AFL New England Stranded. Says Who?

Crew members over the side and over the bow painting AFL New England this morning- hardly the sign of a "stranded" ship or crew.

An overly dramatic headline in a local newspaper today (which was picked up and broadcast around the world) claims that the AFL New England and its crew are stranded in Bedford Basin. Not only was the headline misleading but it is inaccurate.
Despite quotes from the owners of American Feeder Lines and the Port Authority the paper persisted in stating that the ship is stranded, with no evidence to prove that it is.
Stranded by the way, means either one of two things in maritime circles.
1. The ship is aground and cannot free itself.
2. The ship and its crew have been abandoned, unpaid, by the ship's owners or operators.
Since the ship is clearly afloat, the writer must have meant the latter, but he gives no evidence.
The idled ship and its crew have not been abandoned by its owners. If they had been, it would be unlikely that the crew would be out on bos'ns chairs painting ship as they were today (see picture above.)
The writer also gave no evidence of any research into AFL's business except an interview with AFL. Due diligence would have been to discover if AFL was in creditor protection, or bankrupt or in voluntary liquidation. There was also no statement from the ship's owners. Have they been bankrupted by AFL's closure? Have they been paying the crew? A quick call to the local inspector of the International Transport Worker's Federation or the Mission to Seafarers would answer this basic question.
Certainly since AFL has ceased trading the question of the ship's charter and who is paying would be an issue. Most charters run for a term and until it is resolved that the charterer is in default, the ship owner would be most unwise to bail out and remove the ship.
Also, until a new charter is arranged, what is the ship supposed to do? It has nowhere to go, so it might as well stay where it is. That hardly means it is stranded.
And finally the article does mention in passing that there is still cargo aboard the ship. If that is so, then the cargo will have to be unloaded or delivered at someone's expense. I hardly expect the ship owner to cough up that cost without some arrangement for compensation. In fact the ship owner may have the upper hand here, since he has possession of the cargo. In which case it is best for the ship to remain exactly where it is.
If the charter has been breached then the shipowner has a large claim against AFL which may well take time to resolve.
So in conclusion it was a particularly sloppy bit of journalism, regrettably all too frequent  in the local press over the years. A lack of knowledge on shipping matters and lazy research (two phone calls) is a pretty low standard for a paper in a major port.

  

Highlanders off to North Sydney, Salarium to go too

1. Tugs assist Highlanders out of the Novadock, but the ship is using its own thrusters to do most of the work turning south.

2. The ship has a broad stern ramp and bow doors.

The Marine Atlantic Inc ferry Highlanders left the Novadock floating drydock late this afternoon. After doing a compass swing south of George's Island the ship headed home to North Sydney to resume operations between North Sydney and Port aux Basques.
Her spot in the Novadock will apparently be taken by sister ship Blue Puttees in a few days.

The ship arrived in Halifax on April 10 after less than a year in service with MAI.

The ship was due to leave the drydock at 0800 hrs this morning. The harbour was fairly busy all day, so it may have been availability of tugs that caused that time to be changed to 1400. By 1400 however, with tugs standing by, and presumably a pilot aboard, why did it take until 1530 for the pilot to call for clearance, and 1600 before the lines were let go? One would hate to suggest that shipyard workers were looking for overtime, but it is an all to obvious conclusion.

The shipyard has come in for criticism (unjustified in my opinion) in the last few days for laying off eighty some workers on completion of work on the Highlanders and Salarium. The critics think that because the yard received government money that workers should be kept on even if there is no work for them to do. Sorry but the money was to improve the yard and carry out the defence work, not to provide featherbed accommodation.

3. Salarium is now ballasted down and was to sail this afternoon. It is now scheduled to go at midnight.

Odd ship at Gypsum (2)

Another odd ship appeared at National Gypsum today. In October the Heron loaded for the first and only time, see: http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2011/10/odd-ship-at-national-gypsum.html
Today it is a similar kind of ship - an open hatch type (meaning its hatches are the full width of the cargo hold) and with two 30 tonne gantry cranes. Built to carry forest products primarily, it started off life in 1977 at Kawasaki Heavy Industries at Sakaide, Japan, as Hoegh Mascot. It has carried that name three times in its life. It has also been called Saga Mascot, Star Mascot and just plain Mascot (twice) depending on owners and charters.
It is currently registered in the Bahamas, but owned and operated by SMT Ship Management of Limassol, Cyprus, known for their operation of ancient bulk carriers.
If the pattern holds true this time, the ship is likely working its way to the scrappers. That is what happened to Heron. It arrived in Alang, India, March 26 and is being broken up.

