Morning Pilot

 Today, Sunday, September 15, the car carrier Morning Pilot followed the now familiar routine of docking first at Autoport to offload automobiles then moving to Pier 9C to unload RoRo cargo. This is the second such caller in recent days with Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Tiranna docking at Autoport and Pier 9C on Thursday September 12.

By the time I arrived back in Halifax on September 12 the Tirranna had already tied up at Pier 9C so I did not get a photo of the ship underway. It was in the process of discharging the usual variety of wheeled vehicles for construction and forestry work, and one unusual "vehicle" - a shrink wrapped helicopter on a MAFI trailer.

I was more fortunate this evening and was able to catch the Morning Pilot northbound in the Narrows, turning in Bedford Basin and southbound back to Pier 9C to dock starboard side to the pier.

The tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Maple (operating in reverse mode) shepherded the ship through the Narrows northbound.

 

With the sun rapidly sinking behind the Bedford Hills, the tugs squared up to slow and then to turn the ship.

Once turned and headed south, the ship passed CSL's Baie St.Paul loading gypsum at the Gold Bond dock in Burnside.

 

 As the ship clears the A. Murray MacKay bridge it is apparent why this movement is necessary. The stern ramp is skewed to starbaord and not adjustable, so the ship must tie up starboard side to the dock. The side ramp may not be large enough to accommodate the RoRo cargo.

The Morning Pilot was built in 2014 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, registering 65,276 gt and 22,675 dwt and has a capacity of 7627 CEU*. It is managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management (Korea) Ltd and is running on Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic route.

The Tirranna dates from 2009 and was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Enginerring Co in Okpo. The 71,659 gt, 30,089 dwt ship can carry 7620 autos of RT43* size and is fitted with a 320 tonne stern ramp.

* The term CEU for Car Equivalent Units and RT43 are used by RoRo carriers to represent the standard size of an automobile. Dating back to the first dedicated car carrier, the unit represents a  1966 Toyota Carolla of 4 x 1.5 meter size. All cars and other RoRo cargo are thus rated as a percentage of CEU or RT43 for cargo stowage planning purposes, so a very small Sub-compact may be a 90% CEU or RT43 and a large car such as a HUMVEE may be 150% of a CEU or RT43. The term is thus a useful one to compare the capacity of different ships, but may not represent the total number of cars on board on any given voyage. When the ship is carrying large sized RoRo cargo, the figure may be even less representative. In those cases the ship's capacity may be quoted in "lane meters" or "lanes in meters" (LIMS) which may also account for variation in lane widths between ships.

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Tirranna takes a turn

 The Wallenius Wilhelmsen auto carrier Tirranna arrived yesterday at Autoport. Unionized employees are still on strike there, but replacement workers unloaded the cargo - perhaps more slowly than the usual work force. Early this afternoon today (March 5) the ship moved to Pier 9C to off load RoRo cargo. As usual it proceeded through to Bedford Basin, turned and came back to the Narrows tying up starboard side to the pier. The sun made a temporary appearance for the turn, so that pictures could be taken.

 Moving northward through the Narrrows, theTirranna has the tugs Atlantic Oak forward and Atlantic Bear aft to assist in turning.

Once into Bedfrod Basin the ship made a tight counter clockwise turn (ships often make a wider clockwise turn.)

The turn gave lots of clearance from the CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752  which was exercising or trialing in the north end of the Basin.

Heading back toward the Narrows, the tugs are out of sight on the port side.

Coming in toward Pier 9C, the ship passes a huge consignment of gas pipe which is stockpiled for export. (There is no ETA for a ship yet.) 

The Tirranna is on the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic route from Bremerhaven, Goteborg and Zeebrugge and is due to sail this evening for US ports.

Built in 2009 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in Okpo, South Korea, the 71,673 grt, 29,936 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,620 automobiles.

This is the fourth ship in the Wilhelmsen fleet to carry the name of the Albanian capital, (Wilhelmsen ship names begin with the letter "T").

For more on that previous ship, and photos from a revious visit of this ship, Shipfax January 14, 2018

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Comings and Goings

There were several arrivals and departures in Halifax today, September 8, with the usual mix of different ship types. Among them were:

The auto carrier Tirranna made a double call - a morning visit to Autoport to unload cars then a noon time move to Pier 31.

Backing in to Pier 31, the ship shows off its Wallenius Wilhelmsen colour scheme, which is quite different form its traditional Wilhelmsen orange which it wore on a previous visit January 14, 2018

It may be my imagination, but some of that orange may be showing through the blue on the lower part of the hull, particularly toward the stern. The ship appears to have discharged one heavy piece of machinery at Pier 31 before sailing in the early afternoon for New York.

