This and That

 Halifax may now be noted as a container port (it exceeded 500,000 TEU again in 2023) but there are lots of other things happening in the port too, and today (April 18) was an example.

 The third cruise ship of the season arrived and it is another of the small "expedition" types. Viking Octantis is en route to a summer on the Great Lakes.

Built in 2021 it is a 30,114 gt ship with a capacity of 378 passengers in 189 staterooms. It is rated as a Polar 6 class and was designed specifically for Antarctic and Great Lakes cruising. Initial construction took place at the Tulcea, Romania yard of Vard (Fincantieri). The shell was then towed to the Søviknes Shipyard in Norway for finishing. After a day in Halifax the ship will head for Toronto, where it will be based until October 15.

 At Irving Oil's Woodside terminal their tanker Acadian was discharging product from the Saint John, NB refinery. It arrived last night and will be sailing late this afternoon.

The Canadian flag ship, is on long term charter from the Dutch Vroon (Iver Ships BV). Built in 2005 by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co Ltd in 2005, it is a 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt product tanker. It operates from Saint John primarily to the Atlantic Canada ports of Halifax, Charlottetown and Saint John's NL, and occasionally to Montreal and Quebec City.

Arriving for its turn at the Irving Oil facility this morning was the tanker STI Hackney from Amsterdam.

Perhaps not surprisingly it is a product of the same prolific South Korean shipbuilder, Hyundai Mipo. Dating from 2014 it is a 24,230 gt, 38,734 dwt ship. Flying the Marshal Islands flag, it operates for Scorpio Tankers Inc.

Imperial Oil is also busy with the Algoberta in from Montreal with product and the Algoscotia waiting at Pier 27 25 to take its place to load for regional distribution.

Autoport is not be left out as another busy spot with imports arriving from two directions. The load of vans that arrived on April 15 on the Trica (see previous post) and were off loaded at PSA Fairview Cove are being transported to Autoport by truck (three or four at a time). My initial report of 200 vans has been revised to 350. That is a lot of truck trips!

Cars (and vans) arriving from overseas at Autoport are prepped including installation of some accessories and other equipment, and stored and shipped out by rail or truck on demand.

Today's arrival was a more conventional auto carrier, but with a twist. The ARC Honor is a United States flagged vessel reflagged and renamed February 2 in Incheon, Korea by American Roll On Roll Off Carriers (ARC).

Formerly the Tulane it was built in 2012 by Hyundai, Ulsan and is a 72,295 gt, 28,818 dwt LCTC (Large Car and Truck Carrier) with a capacity of 7,934 CEU. It was operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, and has now been transferred to the United States subsidiary (but not yet re-painted in ARC colours). As a US flag ship it has preference for carrying government cargoes internationally. But as a non-Jones Act ship it cannot trade between US ports.

The ship has been in Halifax many times, and initially called wearing the old Wilhelmsen hull colour scheme.

 

 .

MaxPax and other action

 Today (October 6) was the busiest day of the cruise ship season with a reported 10,000 visitors  disembarking from Caribbean Princess (3100 passengers / 1200 crew), Enchanted Princess (3560 passengers / 1346 crew), Adventure of the Seas (3100 passengers/ 1185 crew) and Ocean Explorer (160 passengers / 74 crew). Unfortunately it was a very rainy day, with thunder showers and I expect many opted to stay on board. 

The Port is reporting a banner year so far with ship occupancy rates nearing 90%. The cruise industry is rebounding from COVID more quickly than expected, as the Port had expected closer to 50% capacity  when cruising resumed this year.

If the exhaust gas pumping from the Enchanted Princess was any indication, it was likely on full "hotel load" while tied up at Pier 22. 

 

Several years ago the port invested in "cold ironing" (providing shore power for ships), but today's demand probably exceeded capacity. The building in the left bottom foreground is the "cold ironing" facility - within  sight of a ship that certainly should be using shore power.

 

 At the other end of the port the Large Car and Truck Carrier (LCTC) Tulane arrived at Pier 9C to offload RoRo cargo. As usual the ship went into Bedford Basin and turned so that it could tie up starboard side to the pier. It is always impressive to see ships of this size in the Narrows, and passing under the bridges.