Shuttle changes in Newfoundland

A new deal between Teekay Offshore Partners and the operators of the Newfoundland offshore oil complex will see the replacement of Canada's four largest tankers.
The new deal, effective June 1, 2015 sees three of the present shuttle tankers remaining in service for a time, and three new tankers to be built to serve a 15 year contract.

The offshore owners have banded together to arrange for the shuttle tankers to serve the Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron oil fields. These owners are Exxon Mobil Canada, Chevron Canada, Statoil ASA, Husky Energy, Suncor Energy and Murphy Oil.
Teekay is a world wide tanker operator, but for tax reasons, its headquarters is in Vancouver. To serve the Newfoundland offshore, they are establishing an office in St.John's.They have announced that they will order three new Suezmax DP2 tankers from Samsung Shipbuilding in South Korea for delivery Q4 2017 to Q2 2018.

Of the existing four tankers, Kometik is apparently not involved in the deal. Even though it is currently owned by a consortium of the oil field owners (Chevron 21 shares, Exxon Mobil 27 shares, Mobil Canada Hibernia Co Ltd 5, Chevron Hibernia Holding Co Ltd 5, and Murphy Atlantic Offshore Oil Co Ltd 6 shares) and managed by Canship Ugland.
It was built by Samsung in 1996 and measures 76,216 grt, 126,646 deadweight.

Kometik was built for offshore loading over the bow, and winter navigation.

It was also built with twin screws to help manouevering around the Hibernia gravity structure.

Rumours published on Halifax Shipping News last week are apparently true that the ship will be sold.


Sister ship Mattea will remain in service but only until September when it will be replaced by Teekay's Navion Hispania, built in 1999 by Astileleros Espanol SA, in Puerto Real, SpAin, measuring 72,753 grt, 126,183 dwt.

Mattea was built in 1997 by Samsung and measures 76,216 grt, 126,360 dwt.  It is owned by Penny  Ugland, a joint venture between Pennecon of Newfoundland and JJ Ugland of Norway.

Two never ships, which were built for a 15 year charter to Husky for the White Rose offshore project, will remain with Teekay until the new ships arrive. Both came from Samsung in 2005 and measure 80,918 grt, 148,706 dwt. They initially operated under Norwegian flag, but were transferred to Canadian in 2009.

Jasmine Knutsen and Heather Knutsen are owned by entities in the Knutsen company of Haugesund, Norway and managed by Canship Ugland.
Teekay however will be taking over direct operation and management of the ships, which will continue to sail under the Canadian flag with Canadian crews, with perhaps a change of name.

All these ships have called in Halifax from time to time for repairs, bunkers and maintenance.

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Helmut answers the call for CMA CGM

CMA CGM's troubled history with the Maersk's Transatlantic service, recounted here before, has taken a new turn. Stadt Cadiz, the designated ship on the run, pulled up lame in Halifax May 5, and appears to be in for a long repair time, since CMA CGM has called in three spot charters to fill in.
The first of these to arrive is Helmut , a 9981 grt, 11,272 dwt ship of 868 TEU. Built in 2006 by the J.J.Seitas shipyard as Helmut, but carrying the name Livland from 2006 to 2009, the ship could best be described as a "short sea feeder" ship. It is in fact a smaller version of Oceanex Avalon built in the same yard in 2004. Normally found on short routes within Europe it must have been picked on the basis of availability.

 

Helmut's most striking feature is that it is hatchless over its main hold. There have been a few hatchless transatlantic container ships, but they have been few and far between. High bulwarks, special stability and drainage systems allow the centre hold to be open to the elements. The forward hold has conventional hatch covers, and the stacks immediately forward of the superstructure are on deck over the engine room.


I am informed that CMA CGM will follow up with AS Palatia 2602 TEU on June 11 (it is currently in Montreal) and Partici 3534 TEU on June 27. In effect they are putting more ships on than the usual once per month to catch up. (Maersk has been providing their own ships for the other three weeks, but this appears to be in for a change.) 

