Pier 9 activity

 In yesterday's post ( March 17 ) I noted the activity at Pier 9C where the Asian Empire sailed after delivering RoRo cargo, and Algoscotia moved from Imperial Oil to Pier 9C. The latter ship, on its usual route from Halifax to Sydney, NS and other ports such as Corner Brook and Sept-Iles delivering refined oil products, would not normally have a reason to go the Pier 9C, since that pier has no bulk liquid cargo facilities, and at present is nearly full of RoRo and wind farm tower sections.

 This time however the ship was met by at least two tank trucks from GHL Inc, a Transforce / TFI International company based in Anjou, QC. That is quite near Imperial Oil's Montreal East refinery, so they were likely carrying some product most likely MDO (Marine Diesel Oil) to refuel the ship itself.

The ship was flying a red warning flag from the foremast (along with the Algoma company flag) to indicate it was working flammable material. Since there is no longer a bunkering barge in the port, ships rarely refuel here, but when they do it is usually with product from Irving Oil - a competitor of Imperial, and delivered by truck, usually to Pier 27-28. 

At Pier 9B another Thorco ship, this time Thorco Liva, completed taking on cable racks and sailed this afternoon for Portsmouth, NH to load subsea fibreoptic cable direct from the SubCom factory in suburban Newington.

 

The ship arrived March 11 and loaded the racks in sections, which were then assembled in the ship's hold with the assistance of its own cranes. The ship, and several of its fleet mates have called here many times before, always to load the single use racks. What becomes of the racks after the cable is delivered is a mystery - they never seem to come back.
 

Thorco Liva arriving March 11.

 Built in 2012 by the family-owned Honda Shipyard in Saiki, Japan, Thorco Liva is a 13,110 gt, 16,901 dwt ship. It is fitted with portable pontoon tween decks and a pair of 50 tonne SWL capacity cranes.

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One Place

 With my usual observation position unavailable today June 1, (see yesterday's post -  Point Pleasant Park is closed due to fire hazard) I positioned myself instead on the Halifax waterfront boardwalk at the foot of Salter Street. From there I was able to see most of this morning's activities in the port.

The ConRo Oceanex Sanderling arrived last evening on its weekly trip from St.John's and anchored in the inner harbour.

As soon as ONE Hawk cleared the berth at Pier 41 this morning, the Oceanex Sanderling moved in to use the stern ramp.

The shipping press has commented recently on the dearth of new ConRo ships these days. Ships built being either LoLo CONtainer ships or RoRo for wheeled freight and containers on chassis. Despite being built in 1977, the Oceanex Sanderling is good for years to come, and with its St.Lawrence River fleet mate Oceanex Connaigra (built in 2013 and also a ConRo) continue to be highly useful.

At anchor nearby was the bulk / cargo Thorco Liva. The ship has been here several times before to load steel frames to carry fibreoptic cable. In 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021, after loading the frames, it sailed for Portsmouth, NH to load the cable. This time however the ship is coming back from that direction having recently also been in Baltimore (home port to many cable ships), Portsmouth and Boston. There has been a major transatlantic cable project in Boston harbour.

Built in 2012 by the little known Honda Heavy Industries of Saiki, Japan, the 13,110 grt, 16,901 dwt, the Thorco Liva is a two hold ship with a pair of 50 tonne SWL cranes. It carried the name St.Nicholas briefly between 2021 and 2022. Thorco Projects of Hellerup, Denmark had seven "L" class ships in its fleet, all from the same yard, and all with typically Japanese fine-lined hulls and austere superstructures. 

On earlier visits, the Thorco Liva displayed the copmany name on the hull, but that has now been painted over.

It was announced last week that Thorco Projects and its 44 ship fleet has been acquired by the fellow Danish "blue chip" company NORDEN, which operates 542 ships. Among NORDEN's interests is the Norient product tanker pool, operated jointly with Interorient Navigation Co Ltd. Both NORDEN (formerly D/S Norden) and Thorco are following the current trend of being "asset light". In other words they actually own few if any ships, and instead charter in the tonnage they might need.

There was one sailing this morning from the IEL Dock, and that was the "fall pipe" ship Flintstone which arrived during the night. The ship is operated by DEME, the same operators as the crane ship Orion that dominated the skyline last week.

