Gypsum and a New Name

 Gypsum

Gypsum has been leaving Halifax at a great rate over the last few days - possibly to build stockpiles over Christmas. Whatever the reason, there have been three ship loads since Monday (December 19).

Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin took less than a full load on Monday, as it sailed for US BUH. This is its second trip to Halifax this month. On the previous call, December 4-5, it loaded for Savannah, GA and Wilmington, NC. The 43,691 gt 71,406 dwt ship was built in 2012 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China. It is one of five Trillium class ocean going self-unloaders working in the CSL Americas pool.

As it nears it tenth year in service, it completed its second five-year class renewal survey in October before moving back from European waters to North America. That survey would have included drydocking, which was an opportunity for new hull paint. Draft marks and bulkhead locations still looked fresh as the ship cleared the MacKay bridge for sea.

Mid-day Tuesday December 20 the Canadian flag self-unloading bulker Baie St. Paul arrived from Quebec City and docked at Gold Bond gypsum. It is one of four Trillium class Seawaymax self-unloaders built for CSL's domestic fleet. Dating from 2012 the 24,430 gt, was also built by Chengxi, Jiangyin. Originally intended for restricted Seaway and Gulf use (29,650 dwt at Seaway 26'-6" draft) it was strengthened for short sea work and can load to 35,564 dwt (mid-summer, 30'-3" fresh water draft).However dwt tonnnage is generally recorded at 34,490 tonnes.

This morning (Wednesday, December 21) it completed loading and sailed once again for Côte-Ste-Catherine, QC. (Its last visit December 2-5 was to the same destination.)

Meanwhile its sister ship Thunder Bay (same dimensions and specs, but built in 2013) had arrived later December 20 and anchored in the lower harbour. This morning Thunder Bay got underway and cleared the Narrows first (with the tug Atlantic Bear alongside.)

The ships then arranged a port-to-port meet in Bedford Basin as the loaded Baie St. Paul made for the Narrows.

Getting both ships in the same photo is a rare opportunity - not to be missed.
 

 Unlike the newly painted Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin the Canadian ships are scuffed up from constantly working through the Seaway locks. There is no chance (and no point) in trying to keep paint on the hull as it could be worn off before drying.

New Name

I am batting somewhat less than .500 on predictions recently - but stats can be misleading! I was correct in reporting in my last post that the tanker Alkaios would be renamed Madelyn Grace.  I was incorrect (partly) that weather would prevent painting. This morning I noted the new name has been painted on the bow (somewhat less than expertly - but I'm no expert).

 My prediction that the handover to new owners would take up to a week was way off. The ship sailed late this afternoon for Rotterdam. (I was correct in assuming that the large "Capital" banners and other logos and funnel marks would have to remain to another time and another place before repainting.)

Although the ship was still carrying the name Alkaios when it arrived in Halifax September 18, it was officially renamed before tying up at Pier 25, December 19, and perhaps even before arriving here.

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All in a day's work

 Halifax is a great harbour for shipwatching because of the great variety of shipping that can be seen on a given day. Of course container ships get most of the glory due to their size and colourful appearance.

The 5087 TEU MOL Emissary dates from 2009 when it was built by Hyundai, Ulsan for Seaspan Corp. It is chartered to MOL (a partner in ONE) and working for THE Alliance on the AL5 service. I have photo'd the ship many times as it passes through the Narrows en route to the Fairview Cover container terminal.

Another often photo'd ship is CSL's Thunder Bay, en route to Gold Bond Gypsum's dock in Bedford Basin.

The self-unloader, built in 2013 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China is a 24,430 gt, 34,433 dwt ship that sails under the Canadain flag and works in and out of the Great Lakes. The noticeable abrasions on the hull near the bow signify frequent passages through the locks of the St.Lawrence Seaway.

Naval vessels are also frequent callers in Halifax, since the port is home Canada's east coast navy base, at HMC Dockyard. The Canadian Coast Guard also has a large presence here as does the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of which it is a part.  When a member of the United States Coast Guard visits Halifax it is usually as a guest of the Royal Canadian Navy, which has better facilities but is also a military organization, which the Canadian Coast Guard is not. One such guest for the past few days has been USCGC Healy WAGB-20, which sailed this afternoon.

