoRo Carriers ship Warnow Star made its first Halifax call on Good Friday March 25, no doubt discharging Its usual cargo of  depleted radioactive material. ARRCC ships usually make only a brief call of a few hours, but this time it remained over night and sailed on Saturday.

After leaving Fairview Cove Warnow Star lines up for the MacKay bridge on a windy morning.

The ship was built in 2010 by Zhejiang Ouhu Shipbuilding Co in Zhoushan, China and carries four 60 tonne cranes. It measures 22,863 grt, 33,150 dwt. It is a sister of Warnow Sun that was in port February 28-29, but for some reason is not listed on the Atlantic RoRo Carriers web site, nor does it appear to be owned by ARRC of Hoboken, NJ, but by Atlantic Ship Manangerment of Odessa, Ukraine.
As I mentioned before the Warnow name comes from Warnowerft yard in Warnemunde were ARCC's Astrakhan class RoRos were built.[see below for more Warnow.]


A rare visit of a bulk carrier took place on Saturday March 26. JS Missouri was on its way to Baie-Comeau and stopped in for bunkers.  The ship will be loading grain in Baie-Comeau and the crew was busy cleaning and airing the holds, so the ship arrived looking a bit like an accordion as the hatch covers were cracked open.

JS Missouri strides in to port with anchor ready to let go, and hatches ajar.

The 35,812 grt, 63,500 dwt bulker came from the Yangzhou Dayang shipyard in Yangzhou, China in 2013. It flies the Singapore flag for Greenship Bulk Manager Pte Ltd of the same port. Sister ship JS Sanaga called in Sheet Harbour March 15.


Also a rare sight these days is an Indian flagged ship. The tanker Swarna Mala is a typical handysize product tanker built by STX in Jinhae, South Korea. It was laid down for Greek owners as Zefiros,  but SCI purchased it "on the stocks" and it was launched and delivered as Swarna Mala.

The ship's typical handysize measurements are 29,993 grt, 51,196 dwt.

It has been a long time since the bicycle wheel funnel mark has been seen in this port.


The Shipping Corporation of India was once a frequent caller in the general cargo ship days, and operated its own cargo liner route under the Scindia label. The ships all had names begining with "Jala".
 

Jalamani was built in 1970 by VEB Warnowerft in Warnemunde, East Germany It carried one 60 ton jumbo derrick and sixteen 10 ton derricks on bi-pod masts. It measured  9556 grt, 13814 dwt and was broken up in Calcutta in October 1986. It is shown at what is now navy pier Bravo, but was then a National Harbours Board pier in the spring of 1971.


Back from mid-life refit at the Davie Quebec yard, CCGS Earl Grey was tied up at BIO on Easter Sunday.

Earl Grey joins Louis St-Laurent at BIO, filling up available pier space.

 

The Canadian Coast Guard is planning a major Search and Rescue exercise off Nova Scotia this week and CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell came in from Newfoundland to participate. There was no room at BIO so it tied up at pier 9A.

 Sir Wilfred Grenfell at pier 9A this afternoon.

The Newfoundland based Teleost was also in Halifax recently as was the Cape Roger.

Teleost sailed on Friday March 25.

Arriving Easter Sunday morning, Wilhelmsen's Talia proceeded directly to Autoport. However Autoport is so full of new cars that unloading took much longer than normal as each car had to be driven a much greater distance to a remote storage facility. Demand for cars is so high in Canada (with low interest rates and lengthy payment periods) that it is hard to keep up with demand.

CN which owns and operates Autoport and also provides the rail service to move the cars inland has had some weather challenges this winter, but it is more  the shear volume of imports that is stretching their ability to move the cars out.

Talia dates from 2006 when it was built by Gdynia Shipyard in Poland. Its capacity is listed as 6,658 cars in Lloyd's but 6500 on Wilhelmsen's site. Its gross tonnage is 57,692 and deadweight tonnage is 21,021.

Talia was finally able to sail Tuesday afternoon March 29 - surely a lengthy stay! It will be followed almost immediately by Manon with more of the same.

.

Talia from Autoport

Even at this time of year autocarriers arrive too early in the morning for good photos from my normal vantage points. So it was with Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Talia, which took its pilot at 05:30 this morning. It finished its work at Autoport about 11:30 and was thus outbound at 12:20- with a high overhead sun. Still less than ideal, but a photo must be taken!

Talia outbound for Davisville, RI. It arrived earlier from Emden.

 Talia has a capacity of 6500 autos, and has four hoistable car decks, allowing it to carry trucks and other high vehicles.It is on long term charter to Wallenius Wilhelmsen by Ray Car Carriers, of Douglas Isle of Man, and is operated by Stamco Ship Management of Piraeus, Greece. With all that said, it flies the Bahamas flag.
It was built in 2006 in Gdynia, Poland and measures 57,692 gross tons.

.