Built in 2011 by Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore the 21,710 gt, 19,558 dwt ship is used to bury pipelines and carries out other seabottom chores using a fall pipe to drop aggregates in precise locations using dynamic positioning. It has recently been shuttling between Bayside, NB, where it loaded gravel, and the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts. It deposited the 3 inch to 5 inch diameter gravel as a filter layer on the sea floor in preparation for the placement of wind turbine towers. With its part of the  work completed the ship sailed at noon for El Ferrol, Spain.

The IEL dock in Dartmouth is the staging area for some of the wind tower work. See previous posts for more on that work. Blades for the turbines are under construction in Gaspé, QC and the ship Rolldock Sky is currently in port there loading the first of the vanes.

As the Flintstone sailed it met the incoming tanker Minerva Oceania, which was bound for an anchorage. The tanker came in west of George's Island, giving the Flintstone a wide berth. Some pleasure craft in the harbour made way for the tanker.

 

The amphibious Harbour Hopper 5 also kept well clear on one of its many tours.

The Minerva Oceania, the former Sapphire Express to 2015, dates from 2009 when delivered by Onomichi Zosen, Onomichi, Japan. The 26,934 gt, 47,402 dwt ship has refined petroleum product from Amsterdam for Irving Oil. It will wait to unload until the company's Canadian flag tanker East Coast, which is due today, delivers its cargo.

As the Minerva Oceania passed George's Island, a large contingent of school children set up an ear splitting unison holler from the shore. The sound actually echoed off the hull of the ship. As school kids from time immemorial have arm-signaled for truck drivers to honk their air horns, this was a similar, but vocal, gesture. The obliging harbour pilot or ship's captain, replied with a good 5 second or more response on the ship's horn. I have never observed a similar incident in Halifax harbour. "Captain's salutes" are common on the Great Lakes and along the St.Lawrence Seaway where ships are often very close to shore. 

Footnote:

 As explained in yesterday's post, the slight hazy look to today's photos is due to smoke from forest fires. The onshore wind has pushed most of the smoke away, but some still persists.

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Thorco Liva Returns

 The multi-purpose general cargo ship Thorco Liva is back in Halifax.  By my count this is the ship's fourth visit since 2016, and for the same reason. On first arriving early this morning the ship anchored for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection. When cleared after a few hours it proceeded to its berth.

The Thorco Liva makes a near ghostly advance in the Narrows to Pier 9C as a little morning fog lingers.

Built in 2012 by the family-owned Honda Shipyard in Saiki, Japan, Thorco Liva is a 13,110 gt, 16,901 dwt ship. It is fitted with portable pontoon tween decks and a pair of 50 tonne capacity cranes. Danish owner Thorco Projects operates more than seventy ships for heavy lifts, oversize and irregular shaped cargoes. The fleet includes seven of these "L" class ships, and sisters Thorco Luna , Thorco Logic and Thorco Logos have also called here for the same purpose.

At Pier 9C the ship will be installing prefabricated steel racks to carry fibreoptic cable. It will likely then proceed to Newington, NH to load the cable as it has done on the three previous visits. Each of those visits was noted in this blog:

 Fall 2016

January 2017 

January 2019

Weather Bump

Always a factor at this time of year, weather will have a bearing on shipping activity Sunday January 20, as storm passes up the Bay of Fundy, with snow and or rain and high winds.

One ship will be leaving port because of the storm. Thorco Liva, which has been anchored in a very light condition in Bedford Basin since January 8 will put to sea to ride out the weather. During the last day of high winds, January 9, the ship dragged anchor at least twice and had to take a pilot to re-anchor. The ship will sail at 0700 hrs Sunday morning.

Photo taken one week ago shows very placid conditions - unlike what is expected in the next 24 hours.

The Irving Oil tanker East Coast is scheduled to sail at 1015 hrs Sunday, but that is tentative. It is docked at Imperial Oil, and will have to leave that dock if conditions get rough, and would likely then anchor in the harbour.

Among the arrivals scheduled for Sunday is Salarium at 0500. After discharging a cargo of salt in Saint John during the week it is en route back to the Magdalen Islands. It also anchored in Halifax during the last storm on January 1.

