Bring on the cruisers - and

 With four cruise ships in port today, October 16, the waterfront was crowded with passengers and the Piers were wall to wall with ships. In addition to the well known Enchanted Princess a Pier 22 and the Seaborun Sojourn at Pier 23, there was one new-to-Halifax ship and one at anchor.

The new ship, Oceania Cruises' Allura, was assigned to Pier 20, so that all the berths on the seawall were occupied. That left anchorage number one open for Zuiderdam. Its passengers were transported to and from shore on the ship's own tenders.

 The Allura was backlit as it made its way in past the appropriately named Black Rock Beach.

The Allura is a very new ship that started its maiden voyage July 18 when it sailed from Trieste, Italy for Athens, Greece. After some Mediterranean cruises, it re-positioned via Portugal to North America for the fall season. It will shift to the Caribbean for the winter.

Built by Fincantieri Sestri Ponente in Genoa, the 67,901 gt ship carries 1200 passengers in 600 staterooms and is served by a crew of 800. A handsome ship, free from graffiti and strange appendages, it does prove that some current ships can be aesthetically pleasing without sacrificing capacity.[ see previous rants on this subject].

Zuiderdam quickly deployed its tenders, and passengers were whisked ashore in short order.

 

In addition to three tenders alongside and one underway, the tug Mighty Edge arrived with had a barge to take off refuse.

There was also one "new to Halifax" container ship port. The CMA CGM Arctic is a 150,783 gt, 159,614 dwt ship with a capacity of 14,812 TEU. It was built by Hyundai Samho and is duel-fuel LNG powered.

 Operating on the Ocean Alliance Asia-North America service, it departed Colombo September 20 and sailed non-stop via the Cape of Good Hope.Typical of large container ships it has the bridge structure well forward. Its deck cargo appears to be just about the maximum, leaving scarcely any closeup view from the helm.

A recent report states that currently, empty containers account for  41% of all container transport globally. Even if that were the case with this ship, it is operating at 14.9 meters draft, which indicates near capacity by weight. Ships now have to compensate for incorrect weight declarations after several casualties were attributed to overweight boxes.

. 

Big Day, Big Ships

 It was a big day in the Port today, October 6, with three cruise ships and some more usual and unusual traffic.

The three cruise ships were the Zuiderdam, Queen Mary 2 and Brilliant Lady. In order to accommodate all three at one time the Brilliant Lady anchored and ferried passengers ashore by tender while the other two ships took up the entire length of the Sea Wall (Piers 20 to 22).

 

The usual refuse barge is shown alongside the Zuiderdam at Pier 20 (right in photo) while the Queen Mary 2 may be carrying out lifeboat drills or training at Pier 22 (left in photo).

 

The Brilliant Lady, anchored in the lower harbour, used its port side tenders, (I saw numbers 10 (shown below), 11 and 12) to transfer passengers to and from the landing stage at Pier 24.

 Also arriving in the morning was the tug Atlantic Fir towing the semi-submersible heavy load barge Boa Barge 38 37 from Sydney, NS to the Halifax Shipyard.

 

As the tow was shortening up off the Shipyard a McNally Marine crew boat sped past on its way to the Shipyard construction site of the new Pier 6.

 The barge is used to transfer components from Woodside fabrication site to the Shipyard, but more notably as the launch platform for new ships. The first of two Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel variants for the Canadian Coast Guard is in an advanced state of construction, and for the first time, has been assembled entirely indoors. (The naval AOP Vessels were built in blocks and the three mega blocks were joined outdoors.)

When the newest ship, to be named CCGS Donjek Glacier is rolled out it will be loaded onto the Boa Barge 38 and floated off in Bedford Basin. The barge was moved to Sydney Harbour last year to provide space for construction of the new Pier 6 at the Shipyard.

It was quiet in the harbour until late in the afternoon, when there were four departures and one arrival in quick succession. 

The first departure was the Zuiderdam on its way to Sydney. It is a near weekly caller during the cruise season.

 

Next along  was the auto carrier Morning Lily arriving for Autoport.

 Built by Hyundai, Ulsan in 2011 it is a large PCTC of 70,687 gt, 27,283 dwt and has a capacity of 8,011 CEU. In a carefully arranged meet in the main channel, it made a starboard to starboard pass with the outbound Queen Mary 2.

 The camera lens made the ships look closer that they probably were, but even so it was unusual to see two such large ships so close together in the same channel (and making  some odd overlaps).

Next along was the coastal tanker Algoscotia en route to Sydney, NS. It arrived October 4 at Imperial Oil, then yesterday, October 5, it moved to Pier 9B, likely for some maintenance work that could not be done at the oil dock.

Sydney is the ship's most frequent port of call, making on average three to four visits a month. It also delivers product as far away as Sept-Iles, QC and occasionally to Newfoundland.

