Four ship day, and Update

Today September 29, was a four cruise ship day in the Port of Halifax. This meant of course that one ship anchored and used its tenders to ferry passengers ashore to the Pier 24 landing stage, and back again. The "fourth man out" was the Azamara Quest which found its spot in the northeast end of number one anchorage - not far off the Irving and Esso oil docks.  The other three ships took up the customary berths at Piers 20 to 23. 

In the photo above, from left to right (north to south), the Viking Polaris has berth 23, the Enchanted Princess at Pier 22 and in the background the Silver Shadow at Pier 20 with the Azamara Quest partially blocking the view.

 From a different angle, the Silver Shadow (at right) has the refuse scow alongside (actually sectional pontoons made into a barge) with the tug Mighty Edge. 

I don't usually edit photos on this blog, except to crop and level the horizon, but this time I attempted to erase several container cranes that projected above the profile of the Azamara Quest. Some traces remain however. I opted to leave the foreground fence that divides the Imperial Oil (Esso) and Irving Oil terminals.

The Azamara Quest has a long history going back to 2000 when it was delivered by Chantier de l'Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire as the R-Seven. In 2003 it became the Delphin Renaissance and in 2006 the Blue Moon before taking its present name in 2007. The 30,277 gt ship can carry 686 passengers and 408 crew.

The Viking Polaris was built by Fincantieri in 2022, with the hull constructed in Romania and fitting out by VARD in Norway. The 30,150 gt ship can carry 378 passengers in 189 staterooms. There are 15 crew cabins for a maximum of 646 persons on board. The ship is returning from the Great Lakes.

I have made links to the Wikipedia entries for the other ships:

Silver Shadow ; Enchanted Princes ; and 

Update

In my June 6, 2025 post I showed the Auto Carrier Way Forward docked at Autoport, but I declined to wade through tall grass to get a clear photo. For its call today, I was able to get a better view because the grass seems to have died back due to our on going drought - or perhaps it has been trampled down by hoards of ship watchers. In any event the ship looks the same.

.

 

 

More Shocks

 Shipping companies and ports have already begun to feel the effect of tarifs on goods and on certain (Chinese built) ships. The United States of America has imposed these tarifs in the misinformed and misguided belief that they will benefit the USA. In fact the tarifs will have the effect of isolating the US from coming to terms with itself and its neighbours and from finding ways to share the planet peacefully.

The latest shocker - if it is possible to be shocked anymore - follows on the US's earlier decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. It has now removed itself from meetings of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Those groups are attempting to reduce emissions - particularly from ships - to net zero by 2050.

In a supremely illogical statement the US claims that the effort to reduce emissions is an attempt to redistribute wealth under the guise of environmental protection by unwisely promoting the use of hypothetical and unproven fuels.

The truth of course is the very opposite: the US is atttempting to concentrate wealth by continuing to use (its own) fossil fuels at the expense of the environment and of other countries.

In recent days in the Port of Halifax we have seen:

 1. A ship fueled by LNG (still a fossil fuel) but which can be adapted to a future fuel.

Is the Lake Shirasagi an expensive exercise in "green washing" by a leading auto manufacturer or is its alternate fuel and shore power capability progress? 

There is the irony of a pier full of wind generator tower components with a wind propelled ship also alongside.

2. The same ship equipped to use shore power (too bad that power here is largely fossil fuel generated and is not available at most piers anyway.)

 

3. A Flettner rotor equipped ship, delivering components for offshore wind turbine power generation.

The E-Ship 1 uses windpower for propulsion assistance.

Notice those red and white striped power plant chimneys in the background. They are from the natural gas fueled power plant in the background (the white tanks at lower left store back up heavy fuel which is used when market fluctuations or pipeline interuptions dictate.)

4. An ancient (by shipping standards) container ship arrived spouting particulates with impunity.

MSC Ingrid, built in 1999, "steams" into Halifax April 5.

 5. The Port (and other Canadian ports) bragging about the opening of another cruise ship season - surely the most senselesss and uneeded use of fossil fuels - even if the ship and or port has shore power available. How can cruise ships be condoned in the era of climate emergency?

 

More irony?

.

 

Eco cargo, Eco cars, Eco tours - UPDATE

 There were lots of references to the environment and ecology in the Port of Halifax today, April 4. Only history will tell if these measures are futile. [Glass half full readers may wish to skip ahead.]

 The first cruise ship of the 2025 season arrived good and early this morning, beating its 2024 first arrival date by six days.  According the February 14 press release, the ship was not due in Halifax until April 18 this year*. Today's arrival may have been on short notice, as the Port's workboat Maintainer I was setting out fenders only yesterday.