Maersk Penanag arriving from Montreal is due at 1615.

Algoma Integrity is due at 1900. The plan is to anchor until the storm has blown itself out, then take on a load of gypsum.

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Acivity north and south

There was activity at both ends of the harbour today.

In south end off Halterm, McNally Marine began to mobilize for its dredging contract. The tugs Mister Joe and J.F.Whalen moved the Derrick No.3 into position off the end of pier 42. One of the mud scows has also been moved from pier 9 to pier 23, which will be the operational base for the work.

The dredging is the first phase of the pier extension and is expected to take at least two months. A second phase is to build the concrete cribs that will be sunk in position to form the pier.

Rounding Ives Knoll in the southend the autocarier Siem Cicero headed inbound for Autoport.

The tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Larch shepherd the ship around Ives Point.

(Atlantic Larch is temporarily assigned to Halifax while Atlantic Bear is in Saint John assisting with the LNG tanker Pan Europe.)

The ship has been calling here since its maiden voyage. See Shipfax July 21, 2017
With a capacity of 7,000 cars,  it is one of the larger autocarriers.

Moving from the southend piers to anchor in Bedford Basin, Onego Rio passed in and out of the late afternoon shadows from waterfront buildings.

The ship arrived January 6 and unloaded a cargo of rails at pier 27. This what I said in my January 7 post:

 " Onego Rio  is a 7576 grt, 10,300 dwt ship built in 2003 by Damen Okean in Mykolayiv, Ukraine. It carries a pair of 80 tonne capacity cranes."

Since there is no severe weather in the immediate forecast, the ship is likely waiting for orders. 

 

It will join another ship that is waiting for orders, although the orders may be well known:

Thorco Liva rests at anchor in a very frigid Bedford Basin Sunday morning.

Thorco Liva will likely be heading for Newington, NH to load fibreoptic cable, and is just waiting for the a date to be there.

At pier 9C in the north end, beside the usual crop of suppliers, Trinity Sea at 9C and Horizon Enabler fueling at 9, the tug Atlantic Enterprise appears to be getting some repair work to a window in its winch house. A piece of plywood has been hastily applied.

Atlantic Enterprise picked up a coating of frozen spray on its trip up from New Jersey, and perhaps a broken window in its winch control house.

For more on the tug, see: Tugfax January 13

What its role will be in the Yantian Express is a bit of a mystery. SMIT has dispatched another tug from Rotterdam. Sovereign is due at the ship Tuesday, joining fleet mate SMIT Nicobar and Maersk Mobiliser. Sovereign is well equipped for fire fighting with dual water/foam monitors.

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Cinnamon and some weather

Normally thought of as a spice, cinnamon is also a colour, and that is why this particular ship carries the name it does. Like all ships in the Canfornav fleet, it is named for a species of duck, and the Cinnamon Teal has a cinnamon coloured body.

RST trucks provided bunker fuel to the Cinnamon at pier 9C south today. Note the rain water pouring out of the stern scuppers. Not so evident is the wind blasting down through the Narrows.

Built by the Wuhu Shipyard in China in 2003, Cinnamon is a geared bulker of 18,311 gt, 26,737 dwt and carries three 40 tonne cranes. Its last port of call was Bécancour, QC, where it unloaded a bulk cargo, and it is now in ballast. It anchored off Halifax yesterday but came into port in the evening to get ahead of high winds. Bunkering from trucks began today. RST, a J.D.Irving trucking company, delivered the fuel.

Cinnamon is part of the 40 ship fleet of the Montreal based Canadian Forest Navigation. Founded in 1976 the company has a long standing agreement with Navarone S.A. of Greece to  operate the ships, and most are registered in Cyprus.

Canfornav is privately owned, and is "dedicated to serving the St.Lawrence and Great Lakes" according to the company's website. Since 2000 it has been building progressively larger ships - some of which are too large for the Seaway, while also renewing its Seawaymax bulkers.  Traditionally it has chartered all its ships, but has begun to take up ownership of some ships, including buying some of the previously chartered vessels.

Cinnamon is one of five ships of the 26,000 dwt class, the smallest in the fleet. Most ships are in the 30,000 to 37,000 dwt size but is also has five 57,000 tonners and two 64,000 tonners.