 Next away was the MSC Sena clearing the PSA Atlantic Hub, Pier 42 for Montreal on MSC's Canada Express service from Western Europe.

 The ship arrived off Halifax yesterday and was due to take a pilot at 1530 hrs. Tugs were standing by in the harbour, but seemingly at the last minute, the ship put back to an offshore anchorage. It did take a pilot at 2330 hrs and docked after midnight.

 Built in 1996 by Halla Inchon, and completed by Halla Samho (now Hyundai Samho), it started life as the ZIM Sydney, and was renamed Rhein in 2000, E.T.Albany in 2002, CMA CGM Egypt in 2004, MacAndrews America in 2006, E.R.Albany again in 2007 and finally settled on MSC Sena in 2013. It is a 30,280 gt, 44,215 dwt ship with a capacity variously reported as 28111 to 2825 TEU. 

The ship is headed for Montreal, and although I  did not see the ship yesterday, it apparently off loaded enough cargo to reduce draft significantly. The St.Lawrence River has very low water levels this year, due to the severe drought in the region. The ship's after deck, usually used primarily for empties,  is completely bare.

 

 There was other harbour activity, which I may be able to catch up on tomorrow.

. 

Six Ship Day and More

 As if four cruise ships in port at once was not enough (yesterday, September 29),  today, September 30, there were SIX cruise ships in port at the same time. That meant that two ships anchored in the lower harbour and sent its passengers ashore in lighters, and one had to tie up in the industrial section of the Ocean Terminals. There was other business in the port too, but that will be in a separate post, to be filed later today.

Some passengers were no doubt disappointed that many stores and businesses were closed today (as were schools and government facilities) because it was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. However those passengers on the SH Vega, although berthed at Pier 27, did not have to contend with port workers loading rail cars and shifting freight - they had a holiday too.

 

Swan Hellenic Cruises' SH Vega 10,517 gt, built in 2022 by the Helsinki Shipyard in Finland, has only 76 cabins, including six suites for 152 passengers. Providing  Luxury Polar Expedition Cruises to remote regions, it carries the usual array of Zodiacs and kayaks for shore excursions. Those were not needed today, but the Pier 27 berth might be considered remote territory, more accustomed to dealing with cargoes of steel rail, nickel sulfides, grain or wood pellets.

 The two anchored ships included the Brilliant Lady which (to me) looked like a giant bug with larvae. Sorry for that unflattering opinion, but the Society for Aesthetic Responsibility (of which I may be the sole survivor) has deemed this ship "Sub Standard".

 Even more bug like (but slightly more attractive) was the Zuiderdam.

 

A mid-morning arrival was the Norwegian Gem  (I always want to type "Germ") which took the Pier 22 berth, joining the earlier arrival, the Vision of the Seas at Pier 20.

 

That left the Star Pride at Pier 23, with a front row seat for the landing stage at Pier 24 and the constant activity of the the shuttle tenders.

 .

Colourful Comings and Goings

 There were several comings and goings in Halifax today (June 2) - some of which were notable for their colour.

A quick visit was all that was required for the product tanker Torm India to receive clearance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to proceed on its way from Texas City to Montreal. Presumably the ship was in Asian waters in the last year where it could have picked up an invasive species of moth that would be particularly harmful to Canadian softwood forests.

 Ships of the Danish company Torm A/S always stand out due to their burnt orange coloured superstructure. In addition to the company name on the jet black hull, there is also a version of the company flag.

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co Ltd built the ship in 2010 with the name Atlantic Queen. The 29,141 gt, 46,838 dwt product tanker was renamed by Torm in 2020,

Another outbound was the new tanker Algoma East Coast which will become a regular caller as it delivers Irving Oil product to regional ports. Its deep blue hull is very different from the traditional Irving Oil colours, which will soon be history.

A new sister ship the Algoma Acadian is en route from Hyundai, Ulsan and was last reported in Brasil en route to Savannah. It will replace the Acadian which is still in service in the area en route from Saint John to Portland.

There was another colourful arrival, the ONE Aquila on the Premier Alliance's EC3 Asia-North America service, direct from Colombo via the Cape of Good Hope.

The ONE Aquila used the main channel (not the western deepwater channel as I expected) and met the Algoma East Coast in the Middle Ground between Maugher's Beach and Ives Knoll for a starboard to starboard passing.

It still had lots of room to turn and back into Pier 41, using three tugs.

 ONE Aquila a 145,647 gt, 138,611 dwt ship built in 2018 by Japan Marine United in Kure, has a capacity of just over 14,000 TEU. Most sources have it at 14,065 for ships of this class. It is managed by NYK Line and works in the Ocean Network Express consortium of Japanese container lines, and uses the Latin word for Eagle in its name.

