Last seen leaving Bedford Basin

The Yantian Express got away from Cerescorp, Fairvew Cove this morning and was soon enveloped in fog.

The ship was then virtually invisible as it made its way out to sea. The sun was working hard at eating away the fog as the day progressed.

The ship was launched as Berlin Express, delivered in 2002 as Shangai Express by Hyundai, Ulsan and renamed in 2012. It measures 88,493 gt, 100,003 dwt with a capacity of 7506 TEU including 700 reefers. Ships of more than 100,000 dwt are becoming commonplace at Fairview Cove these days and appear to be close to full laden. 

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Just another ship - Yantian Express

The headline grabbing ship Yantian Express was all over the news when containers caught fire en route to Halifax January 3, 2019. After a nineteen day operation the fire was put out and the ship was sailed to Freeport, Bahamas where damaged containers were removed and it was cleaned up enough to get underway again. It arrived in Halifax in May 20, 2019 to unload containers. It then headed off to a Chinese shipyard for repairs, carrying about 1,000 empties for stability.

The ship  was no stranger to headlines as it was the largest ship ever to call at Cerescorp's Fairview Cove terminal May 20, 2013. It exceeded in size the usual post Panamax types by about 15,000 tons.
The 88,493 GT, 100,003 dwt ship with a 7506 TEU capacity, including 700 reefers, was built in 2002 by Hyundai, Ulsan.

Following repairs to fire damage, the ship resumed trading in August 2019, returning to Halifax in January 2020. It arrived again today - just another ship perhaps. But taking a closer look reveals freshly repainted hatches, but no repainting to the hull. It is still streaked from fire fighting efforts.

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Yantian Express update

Yantian Express in Halifax March 17, 2015.

A year and a month after the outbreak of fire on the Hapag-Lloyd container ship Yantian Express, the German Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty has released its findings as to the cause.  Not surprisingly, due to the severity of the fire, the bureau cannot state with complete certainty where it  originated. Intense firefighting efforts, in which high pressure water streams dislodged containers in the source area meant that the best the bureau could do was narrow the source down to one of three containers.

However the FBMC is reasonably certain that a container carrying coconut charcoal was the origin. Since the box was erroneously labelled as carrying coconut pellets, there is strong evidence to suggest that it was the source. The material is known to self-ignite, and in fact was implicated in a previous ship fires on MSC Katrina in November 2015 and Ludwigshafen Express in February 2016.

Intentionally mislabeling hazardous materials is a serious issue in the shipping industry, endangering the lives of crews and the integrity of the ships themselves. HAPAG-Lloyd now holds shippers responsible for losses resulting from undeclared or misdeclared cargo, and fines shippers if they are found out.

Yantian Express was en route to Halifax January 3, 2019 when the fire broke out. The crew was evacuated from the ship and the fire extinguished by salvors over a nineteen day period. One month later the ship arrived in Freeport, Bahamas where the entire ship's cargo was offloaded and the ship patched up enough that it could sail to China where it was repaired.

The ship returned to Halifax January 26-27, 2020 - with little fanfare - certainly none from this blog (oops) - and is currently en route to Port Said.

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Yantian Express sails

After unloading its entire remaining cargo in Halifax, and loading some 1,000 empty containers, the Yantian Express sailed this afternoon.

Atlantic Oak assists in aligning the ship for the MacKay bridge. 

It is notable that by sailing today, five months less a day from when fire broke out on the ship, it will likely be in almost the same position tomorrow that it was in five months ago. At that time it was bound for Halifax, from Colombo, Sri Lanka and had sailed safely through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean and most of the way across the Atlantic without incident.

Rough weather may have been the factor that caused something to occur in a container on deck forward that caused it to erupt in flames. The weather almost certainly prevented the crew from quelling the blaze that eventually damaged or destroyed several hundred containers.

I have made numerous posts over the intervening months tracking the firefighting and salvage efforts, the ship's arrival in Freeport, Bahamas to discharge the damaged boxes, and its eventual arrival in Halifax to unload all of the intact containers. Those boxes are now taking up all the spare room that can be found in the Cerescorp container facility in Fairview Cove.

As late as yesterday morning the ship still had a lot of containers on deck to be unloaded or re-distributed.

On departure today it was certainly apparent that even with the empties on board to aid in stability, that the ship is still very lightly loaded. There are no containers stowed in the forward holds where the fire did the most damage. The hatch covers were also damaged, and have likely been welded closed for safety. Unlike bulk carriers and tankers, container ships usually do not make lengthy ballast voyages. They do not have large tanks or holds than can be filled with seawater, but only smaller trim type tanks and double bottoms for fuel or water.

The Nova Pilot sets out in advance to disembark the pilot off Chebucto Head. With gusty winds, the coxswain will  advise the pilot on which side to disembark and if the ship needs to alter course to create a lee.

The ship's destination is given as Tanger Med, Morocco, perhaps to take on more empties as it works its way east to China for permanent repairs.

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Today

Fog and rain eventually hampered visibility in the harbour late in the afternoon, just as the autocarrier Pleiades Spirit was sailing. I was hoping to catch this ship since it does not belong to one of the well known lines. Built in 2008 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding, it is a 60,330 gt, 17,424 dwt vessel with a capacity in the range of 5232 to 6303 CEU. It is managed by World Wide Marine Co Ltd of Japan as one of 17 autocarriers in its 128 ship fleet. Interestingly the ship arrived from New York and is sailing for Southampton - the reverse of the usual autocarrier route.
Originally to be operated by Nissan, it has been operated by World Wide since 2009. It seems to be on charter to MOL but this can't be confirmed independently.