Diamond Express - out; Chimborazo-in

Out with the old, in with the new, as two tankers passed in Halifax harbour. The timing of the departure of Diamond Express and arrival of Chimborazo was well planned today, so that the outbound ship could take the western (deepwater) channel and the inbound laden ship could take the main channel. The main channel is a straighter course and as the ship was slowing, it was much less easy to manoeuvre, even with an escort tug on a stern wire,
The outbound ship is the chemical/products tanker Diamond Express built in 2009 and measuring 27,976 gross tons/ 45,634 deadweight tonnes. It arrived in Halifax April 25 and sailed for Rotterdam. It flies the Panamanian flag and is owned in Japan and managed by Mitsui OSK Lines.

 1. Diamond Express outbound.

 2. As the inbound ship approaches Meagher's Beach, the outbound Diamond Express stears toward the western channnel. 

3. The inbound Chimborazo is loaded and has Atlantic Oak as tethered escrot on a stern line,

The inbound ship is interesting, not so much for its characteristics. Chimorazo is 35,770 gross tons and 66,138 deadweight, built in 1999 buy Hyundai in Ulsan, South Korea. A typical ship of those yards, it is relatively small for a crude oil tanker. We normally see crude carriers nearer 150,000 deadweight here. It is unusual in that it is owned by Flota Petrolera Ecuatorian (Flopec)-the state oil company of Ecuador. It is registered in Guayaquil and flies the Ecuadorian flag. It is not the first Ecuadorian ship to call in Halifax, but is certainly a rare sight. Oil is one of Ecuador's major exports, but I have no idea where its present cargo comes from.

American Feeder Line pulls the plug

American Feeder Line has packed it in, and will stop its Halifax/Portland/Boston service, due to lack of sufficient cargo.
The feeder line was set up to move Halifax containers to New England in competition with road and rail. Like several other lines that attempted to do this before, they were not able to generate enough traffic to make it pay. A promise of a loan from the Province of Nova Scotia was not enough to deepen the line's pockets (the loan was never used) and AFL states that potential investors have backed out.

The ship AFL New England remains at anchor in Bedford Basin. Its future is in doubt, and it will likely be returned to its owners- maybe with some debt load.

Nils B update

 1. A crew man makes his way forward to secure the foredeck.

2. A.P.A.No.1 makes a little spray on the way out.

Nils B got underway this afternoon bound for St-Pierre. The ship started pitching and rolling even before it got to Ives Knoll- it will be an interesting trip!

Verreault Dredging - latest news

The ownership of the former Verreault Dredging fleet was officially transferred to Le Groupe Océan of Quebec City today. Interestingly there have been no changes of name to the vessels from the Verreault fleet.  The prefix "I.V." has been retained for all the existing scows, hopper boats and dredges.
Three vessels in the fleet have been re-registered:
I.V.No.12 a small 16 gross ton scow built in 1994 as CPSM-08.

The 221 gross tons barge I.V.No.23 the former Rock General No.1., built in 1957 at MIL, Sorel for MIL a rock drill and pile driver. It last saw service about 1995 and has since been used as a temporary pier at Matane.

The dredge Rosaire has also been re-registered.

When Groupe Océan acquired the St-Maurice dredging fleet it was incorporated into Océan's construction division, also without change of name.

1. The dredge Rosaire arriving in Halifax in 1994 with the hopper boat I.V.No.13 acting as tug.

Footnote: The sole exception to the ownership transfer noted above is the trailing suction hopper dredge Port Mechins, which still registered in the name of Pricewaterhousecoopers, and as far as I am aware is till laid up in Veracruz, Mexico.