Meanwhile at Pier 41 MSC Cagliari IV was in from Montreal on MSC's North Europe - North America service. Wearing the usual MSC Colours, there was an exceptioanlly large housing for the exhaust gas scrubber system, which was painted out the same buff colour as the adjacent superstructure.

A 2017 product of the Dalian Shipbuilding Co, it started life as the ZIM Genova presumably for a ten year charter, after which it was renamed Genova in 2018, and MSC Cagliari IV in 2022. It is a 40,372 gt, 52,943 dwt ship of the 4250 TEU class, now rated at 4253 TEU, with 400 reefer plugs. 

Most MSC ships that carry a Roman Numeral in their name use a number at the top end of their TEU rating. A "IV" would normally be applied to a ship with a capacity in the high 3,000s of TEUs.

At Pier 20 to 22 were two ships with what might or might not be "colour schemes". Holland America's Zuiderdam follows tradition and is black and white. (Colour theorists will say that black is all colours and white is no colour.) The ship came from Fincantieri Trieste in 2002 and at 82,820 gt has a total passenger capacity of 2278 (or 2388), in 824 cabins, with a crew of 767 (others say 842).

Silverseas Cruises was represented by the Silver Dawn, which is mostly white. A 2021 build by Fincantieri Italiani, Ancona, it is a 40,855 gt ship with a passenger capacity of 660 in 298 cabins and 423 crew in 262 cabins.The ship is enroute from Boston to St.John's, NL.

After a day in port the Zuiderdam was the first to get away, backing out to the number 1 anchorage, turning, then heading for sea - destination Sydney. 

Whether organized or not there was a flypast of two helicopters, both wearing camo paint schemes - clearly not Royal Canadian Navy - but perhaps flying out of Shearwater.

 Shipfax considers its mandate to be "in, on, under and above" the water (hence the "beyond" in the subtitle.)

Silver Dawn got straight away from Pier 20 and headed north about to pass west of George's Island. I thought the ship would be all white, but instead the hull from about deck five down is a non descript browny light gray.

 It was soon shown up - colourwise at least - by the ubiquitous Harbour Hopper in its virulant green hull. (Likely the Harbour Hopper 4, but I did not read the name.)

As far as I can tell from online sources, early Silver Cruises ships were was all white up to 2019, when the two tone new colour scheme was introduced. This ship has always been two tone, but I am suggesting it was designed to be monchrome white as there is no natural break line between colours, such as a deck line (see Zuiderdam above.)

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

Drama off Cap

 Had I still been in Quebec I would have had a front row seat to a dramatic medical evacuation from the cruise ship Zuiderdam.

The ship sailed from Quebec City on October 13 and was bound for Charlottetown, Sydney and Halifax. During the night, when approximately 90 miles down river off Cap-à-l'Aigle, the ship rendez-voused with a local Canadian Coast Guard auxiliary vessel "1276" . Using the ship's side door and water level embarcation platform, they evacuated a passenger needing medical assistance. Conditions were reported to be very windy with rough water, but the passenger was safely disembarked at the Cap-à-l'Aigle wharf and handed over to EMTs. He (or she) was then transferred by ambulance to the excellent hospital in La Malbaie, a few minutes away.

An account - in French - of the operation may be found a: https://www.lecharlevoisien.com/2024/10/15/evacuation-dune-passagere-dun-bateau-de-croisiere-au-large-de-la-malbaie/

The Coast Guard Auxiliary crew, consisting of three local volunteers, was scrambled in short order, and the whole operation took fifteen minutes. I believe the "1276" is a Rigid Hull Inflatible Boat, of the Zodiac type.

As an indication of how severe the weather was, the ferry service between nearby St-Siméon and Rivière-du-Loup with the ferry Trans St-Laurent was cancelled the evening of October 14. There was also heavy wet snow on the road to Quebec City, between Beaupré and Baie St-Paul with several vehicles off the road. The road was impassible for about an hour until a plow got through. (If the evacuee from the ship required major medical treatment the nearest regional hospital is in Quebec City and transfer by ambulance would have been needed.)

As usual with such incidents, there has been no official follow up on the condition of the evacuee. The Zuiderdam continued on its way and was in Halifax today, October 17.

It sailed this afternoon (photo) for Portland, Maine then Boston to conclude its seven day tour from Quebec City. The location of the water level embarcation platform is just aft of midships and is marked with a white symbol. The platform is usually used by the ship's tenders when lightering passengers ashore.

This is the ship's last call in Halifax this year as the cruise season winds down. Built by Fincantieri, Marghera in 2002, the Zuiderdam is a 82,820 gt ship with a capacity of 2272 passengers (maximum) and 842 crew.

 .