The ship recently completed a west to east Northwest Passage. These northern waters are claimed by Canada as territorial waters, while other nations claim they are international waters. Canada is increasing its activities in the north in order to underscore its claim, and sent HMCS Harry DeWolf on an east to west Northwest Passage. Although the USA is one of the nations claiming the waters are international, it nevertheless went though the process of advising Canada in advance of Healy's trip. The trip was also completed in compliance with Canadian environmental and health regulations for the Arctic.

The Canadian Coast Guard was at work today as CCGS George R. Pearkes did some buoy tending off Halifax. The ship has been drafted in from Newfoundland while other ships are in refit.

The Pearkes is visible on the horizon as Dominion Bearcat works on some reef balls off Black Rock Beach, Point Pleasant Park. Despite the best efforts of generations of seabirds the black rocks are still black.  (mostly).

Not to neglect the tug industry, see also today's post on Tugfax

And as a follow up on yesterday's post, the tanker New England moved alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal late this afternoon. If you didn't catch my amendment yesterday there was more information added after the initial post.

Unusually warm weather brought out a multitude of pleasure craft today. 

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DOUBLE HEADER, TRIPLE HEADER

 Two of the facilities in Halifax harbour were busy today. Gold Bond Gypsum (formerly National Gypsum) had one ship alongside and one waiting and PSA Halifax (operators of the southend container terminal) had two ships alongside and a third waiting.

Gold Bond had been accumulating a large stockpile of material for the last several weeks:

The raw gypsum ore is transported from the open pit mine at Milford by CN rail in dedicated unit trains. Cars dump their loads in the white building at left, where the material is conveyed under ground to the large stacker/crane. It is conveyed again (white structures to left of centre) to the mobile ship loader on the pier (dark structure in centre, in front of the stacker crane).

Arriving this morning, August 29, Algoma Integrity began to load immediately, and by late afternoon had reduced the stockpile noticeably. It has raised its self-unloader boom to allow the mobile ship loader to access all the ship's hatches. The loader is at about midships position in this photo, and appears to be loading the ship from aft to forward - perhaps in one pass.

Also arriving today, Thunder Bay anchored nearby and will move in as soon as the Integrity is finished.

At PSA Halifax (formerly Halterm) there were two ships alongside. CMA CGM Andromeda is new to Halifax. A 131,332 gt, 131,236 dwt ship, it was built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2009 and has a container capacity of 11,200 TEU. It is sailing on the Columbus JAX service.

Also alongside was Maersk Penang on the east bound leg of its transatlantic regular run. Returning from Montreal its next scheduled port is Bremerhaven.

Once both ships are clear, it will be time for the long awaited Zim Yokohama to berth, now scheduled for tomorrow morning.

The ship has been in quarantine anchorage off Halifax since August 6 due to COVID cases among the crew. 

The only other commercial activity in the harbour today was at Pier 30-31 where another regular caller, Augusta Luna, was tied up.

The ship arrived yesterday with another load of nickel sulfides from Cuba. The ship sails for the Dutch company Nirint Shipping BV. Cuba's economy is in paralysis, since the shut down of tourism due to COVID. One of the country's few sources of foreign revenue is the sale of nickel - although it is believed rum is still doing well. (See the container tanks on deck forward.)

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More bulkers

 Two more bulkers called in Halifax today, June 26, but neither one came for cargo. (The only bulk cargo usually handled in Halifax is gypsum -see footnote.)

The first arrival was the Panama flag, but Chinese owned Hong Sheng. 

A 40,896 gt, 76,546 dwt gearless vessel, it is bound for Port Cartier, QC to load iron ore, but anchored in Halifax for Asian Gypsy Moth inspection. Despite vigilance by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, central Canada is experiencing a major infestation, which is expected to weaken huge swaths of urban and rural trees of all types.

The Chinese COSCO Bulk Shipping Co Ltd operates Hong Sheng, which dates from 2010 when it was built by the Guangzhou Huanpu shipyard. [COSCO=China Ocean Shipping COmpany].

The second bulker is an unusual customer. It is flying the flag of the United States and is registered in Annapolis, Maryland, home port of the Schuyler Line Navigation Co LLC.