 

Today's excellent +10ºC temperature and bright sunshine encouraged a gaggle of hardy passengers to take a kayak expedition from Pier 22 to the Northwest Arm. By the time they were on the return leg they had evacuated to a motorboat and did not have to paddle back to the ship.

These so-called expedition cruise ships, despite allowing passengers to see the wonders of the world are notorious fuel users, and someday must face restrictions.
 

Amongst today's arrivals was the LNG powered Lake Shirasagi for Autoport with another batch of Volkswagen cars. The dual fuel ship also promotes the use of shore power (when possible). Nova Scotia's reliance on coal for a good chunk of its electricity makes this a less desirable option.

Lake Shirasagi made its inaugural voyage in February, arriving in Halifax February 24 [qv]. It will move to Pier 9C tomorrow to offload RoRo cargo.

Pier 9C was the destination today for the wind assisted E-Ship 1. The ship is equipped with rotating towers that provide supplementary propulsion power.

The E-Ship 1 is carrying generator nacelles that will convert wind to power for a wind project. The towers arrived in sections and have been sitting on Pier 9C for several months.

Built in 2010 by Lindenau, Kiel, the 12,968 gt, 10,020 dwt ship carries two cranes with maximum 90 tonne SWL and a single open hold with removable hatch covers giving total access to the cargo space. It can carry heavy cargo, RoRo and containers up to 853 TEU.

 

 The ship has never been in Halifax before, but was in Sheet Harbour, NS in 2014, and made a trip on the St.Lawrence River in 2012. See my post from May 11, 2014.

 

A ship with no apparent pretensions to saving the planet was one of three container ships in port today. The MSC Eleni has been an off and on caller over the years, but never a regular. Ships on MSC's Med Canada service do call from time to time to offload a few containers to meet St.Lawrence River draft restrictions or to top up a few boxes to maximize ocean draft. The latter seemed to be the case today as the ship arrived from Montreal and sailed for Salerno.

 

 

As MSC Eleni clears PSA Halifax Pier 42, and sheds its tug, the Lake Shirasagi is just disappearing from view into Eastern Passage.

 

MSCEleni dates from 2004 when it was built by Hanjin Heavy Industry and Construction Co Ltd in Busan. The 54,881 gt, 68,254 dwt ship has a capacity of 5060 TEU including 400 reefers.

 

 *UPDATE: This is incorrect. I misread the original press release, seeing the last letter in the word "April" in the phrase "April 8" as a number 1.

.

 

 

 

 

Cruise, Cruise, Cruise and More

 Although it is still early in the season, there were three cruise ships in the Port of Halifax today, April 27: Viking Polaris, Volendam and Norwegian Pearl.

Viking Polaris was back for its second visit. After its first visit April 10 it has covered a lot of territory:  Trois-Rivières April 25, Montreal 16, Toronto 17-18, Montreal 20, Trois-Rivières 21, Quebec City 21, Port Alfred 22, Sept-Iles 23, and Charlottetown 25. It is now off to New York City and will not be back again until August 17.

The 30,114 gt ship, built in 2022 by Fincantieri carries 378 passengers and 256 crew. It sister ship Viking Octantis was here April 18 [qv] en route to a summer's cruising on the Great Lakes.

While in port, the ship discharged some refuse to a barge and exercised its Zodiacs. The workboat / landing craft Tidal Runner was doing tug duty with the barge.

 

Volendam

 A ship that will become a familiar sight in Halifax this year made its first ever call in Halifax today. Volendam, built in 1999 by Fincantieri, Marghera is a member of the Rotterdam class, measuring 60,906 gt with a capacity of 1432 passengers and 647 crew. It replaces sister ship Zaandam which had been calling in Halifax since 2019. The two ships have exchanged routes with Zaandam now doing Alaska tours.

Volendam will take up the east coast run out Boston to Portland, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Magdalen Islands, Quebec City, Montreal. The latter is a terminal port also. From there, with a new contingent of passengers the ship retraces its way back to Boston via the same ports including Halifax. In all it will make 20 calls in Halifax between now and October 15 when it will make a Mediterranean round trip from and to Fort Lauderdale, its winter base.

Norwegian Pearl was today's first arrival but I did not catch a glimpse of it until it was outbound and then as it was "going away."

 A 2006 product of Meyer Werft, Papenburg, it is a 93,350 gt ship carrying 2,394 passengers and 1,099 crew. (It was refurbed in 2017). Unusual for a cruise ship, it is eastbound transatlantic, sailing from New York April 25. After Halifax it is scheduled to stop in Reykjavik, Belfast, Cobh-Cork, Isle of Portland (Weymouth), Le Havre and finally Southampton May 9.

