Busy, busy day.

1. l: Chiswick Bridge, r: Reykjafoss, centre Queen Mary 2 ahead of Explorer of the Seas

2. Atlantic Compass with fresh paint

3. coastal tanker Algonova

Thanks to Hurricane Earl, and the Labour holiday, today was a very busy day in the port. No less than seven container ship and two cruise ships arrived and departed, keeping both container terminals jumping well into the evening.

Among arrivals were the regulars Maersk Palermo, Italy Express (Hapag-Lloyd), Reykjafoss (Eimskip) and Arsos (CMA/CGM), and Atlantic Companion and Atlantic Compass (both sporting their freshl paint jobs.) K-Lines' Chiswick Bridge also called at Halterm.

Cruise ships Exporer of the Seas and Queen Mary 2 tied up at pier 20 through 22.

To add to these, the coastal tankers Algoscotia and Algonova also arrived.

Goodbye to Fraser

The last of the St-Laurent class destroyer escorts left Halifax on a tow line Monday September 6. HMCS Fraser was built by Burrard Dry Dock Co Ltd in Vancouver and commissioned in 1957. The first Canadian designed and built anti-submarine vessels, the St-Laurents were world leading vessels, with a distinctive appearance and a lengthy and distinguished naval service record.

Fraser, third vessel in the class, and first built on the west coast (and named for a western river), was based in Esquimalt and served as a Destroyer Escort (DDE) until 1965 when she came east. Canadian Vickers Ltd in Montreal converted her to DDH (helicopter carrying) capability and she recommissioned in 1966.

She was given a life extension, called DELEX in 1981-82, also at Canadian Vickers Ltd, and then became a test bed for several weapons systems. She finally paid off in 1994 and was used as a floating classroom until sold in 1997 to be converted to a museum in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

Funds could not be secured for that role and she was returned to the navy last year. Her presence in Bridgewater had become an embarrassment and an eyesore. The museum interests continued to try to save the ship, including a court challenge in the last few weeks. It now seems certain however that she will indeed be scrapped.

The last of the "steamers" still afloat, she is bound for Port Maitland, Ontario, in tow of the tug Tony MacKay (see Tugfax.)

New Old ship on St-Pierre run

The shuttle service between Halifax and the French island of St-Pierre et Miquelon has been assigned to the ship Fusion flying the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines, but owned and operated by Ukrainian interests.

The ship is a familiar one, having previously operated on the same run as Fort Ross starting July 18, 2007.

The ship was built in 1977 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg and has carried numerous names in her lengthy career. After a major refit in Europe, she was renamed Fusion earlier this year. She is now looking at a three year charter to run to St-Pierre.

The ship can carry bulk cargo, general cargo and RoRo and has two 30 tonne cranes. Her maximum container capacity is 319 TEUs.

She takes over the St-Pierre run from Svendborg (see previous post) which was just a fill in, after Dutch Runner completed her contract and went off to do charter work for Desgagnés.

She is shown above approaching pier 9 on Friday September 3 to tie up in advance of Hurricane Earl. She was loaded and ready to sail when the hurricane passed, and left on Sunday.

Hurricane Earl

Tom T photo

Halifax was struck by Hurricane Earl on the morning of September 4. Fortunately it was a glancing blow. Steady winds exceeding 85 knots and gusts over more than 120 knots were recorded at Chebucto Head-the harbour entrance. Seas were rough and winds were high in the harbour, but we kept smiling.

Fortunately there was lots of advance notice and ships were diverted away from Halifax. The only large commercial ship in port was the gypsum carrier Georgia S, which has been anchored in Bedford Basin for months waiting for work. It had lots of room to move around and was well anchored.

Unlike the situation in our previous hurricane (known as Juan), ships parted lines and alided with other ships, sinking one yacht, damaging two container ships, and tugs were called out to keep a barge alongside and to try to secure other ships in very dangerous circumstances.

Earl's arrival also did not coincide with high water and so the storm surge effect was about the equivalent of a high tide.

Numerous tugs and supply vessels huddled at pier 9, and others anchored in Bedford Basin. Smaller craft, such as the pilot boats, took a lea berth at navy Jetty Lima or at Alderney Landing.

The largest naval vessel in Halifax, HMCS Preserver, was safely accommodated in the Novadock floating drydock at Halifax Shipyards, in the midst of a refit. Other navy ships, small and large, were well battened down at navy piers. Also at the navy dockyard, the corvette Sackville was tied up and under naval supervision.

The retired naval destroyer escort Fraser was on the exposed face of jetty Lima, but again was well secured under naval supervision.

The majority of craft were tied up at pier 9 in the Narrows, where there is some lee from the southerly winds.

So who was in port?

- pier 9: Fusion (more on her above), barge Beaver Kay (spudded) tug Beaver Delta II-lifted out on the dock for refit.

