Mina

The unusual looking Mina arrived at Halterm this morning. The Danish ship, measuring 2065 tons was built in 1979 and has carried a number of names in its career. She is classed as a palletized cargo ship - you can see the side elevator used to load and offload pallets. She also has a heavy lift capability, both with a conventional derrick and a crane.

The ship is here for Eimskip, the Icelandic shipping company. That company, and the entire Iceland economy are having a very rough time these days, and so it appears that they have downsized their shipping requirements. The Eimskip route usually takes the ship from Reykjavik, Iceland to Argentia, Newfoundland, Halifax, Boston/Everet, Richmond, Virginia, and back to Halifax, Argentia and Reykjavik.

You can see their (sometimes) interactive website at www.eimskip.com

Oldies from the Shoebox: Biban and Abeille 30

The cargo ship Biban arrived in Halifax December 21, 1979 in tow of the French tug Abeille 30. Biban was built by Marine Industries Ltd of Sorel QC in 1977 for the Algerian state shipping company. She often traded to the Great Lakes, and it was on one such voyage in June 1979 when she had a catastrophic engine breakdown at Duluth MN.

American tugs South Carolina, Maryland, and Superior, assisted by Lenny B towed the ship to Montreal, arriving July 29, 1979. She sat there until December 11 when she left for Halifax in tow of Abeille 30. The pair tied up at Halifax Shipyard over Christmas.

On January 1, 1980 they set out for Europe where the ship was eventually repaired. She was sold and renamed Mariam 1 in 2002 but arrived in Alang, India January 12, 2003 where she was scrapped.

The tug Abeille 30 had an interesting history, which I will add to this post in a few days.

Dark and Stormy night

A stormy afternoon and evening shut down a lot of activity in Halifax on land and in the harbour. However there were ship movements. Zim Pusan sailed for New York at 4 pm - on schedule. The tugs Point Chebucto and Point Valiant assisted the ship away from pier 42. Just as the ship was off the pier Point Valiant parted a line, but the ship was far enough off the pier that she was able to use her own thruster to keep her in line.
The gypsum carrier Atlantic Erie remained in port during the worst of the wind in the afternoon and evening, but by 10 pm she was getting away with the help of Atlantic Spruce.
Update: Actually she went to anchor overnight and will sail in the morning.
The container ship Stadt Berlin, which is heading south, opted to stay in port yesterday when she completed loading, and is due to leave at 10 pm too.
The tug Atlantic Hemlock departed sometime Saturday night/ Sunday morning. If she was heading back to Saint John she would certainly get the worst of it.
Our port mascot Theodore Too returned home Saturday night. The pseudo-tug had been in Boston for the lighting of the Christmas tree there. The tree is an annual gift from Nova Scotia in thanks to the people of Boston for their assistance after the Halifax explosion in 1917.
The offshore pipelaying vessel Calamity Jane also put in this afternoon. She has been busy burying a gas pipeline from Deep Panuke, and probably had to hold off due to weather.

Farley Mowat back in town

The sealing protest ship Farley Mowat arrived in Halifax on Friday. Detained two years ago in a "run in" with the Canadian Coast Guard, the ship was detained in Sydney and eventually sold at auction. The sale may have fallen through however, but the vessel was on the move nonetheless.
It arrived in tow of the tug Atlantic Elm and is now tied up at the IEL dock, adjacent to the Woodside ferry terminal in Dartmouth. Her presence there has displaced the tugs Atlantic Larch and Atlantic Hemlock, which have tied up at pier 24.
Those lovable folks at the Sea Shepherd Society have put an interesting spin on the whole saga. The SSS claim that they deliberately set up the surrender of their ship as it had become a liability and they left it for the Canadian government to pay the cost of its disposal. In addition the ship built up a sizable bill for wharfage in Point Edward, which was not recovered by the auction sale.
Two Sea Shepherd members, the captain and engineer of the Farley Mowat, were convicted in absentia (they had already been deported) of interfering with the seal hunt.

The ship is painted in the now familiar all black, with symbols painted on the bridge signifying all the "kills" the SSS has claimed over the years in its anti-whaling missions. For some exciting photography on their activites against the Japanese whale fleet, go to their web-site.

Update: An article in the November 13 Halifax Chronicle Herald reported that the ship was sold for $5,000 to Green Ship LLC of Oregon.

BBC Spain back again

The cargo ship BBC Spain is due back in Halifax today. The ship departed Hartlepool, England in late November, heading for Duluth, Minnesota with windmill components. Very heavy weather delayed the ship and she put into Halifax on December 15 for fuel. She left later in the day.
It now seems she will not be able to make it to Duluth and get out of the Lakes before the Seaway system shuts down for the winter. She has therefore been diverted back to Halifax.
Update: The ship arrived about noon time, and berthed at pier 31. She sailed this evening giving Beaumont, Texas as her destination.

Another new tug - Stevns Iceflower (ii)

The latest tug from the East Isle shipyard arrived in Halifax and conducted trials over the weekend. This afternoon the tug was christened at a ceremony at pier 23. Named Stevns Iceflower, this is the second tug of the same name built for Nordane Shipping of Denmark by East Isle at Georgetown, PEI. The first named came back to Canada last year when Nordane sold the vessel to Rio Tinto Alcan for use at La Baie (Port Alfred), Quebec. It was renamed Fjord Saguenay.
The new Stevns Icflower will be leaving shortly for Denmark. Nordane will use the tug on their own account, but if they get a sale offer they will probably let her go as well. There seems to be continued demand for these 5,000 bhp ice class fire fighting tugs.
East Isle has two more orders for tugs from Nordane as well as two for Ocean Group of Quebec City to be delivered May 2010, October 2010, March 2011 and June 2011 respectively.
Since Irving Shipbuilding started this tug building program at East Isle they have built 31 tugs, all based on the same pattern, but with continued evolution to suit various owners.

Winter Ducks

It's time for the winter ducks to show up in the harbour again. The American Wigeons have been away since May, but they are back for the winter. Female (top) male (bottom).