The company's interest in ducks is not limited to naming their ships. They have also supported Ducks Unlimited and purchased a three island sanctuary area in the St.Lawrence River called Batture-aux-Loups-Marins (Sewolf Flats) off l'Islet. It is home to eiders, night herons and other species, and is a resting spot for large numbers of sandpipers and snow geese during spring and fall migration.

Weather Footnote:

Cinnamon docked at pier 9C south, at the berth previously occupied by Thorco Liva. That ship went out to anchor in Bedford Basin last evening, but was found to be dragging its anchor a couple of times today in the very high winds. Pilots were sent out to re-anchor ship early this morning and again early this afternoon.

Those winds have also caused delays in port activity. The economically named tanker Pag from Saint John for Irving Woodside has been holding off port as have Bomar Rebecca and YM Modesty. Pilotage operations were suspended for today and tonight and will be reviewed in the morning.

The only arrival has been Oceanex Sanderling which is self-piloted, so there was no need to board a pilot in dangerous sea conditions.

There are a couple of other arrivals scheduled for tomorrow that might have arrived today had conditions permitted.

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Break Bulk - and a throw back.

Non-containerized cargo at Port of Halifax facilities has been dropping steadily over the past several years, and is down to about 370,000 tonnes - below 2013 levels. [Cargo handled by National Gypsum, the oil terminals and Autoport are not included in that number.]

Therefore it was most unusual to see four non-container ships working at Port of Halifax piers today.

From  north to south:

CLI Pride carries a pair of 60 tonne cranes, and a large yellow spreader stowed forward athwartships.

CLI Pride was tucked in at Fairview Cove, and must have discharged its project cargo quickly. The 7138gt, 7821 dwt ship dates from 2011 when it was built by Dongfang Shipbuilding Group in Yueqing, China as Brielle. It became BBC Luanda in 2014 and took its present name in August last.
The ship arrived off Halifax Sunday from Rotterdam, and is returning to the same port. I am not envious of the return trip across the Atlantic in ballast in a relatively small ship.
The ship was in  Montreal as recently as the end of October. It was also on the Great Lakes in July under its previous name.

Crew members check the lashings on a pleasure craft stowed in its cradle on deck.

 It took an extra wide angle lens to squeeze Danzigergracht into one photo at Pier 9 c. As with many Spliethoff ships it has several pleasure craft on deck as part of their regular yacht delivery service from Europe to the Caribbean. However that was not the reason for the ship's call here. To the bottom right of the photo are the tips of three wind turbine blades that the ship offloaded this morning.
They would have been carried below deck and are as long as the space between the middle crane and the ship's bridge.
Built in 2009 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, China, the 13,558 gt, 18,143 dwt ship has three 120 tonne capacity cranes and is specialized for heavy lift and project cargoes, but can also carry sensitive cargoes such as paper products.

Work continues on Thorco Liva at Pier 9c.

Although not carrying cargo, work continues in the holds of Thorco Liva. If its past visits to Halifax in 2016 -2017 are any indication, it is related to carrying fibreoptic cable. It is also multi-purpose ship, capable of heavy lifting. It was built in 2012 by Honda Heavy Industries in Saiki, Japan, rated at 13,110 gt, 16,901 dwt and fitted with a pair of 50 tonne cranes.

And at pier 27 there is another ship of the same type. Regrettably no photos are possible, but Onego Rio  is a 7576 grt, 10,300 dwt ship built in 2003 by Damen Okean in Mykolayiv, Ukraine. It carries a pair of 80 tonne capacity cranes, which it is using to discharge a cargo of rails for CN.

Throwback
The recent news about the Yantian Express* fire noted that the ship Happy Ranger was standing by the to assist if needed. When the tug Smit Nicobar arrived,  Happy Ranger was relieved, and continued its journey from Abidjan, Ivory Coast to Trois-Rivières, QC. 

The ship visited Halifax only twice as far as I can recall, and on its first visit it loaded a very unusual cargo.

As part of the development of the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP), the accommodation structures for the Thebaud field were fabricated in Dartmouth and Halifax. The ship used its 400 tonne cranes to load the blocks. They were then taken to Teeside, UK where they were mounted on the bases, then transported back to the Thebaud field for installation. 

