Coast Guard ramps up

The Canadian Coast Guard has taken delivery of a new ship and transferred patrol vessels to cover for sahips in refit and under repair.

In Quebec City, the CCGS Captain Molly Kool has joined the icebreaker fleet after an initial refit. The former supply vessel Vidar Viking is the first of three icebreaking ships purchased from Sweden last summer to supplement the fleet. Named for the legendary Saint John, NB woman who became the first Canadian female to be licensed as ship's captain, it will work on the St.Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers and Gulf this winter. Meanwhile the two sister vessels Balder Viking and Tor Viking will be fitted out for service in the north next summer. At that point Captain Molly Kool will complete its refit. Its base will be St. John's NL.

Patrol capability on the east coast has been supplemented with the transfer of Corporal Teather CV  and A. Leblanc from the Central and Arctic Region. The Halifax based Corporal McLaren M.M.V.  was damaged in drydock and will be out of service for repairs, leaving only G.Peddle to carry out patrols. All the patrol boats of this class were built at Halifax Shipyard.

 The  A. Leblanc, G.Peddle and Corporal Teather tied up in a row at the BIO this afternoon.

Belnor follow up

With a blank horizon and no ships to watch for (at least in daylight hours),and a possible front moving over,  the mind turns to deep background............

Faintly visible at the bow of the ship is the Belship trademark, seen below in larger scale.

The Singapore flag Belnor that called in Halifax earlier in the week en route from Chile to the St.Lawrence River was not the first Belnor to call in Halifax. As noted, owners Belships Supramax Singapore is the successor company to one founded in Norway by Christen Smith, at the end of World War I. The company specialized in heavy lifts, but with large open holds, the ships were also well suited to carry bulk cargoes.  Phosphates, nitrates and salt seemed to be prime among these.

One of the early ships built for Smith was named Belnor. Dating from 1926, it featured a wide hull,  island bridge well forward and engines aft and was fitted with large hatches and heavy derricks - a design perfected by Smith for carrying railway locomotives and rail cars.

In 1935 Smith relinquished control of the company and it was taken over by the Lorentzen family (until 2018 owners of Belships, but that is about to change - see below).

Those large hatches carried large hatch covers that could support heavy loads, and there are many pictures and even videos on-line of Smith ships with decks full of rail cars and locomotives.  On March 15, 1939 Belnor (i) lost a hatch cover at sea 450 miles south of Halifax. The passenger liner Conte di Savoia and the Norwegian tanker Gylfe stood by the ship. It is possible that it then came into Halifax for repairs, but I can find no record for that.

On December 14, 1940 Belnor sailed from Tocopilla, Chile, with a cargo of nitrates, and passed through the Panama Canal over Christmas arriving in Bermuda January 7, 1941. It then sailed independently (that is, not in a convoy) for Halifax, arriving January 16. It apparently experienced some form of engine trouble and remained in Halifax until May 23 before it was able to sail to Sydney, NS. There it joined slow convoy SC 33, sailing June 1 and arriving at the River Clyde in Scotland June 20. Certainly a long time to wait for cargo!

For the rest of World War II the ship spent most of its time trading to West Africa, Gibraltar, and North Africa, including Malta convoys. Despite more engine troubles it managed to survive the war unscathed. It was re-engined in 1947 and in 1956 became the Danish Lise and in 1959 the Greek Ioanna. Its engine troubles were not over however, because on September 20, 1966 there was an explosion in the engine room, followed by a fire, at Arzew, Algeria. The ship either capsized or was scuttled on September 22.

The present Belnor is the sixth ship to carry the name in the Belships fleet.

When Christen Smith became over extended in the 1930s the Stove Lorentzen brothers took over management and became major shareholders in the publicly listed Belships, with the Christen Smith company listed as managers. During World War II the ships came under British control and with the return of peace, they expanded from heavy lift / drybulk into tankers, including an interest  in Gibson gas tankers, but in recent years returned to bulk carriers exclusively.

One of the brothers, Jorgan Johannes Lorentzen had a daughter, Karin, who married Otto Grieg Tidemand. They had two daughters, Caroline and Kristin.

Otto and his brother Sverre Jorgen Tidemand eventually took control of Belships, but they split up in 2012 with Sverre controlling Belships through his company Sonata. Meanwhile Otto's daughters went on to careers in other shipping companies with their father (Lorentzen + Co, Stove Shipping, Bel-Stove, Western Bulk Carriers, etc.,) and independently. Early in 2018 when their uncle Sverre indicated a desire to retire, the sisters combined to make an offer for Belships.