At Fairview Cove, Yantian Express (photo'd early yesterday) was due to slide back along to the west end of the pier to resume unloading. There are still a lot of the 3200 container still on the ship.

Shippers are being advised that when their boxes are released, upon posting of security, they will be sent to destination, by rail, truck or ship, without inspection, since there is no room to do that in Halifax.

Another "reverse" arrival was Elka Nikolas tying up at Irving Woodside last night. The ship came from Saint John and has a small amount of cargo for Halifax.

Built by Brodosplit in Croatia in 2001, it is a 27,542 gt, 44, 787 dwt ship of the MidRange type. It is part of the European Product Carriers Ltd fleet, based in Athens. Shortly after delivery, the ship was renamed Fusus but reverted to its original and current name in 2009.
Sister ship Elka Eleftheria, built the same year at the same yard, was here May 13, but came from Ijmuiden / Amsterdam then sailed to Saint John.
The ship is due to sail early tomorrow morning and its place will be taken within an hour by Irving's East Coast.

There was no call by Maersk /CMA CGM's Maersk Patras over the weekend. It was scheduled to call May 25, but perhaps the fatal accident last week resulted in a delay. The second officer was lost overboard off the Escoumins pilot station May 19 and his body has not been recovered.
There were protests for safer working conditions when the ship docked in Montreal. Instead of sailing for Halifax, the ship headed directly for Bremerhaven, the next scheduled stop.

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One Summer(like) Day

A rapid turnaround in weather gave Halifax a summer-like day and thus the land side of the waterfront was jammed with people and traffic. This imposed serious limitations on photographic mobility, and so coverage of today's port activity is a little thinner than usual.

Late last night the tanker Zephyros arrived and anchored in the lower harbour.  It is not common for these ships to anchor inside the harbor, particularly when the destination berth is unoccupied. Coming from Port Arthur, TX, the ship has refined product for Imperial Oil.

Built in 2013 by SPP Shipbuilding in Sacheon, South Korea, the 29,924 gt, 50,155 dwt ship flies the Panama flag for the anonymous Zefyros Trading SA of Greece. Management of the ship is handled by Benetech Shipping SA, employing a crew entirely of Georgian nationality through Elvictor Ltd, also of Athens. (The pyramidal shape symbol on the funnel is the Benetech logo.)

The ship is expected to move to Imperial Oil by midnight tonight.

Also at anchor for the morning CMA CGM Libra required an Asian Gypsy Moth inspection before it moved to Halterm for noon.

Cerescorp remained busy today, with Atlantic Sun arriving this morning, sailing this afternoon, and its berth taken by MOL Partner soon after.

MOL Partner works its way inbound with the tug Spitfire III as tethered escort.

The tour boat Peggys Cove Express speeds along inbound for the Cable Wharf.

The Yantain Express did not go to anchor in Bedford Basin last night as expected. Instead it was still working cargo at the west berth through the night. It finally moved to the east berth at 0400hrs this morning. It remained idle today.

One of the large stacks of boxes offloaded from Yantian Express.

It has been reported that it will take twelve days to unload the Yantian Express's cargo. Containers that have been cleared by the insurers will be arranged on the dock to allow forwarding by rail or ship. Another stack will be created for those boxes for which security has not been posted. Their fate remains unknown.

An unusual Saturday arrival at Halterm was Oceanex Sanderling. It normally sails for St.John's weekly on Fridays. However this week it arrived and sailed on Tuesday, making a quick turnaround at Halterm and Autoport. It will now make another hasty round trip, due to heavier summer demand, sailing early tomorrow morning. 

Also from Halterm, dredging work stopped early this week. The last I saw the dredge Derrick No.4 working was on Wednesday. 

McNally's barges and tugs and other gear are now at pier 9 and pier 9C setting up for construction of the cribs for the Halterm extension. The Port Authority states the extension work will be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

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Harbour Business - More Rain and Fog - and some updates

Today's weather forecast is for more rain and fog, so harbour picture taking will again be curtailed. Harbour business continues unabated however.

The Nirint Shipping Augusta Mars at pier 31 is expected to complete unloading the latest consignment of nickel sulfides from Cuba this afternoon then sail for Europe.

The ship arrived yesterday under ideal conditions, and was assisted to its berth by the tugs Atlantic Fir and Spitfire III.

As the ship made its way to pier 31, the outbound container ship Brighton encountered what was believed to be an inattentive pleasure craft crossing its course just south of George's Island. The ship had to sound its signal horn five times to warn off the boat. The ship may also have had to reduce speed or even attempt to stop. It was certainly going very slowly by the time it reached Ives Knoll. The incident was blocked from my view as I was taking the above picture.

Pleasure craft are are an inevitable hazard in summer time and it is a wonder there have not been more serious incidents. Boaters seem oblivious to the presence of big ships and their right of way.

At Fairview Cove, work continues to unload the Yantian Express. The ship has shifted from the west end (big cranes) to the east end (small crane) and back again to make room for other ships, and this evening is expected to move out to anchor in Bedford Basin.

Yantian Express gets ready to shift from the west to east berth at Fairview Cove on Wednesday evening to make room for the Brighton. It moved back again after Brighton  sailed.

