Lady Christina, HR Recommendation, Nanny - bunkers parade

Weeks can go by with few ships taking bunkers in Halifax then there is a lineup! That happened late this week as four ships called exclusively for bunkers and at least one one ship in port took bunkers. The port bunkering tnaker Algoma Dartmouth was kept very busy as a result.
First to arrive was the trim little Dutch cargo ship Lady Christina . Built in 2000 the 4,235 gross/ 5,375 deadweight vessel was built in 2000 with large hatches and a small travelling crane. Typical of many European ships these days it goes well beyond short sea routes to work all over the world.

1. Lady Christina arrived Thursday June 7 for bunkers. It sailed late that night.

On Friday the Canadian shuttle tanker Kometik took bunkers while alongside pier 26-27 for maintenance work.

2. Kometik bids a damp and foggy farewell to Halifax this afternoon. It bunkered on Friday.
And today the first to arrive was HR Recommendation  a 8,963 gross/ 10,538 deadweight vessel fitted with 250 tonne capacity heavy lift cranes. The ship is one of a large series built by for Beluga Shipping Co of Germany.  It was built in 2005 to be multi-functional, able to carry containers, bulk and general cargoes and heavy lifts and outsize cargo. When the company had to be restructured last year many of the 60 some ships were dispersed to new owners, most of whom, such as this one, merely painted over the "Beluga" name prefix and substituted a new one. Beluga had built ships in classes, E and F being the most prominent, and all ships in those classes had a second name beginning with that letter. There were only five ships in the R class, and all were built in in the Netherlands. The E/Fs were built in China.

3. The fog lifted a bit to permit a view of HR Recommendation with Algoma Dartmouth alongside this morning.

Soon after the Canadian product tanker Nanny anchored nearby. Although owned by the Woodward Group's Coastal Shipping Ltd since 2008, I believe this is its first visit to Halifax as Nanny. It was in Halifax in 1998 under its original name of Nathalie Sif. Then under Danish ownership, it loaded a hose reel for an arctic supply trip. Heavily reinforced for navigation in ice, it has continued in that role since becoming Canadian. It came to the attention of the press September 1, 2010 when it grounded 50km west of Gjoahaven and had to be lightered off by fleetmate Tuvaq before it could be refloated.
Built by Hyundai in Ulsan South Korea in 1993, the ship measures 6544 gross tons and 9,170 deadweight tonnes.

4. Bright sunshine appeared while Nanny bunkered this afternoon, but the harbour was socked in again when it sailed.

Later this evening another ship is due for bunkers. It is the cargo vessel Mustafa Kan , owned in Turkey, but registered in Panama. The 7,393 gross/ 9,250 deadweight ship is unusual, in that it is fitted with two deck crane pedestals, but the cranes have not been fitted. Since it is likely to arrive after dark, I likely won't get a photo.

Slip formin' away

Work on the extension to peir 9B is carrying on apace.
Following completion of dredging by Harbour Development, McNally Construction has placed a crushed stone mat base and is busy levelling it using Derrick No.3. The process involves dragging a heavy beam back and forth the across the bottom. The crane suspends the beam at the correct depth and the barge  moves using its own winches and anchors established on shore and on the harbour bottom.  The tug Whitby sets and resets the anchors  as needed to reposition the barge.

1. Derrick No.3 suspends a heavy drag beam to level the new gravel mat 

2. Whitby repositions Derrick No.3. One of the orange anchor buoys can be seen in the background.

Meanwhile in a round-the-clock operation, dozens of workers are placing concrete for the first crib, using the slip-forming process, where the concrete form is raised continuously as the concrete is poured (the CN Tower was built this way too). The crib is being built on the deck of the semi-submersible barge Beaver Neptune. When the pouring is completed and the concrete sufficiently cured, the barge will be partially sunk and the crib will be floated off.

3. Orange suited workers place concrete in the slip-form on Beaver Neptune. The continuous pour goes on twenty-four hours a day. The concrete pumper truck's delivery pipe is seen at the top left of the photo. 

Caporal Kaeble, V.C.

The second in the series of Coast Guard patrol vessels, Caporal Kaeble, V.C. rolled out of the Halifax Shipyard plate shop on Sunday. This is the ship's second appearance outdoors, it was rolled out in April for painting, then returned indoors for more work.

New pilot boat needed - badly [UPDATED June 6]

Pilot boat service in Halifax was delayed today when A.P.A. No.18 broke down and had to be towed back to base by the tug Atlantic Oak. The 1974-built boat is back up to A.P.A.No.1 (built in 1976) which was out of service for maintenance.

1. Atlantic Oak, towing over the bow, brings A.P.A.No.18 back into port after a breakdown this afternoon.
Departure of the visiting Norwegian warship Thor Heyerdahl was delayed for several hours until A.P.ANo.1 could be returned to operation.

2. A.P.A. No.1 - seen here on Sunday June 3, is the duty pilot boat.

The new pilot boat Chebucto Pilot has been delivered to Halifax (it arrived about Sunday June 3) but it has not been commissioned yet (nor is it officially registered.) The new 18 knot boat is the first of two boats built by Abco of Lunenburg for the Atlantic Pilotage Authority. (The second will be delivered in the fall for service in Saint John.)

3. The handsome new Chebucto Pilot has been delivered to Halifax, but is not yet in service.

Update: Chebucto Pilot on harbour trials June 6.

A.P.A. No.1, 18 and 20 (also built in 1974) have served the A.P.A. very well, but are certainly of retirement age.

Naval activity

There was naval activity in Halifax Harbour today - but not from our navy.

 1. Etoile returns to her berth after refueling at HMC Dockyard.

2. Belle Poule gets underway using an inflatable boat as a tug.

The lovely French naval training schooners Belle Poule and Etoile left their berth at the Tall Ships Quay to venture over to HMC Dockyard for fuel- Etoile in the morning and Belle Poule in the afternoon. They used their inflatable boats as tugs to dock and undock. Built in 1932 the vessels are veterans of the Free French navy of World War II.

3. Thor Hyerdahl - a stark contrast.

Meanwhile the Royal Norwegian Navy Ship Thor Hyerdahl made a quick visit to Halifax today. It is presumably on its way to Quebec City for this weekend's naval review. The helicopter frigate is one of a class of five ships assembled in Spain using some hull components built in Norway.The ships are diesel and gas turbine propelled and have a published speed of 26 knots.
The ships' visits conincided with a naval conference in Halifax.

Ojibwa soon to be on the Road

I delayed my departure by a day, but will now be hitting the road for the next three weeks or so. Postings will be spotty.
In my absence:
Expect the arrival of the tug Florence M. (ex Point Vibert, ex Foundation Vibert) with the barge HM Dock 1 to load the submarine Ojibwa for Ontario.

Ojibwa is the last of the RCN's "O" class submarines to leave Halifax and is now lying at jetty Lima in Dartmouth.

Dimitris P.- bunkers and sails

The suezmax tanker Dimitris P. arrived in Halifax this morning from Point Tupper, where it had unloaded a cargo of crude oil. It sailed this evening for Nigeria.

With the potential closing of the Imperial Oil refinery and reduction to a terminal, it should still be possible to store crude oil there, but it is more likely that it will only store refined product for local distribution.
If that is so, will it still provide bunker fuel to ships?