Instead Sverre Tidemand accepted an offer from another Norwegian shipping magnate Frode Teigen. Teigen's company will now take up majority ownership through a complex arrangement and merge Belships with his own fleet of nine bulkers operated by his Lighthouse Group, through the cleverly named subsidiaries Kontrari and Kontrazi.

The fallout from this is the resignation of Belship's CEO - not a family member - and a shake up of various Singapore and Bangkok based crew and ship managers owned by Belship and Lighthouse. The companies also manage some ships for other owners.

From all indications the company will remain Belships, but will grow to 16 ships from the current seven and perhaps will retain its historic identity. There is considerable consolidation in the bulk shipping trades these days after several hard years, and shipowners are unlikely to be sentimental under the circumstances. However Belships has always been true to its roots, continuing to carry Christen Smith's initials on their funnel mark and bow crest. I hope the new owners continue to do the same.

Belships frequently made the news in Halifax newspapers, somrtimes because of the huge loads they carried, but also because they got into trouble.

1939: Belmoira, built 1928, arrived Halifax August 23, on voyage Newcastle, NB to Memel, Sweden, with pulpwood. Presumably bunkered/stored and sailed immediately. June 18, 1940 sailed from Dakar for Southampton, in ballast; June 30 torpedoed and sunk by U-26 250 miles SW of Lands End. All 25 crew took to two boats, picked up by Spanish trawlers and landed safely at La Coruna July 2. 

1940: Belray built 1926, arrived Halifax July 27 from New York, departed July 31 in convoy HX 62, for Liverpool. In 1941 participated in the evacuation of Crete, and in 1944 was damaged in the massive explosion of the Canadian ship Fort Stikine in Bombay with one of gun crew killed and several ship's crew injured. Repairs completed in September. [see 1953 below]
 

1947: Belpamela, built 1928, sank April 11 on a voyage from New York to Cherbourg with a cargo of 16 steam locomotives, built by Montreal Locomotive Works. The ship was  660 miles south of St.John's, NL and nine crew members were lost. The remaining 18 were picked up after 63 hours in lifeboats.

1948: Beljeanne built as Empire Ethelbert in 1947, collided with the Swedish Ella 630 miles east of St.John's July 4 in fog. The Dutch liner New Amsterdam took an injured member of Ella's crew aboard and landed him in Southampton while Beljeanne made its own way to St.John's. The tug Foundation Josephine set out from Gaspé on spec to tow the ship, but was not needed.

1950: Belfri built as Thomas W. Gregory in 1943, reported hull cracks August 8 when 1,000 mi NE x E from Argentia, NL. The ship's cargo of china clay was clogging its pumps, but it was able to resume its voyage. The ship refused assistance from Foundation Josephine.

1953: Belray, built 1926, out of Saint John for River Tyne with a cargo of pit props, arrived Halifax March 11 with a 23 degree list, a 14 ft section of bulwark  gone and a 100 ft section flattened, 28,000 cu ft of cargo lost overboard. Cargo will be unloaded, ship will then go to drydock.

1961: Bellis, built 1955, ran aground in Caraquet, NB, December 13, with a cargo of pulpwood. Foundation Vigilant managed to refloat the ship before Christmas.

1964: Belfast, built 1955, a tanker, ran aground in Charlottetown in a storm, December 4. Some of its cargo was lightered off and it was pulled free. [details wanting - possibly involving Irving Oil].

1965: Belinda, built 1958 arrived in Halifax February 4 to load grain. The ship had five women crew members, four of whom were married to ship's officers.

1968: Belmona, (charter) built 1962, arrived in Halifax after a collsion 30 miles offshore, with the US trawler Squall. The ship will require drydocking.
 

1976: Belships sold off its heavy lift ships in the 1970s. The former Belkarin , built in 1954, was sold in 1972 and renamed Elbella. It loaded locomotives for Cuba in Halifax in February and March 1976. 

 Elbella carried a number of long reach derricks, 

and a 140 tonne capacity derrick amidships set up so that it could work both holds.

The ship was sold again in 1977. As Nahost Jumbo it struck a submerged wreck in Suez Bay in March 1978 and was a total loss and subsequently broken up. The ship was carrying phosphates from Aqaba for Holland.

Numerous other Belships have called in Halifax over the years for bunkers, stores or cargo, such as grain, but did not attract particular press attention. They remain a small but notable company.

NB: This post may be updated if more info comes to light.