Yantian Express will unload all of its cargo in Halifax before sailing to China for permanent repairs to fire damage. Thanks to the trade imbalance with Asia, empty containers continue to pile up in North American and European ports. It is difficult to find room on ships with paying cargo to return the boxes to China for re-use. Several ideas are in the works including folding boxes that can be reduced to about a third of their normal height, and stacked to take up less space for the return trip.

Yantian Express's "non-revenue" trip to China is an opportunity send a number of those empty boxes back (believed to be in the range of 1,000).

More information has emerged about the incident aboard Maersk Patras on Monday when the ship's second officer was lost overboard. The man's apparent death (his body has not been recovered) had nothing to do with pilot boarding, and may have only been coincidental to the ship's position off the Escoumins pilot station at the time.

Maersk Patras heads to sea from Halifax in 2013. The lashings on the containers, secured by longshoremen,  are clear to see - they are the large X-shaped bracing rods connecting the corners of the containers.

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) has condemned the dangerous practice of unlashing containers while the ship is underway on the St.Lawrence River. Montreal is one of the few if not only ports in the world where ships are expected to arrive in port with the containers unlashed. The heavy retaining rods are removed by the ship's crew to make the ship ready to unload immediately on arrival.

The ITF states that this dangerous work should be done by qualified longshoremen, while the ship is in port, and not by ship's crews who may be inexperienced and may be shifted off balance while handling the heavy lashing gear at sea. The ITF has requested that the practice be banned by Transport Canada and the Port of Montreal, stating that they have allowed the practice to continue despite warnings about the dangers.

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Yantian Express arrives

The much anticipated arrival of the Yantian Express this morning was obscured to a degree by rain. As the ship worked its way up the harbour, the rain intensified, but it was still possible to see some of the impact of the fire that destroyed 202 containers and damaged as many as 460 others.

The ship was en route to Halifax January 3 when the fire broke out northeast of Bermuda. Weather conditions were severe and firefighting was difficult for the small crew. Help arrived in the form of a nearby tug Smit Nicobar and over the next several days it was assisted by the Maersk Mobiliser out of St.John's and Horizon Star from Halifax and relived by the Sovereign, sent out from Rotterdam. By the time the ship finally arrived off Freeport, Bahamas January 30 the fire was subdued, although there was still concern about hot spots.

The laborious process of removing damaged containers and inspecting others, then cleanup and making repairs to the ship's hatch covers took until early this month. The ship was finally cleared to sail May 15.

On arrival today two other ships were occupying the berths at Fairview Cove and they had priority, so for the present Yantian Express is anchored in Bedford Basin awaiting its turn.

The ship is carrying no containers in the forward holds where the fire took place, and thus is trimmed down slightly by the stern, with the top of the bulbous bow just visible above the waterline. Containers originally destined for Halifax will be unloaded here, but it is unclear how the other containers will be dealt with.

Atlantic Bear on the flank and Atlantic Fir on the stern escort the ship to the anchorages.

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No Holiday

Although it is the Victoria Day holiday weekend on land, it does not appear that Monday will be a holiday at sea. The three herring seiners that have been in port since Friday sailed this afternoon for the fishing grounds.

 Morning Star is the newest and smallest of the three, built in 1991 by Caraquet Marine in New Brunswick. First owners, from Wilson's Beach, Grand Manan Island, registered the vessel in St.Andrews, NB. Ownership has since changed to Scotia Pelagic Inc of  Yarmouth, NS, but the port of registry remains unchanged.

Quick snap from my phone caught Morning Star easing away from its dock at Bishop's Landing early this afternoon.

Once Irving Oil's East Coast completes its work at Woodside early tomorrow morning. Its place will be taken later in the day by DL Rose which is currently unloading at Imperial Oil's #3 dock. (see yesterday's post).

East Coast is due to sail in the wee hours.

Since DL Rose will only be at Irving Oil for a few hours, I expect it will be there to take on bunkers rather than discharge or load any cargo.


The harbour looks to be quite busy tomorrow with three ships scheduled for Fairview Cove. Regular callers Atlantic Star and Budapest Bridge will dock on arrival, but the third will go to anchor.

That ship is the much anticipated Yantian Express, originally due the first week of January. Delayed by fire and the subsequent cleanup and repair in Freeport, Bahamas, the ship will now arrive with the surviving cargo destined for Halifax. There is no clear information from the shipping line or insurer what will happen then. I expect only the Halifax cargo will be unloaded here and the ship will proceed to New York for cargo that was destined there and on to its other east coast ports until all cargo is discharged. 

It is also unclear what condition the ship is in, and whether it will take on new cargo or will only unload  and eventually proceed to a shipyard for refit. Reports indicate that the hatch covers that were damaged by the fire have been repaired sufficiently for the ship to sail safely, but there must be other damage that will require substantial repair work.

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Yantian Express saga - coming soon to a port near you

News out of Freeport, Bahamas indicates that the fire damaged Yantian Express will indeed to be coming to Halifax, likely before the the end of May, to discharge the remaining containers.
Subject to technical approval of the classification society and the refitting of hatch covers, and final berthing arrangement in Halifax, the ship is expected to sail from Freeport around mid-May.

I won't recap all that has gone before, except to say that after the January fire broke out and the ship arrived in Freeport, the damaged containers have been removed . Insurance reps identified 202 containers a total loss and another 460 requiring inspection. Presumably that has been done now, and all "distressed" boxes removed.