SLNC Severn was built in 2017 by Samjin Shipbuilding Industries, in Weihai, China as Frederike Oldendorff. It was renamed early this year when it was bareboat chartered by SLNC. A 33,737 gt, 57,888 dwt ship it is fitted with four 35 tonne capacity cranes and 12 cubic meter grabs.

SLNC has both Jones Act and non-Jones Act US flag ships including tankers, general cargo/heavy lift and cargo barges. After inspection and maintenance the ship will be heading for Auld's Cove to load aggregates. The ship is still carrying the Egon Oldendorff initials on its funnel. 

Bulker Footnote

Although Gold Bond's mine in Milford is closed short term for maintenance, it still has a gigantic stockpile at its facility in Wright's Cove, Bedford Basin. Yesterday it loaded the Canadian flag self-unloader Thunder Bay, which sailed for the Great Lakes.

Thunder Bay at the Gold Bond dock with its boom swung out to clear the mobile ship loader.

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Return of the Regulars, Updates and Miscellany

 It was a day for the return of two regular callers, and while this would not normally be worthy of extra notice, there was a difference.

First in this morning was the ONE Motivator renamed as recently as March from its original name MOL Motivator. That is the name it carried on its last visit to Halifax. The 78,316 gt, 79,278 dwt ship has a capacity of 6724 TEU including 500 reefers. A 2011 product of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, it is still operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, but works under the banner of Ocean Network Express (ONE), the combined container shipping segments of MOL, K-Line and NYK. 

On departure late this afternoon the ship showed off its still fresh magenta hull paint, the unique trademark of ONE. That coating was likely applied when the ship underwent its most recent surveys last month, probably in Singapore. The ship sailed from Colombo, Ceylon on April 5, so was not held up while transiting the Suez Canal April 14-15. The ship Ever Given had been refloated and the backlog of delayed ships had been cleared by then.

To see what the ship looked like in MOL colours just over a year ago see: March 2020.

The return of another regular was not greeted with much fanfare, but it was a welcome sight. The Eimskip container/cargo ship Lagarfoss ran into trouble 230 miles east of Iceland on December 27, 2020 and had to be towed back to Reykjavik due to engine breakdown. Dramatic photos taken at the time showed the ship labouring in heavy seas, see: Lagarfoss .

The ship was not labouring today, but it was certainly rolling even in the relative calm inside Maugher's Beach in the Middle Ground area. (You can see the top of the containers).

The Lagarfoss was built in 2014 by Shenfei Shipbuilding Co in Rongcheng, China. With a gt of 10,119 and dwt of 11,811 it has a container capacity of 880 TEU and carries a pair of cranes. The nearly six day run from Iceland must have been a rough one as weather between here and Newfoundland has been particularity windy with resulting high seas. 

That weather was no doubt the cause of the bulker Thunder Bay moving from Gold Bond Gypsum to anchorage after completion of loading last night. It is the ship's first visit this year after a winter layup from January to March in Montreal.

A Trillium class self-unloader, the 24,430 gt, 34,433 dwt ship was built by Chenfxi Shipyard in Yangyin, Jiangsu, China and entered service in 2013. Originally intended for Great Lakes / Seaway trade it has been strengthened, allowing it to travel to the Atlantic coast. However there may be restrictions (or prudence) that keeps the ship in port during bad weather.

The ship arrived in ballast from Sept-Iles, QC, where it had planned to load iron ore pellets. However a fire in one of the reclaimers at Rio Tinto -IOC on March 31 has shut down ore shipments for some time, and the cargo of gypsum may be a scratch backhaul to get the ship back to the lakes. It is expected to sail tomorrow when sea conditions improve.

Update

Yesterday's post on MSC Veronique had the ship sailing for Montreal as the next port, however the ship went to anchor outside Halifax instead.  The scheduled longshore labour strike began this morning in Montreal and operations there have ground to a halt. The federal government threatened to legislate an end to the strike, but as a minority government it will need the support of the opposition parties to pass the legislation, and the cooperation of the Senate, which could take a week or more.

Early this afternoon (April 26)  MSC Veronique was seen to get underway and headed northeast at 13 knots. Whether this was to get out of an anchorage with poor holding capability, or due to an optimistic outcome for the strike remains to be seen.