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Business Developments

Shipfax is normally more interested in ships than the shipping business, but a few recent developments have come to our attention.

HORIZON

Horizon Star is the first owned ship in the Horizon fleet.

Horizon Maritime based in Halifax, had been hopeful of a takeover of Nordic American Offshore. NAO, publicly listed on the NYSE, is an offshoot of Nordic American Tankers and operates 10 supply vessels, mostly in the North Sea. The deal was on again, off again recently, and this week it was announced that NAO has left Horizon at the altar and eloped with Scorpio, an Italian tanker company owned by Emanuele Lauro.  Lauro adds NAO to Scorpio's small offshore startup that has two PSVs and some crew boats.

Nordic American has a "historic" connection with Nova Scotia's offshore. Its tanker Nordic Apollo was for several years the storage vessel at Nova Scotia's offshore oil field - the short-lived Panuke / Cohasset. Their shuttle tanker Nordic Challenger took the oil to refineries.

Nordic American's tanker Nordic Challenger sailing from Halifax June 30, 1992 for Panuke / Cohasset to load the first cargo of commercially produced offshore oil in Canada.

The takoever would have given Horizon an entree into North Sea work and access to more modern vessels, but  there are many more fish in the pond. As the offshore market is showing signs of recovering from a major slump, prices are likely to go up however. The more important aspect I think would have been access to capital and a potential NYSE listing for Horizon/NAO.

 The recentkly acquired Horizon Enababler is the former Tidewater Enabler.

Horizon operates two ships of its own and charters two from Tidewater. The latter two however will soon be out of work in Nova Scotia as BP's drilling program has ended, save for capping the one exploration test hole.

The deal would have given Horizon better footing against competitors such as Siem's Canadian business, operating as Secunda Canada LP which operates a small fleet with four OSVs operating out of Halifax and two out of St.John's.

 Despite the Irving Oil sign in the background, Siem Hanne is at the Mobil dock in Dartmouth this morning taking on material for its work in offshore de-construction. It carries a dominion Diving container on deck to support ROV work.

Siem Offshore is part of the Siem Industries group of autonomous subsidiaries including shipping and industrial concerns, based in the Cayman Islands, but essentially Norwegian. Maersk Canada - another competitor is Danish and is owned by the Moller family, also owners of one of the largest shipping companies in the world.

Atlantic Towing Ltd, part of the J.D.Irving group of companies is an independent, based in Canada.


HHL

  HHL Mississippi

Hansa Heavy Lift (HHL), based in Hamburg, Germany filed for insolvency December 10. The company was backed by funds under Oaktree Capital Management which has now thrown in the towel. HHL is down to five ships, one of which has been detained in France. It has 18 ships earlier this year according to reliable sources.

HHL was originally formed using some ships from the short lived Beluga Shipping, founded in Bremen in 1995 and wound up in 2011, with Oaktree as its principal shareholder. Beluga built up a fleet of 70 heavy lift ships and was held out as an innovative and public spirited company, however its collapse was also tainted by allegations of fraud against its managers. 

Beluga Efficiency

Transport Desgagnés had a working relationship with Beluga and then HHL and operates several ships built under Beluga's building program. This past summer Desgagnés hired HHL New York to fill in when one of its own ships was late returning from a charter. HHL New York carried a project cargo consisting of a 110 tonne generator and several heavy plant modules from Becancour, QC to Rankin Inlet. The ship is fitted with a pair of 400 tonne cranes.
Desgagnés has more recently seen its dry cargo ships working off season with Briese's BBC Chartering.

Maersk Supply Service Canada

After shedding a pair of older suppliers earlier this year, the St.John's based company has now added a new monster supplier from parent company Maersk Supply AS of Denmark. Maersk Mobiliser was delivered by Kleven Werft AS, Ulsteinvik at the end of October, and was registered in St.John's, NL on December 11. The huge vessel measures 10,181 grt, 4,900 dwt and has a 260 tonne bollard pull, and is equipped to operate an ROV in harsh environments. It is the fifth in a class of six Starfish vessels built for Maersk. It is reported that the ship has been contracted for drilling support and ice management by a major Canadian oil company. It is suspected that the sixth vessel, to be delivered mid next year will also follow to Canada.