However there remains the logistical issue of unloading thousands of others, and what to do with them then. Apparently up to one third of cargo owners have not contributed to the general average fund, meaning that they have written off their boxes and will no longer want delivery.  I would assume that the insurers are then free to sell the contents to defray settlement costs.

Yantian Express - latest report

In a press release Hapag-Lloyd  is reporting that it will take another five weeks to unload the remaining damaged containers from the Yantian Express. The ship is berthed at the container terminal in Freeport, Bahamas where a special area has been set aside for "distressed cargo."

However there is no word yet on when the remaining undamaged containers can be unloaded. The container terminal has no room for all those boxes, and so it is likely the ship will have to move to the mainland- somewhere. Those undamaged boxes are reported to be dry and in sound condition.

The ship was en route to Halifax January 4 when fire broke out on deck. After extinguishing the fire, salvors escorted the ship to Freeport, arriving February 4. It was reported then that 198 containers were a total loss and another 460 might be damaged. Power had been cut to all reefer containers earlier, and it is not clear whether these are included in the  numbers of damaged boxes.

 Yantian Express is a Hapag-Lloyd ship, but it was operating on the EC5 service of THE Alliance, which consists of  Hapag-Loyd, Yang Ming and ONE. The latter, Ocean Network Express is the merged Japanese container lines K-Line, NYK Line and MOL.

The ship has a capacity of 7506 TEUs, and although not fully loaded, it would have containers from all the component lines, other lines and many independents.

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Miscellaneouis Updates

There are updates on a number of previous posts, so I have lumped then all together in one post.

Yantian Express

The ship was finally allowed to enter the port of Freeport, Bahamas and to tie up at the container terminal. It was held off the port from January 30 to February 3 until authorities were sure that there was no risk of a flare up, and that there was a plan in place for cargo clearance.
By February 13 investigators had determined that 198 containers were to be considered a total loss and will be removed and contents sent for destruction. Another 460 containers are likely to have damage of one sort or another, and will require inspection by insurance adjusters.
No date had yet been established for removal of the containers, and proposals are still being received for disposal.

 The tug Sovereign was still standing by the ship. This may be a necessary form of reassurance to port authorities that any flare up can be contained quickly. It may also just be a means of the salvors maintaining their claim on the ship.

The Canadian tug Maersk Mobiliser was released about January 31 and returned to St.John's NL. It was delayed by bad weather, but arrived in its home port February 12.

Captain Jim 

After the tragic sinking, with loss of a life January 29, the boat was quietly raised from its position in about 12 meters of water off Devil's Island. Apparently the Transportation Safety Board needed the boat to be raised to determine the cause of the sinking.
The boat appears to be reasonably intact, but it is unlikely to be rebuilt, since most of components would be ruined by immersion in salt water. I am not publishing a photo of the boat in its current condition.

CCGS Hudson and other Coast Guard issues

A $10mn contract has been awarded to Newfoundland Dockyard for the latest life extension refit of the hydrographic ship. Davie Shipbuilding declined to bid on the work. Citing the vessel's age and condition, it was their opinion that another refit is a waste of money.
My opinion is that the ship is on life support, rather than life extension, and the $10mn is a desperation move the keep the ship working for at least five more years. Since Seaspan hasn't begun to build a  replacement, even that figure may be optimistic.

The current CCG maintenance schedule shows the Hudson to be out of service from December 2018 to the end of March 2019. Since the ship will not arrive in St.John's until February 25 at the earliest, it is clearly impossible to spend that much money in a month - maybe in six months or a year?
In any event the ship will be out of service again, during the peak research season, and DFO will have to hire in other ships again this year to do some of Hudson's work. Ching Ching.

Newfoundland Dockyard currently has CCG Teleost and CCGS Terry Fox in drydock. Teleoest (fisheries research) is also due for replacement. Its refit is to be completed by the end of March.
Terry Fox (icebreaker) has gone well beyond its December 1 refit completion date, and should have been at work in the Gulf by now. However it got a bit of a reprieve since the newest CCG icebreaker Captain Molly Kool has gone into service in the Gulf after a quickie refit/conversion by Davie. It is the first of the three Swedish icebreaking supply vessels acquired last summer through Davie.

Newfoundland Dockyard also refitted CCGS Ann Harvey in a combined life extension repair after the ship ripped a hole in its bottom in 2015. (That work was supposed to be finished in September. Although the ship has left the NDY, the ship; is not in service yet.)

As per the last post, the inshore patrol vessels have issues with their seakeeping ability. The Coast Guard brass claims it is an issue of comfort not stability - a fine point, but likely correct in terms of  rolling, but does not address the Zodiac launching issue. 

Although there are four of these vessels in Halifax now, it appears that only one is in service. Corporal Teather C.V. is operational in place of Corporal McLaren M.M.V. which on the slip at CME in Sambro. It was recovered after being set loose by vandals, and is now undergoing repairs for that incident in addition to the two month planned refit it was there for originally.  The Teather is actually from the Central Region and would normally be laid up for the winter. It is to go back into refit In March.
 The other locally based boat, G.Peddle is supposed to be in a January/February refit, which may be occurring alongside at BIO. The fourth boat, A.Leblanc is also from the Central Region, and is to be in refit from January to the end of March, which may also be underway at BIO.

CCGS Sir Willima Alexander was supposed to enter Vessel Life Extension (VLE) in November, but it is at BIO and appears to be operational after icebreaking in the Gulf.
Edward Cornwallis was to be drydocked in January and February but it is operating in the Strait of Canso.
Alfred Needler (fisheries research) has completed an alongside refit at BIO and did sea trials last weekend.