The 71,673gt, 29,936 dwt is classed a  LCTC (Large Car and Truck Carrier) with a capacity of 7620 CEU. It also has 320 tonne stern ramp for heavy RoRo cargo.

The bulk carrier Manzanillo arrived for Pier 27-28 to load bulk cargo of wood pellets. Built by SPP Shipbuilding Co in Tongyeong, Korea in 2010 it is a 23,456gt, 34,426 dwt vessel with four cranes. 

The ship arrived from Sorel, QC, where it discharged a cargo of ilmenite (titanium ore) from Madagascar. Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (former QIT Quebec Iron and Titanium) has a mine at Lac Allard, QC and sends the ilmentite by rail to Havre-St-Pierre, then by domestic ships to its smelter in Sorel. However due to seasonal shutdowns, labour and other costs, the company also sources ilmenite from its large mine near Ehoala, Madagascar. The low operating cost and huge deposit of the material there pose a threat to the Canadian mine in the long term.

 Sailing for Sarnia, ON, the Canadian flag tanker Algonorth cleared Imperial Oil dock 3 this morning.

The Tuzla, Turkey built tanker carried the name Gan-Gesture from launch in 2008 until 2009 when it became Ramira. Algoma Tankers acquired and renamed the ship in 2018. As expected its attractive red hull with white stripe has not stood up well to the constant abrasion from locking through the St.Lawrence Seaway system. It will likely be repainted in the more serviceable Algoma dark blue at its next drydocking. Its modest size of 12,164 gt, 16,979 dwt make it ideal for servicing smaller ports with reasonable quantities of cargo.

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Tirranna makes port

After a rough North Atlantic Crossing and a delayed arrival due to various weather bombs and storms, Tirranna tied up at Pier 27-28 today. It was originally scheduled to arrive earlier in the week, but spent at least two days jogging offshore until conditions permitted it to enter port.

Jammed in to pier 27-28, the ship monopolizes the area, and is almost as high as the grain galleries.

At pier 27-28 it begin unloading  machinery and other cargo that will be forwarded by truck or flat car. This afternoon it moved to Autoport to complete discharging autos.

 Rounding Indian Point, Tirranna makes it way into Eastern Passage for Autoport.

In the background CMA CGM Rhone works at Haterm.

Built in 2009 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in Okpo, South Korea, the 71,673 grt, 29,936 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,620 automobiles.

This is the fourth ship in the Wilhelmsen fleet to carry the name of the Albanian capital, (Wilhelmsen ship names begin with the letter "T").

The first Tirranna was the best known, a 7,230 grt general cargo ship with refrigerated cargo space and accommodation for twelve passengers, built by F. Schichau in Danzig in 1938. In 1940 it was captured by the German raider Atlantis off Mauritius. It was then sent back to Germany with captured ships' crews as prisoners. On September 29, 1940, while trying to run the Bordeaux blockade, it was torpedoed by HM submarine Tuna and sank in the Gironde estuary with the loss of 87 of the 292 people aboard. 

The second Tirranna was built in 1952 as the 5,463 grt cargo /reefer Taiwan but was renamed Tirranna in 1959. It ran aground and became a total loss near Tromso in 1966. The third was a 10,060 grt reefer /cargo ship built in 1967. In 1971 it was rebuilt with a new hull section inserted to carry 90 containers.Then 12,115 grt, it was sold in 1978 and renamed three times before being broken up in 1984.

The ship is expected to sail tomorrow.

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Tirranna-saurus

Another of the world's largest Pure Car and Truck Carriers arrived today. It is part of the Wallenius-Wilhelmsen fleet, but unlike the recent caller Faust (with a 7500 car capacity) this one is part of the Wilhelmsen half of the consortium.
All Wilhelmsen ships are named for places beginning with the letter "T" , and so the capital of Albania is recognized with Tirranna. Built in 2009 this one measures 71,673 gross tons and has a 7260 car capacity.
She first arrived at Autoport thois morning where she disgorged cars. Then late in the afternoon moved over to pier 30-31 where she unloaded some mobile cranes and various crates and other material. Her departure time is 2000 hrs.

1. Tirranna dwarfs the pier at Autoport this morning.

2. The ships crosses over to pier 30 -31 late in the afternoon.

3. Turning off the pier to back in with the help of Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Larch.

4. Sliding back in alongside the pier for 1800 hrs.

5. The ship's ramp has a 320 tonne capacity, which will not be severely tested on this particular visit.

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