- pier 9A: supplier Mariner Sea, tug Ryan Leet (went to anchor in Bedford Basin), supplier Hebron Sea

- pier 9B: sectional scow (spudded)

- pier 9C: tugs Stevns Battler, Atlantic Fir, Atlantic Oak, Atlantic Poplar, joined by Atlantic Larch during the storm (it moved from Woodside where it was very exposed)

- anchored Bedford Basin: bulk carrier Georgia S, suppliers Maersk Challenger and Panuke Sea (joined by tug Ryan Leet), Coast Guard vessel Earl Grey and bunkering tanker Algoma Dartmouth, tug Tony MacKay

- Bedford Insitute: research vessels Hudson, Alfred Needler

- Bedford: tall ship Silva, Theodore II (see photo by Tom T above)

- Maritime Museum of the Atlantic CSS Acadia, at her normal berth

- Woodside (IEL dock) Atlantic Willow inside pier face, accommodation rig Chemul secured by ground anchors for reconstruction work.

To my knowledge no ships broke loose, although there was some anchor dragging.

Suez Canal Bridge right here in Halifax

The aptly named Suez Canal Bridge stopped in today on the K-Line service. The ship is a post-Panamax, and reaches Halifax from the far east via the Suez Canal and passes under its namesake bridge to get here. That bridge has several names, as you will see from this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal_Bridge

The ship was built in 2002 and carries 5610 TEU. Oddly, perhaps, for a post-Panamax ship, it is registered in Panama. She is a sister to Tsing Ma Bridge, which is posted below.

Arsos for CMA/CGM

The container carrier CMA/CGM runs a weekly service from Halifax to Kingston, Jamaica. Kingston is a hub port for CMA/CGM, and allows connections to other routes. After calling in Kingston the ship will do a circuit of Gulf of Mexico and US east coast ports, as part of CMA/CGM's Gulf Bridge Service.

Today's caller was Arsos, a Cypriot registered ship, built in 2007 in Zhoushan China. It is rated for 1296 TEU. Typical of feeder container ships, it is fitted with cranes, which allows it to work the boxes at smaller ports.

Close Call at pier 9

The supplier Panuke Sea was refitting at pier 9 B this afternoon when something went wrong. According to spectators, a new engine had just been installed, and when it was fired up, the crew soon discovered that it was clutched in! The boat surged ahead on its lines, parting a stern line and wrenching the vessel away from the dock, ripping off its gangway as it went.
The boat was a good 100 feet off the dock when I got there, and they apparently had an engine on line and were bringing her back alongside.
It seems that the headlines may have held, or they were let go from the boat. All I could see were some heaving lines in the water. It is also possible that they dropped her starboard anchor, as it was not in its stowed position.
I recall seeing this happen before when a ship at pier 28 surged ahead and smacked its bulbous bow into the pier head. In the case of Panuke Sea however it could have been more serious as a work barge was positioned a bit farther north at pier 9B, and it would have been in the way if Panuke Sea had been out of control. Earlier in the day there had been men overside painting from a raft. Thank goodness they were back aboard when all this happened.

1. Quiet scene at pier 9 earlier this morning. To the left are Sable Sea and Ryan Leet just astern of Panuke Sea. To the right is a work scow. There are men painting the Panuke Sea from a raft just under her bow.

2. Panuke Sea well off the dock. Note the heaving lines in the water, starboard anchor showing and gangway hanging off.

3. A sectional scow, spudded down for work on the pier face was in a direct line north of Panuke Sea when she parted her lines at pier 9B.

Panuke Sea was built in 1984 by Komuny Paryskiej in Gydynia, Poland as Neftegaz 14 for the Russian oil giant Femco. In 2001 Secunda Marine bought the supplier and it arrived in Halifax October 15 under its own power with a Russian crew. Secunda had rebuilt two other sisters (Trinity Sea and Burin Sea) in 1999, and so they acquired this one and another sister, Neftegaz 29, for further service. Panuke Sea was registered in Canada October 22, 2001.

These boats were noted for the excellent steel in their hulls, but little else, and they were fairly cheap to acquire.

4. Neftegaz 14 as she appeared October 15, 2001, shortly arriving in Halifax.

Secunda's own forces went to work on it and gave it a upgrade, but no where near the rebuild that the previous sisters got. In May of 2002 it sailed to St. John's for drydocking and when it returned on July 11 it conducted trials. All did not go well apparently, as the ship did not meet the standards required for offshore work in Canada. Vision aft from the wheelhouse over the working deck was impeded, even thought they had cut down the funnels. So it was necessary to give it a second and more extensive refit.

5. Panuke Sea on trials July 17, 2002 after her first rebuild, note the cut down funnels.

That involved relocation of her funnels and a wheelhouse extension. That was completed in March 2003. Soon after, in May 2003, she had an engine failure. That engine was replaced by a block from the laid up Neftegaz 29, which has been used as a parts source, but remains laid up in Bedford Basin as Intrepid Sea.

6. Panuke Sea, showing her aft facing bridge and working deck, March 5, 2003, following her second rebuild.

Panuke Sea has been working out of Halifax since then. Secunda Marine was taken over by McDermott International and became J.Ray McDermott Canada Ltd in 2007.