Exceptionally heavy ice on the St.Lawrence River and Gulf is keeping the heavier icebreakers fully occupied. There have been shipping delays due to ice (and high winds and generally bad weather)  but all the CCG ships appear to be working withou mechanical issues.

APL Vancouver

A fire on this ship February 4 received a quick response from Vietnamese authorities, and was extinguished. After survey and declaration of general average it was cleared to carry on to Singapore with tug escort on February 12. It is due there February 15. Damage to cargo is expected to be significant.
I only mention this incident because the ship once called in Halifax. It was not en route to or from Halifax at the time of the fire.

Kivalliq W

The fire in the generator compartment on board the tanker while unloading at Imperial Oil on January 27, may have been more serous than originally thought. After naval fire fighters put out the fire in quick order, the ship moved to pier 9B for assessment and at least temporary repairs. After some delays due to berth availability, it returned to Imperial Oil briefly on February 5. When it sailed later that day it was to go the Lévis, QC to load again for Halifax. However that destination was changed to Las Palmas , Canary Islands. It arrived there February 14. That would certainly be a dramatic change of course (and weather) however it is expected that more repairs will be done to the ship there.
No substitute ship has appeared yet on the Lévis / Halifax shuttle, leaving Algonorth to make the run.

St.Lawrence Ferries

Although a temporary solution has been found to the Matane /Gobout/ Baie Comeau service there is still some doubt as to the future. The Société des Traversiers du Québec suddenly acquired the ferry Apollo from the Woodward Group. It had been due to retire from the Blanc Sablon / Ste. Barbe service and was apparently available on good terms. However STQ ran into criticism for buying it sight unseen!

It arrived in Matane for STQ upgrades and  modification to allow it to use the docks on the service. Meanwhile the CTMA Vacancier did complete its runs as per plan, and its fleet mate - really just a truck ferry now - CTMA Voyageur has been filling in  for the last few weeks, but Apollo has now entered service.
Problems with the F.-A.-Gauthier may be more serious than originally anticipated, and it is now out of service indefinitely.

To add to the problems, the Matane dock has also been plugged by ice. Someone - STQ or maybe CCG hired Groupe Océan's 8000 bhp icebreaking tug Océan Tundra to clear the ice in the enclosed port basin to allow the Voyageur and CN's train ferry Georges A. Lebel to maintain schedule. However it has now returned to Quebec City.

Yantian Express fall out continues

The saga of the Yantian Express fire will be a long one and it is by no means over. HAPAG-Lloyd has declared General Average, meaning that all cargo interests will be required to post surety before retrieving their cargo. The surety is to cover the cost of saving the ship. This ancient custom of the sea has proven to be the best way to pay for salvage costs.

Meanwhile the ship itself is still en route to Freeport, Bahamas and may arrive on the coming weekend - a month after the outbreak of fire in its deck cargo. Until the ship is docked and adjustors get to have a look round, the extent of damage to cargo and ship will not be known with certainty.

Reports that the ship is underway on its own power, with tugs escorting means that some parts of the ship have apparently not been damaged seriously, if at all.

Meanwhile in Halifax two ships from THE Alliance have sailed. Shanghai Trader, the interim replacement for Yantian Express, sailed at noon time today, bound for Jebel Ali, UAE, the next port in the EC5 service eastbound port rotation.

A time worn Shanghai Trader sails this afternoon. It seems to be drawing a bit more water than it did yesterday, so perhaps some repairs were being made.

The second Alliance ship sailed yesterday. Dalian Express gave its next port of call as Port Said. That is not a normal call for the EC5 service, but is a call for the IEX India East Coast Express (which does not call in Halifax). Dalian Express was also four days late on this leg of its trip, so may be somehow "dragging its feet" to spread the schedule out to return to weekly calls at the scheduled ports.

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Returns

After a wild night off Halifax with wind gusts approaching hurricane strength, it is no surprise that pilotage operations were suspended until this morning.  When they did resume its was Captain E.T. Rogers doing the duties as pilot boat.

Under the watchful eye of an eagle, perched on the chimney top of the George's Island building in the background, Captain E.T. Rogers returns from a pilotage assignment.

Captain E.T. Rogers has been brought in from Saint John, NB to help out in Halifax while the regular pilot boats are out of service. It is no stranger to Halifax however, as it was built for service here in 2012 and named Chebucto Pilot. In 2017 it was transferred to Saint John to join a sister boat Captain A.G. Soppitt Both boats were built by ABCO Industries in Lunenburg to the same design, and the transfer was intended to rationalize maintenance and operations by having two identical boats.

Horizon Star makes its way inbound for The Cove (former Dartmouth Coast Guard Base.)

Also returning to port this morning as soon as pilotage services resumed was the big OSV (Offshore Service Vessel) Horizon Star. It sailed from Halifax January 15 for the burning Yantian Express carrying salvage equipment and possibly personnel.  That ship is slowly heading for Freeport, Bahamas, in tow and with its chore accomplished Horizon Star has returned to port.

More Yantian

One reason I shifted from my paper version of Shipfax to a blog nearly ten years ago, was that I could reduce the amount of correspondence required to answer questions. All that letter writing took away from valuable ship watching time!

But the questions keep rolling in - now by e-mail. However I can also answer those via the blog.

