Un-tropical welcome for Tropical Shipping, and COSCO

The inaugural arrival of Tropical Shipping's first ship on its service from Halifax to the Caribbean was decidedly un-tropical. A fresh snow fall greeted Vega Omega as it tied up at pier 42, Halterm. The ship was lightly loaded, indicating that most of its current cargo is empties, and most of its business will be exports.

Vega Omega is on charter from Vega-Reederei Friedrich Dauber GmbH+Co KG of Hamburg. The ship was built in 2006 by Qingshan Shipyard in Wuhan, China. Its 9940 grt, 13,640 dwt allows it to carry 1118 TEU including 220 reefer plugs. It has two 45 tonne cranes.

Judging by the numbers of reefers plugged in at Halterm, there will be a sizable amount of perishables headed south. At peak season Tropical is expecting to move 500 TEUs out of Halifax per weekly trip. Since a lot of those will be arriving by road it will only add to downtown's traffic woes.
Tropical is an ideal candidate for Fairview if and when the two terminals merge operations, since their ships are small and will have no trouble getting under the bridges.

Tropical Shipping used the Port of Saint John for many years, but the line struck a better deal with Halifax and has moved its shipping activity here, although its business office remains in Saint John. The reason for this would seem obvious - much of their business is done with the Irving owned Cavendish farms and other Irving companies. Container stuffing in Halifax for LCL cargo is being provided by Irving-owned Midland Transport.

Tropical is upgrading its fleet with two new ships of 1100 TEU with 260 reefer capacity expected in July and September (and an option for two more). The current fleet numbers about 15 ships.
Parent company of Tropical is Saltchuck Resources of Seattle, owners of the Foss tug fleet, Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE Maritime) and numerous other oil and land transportation operations in the continental US and Alaska.

Their ships are relativley small compared to the ship that was berthed at the adjacent pier 41 this afternoon.


COSCO Prince Rupert is a 91,051 grt, 102,742 dwt vessel with a capacity of 8208 TEU (including 700 reefers). The ship is owned by Seaspan International and leased to what was China Ocean Shipping Company. Now that COSCO has been merged with China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) the new entity is China COSCO. However the operating entity which combines COSCO Container Lines and CSCL has become COSCO Shipping Lines. Saves on paint.
 

 
COSCO Prince Rupert operates as part of the Columbus Loop with CMA CGM and UASC. However that is about to change, as United Arab Shipping Company has been acquired by HAPAG-Lloyd.  CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen and OOCL have formed the Ocean Alliance which will maintain the Columbus Loop. I also noted a number of Hamburg-Sud containers on the ship, and that may change too, now that Maersk has bought Hamburg-Sud!

Many of these re-alignments will not happen until April or even later in the year, by which time there could be more changes in the container world.

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Arca 1 doesn't make it

The bunkering tanker Arca 1 is firmly lodged on the shore just west of Sydney Mines on the coast of Spanish Bay, between Merrit Point and Bonar Head. The position is only about six miles from the entrance to Sydney Harbour. The small ship was making for Sydney when it experienced engine failure and drifted ashore in the early hours of this morning. During the day today a Canadian Coast Guard Cormorant helicopter evacuated the six crew men to safety.
According to reports, the Coast Guard is now mobilizing for an environmental clean up, as the ship's fuel is likely to start leaking out.

When I covered this small tanker's story in Shipfax January 4  I was seriously concerned about its fragile propulsion system and the necessity to travel in good weather only. I had grave reservations about the wisdom of allowing this underpowered and sub-standard craft to sail into the Gulf of St.Lawrence, let alone on its intended voyage to the Dominican Republic. It had leap-frogged down the St.Lawrence from Sorel to Quebec City, to Havre-Aubert, in the Magdalen Islands. But during the jump to Sydney it may have been overtaken by a major winter storm and could not get out of the way.
What possesses the authorities to allow this sort of thing to happen again, after the Miner experience is beyond me. It is fortunate that there was no loss of life.