It was interesting to see how much smoke the two older ships made as they picked up speed outbound.  I don't know if either ship used shore power when they were in Halifax, but I hope they weren't making that much particulate when in port.

And More 

There was other activity in the port today too:

At Autoport the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean auto carrier Tijuca arrived from Southampton and sailed for New York.

Dewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd built the ship in 2008 at Okpo. A 71,673 gt, 30,089 dwt ship, it can carry 7620 RT43 cars and is equipped with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp and a small side ramp. It has the usual rounded superstructure forward, but its bridge structure is elevated three decks above the weather deck, which is at least one deck, if not two decks, higher than most autocarriers. While this must improve forward visibility, it is not a feature taken up on newer ships.

Both container terminals were working today. At the South End Container Terminal it was EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St.Lawrence route from Montreal for Bremerhaven.

 At Fairview Cove it was an 0900 hrs departure for the overnight caller Delphinus C, the former NYK Delphinus. A Dedalus class ship of 55,487 gt, 65,950 dwt, it has a capacity of 4922 TEU. 

One of several sister ships on THE Alliance's AL5 service it arrived yesterday afternoon from Saint John, NB after its usual string of calls from Port Everglades, Panama, Los Angeles, Oakland and back to Panama, Cartagena and Saint John.

 

The tug Atlantic Bear worked the ship all the way through the Narrows as stern tethered escort, ready to pull or brake if needed

.

Early Cruise Contrast

 The Port of Halifax welcomed its first cruise ship of the season on April 6 with the arrival of MSC Poesia. The ship went on to Sydney and Charlottetown and is now en route to Quebec City. Its passage took it through the best area to see the April 8 solar eclipse.

Its visit was a very early start to a season that usually peaks in September and October. The ship's arrival and departure times were not conducive to photography, so this photo from its first visit in 2010 will have to do.

The ship was built in 2008 at the Aker yard  in St-Nazaire, France, and measures 93,330 gross tons and can accommodate up to 3,605 passengers, and a crew of 1027. Its one of four ships of her class in the MSC Cruises fleet. 

 

By contrast the second cruise ship arrival of the season, on April 10, was the Viking Polaris. A Polar 6 class expedition type luxury cruise ship of 30,114 gt its passenger capacity is 378, with  256 crew, although small by cruise ship standards, it one of the larger cruise ships to visit Antarctic waters.

 

It pulled into Pier 23 and while alongside it launched several of its Zodiacs, possibly for training.

 

The workboat Tidal Runner also attended with a scow likely to take off refuse.

.

 

Big Arrivals

 A couple of big ships were among the arrivals in Halifax this morning, May 14. 

The container ship CMA CGM Marco Polo docked at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway with the last of the morning's fog retreating. 

The ship is still the record holder as the largest container ship to call in Halifax, established May 17, 2021 on its first visit here.

Built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd, Okpo, the 176,546 gt, 187,625 dwt ship has a container rating of 16,020 TEU. Sister ships CMA CGM Jules Verne and CMA CGM Alexander von Humboldt have the same container capacity rating, but are listed at 186,470 dwt, making them slightly smaller (on paper at least).

On the other side of the harbour the heavy load carrier and semi-submersible ship GPO Grace arrived from Aviles, Spain and docked alongside the offshore installation ship Orion at the IEL dock in Woodside.

Often used to transport oil rigs, this time the GPO Grace is carrying wind farm tower components. Built by the CSBC Corp in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2017, it is a 49,091 gt, 63,581 dwt ship with a large clear deck and the capability to submerge the deck 15 meters beow the sea surface.

The GPO Grace is one of four sister ships operated by the Norwegain copmany GPO Heavylift AS.

Also Norwegian operated, but at the other end of the size scale is another of this morning's arrivals. Viking Polaris is a Polar 6 class expedition type luxury cruise ship of 30,114 gt. Its passenger capacity of 378, with  256 crew, although small by cruise ship standards, makes it one of the larger cruise ships to visit Antarctic waters.

Already this year the ship has visited Lunenburg, Louisbourg, Magdalen Islands, Toronto, Trois-Rivières, Quebec City, Port Alfred, Sept-Iles and Charlottetown. It will continue making trips from New York to the Great Lakes (with many stops en route) until September when it sails for Ushuaia, Argentina for another Antarctic season. 

In December 2022 while on an antarctic cruise, the ship encountered a rogue wave and one passenger was killed by broken glass and four injured.

The ship's hull and superstructure was built at the VARD Shipyard in Tulcea, Romania and towed to Aalesund, Norway where it was completed by VARD Soviknes in 2021. 

 

.