1. The mysterious arrival of the crew.

Press reports announced the arrival of the Filipino crew of Yantian Express in Halifax on January 14. They were welcomed in Halifax by the Mission to Seafarers, and were flown home. Glad to be alive no doubt, but sadly out of work at least for a time.

However there was no mention of how they actually got to Halifax from mid-ocean. We know they were evacuated from the Yantian Express by the SMIT Nicobar but that tug was on scene until recently (it has since been relieved and is en route to Veracruz, Mexico).

The only explanation I can offer is that the sister ship Dalian Express, en route to Halifax, must have deviated slightly from its normal course and conducted a mid-ocean transfer. Dalian Express arrived in Halifax on Sunday January 13.

Why this operation was not explained by the press is certainly mysterious. However news is controlled this days, so we only learn what we are meant to learn.

The ships officers were not included in the evacuees that landed in Halifax. They have remained with the ship - mostly to control machinery I would say, to preserve refrigerated cargo and perhaps to steer  the ship.The officer alone would not able to rig a long distance tow line - that would be the work of the salvors.


2. Why is the ship's position always referenced to Halifax

Yes the ship may be closer to Bermuda but Halifax was the destination  of the ship and some proportion of its cargo. Salvors and shipowners, not to mention cargo owners, would like the ship to land at its destination port if only to simplify matters. Landing the ship and cargo in Bermuda would be a massive headache, if only due to the space and equipment needed to unload.

Ships in distress often want to get into the nearest port before they breakup or sink, but in this case there is not the same sense of urgency as far as we can tell. The first concern is to control and contain the fire. When that is done, the ship will be safe to tow anywhere.

Looking at prevailing winds and currents, and the effort required to tow a very big ship, a decision may be made to go to a port other than Halifax but that decision may not need to be made for a while. As long as the ship is generally headed northwest (that is toward eastern North America) they are making progress. It does not take much course deviation from that far out to shift to New York or Halifax.

3. What is with the tugs?

This what I know:

Atlantic Enterprise is en route back to Newark. I have no explanation of what its role might have been. If the plywood over the winch control house windows indicates damage to the winch controls themselves, that damage was not repaired in Halifax, and it returned to sea still with the plywood panels over the windows.

SMIT Nicobar was en route to Mexico when it was called in to assist. It has been released to continue on its way now that fleet mate Sovereign has arrived.

Maersk Mobiliser has exceptional capabilities and as the most powerful tug would be the most likely tug to tow the ship, but it is hired at a daily rate. Sovereign on the other hand is a SMIT company tug, and might be more economical. Then Maersk Mobilizer could use is greater  firefighting capability and be a base for firefighters, salvors, etc., There might also be less expensive resources available or if Mobiliser has other commitments, it could be relieved.

Horizon Star has additional resources aboard to assist. Its helicopter platform might be of use when it is closer to land, but as of now they are way beyond the flying range of any shore based helicopters.

Firefighting is the primary effort now. That would be followed by controlling drift if the wind is hampering fire fighting. Only then would towing to destination become a priority.

As I stated in the first post on this topic, fires on container ships are notoriously difficult to fight - particularly if they are deep seated within the ship.

End of Question Period.

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Yantian Express - endless speculation - updated

People are eager to learn how how things are going with the fire fighting and salvage of the ship Yantian Express. This can result in speculation which spreads and is reported as fact. Regrettably this does little except to keep the situation on the front page. [I plead guilty].

Here is what we know for certain:

The Fire
HAPAG-Lloyd's press release of January 10 stated that the fire was under control.
That does not mean the fire is out.

The fire apparently started with containers on deck, but H-L warns that there is likely direct or consequential damage to containers below deck. [see previous posts]

Firefighting
The tugs SMIT Nicobar and Maersk Mobiliser have very good firefighting capability. However they would have limited quantities of foam on board, and if they were using foam, they may have exhausted supplies by now. If Maersk Mobiliser was towing the ship, it would be difficult for it to fight the fire at the same time. However it also has superior accommodation for evacuees. It is likely it brought fresh supplies of food, etc., from St.John's

Tugs
As the more powerful tug on scene, it would make sense for it to tow the ship. It is also Canadian and presumably has been hired for the duration of the operation, and thus would be best to tow it to Halifax.
SMIT Nicobar was en route to Mexico when it was called in, so would likely be the first to be relieved of duties if it has contractual obligations elsewhere.

Sovereign (the former Union Sovereign), also a SMIT / Boskalis tug was due to arrive on scene today. It would be bringing fresh supplies as well as more firefighting capability. It is a slightly more powerful tug than SMIT Nicobar, with 178 tonne bollard pull versus 120 tonnes.

Atlantic Enterprise set out from Newark on January 7, but encountered bad weather. It did receive some damage too, so put back to Halifax, the nearest safe port where the damage could be repaired. It is sailing from Halifax at 1800 hrs this evening. Its exact role is certainly a question. It may have been carrying more fire foam, and it does have firefighting capability, though much less than the other tugs.

>>Update Atlantic Enterprise sailed from Halifax this evening giving its desintaiton as Newark, NJ.


Horizon Star another Canadian supply tug has also been dispatched to the scene. It sailed from Halifax early this morning. Also a very large vessel it is equipped with numerous resources, including a helicopter deck. Although well out of any helo rage now, that might change depending on weather and direction of the tow.
It also has survivor accommodation and would have stocked up in food, etc., Since Yantian Express's crew has been fed and watered for nearly two weeks on SMIT Nicobar, grub must be running low

The Tow
In most salvage contracts the destination port is designated. Halifax is the logical one, however weather and the safety of the ship is also a factor, so the actual destination of the tow will not be known for certain for a while.