The Canada Atlantic Express service runs Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp to Montreal and Halifax.

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Resolute at Pier 25-26

The cable layer Resolute put in to pier 25-26 last night, likely to avoid the bad weather passing through the area. Rain and fog don't count as bad weather for ships - only for ship photographers - but high winds and high seas make cable laying (and herring fishing) difficult if not impossible.

Finally we get to see the impressive stern of Resolute with its multiple sheaves, and the highly visible graphics. They seem to mark the angle to which the cable is being fed from the ship, measured in degrees from the horizontal.

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Dual Venture - new seiner- UPDATED

The first new herring seiner built in many years arrived in Halifax today fresh from the shipyard. Built by Chantier Naval Forillon in Gaspé, the 105 foot long boat is largest fishing vessel built by the shipyard. At a cost of $6mn it is the result of a joint venture between Lunar Fisheries of Scotland and a Nova Scotia operator, incorporated under the name Lunar Fisheries (New Brunswick) Ltd, but headquartered in Halifax.
The Scottish partner, based in Peterhead and Fraserburgh, is noted for its modern fleet of six vessels and also operates freezing, cold storage, transportation and other divisions. 

The new Dual Venture has several innovations including a prominent bulbous bow, and a unique stability system consisting of two paddle-like blades that are lowered at sea. Other smaller seiners rig paravanes and rely on them due to the extreme top hamper of their fishing gear. However they are awkward to deploy and their failure has lead to disastrous results.
The ship also does without the large mast and boom systems of other seiners, relying on an articulated crane to handle the seine.

This is the second boat of the same name. A previous Dual Venture built in 1977 in North Vancouver, was sold late last year.

Update:
Thanks to a reader we learn that the new Dual Venture replaces two older seiners, not just the namesake, but also Island Pride No.1 built in 1978 in Vancouver.

Island Pride No.1 and its  near sister Tasha Marie were among the most stylish of seiners.

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Fatih and Minerva Maya - Korean coincidence

Korean built ships are so prolific these days that it is no coincidence when there are two or more Korean built ships in port at one time, but it might qualify if they were built in the same shipyard, and not one of the majors.

Two of today's arrivals were from the Samho Heavy Industries yards in Samho, South Korea, but built several years apart.

Fatih sails under threatening skies after bunkering from Algoma Dartmouth.

In for bunkers the Turkish owned, Maltese flagged bulker Fatih was built in 2011 and measures 23,204 grt, 35,365 dwt. It would appear very similar to tankers built at the same yard but for the four cargo cranes, set very high to allow for deck loads - even containers. Ciner Navigation, based in Istanbul is one of several subsidiaries of a large Turkish shipowner, with a fleet of about 18 ships. Fatih gave Rio Haina, Dominican Republic as it destination.

A small fleet of eider ducks seem oblivious to the rain that greeted the arrival of Minerva Maya.
 
As the weather continued to deteriorate during the day it eventually turned to rain, which nicely blurred the arrival of Minerva Maya. It came from the Samho yard in 2002, and is a crude oil tanker of 57,508 grt, 105,709 dwt. Flying the Greek flag for owners Minerva Marine Inc of Athens, it is in port for Asian gypsy moth inspection.


It would be no coincidence at all if two ships from the giant Korean yard Hyundai Heavy Industries were to appear in Halifax at the same time (it has probably happened many times!). The yard recently celebrated delivery of its 2,000th ship a record achieved by no other shipyard in history. It represents 126 million gross tons of shipping. Its first ship (not exactly a modest start) was the 226,000 tonne VLCC in 1974. The yard at Mipo, southeast of Seoul delivered its 1,000th ship in March 2002, and in 2004 achieved the 100 million gross tons mark. Both were also firsts for any shipyard.

The total of ships built includes 583 container ships, 357 bulk carriers, 232 tankers, and 147 VLCCs.

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Fog, fog go away....