The little ship was widend and deepened in 2004, but still has a barge shaped hull.

Little more than a powered barge, it was never intended for sea-going voyages, and as I reported, the previous time it visited Halifax it was towed here and towed back to Montreal.
The ship's propulsion system is called "outdrive" and it consists of two engines, mounted on the after deck in very flimsy housings. These provide power to vertical shafts, slung outboard of the stern, to steerable propellers. That the ship suffered engine failure is no surprise. The engines are very exposed, particularly to following seas, and should they fail, attempting to work on them in frigid temperatures, high winds, driving snow and rough seas is inconceivable.

This view of a sister tanker, shows the engines mounted on deck and the outdrives.

Transport Canada, responsible for Port State Control, must be held responsible for its actions (or lack thereof). How inspectors could let such a ship go to sea makes one wonder what sort of oversight they are providing to Canada and how they can justify their existence. If the simple expedient of hoisting a Panamanian flag exempts a ship from being subject to any Canadian  oversight while in Canadian waters
then something has to change.
The Laurentian Pilotage Authority must also bear some responsibility if its pilots worked the ship from Sorel to Quebec and Quebec to Les Escoumins, surely they were aware of its potential for disaster, and had a duty to report to Transport Canada Ship Safety.
If the Transportation Safety Board conducts an inquiry, it can only make recommendations, which Transport Canada is free to ignore. It has done so in the past because the NTSB has no teeth.
Then there is the Coast Guard. With no assets in the area able to assist a vessel in distress, all they can do is rescue and clean up - at great expense to the taxpayer. There are several tugs in the area that could have assisted, but the Coast Guard has no mandate to hire tugs to do rescue work, and is still a long way from having its own rescue tugs in service.
And finally, did the owner post a bond before sailing. This is a good question because the new international convention and the government's promise to institute such a regulation, may at least help to protect the taxpayer from  the clean-up and wreck removal costs. Since the ship is essentially valueless, has no cargo aboard, and is probably minimally insured, the Owner is unlikely to have very deep pockets.

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Saturday Activity

There was a fair amount of activity on the Halifax waterfront Saturday morning. Ships were hustling to get their work done in advance of a major snow storm.
At pier 31 Helga was busily unloading its nickel cargo onto rail cars and into the wharf shed.

Using its own 80 tonne cranes for the work, Helga unloads its cargo from Cuba.

Meanwhile at pier 27 opposite Margaretha was working its cargo of rail track, also using its own cranes. The ship had put in at St.John's, NL January 1 on its way from Europe, possibly to re-stow some of the cargo. It's port of registry is also in St.John's, but it is the port in Antigua.

Margaretha has the sponsoned hull form, allowing for large box shaped holds and maximum hatch size.

Both ships are products of the Netherland based Damen shipbuilding group.
Margaretha was built as Hanna C for Carisbrooke Shipping, Isle of Wight. The hull was fabricated in Galati, Romania, then towed to Hoogezand, Holland for completion in 2002. In 2002 it was renamed Corral, in 2004 Hanna C again, then in 2006 Opalace and in 2009 Hanna C.  In 2012 Rudolph Schepers, GmbH of Haren (Ems) acquired the ship and gave it its present name. The ship measures 7752 grt, 10,526 dwt.

Helga on the other hand was built at Damen's Yichang Shipyard in China. It was built as Helga, but renamed in 2010: Kent Atlas, 2012: Helga, 2013: Clipper Avalon, 2014: Thorco Tribute, reverting the Helga again in 2015. Owners are listed as VanDijk Rederij, Westerbroek, Netherlands, with Wagenborg Shipping BV as managers. It has been calling in  Halifax since 2015 for Nirint Shipping. A 8999grt, 12.044 dwt ship it is a member of the CF12000 class of combi-freighters.