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Yantian Express update

Reports indicate that the Maersk Mobiliser has the Yantian Express in tow. Although not stated, this implies that there is crew aboard the ship, whether ship's original crew or salvors, someone had to be aboard to rig the towline. They may have since left the vessel again once the line was secure. Making a tow up either by the bow, or by the stern, can be a very labour intensive job if the ship has no power for winches.

There is also an initial damage assessment of effected containers. This could have been done from reports by the evacuated crew, however there is one statement that says "all reefers in Bay 1 to 24 are without power and switched off. All other Bays with Reefers are continuously supplied with power and in operation." This would also indicate to me that there is someone aboard the ship tending to the power plant. However the ship is not using its main engine, so does not have a full operating and navigating crew on board.

The ship's cargo hold is allocated bay numbers - odd numbers for 20 foot containers and even numbers for 40 foot. Bay 1 is the farthest forward.

Looking at some photos of  Yantian Express's sister ship Ningbo Express, I can see the actual bay numbers marked on the hatch coamings, for twenty foot containers.

Odd numbers represent 20 foot bays Even number are not shown, but bay 16 is a forty foot bay consisting of bays 15 and 17.

Bay numbers in white added by photo editing

Bay 31 is set up for 20 foot containers only. 

Extent of damage from the press release is said to be Bay 12 on deck forward, and below deck  Bay 1 to 9. Cargo below deck in Bays 11 to 17 may be effected, and as per the above, reefers from Bay 24 forward are without power. 

Yantian Express arriving Halifax for the first time May 20, 2013.

(bays 1  to  24 are in the yellow box)

Towing an unpowered ship is a slow process, and at last report they were barely making headway. ETA for Halifax is now January 20, but that depends on a number of factors.

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Yantian Express - following up

Will we be seeing this sight soon?
 

Yantian Express sailing into Bedford Basin (in 2013)

 
There is very little new news about Yantian Express. After fire broke out on deck January 3, the crew exerted their best efforts to fight the blaze, but bad weather and concerns for their safety forced them to abandon the effort. The nearest tug, Smit Nicobar arrived on the scene and eventually evacuated the entire crew.

Yesterday about mid-day the brand new Canadian anchor handling supply tug Maersk Mobiliser reached the ship. This impressive vessel, measuring an astounding 10,181 grt and with a 260 tonne bollard pull delivered by 14,400 kW (20,000 + bhp) main engines, has all the equipment needed to respond to offshore emergencies, including fires. By good luck it had only arrived January 2 in St.John's from the shipbuilders in Norway, and had not yet taken up its charter work.

The Yantian Express is well outside Canadian territorial waters, but since it was headed for Halifax it is logical to assume that the ship will be coming to Halifax  eventually, but many questions remain as to how that will be done safely.

If the fire has not reached the ship's accommodations and engines, and it is extinguished quickly, then it may be safe to have a salvage crew board the ship and perhaps even  make it possible to take back control. However if the fire cannot be put out quickly, and it spreads, it may be a very long time before the ship is in any condition to tow. Some container ship fires have smouldered for weeks, and it was therefore unsafe for firefighters to board and deal with hot spots.

Assuming that the ship does make for Halifax, there is still the question of  where and how to deal with the cargo - both the burned out portions and the rest which may or may not be damaged and may or may not present hazards.

Halifax is lacking in isolated port installations where the cargo can be removed far away from other activity, and without interfering with other port business. Removal of all the cargo without the use of long reach container cranes is almost impossible. Therefore one has to assume that the only place to do the work would be at one of the container piers. I am sure Halterm is not volunteering, and that Cerescorp's Fairview Cove terminal would be the only other possible location. It was the destination of the ship in any event.

Towing a dead ship through the Narrows and taking many weeks to offload at Fairview does pose some problems, since it could tie up the pier's big cranes when they will be needed for other ships.

Certainly an area would need to be cleared and quarantined for storage of the ship's cargo, some at least would be salvageable, and might be forwarded on to consignees by other ships. The large filled area outside the Fairview Cove terminal could be fenced and a temporary road connection could be made to access it if all the containers must be removed form the ship.


I suspect that the law of general average has been  or will be invoked.  A very old principal of maritime law, it means that all cargo owners and the ship owner will share pro rata in the loss of some of the cargo. In this case all the cargo may be written off. However each container would have to be evaluated, so a large inspection area would be needed in order to deal with insurance claims.

Then there is the issue of handling and disposal of  damaged or ruined cargo, some of which will be hazardous. A mitigation and transport loading area would be needed for this work too.

It will be a major headache for Halifax to deal with, if in fact the ship comes here at all. There are other ports along the US eastern seaboard better equipped to handle the problem since they have more space and are away from populated areas. The ship may end up going to one of those ports instead.

Damage to the ship itself is unknown at this time, but it is unlikely that it will be able to continue its voyage. Other arrangements will have to be made for waiting cargo - at this point it will have to be loaded on the next ship in the rotation until a substitute ship can be brought in.

Clarifications and Corrections:
 
The Port of Yantian
I fear I grossly overstated the Yantian port's container throughput. It appears that the widely published port stats include a far larger area - possibly the entire Pearl River delta area. Shanghai alone accounts for some 40mn TEUs per annum, and is the world's largest port. Yantian seems to handle more like 10mn TEUs p.a., making it the fourth largest in the world.