My usual Saturday round up was somewhat compromised by early morning fog, which meant that I again missed Courageous Ace (actually the fog had burned off when it sailed and had I been in the right place I might have got a shot).
The first arrival that loomed through the fog was the herring seiner Lady Janice II  arriving to unload its catch.

It was built in 1970 in Pictou as Sealife No.1, and was renamed Mari-Lynne Anita until 2001 when it was renamed Lady Janice II by Comeau's Seafoods.

It was followed by the Silver Harvester I, causing a major traffic jam at pier 24 where Lady Melissa, Leroy and Barry II and Margaret Elizabeth No.1 were also unloading. The traffic jam extended to the dock where a dozen trucks were waiting to load, and on the pier face where the boats were "bumper to bumper".

The last two boats had originally intended to unload at Sheet Harbour, but in view of inclement weather predicted they wanted to lay over in Halifax rather than the somewhat quieter port of Sheet Harbour.

By the time Silver Harvester I had unloaded, things had cleared off wonderfully and the boat had to dodge sailors all they way up the harbour. Built in 1990 by Snyders in Dayspring, NS, it is one of the few remaining large wooden fishing vessels that we see.

But first, the research ship Sea Surveyor arrived at pier 27. It was also fog bound all the way in, but there was brilliant sunshine above. It is something of a relic, built in 1979 by Clelands Shipbuilding Co, Wallsend-on-Tyne, England. It began life as a degaussing vessel named Magnet and carried powerful generators to demagnitize or deperm naval ships, to make them less attractive targets to magnetic mines. In 1998 it was acquired by Gardline Surveys and converted for geotechnical survey work.

CSAV Rio Nevado arrived as the fog had cleared off most of the harbour. The 46,800 grt, 12,322 dwt car carrier was built in 2007 by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co in China for Zodiac Maritime of London. It operates for Compagnia Sud Americana de Vapores, a major container, reefer and auto shipping copmany based in Valparaiso, Chile.

By afternoon with the fog well cleared off the next arrival was CSL's Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin. Dating from 2012, it was the first of CSL's deep sea Trillium class of modern self-unloaders. Built by Chengxi Shipyard, Jiangyin City, it measures 43,691 grt, 71,406 dwt . In February 2014 it experienced a crankshaft problem and was laid up in Point Tupper and then in Shelburne for many months until it could be repaired. Since then it has operated with frequent visits to Cape Breton in coal or aggregates work.
It tied up at pier 30-31 for maintenance.

Meanwhile the rest of the harbour enjoyed sunny warm conditions, but no ship movements. At pier 9B North the idle crew of Stadt Cadiz (also Chinese built and in port with engine trouble since May 6) decided to do a little painting. It is rare to see this kind of overside work since most ships are not in port long enough to take it on. Painting was also in full swing on Fundy Rose at Pier 9B South, but at Pier 9C the crew of Harefield (in since March 19) had knocked off painting for the week, having worked their way along the hatch coaming from the bow, about half the way aft.

May 25 photo, Harefield at the extreme north end of Pier 9C, almost under the MacKay bridge, has been in port since March for rudder repairs, and now sports some new paint on the hatch coaming.

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The fog creeps in

"The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on."
Carl Sandburg had it right when it comes to today's harbour conditions.

 Exiting Eastern Passage it was all clear.

As the autocarrier Auriga Leader sailed from Autoport, in bright (warm) sunshine, the fog was  lurking off shore and crept its way in as the ship made its way out.

There was low fog at Ives Knoll

 From my vantage point at the Halterm Breakwater, it was beginning to get thick.

By the time the ship reached the Middle Ground between Ives Knoll and Meagher's Beach it had vanished from view.

Going, 

going....

Auriga Leader, operated by NYK Line under the Singapore flag, was built in 2008 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe. It measures 60,123 grt, 18,686 dwt. [Auriga is a medium sized constellation, whose brightest star is Capella.]

Needless to say there was no attmept to capture the arriving  Courageous Ace - maybe tomorrow.

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