Margaretha was not the only ship with a sponsoned hull. At pier 25 Atlantic Huron is in port for winter layup. The ship was widened below the level of the main deck in 2002 to take advantage of greater allowable width in the St.Lawrence Seaway locks. The modification increased the ship's deadweight capacity by about 2,000 tonnes.

A thin layer of snow along the hull projection shows were the ship was widened. Great Lakes ships take tremendous abuse entering the Seaway locks, and the numerous dented plates at the "knuckle" show how hard life can be for lakers.

The tanker Cape Brasilia was working at Imperial Oil. It arrived Thursday, but had been anchored outside since earlier in the week.

A 2008 Hyundai, Mipo - built ship of 25,108 grt,  40,237dwt, it is owned by Columbia Ship Management of Hamburg and works in the large United Product Tankers (UPT) pool.

It was a very un-Saudi Arabian scene at Fairview Cove where Bahri Abha was finishing up its work. The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia ship made its fir call in Halifax May 17, 2013.

In the foreground some snowy picnic tables at the Africville Museum, in the middle ground some fill stockpiling for future expansion of the Fairview Cove container terminal, and a pollutant containment mountain. In the background CN Rail's Rockingham yard.

Also this morning Atlantic Towing tugs moved Atlantic Towing Ltd's new supplier Atlantic Griffon from Halifax Shipyard to pier 9B. The cold move signified completion of the construction process and commencement of the trials period. One of tow suppliers built by Damen's Galati yard in Romania, it arrived in Halifax in two pieces in August. The superstructure was connected to the main hull over the last four months, and it is now being made ready for sea trials.

Atlantic Willlow pushes on the bow while Atlantic Oak works the stern as Atlantic Griffon is made fast alongside pier 9B.

 Immediately astern, Algoma Dartmouth has taken up a berth to shelter from the incoming storm, and astern of her Maersk Nexus is tied up at pier 9C.

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Acadia and Acadian, day and night

The "flagship" of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is the veteran survey ship Acadia. A veteran of two world wars and a pioneer in charting Hudson's Bay among many other achievements, the ship is now enjoying retirement at the museum wharf.

This morning while walking by I noticed that the Irving Oil tanker Acadian was anchored in an interesting juxtaposition with an orange surveyor's dory in between. I had to act quickly however - no time to carefully frame a photo- because a wall of snow soon enveloped the area and brought visibility down to near zero.

Bow in the snow, stern in the sun, Acadian awaits a turn at the Irving Oil Woodside depot.

Three minutes later it was dark as night. The Halifax Tugger works with divers and a containment boom at Queen's Wharf where the latest waterfront development is under way.

It was just a snow shower however, and in a few minutes the sun was blazing again.

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Weather Woes

High winds again today brought port traffic to a near standstill. The only arrival was the supplier Atlantic Kingfisher.  Since it was built here in 2002, it has been based in Newfoundland and was back only once in March 2006.

Since it tied up at pier 9 I assume it will be fitted for some cable work, likely the fibrepotic repair on the St.Lawrence River off Forestville. IT Intrepid was originally lined up to do the work, but is has since sailed for the Caribbean.

The tanker STI Wembley moved from Irving Oil Woodside to Bedford Basin anchorage during the highest winds, then moved back later this afternoon. The tanker Acadian was due to take its place but has remained at sea.

Several container ships, including Zim Monaco and Zim Shanghai were due, but have been delayed, and Atlantic Cartier will now arrive tomorrow.

A couple of other interesting craft are also making there way along the coast, although they may not be calling in Halifax.

Océan Traverse Nord, a trailing suction hopper dredge had been working on the Borden, PE - Cape Tormentine, NB power cable project. When it completed that work it headed for Charlottetown for Christmas, then Sydney, NS for New Year, thus avoiding a couple of storms. Then on January 2 it left for Mulgrave, NS, arriving yesterday in time to miss the current blow. It has over-wintered in Mulgrave before, but may also be headed south.

Océan Traverse Nord is built with a hull that hinges lengthwise, allowing it to dump its cargo of dredge spoil. The superstructure remains on an even keel throughout the process. 