HAPAG-Lloyd
Shipping Lines certainly have strange names - often abbreviations or their initials. Lines such as MSC= Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA /CGM = Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement / Compagnie Générale Maritime have shortened their names for obvious reasons by using the initials. Some, like  COSCO = China Ocean Shipping Company, have found that the initials are pronounceable as a word. 

However HAPAG-Lloyd is a a bit different. It is an amalgam of initials and the names of the founding companies, but each is a little different.


HAPAG stands for Hamburg-Amerikanische Paketfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft, meaning Hamburg America Steam Packet Joint Stock Company. Founded in 1847 it was commonly known in North America as the Hamburg American Line [HAL] and was once one of Germany's two major transatlantic passenger lines. It was also active in general cargo work

HAPAG's major competitor was NDL = Norddeutscher-Lloyd (North German Lloyd) based in Bremen. Founded in 1857 it borrowed the Lloyd name from Lloyd's of London - the insurance market place of old. At the time the word "Lloyd" was used as a convenient synonym for "shipping company", and several companies, particularly of Germanic origin used.  It was not an indication of any financial connection with Lloyd's of London or Lloyd's Register of Shipping.
[Another company the Dutch Koninklijke Nedlloyd Groep.  (Royal Nedlloyd Group) merged with P+O before A.P. Moller-Maersk bought them out in 1997. PONL containers can still be seen on Maersk ships.]

The two companies, HAL and NDL, merged in 1970, joining forces to finance their investment in container shipping. Despite many changes of ownership and numerous mergers and acquisitions, it has steadfastly held with the HAPAG-Lloyd name ever since.

As for pronunciation I prefer Hay-Pag. Although there are variations such as Heh-Pag or Hah-pag, it is never Hah-Paj as I heard on one media outlet the other day.

Shoebox Oldie
In September 1966 the Wuppertal arrived with fire in the number one hold. The cargo was cotton bales, en route from Corpus Christi, TX to France. The ship's crew, longshoremen and Halifax firefighters removed smouldering bales from the ship and drafted seawater from the harbour to extinguish the fire.
This was before the founding of HAPAG-Lloyd, and the ship was owned by Hamburg-Amerika Linie as it was then called. The acronym HAPAG had not come into use yet.

Here are a few pictures of the operation:

The ship docked at Pier 9C. Aside from the vintage cars in the foreground, note the uninhabited hills of North Dartmouth, with Shannon Park to the right. The Shannon Park pier is visible just above the ship's poop deck.

That is the family Rambler on the left.

 

There was still smoke emanating from number one hold. 

The A. Murray MacKay bridge was in the planning stages and there was no sign of construction. 

BIO appears to the far left.

The four pieces of fire apparatus on scene, include a Bickle-Seagrave, lower left.

Note also the multiple railway sidings.

Two open cab Seagrave pumpers, dating from about 1964 were on scene, one drafting water from the Narrows. Curious bystanders wandered through the scene, and took pictures freely in the days before pier security.

Cotton bales were moved well away from the ship and doused with harbour water.

The Wuppertal was built in 1956 by Lubeker Flender-Werke and was a conventional engines amidship, four hold cargo ship with reefer capacity. Measuring 3280 gt, 5040 dwt, it had accommodation for twelve passengers and handled its cargo with one 60 ton, four 10 ton and eight 5 ton derricks. It lasted through the HAPAG-Lloyd merger, but was sold in 1971 and was renamed Morning Cloud, and in 1973 Siehhui under Somali registry. In 1976 it was purchased by China Ocean Shipping (ancestor of COSCO) and renamed Huang Shan. Its fate after the mid-1980s is unclear and it was finally deleted from listings in 1992.

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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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Yantian Express in trouble

Fire has broken out aboard Hapag-Lloyd's container ship Yantian Express en route to Halifax from Colombo in the EC5 service. Due to severe weather conditions, the crew has suspended fire fighting operations. This is certainly a perilous situation. In view of several recent fires aboard large container ships, cargo fires are very difficult to fight even in good conditions and can take days or weeks to control. However there is little to prevent the spread of fire, particularly on deck, and if not contained quickly can race out of control.

When a ship is far offshore and away from external resources it is difficult to predict how the situation may evolve. There is only sketchy information available at this time, some conflicting, but most news sources agree the fire erupted Thursday, January 3, northeast of Bermuda in a container on deck and none of the 23 on board had been injured. References to the ship being 1200 km (648 nautical miles) off Halifax are not possible to verify without expensive satellite technology.


When the ship called here first in 2013 it was the largest ship to date to call at Fairview Cove. With a capacity of 7506 TEU (including 700 reefers) the ship measures 88,493 gt, 100,003 dwt. It dates from 2002 when it was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, as Shanghai Express. It was renamed in 2012 to free up the name for an even larger ship.

 On May 20, 2013 Yantian Express made its way to Bedford Basin en route to Fairview Cove for the first time.

 

When Yantian Express called here on March 17, 2015, the port was still cleaning up from a 70 cm snow fall. It was not until March 21 that the ship was able to complete its work.

Trees were in leaf when the ship visited April 6, 2016.

A photo taken by a crew member and posted on line shows flames erupting from the top of a container a few bays forward of the bridge. The ship has reportedly turned out of the wind to keep the fire away from the accommodation block.

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