Miscellany

While commercial shipping was not enjoying the conditions outside, the Royal Canadian Navy appeared to be taking advantage of an opportunity for rough water boat handling. HMCS Goose Bay has been anchored outside Maugher's Beach for a couple of days now, and several small craft were noted nearby today.

Several of the Kingston class Coastal Defence Vessels have been active in recent days, as they usually are at this time of year. The vessels are used for Reserve training which ramps up at the end of university academic year.

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An Ill Wind

 High winds and rough seas continue to cause delays to harbour traffic. Movements within the harbour are possible, but conditions are too rough at the pilot station to embark or disembark pilots.

CSL Thunder Bay completed loading at National Gypsum, then  rather than staying at an exposed berth overnight, moved to anchorage position number 1 in the lower harbour.

The ship will remain there until pilotage operations resume - perhaps this evening. Number one anchorage is for short term visitors, and it can accommodate large ships. I suppose Thunder Bay chose this anchorage to leave lots of room for other ships in Bedford Basin.

Dalian Express completed its cargo work at Cerescorp, Fairview Cove and moved to anchor in Bedford Basin yesterday, allowing Budapest Bridge to tie up. Dalian Express, 88,493 gt, 100,006 dwt, built in 2001 by Hyundai, Ulsan has a capacity of 7506 TEU (including 700 reefers).

Naval vessels also came in from sea to anchor, including HMCS Fredericton, which has been exercising offshore for several days.

Fredericton's helicopter sits on the flight deck as the ferry Vincent Coleman makes its way from the Halifax terminal to Woodside.

Yesterday's self-piloted departure from Imperial Oil, the Algoscotia [see: post ] left number 3 dock free, and Irving Oil's Acadian moved in there from Irving's Woodside terminal.

Irving and Imperial Oil used to share terminal and tank space, but it is now rare to see an Irving tanker at an Imperial dock. Irving Oil also used to be the only source for furnace oil in the region, so there may be a similar reason for this visit.

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Thunder Bay for National Gypsum

 Canada Steamship Lines' Thunder Bay arrived today to load at National Gypsum. The sun was a little more co-operative than it was in May when I photographed the ship last:   http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2020/05/thunder-bay.html

Thunder Bay in the Narrows today.

Ships of the Trillium class have now displaced the first generation of "salty/lakers" - ships built to maximum St.Lawrence Seaway dimensions but reinforced for coastal/ocean work. With the sale for scrap of Salarium (see earlier post) the only remaining ship of the first generation is Atlantic Huron, now laid up (coincidentally) in the port of  Thunder Bay, and unlikely to return to service.

Although built originally for the Lakes only, Thunder Bay and sister Baie St-Paul have been upgraded and are now regulars in Halifax and other coastal ports. Thunder Bay is arriving today from Charlottetown, where it offloaded aggregates after delivering coal to Sydney from the Great Lakes. Although exhibiting lots of "lock rash" - abraded areas on the hull from scraping along the approach walls to the locks - the ship was built for this kind of treatment. 

There is an interesting video showing Atlantic Huron making such an approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEGZMJ1aofY

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Thunder Bay

Another of Canada Steamship Line's versatile Trillium class ships arrived in Halifax this afternoon. Thunder Bay was built in 2012 by Chengxi Shipyard Co Ltd in Jiangyin, Jingsu, China. The 24,430gt, 34,433 dwt self-unloader was built to maximum St.Lawrence Seaway size. Although it sailed from China on its own hull, it required substantial temporary hull bracing for the trip. It was then restricted to Great Lakes and St.Lawrence service.

 Thunder Bay makes its way past a desolate looking Tall Ships Quay inbound.

Now however some of the ships of the class have been upgraded to "Nova Scotia" specification, allowing them to make short sea voyages. So far that has included ports such as Saint John, NB, St.John's, NL and various regional ports such as Lower Cove, NL, Charlottetown and Summerside, PE. The Strait of Canso is another favoured destination to load aggregates.

Typical Halifax weather-  the ship was into blazing sun by the time it passed the Macdonald bridge.

Once clear of the Narrows the ship was back into the gloom at Bedford Basin as it headed for National Gypsum to load.

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