Now twenty years after the first gas flowed, the project is being decommissioned, the structures will be removed and taken to Europe to be scrapped.

The ship was built by Schelde SNB, Flushing in 1998 and measures 10,990 gt, 12,950 dwt. Owner Mammoet is a division of Spliethoff's.


* Footnote
I am irritated by "the media's" continual mis-pronunciation of the name Yantian Express. Named for a city in China, the spelling should accurately indicate how it is to be pronounced. It is not "yan-TAIN" please! 

Just to give a sense of why HAPAG-Lloyd named a ship after Yantian - the Yantian International Container Terminals has an 8km long waterfront, equipped with 70 container cranes and had a throughput of 78.3mn TEU in 2013. (Halifax will likely squeak past 500,000 TEU again for 2018).

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Ringing in the New Year

There was harbour activity on January 1 despite blinding snow, later turning to rain, and more activity January 2.
Note: black bordered photos are form the Shipfax archive. Borderless photos are usually "fresh".

 Atlantic Tern

The offshore standby vessel Atlantic Tern had the distinction of being the first arrival of 2019. It was returning from its duties at Deep Panuke. The Encana facility stopped producing gas in May 2018 and is now in the dismantling process.  Fleet mate Atlantic Condor was built at Halifax Shipyard in 2010 for a ten year renewable contract as supply vessel for the troubled gas project.

 Atlantic Tern has a rough job standing by off Sable Island for a month at a time.

The other offshore gas producer, Sable Offshore Energy made the surprising announcement that it is halting production this week - one year earlier than planned. The Exxon Mobil lead project (with Shell, Imperial, Pengrowth and Mosbacher) came on line in 1999. It is also in a dismantling process.

Salarium

Heard but not seen for its arrival January 1 was the bulker Salarium. The ship arrived in very restricted visibility but its "fog horn" could be heard until it was secured at anchor in the lower harbour. Returning from Saint John, NB, where it had unloaded a cargo of road salt, the ship is en route to its loading port in the Magdalen Islands. Its stay in Halifax was brief, sailing again this morning less than 24 hours after arriving. Its visit was to shelter from very high winds last night. With the ship in ballast, it would not only be uncomfortable, but potentially dangerous at sea.

The ship was built for Great Lakes trade with limited seagoing and is restricted to Canadian waters south of 52 degrees latitude, and is permitted to go to St.John's, NL and "the eastern seaboard of Canada." which includes Halifax, Saint John. NB and the St.Croix River to Bayside, NB.

When laid down by the Collingwood Shipyard, it was with the intention of naming it "Gleneagles" reviving a traditional CSL name. However it was launched as Nanticoke, named for a new Stelco steel mill built near the town of the same name, on Lake Erie. CSL had long standing  contracts to deliver iron ore to Stelco and it was a fitting choice. (The plant was located on Lake Erie, which allowed it to receive iron ore from upper lakes ports without having to send ships down through the Welland Canal to Hamilton.) A nearby coal fired generating plant provided power for the mill (until it was closed in 2014).  CSL was also in the coal delivery business.

Afrer an end of season grain delivery, Nanticoke was about to shift to Natyional Gypsum for its backhaul cargo.

A Seaway size self-unloader, Nanticoke plied the other usual routes for CSL carrying grain, gypsum, coal and ores. It also participated in the early top off operations in the Strait of Canso and Sept-Iles Bay where CSL self-unloaders completed the loading of large deep sea ships that could not load to maximum draft in their usual loading ports.

CSL self-unloaders used to have black hulls, which were thought to be more serviceable in view of the coal and other dirty cargoes they carried.

In May 1997 Nanticoke, Atlantic Huron (a regular Halifax caller) and Atlantic Erie (scrapped in 2016) were fitted with special cargo handling systems to deliver magnetite, in slurry form, to ballast the Hibernia Gravity Base structure on location off Newfoundland. The ships were converted and "unconverted" in Halifax.

A large pipeline was attached tho the ships' bows and pumps were used to move the heavy ballast

from shore to ship, then to the gravity base, well out at sea.

Not long after the Hibernia Challenge, CSL began to paint its self-unloaders with traditional red hulls, once reserved for bulkers and general cargo ships. 

Here Nanticoke disembarks its pilot at Escoumins as a whale tour boat sets out.