Built in 2012 it has worked on the St.Lawrence River, Great Lakes and the Caribbean. It called in Halifax in 2013 on its was to Dos Bocas, Mexico.

Another craft from the St.Lawrence is also making its way south. Arca 1 departed Sorel, QC December 31, over-nighted in Quebec City then made a direct run to Havre-Aubert in the Magdelan Islands.

Arca laid up in Sorel last August.

Built in 1963 by Port Weller  Dry Dock as Imperial Lachine it served the Port of Montreal as a bunkering tanker. When Imperial Oil sold its fleet of full sized tankers in 1997, it had Imperial Lachine towed to Halifax to layup with their other bunkering tanker Imperial Dartmouth, neither of which was included in the sale. However in the spring of 1998 it returned to Montreal and resumed duties until 2002. It was then sold to McKeil Marine and renamed Josee M (unofficially). The next year it was towed to Hamilton, ON, renamed Murex then towed back to Montreal under Shell Canada ownership and renamed Arca. It was laid up for sale in 2014.

Ownership was transferred to Heddle Marine Service Inc c/o McKeil Marine until autumn 2016  when it was finally sold to new owners in the Dominican Republic. They renamed it Arca 1 early in December.

Due to its fairly delicate outdrive propulsion system, I expect the ship to travel in good weather only, hop-skipping to convenient sheltered ports. It is expected to stop  in Shelburne, NS, possibly for drydocking.

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Palena - new on AZX

A new face on the AZX (Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai, MOL, NYK, OOCL) service from Asia via the Med to east coast North America arrived today, freshly painted in Hapag-Lloyd colours.

Palena, built in 2006 by Hyundai, Ulsan is a 73,934 grt, 81,247 dwt ship with a capacity of 6541 TEU (including 600 reefers). It has been owned by H-L since June of 2016 and has yet to acquire s typical H-L name. Owned previously by Southern Ship Management Co SA, I believe its entry into the H-L fleet is a result of the merger with CSAV, the large Chilean shipowning company that now controls Hapag-Lloyd. Since January 2015 it has been operating from Southeast Asia via the Med to Europe. Prior to that it was operating largely within Asia for several years.

However as an (old) post-Panamax ship it could now transit the Panama Canal.

Of the 11 ships on the AZX service, the average capacity is 6713 TEU placing this ship in the middle. The three OOCL ships are lowest at 5888 TEU and the four H-Ls are 7506 TEU.  Two remaining two are charters, Maule at 6589 and Performance at 6402.

Since the G6 Alliance is due to expire in April, there will many changes in the roster of ships to come. and this one may find another place in the Hapag-Lloyd world.

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2017 - a slow start

There was not a great deal of traffic in the port yesterday, nor today, which most people took as a holiday.
Mitiq completed its work at Fairview Cove and sailed mid-morning - obviously in ballast and for Trois-Rivières, QC.

 
Atlantic Huron arrived in ballast, and tied up at pier 25-26. Most Canadian Great Lakes ships go into a form of hibernation called winter layup, but for many it is a time of intense maintenance and repair work, sometimes extending over several months.

The tanker Ridgebury Cindy A after returning to Imperial Oil December 30, tied up at number 3 dock, then today went out to anchor. It did not appear to take bunkers and is due to sail at midnight, very much in ballast.

A new arrival at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal is the handymax tanker STI Wembley, part of the Scorpio Tankers Pool, headquartered in Monaco and arrived from Ijmuiden, Netherlands.

Built by Hyundai, Mipo in 2014 it measures 24,162 grt, 38,734 dwt and looks quite different from the usual Korean built mid-range tankers. It is an ice class vessel with a full width bridge structure. This is the second overseas arrival At the Irving terminal, both have been from the Netherlands. The first was Energy Panther which delivered a partial cargo October 22.


Also arriving, but too late for a photo,  Atlantic Sea is still missing its starboard anchor.

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