In 2009 CSL signed a long term contract to carry salt for (what is now) K+S Windsor Salt/Morton Salt, Mines Saleines in the Magdalen Islands. To make back haul voyages more profitable the ship hauls gypsum and other products, but rarely grain. Salt is very destructive, and despite lining the holds with special composites, the cargo does take its toll, and cleaning for grain handling must be hard work. It did deliver grain here in Septmber 2011.

At first Salarium did carry some grain cargoes, but has not done so for some time.

Renamed Salarium (the word describes "payment in salt", from which the word salary derives) [I used to be paid peanuts, now I just get the salt] the ship commonly runs the St.Lawrence River and into the Seaway, with occasional forays as far as the Great Lakes. It has also loaded gypsum in Halifax from time to time. Once the Seaway closes for the winter the ship can be seen on the aforementioned Atlantic seaboard delivering road salt.

A Mines Saleines logo was added to the CSL funnel.

The battle against rust must be constant when carrying salt.

When Halifax Shipyard was in the repair business, Salarium was a refit customer, and looked quite splendid when it emerged with its fresh paint.

Now the ship generally works year round and only drydocks for its five year renewals. With a big one coming up in 2022, one has to wonder how much longer the ship will remain in service.

Plowing its usual furrow on the St.Lawrence, Salarium spends the summer supplying stockpiles of road salt for the coming winter.

Kitikemeot W.

Coastal Shipping's tanker Kitikmeot W. is due to sail this afternoon, and as speculated the ship has been reflagged to the Marshal Islands for winter trading internationally.

Algonorth

On January 1, Algonorth shifted from Imperial Oil dock 4 to anchor. Because Salarium was occupying the lower harbour anchorage, Algonorth went to Bedford Basin. The ship may just be waiting out weather or possibly will be there for a longer term.

Thorco Liva

The general cargo ship Thorco Liva arrived this morning and tied up at pier 9c. This is the ship's third visit to Halifax. In October 2016 it was fitted with steel frames to carry fibreoptic cable. The prefabricated frames were loaded aboard and assembled here, and the ship loaded the cable in Newington, NH where it is manufactured. The ship returned to Halifax in January 2017, presumably loaded with cable, and anchored for nearly a month before sailing for Spain.

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All Quiet

It was another uneventful week in Halifax harbour. The usual comings and goings, with a possible weather delay to Monday or Tuesday, but very little else to report. [see also Tugfax]

Looking south from Bedford to the Narrows, Bedford Basin is undisturbed by any shipping traffic.

The cargo ship Thorco Liva sailed (today) Sunday morning after sitting at anchor in Bedford Basin since January 9. The ship made its first call here October 31, 2016 from Belfast, and it loaded cable tanks, then went on to Newington, NH to load the cable. Apparently now completed that work, it remained at anchor in Bedford Basin until this morning, sailing for Algeciras, Spain.

Thorco Liva's anchor cable is straight up and down as sits in Bedford Basin Saturday.

More details on the ship at: http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2016_10_01_archive.html

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Thorco Liva - was looking for work

The multi-purpose general cargo ship Thorco Liva was anchored off port this morning and arrived at pier 9C later in the morning. It arrived from Belfast Lough anchorage, Northern Ireland where it had been anchored since late September, looking for cargo to take it to the US or Canadian East Coast.

Thorco Liva at pier 9c taking fuel from a tank truck, which is hidden from view behind a pair of  platform lifts and welding equipment that may be loaded aboard the ship for some work.

Later in the day trailers of steel fabrications arrived on the pier in preparation to load the frames for cable racks (known as tanks, due to their cylindrical form.) We have had several ships fitted out with cable tanks here, then proceed to Newington, NH, where the cable is manufactured, to load the material.

 Built in 2012 by the little known Honda* Heavy Industries of Saiki, Japan, the 13,110 grt, 16,901 dwt ship originally flew the Panama flag, but now uses Hong Kong. Thorco of Hellerup, Denmark has seven "L" class ships, all from the same yard, and all with typically Japanese fine-lined hulls and austere superstructures. The two-hold ships have movable tween decks and a pair of 50 tonne cranes.
[* Honda is a family name and the shipyard has no connection to the automobile manufacturer]