K+S and Belships
The handysize / supramax bulk carrier Belnor arrived in Halifax last night and tied up at pier 9C, loaded with salt. Built in 2010 by Yangzhou Dayang, it carries four cranes and grabs. Its last port was Caleta Patillos, Chile, which barely qualifies as a port. It consists of a giant conveyor system projecting out over the sea, where ships are secured by a spread of seven or more anchors and must winch themselves back and forth to load. However it is the loading port for a huge salt mine owned by K+S AG of Germany, one of the major players in the salt and phosphate business. K+S acquired Morton Salt in 2009 and Potash One in Saskatchewan in 2011. Its history goes back to the 1890s when potash came into use as a fertilizer. It later acquired salt mines, becoming Kali und Salz.

The ship is owned by another legendary company, Belships, founded by the Norwegian former naval officer Christian Smith in 1918. An early pioneer in heavy lifts, it specialized in transporting complete railroad locomotives, something never done before. The company has been saved and re-formed more than once during depressions, recessions and wars (both international and internecine) , to survive as Belships. It got out of heavy lifting in the 1970s and now has a fleet of five bulkers and two on order, chartered to Canpotex (the Saskatchewan potash marketing arm) and Cargill.
Belnor is time chartered to Canpotex until mid-2020, but as we can see it does back hauls that are not potash, to make for profitable use.


Grain Trade
Continuing from yesterday's post about Algoma's newest tanker Algonorth,  the company is still very much in the bulk trades, and its Radcliffe R. Latimer arrived last evening with a cargo from the Great Lakes. likely Thunder Bay. This is probably the last grain cargo for this year from that destination as the St.Lawrence Seaway will be closing December 31. (While Algoma is heavily involved in the domestic grain trade, its international fleet of self-unloaders, pooled with CSL, carry only minerals such as sand, aggregates, coal, and gypsum. )

Radcliffe R. Latimer self-unloads its cargo at pier 25-26 while McNally Construction sets up at pier 24 for Phase 1 dredging at pier 42 Halterm.

Halifax is a very minor of player in the grain trade, with most of the inbound cargo consisting of feed stock for local consumption. Grain also arrives by rail and yesterday's sailing of the Nirint ship Augusta Sun with a load for Rotterdam indicates that the grain elevator facility still has some utility for export.
Phase 2 of the Port's Halterm expansion, which will fill in the space between the finger piers, will mean that the current grain export galleries will no longer be accessible to ships. It may be possible to somehow rebuild the import facilities at pier 25-26 to export grain too, but that would be a major investment for a minor amount of business. 

As I understand the port redevelopment proposal, filling in the space between the finger piers would create more land for the Halterm container terminal, but would effectively cut off the the grain export trade.

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USCG Visitor

The United States Coast Guard cutter Abbie Burgess WLM-533 made a brief stopover in Halifax on its way back to its home base of Rockland, Maine. The ship had made an unusual trip away from its home territory that normally extends along the Maine coast as far as the New Brunswick border.
On November 7 I noted the ship passing Halifax on its way to the Great Lakes. After a stopover in Montreal the ship assisted with the autumn buoy removal process in US waters, making its way up through the St.Lawrence Seaway November 16 to Lake Ontario and on via the Welland Ship Canal into Lake Erie. Apparently USCGC Mobile Bay and USCGC Alder, based on the Lakes, were unavailable for the work. After completing the assignment the ship reversed the process sailing down through the Welland Canal December 4, the Seaway December 6 and 7 and arriving here last night.

After an overnight stop at the former Canadian Coast Guard base in Dartmouth, Abbie Burgess heads for sea.

It is not the only connection the ship has with the Great Lakes, because it was built in Marinette, WI in 1997 as one of several ships in the Keeper class of small buoy tenders.

Here is a link to the story of Abbie Burgess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbie_Burgess

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New for Algoma - corrected

Faced with a growing demand for fuel deliveries Algoma has been chartering in foreign flag tankers this year to work  under coasting licenses. They have now acquired another ship to add to their fleet. Renamed Algonorth the ship is a Turkish-built ice class vessel of 12,164 grt, 16,979 dwt dating from 2008. Builders Tuzla Gemi Endustri delivered the ship as Gan-Gesture , but it was acquired by Swedish owners in 2009 and renamed Ramira. Under that name it had traded into Canadian waters previously, including trips into the Great Lakes.

 Algonorth at Imperial Oil's number 4 dock.

Algonorth has just arrived in Halifax on its first trip, having only arrived in Montreal November 28, and still wearing the red hull colours of its previous owners. The ship was registered in Halifax November 9, suggesting that we may see more of the ship running from Quebec ports to Halifax for Imperial Oil. Judging from the ship's name it is also likely it will heading north during the summer to supply arctic outposts.

(Added later)

This is the second ship named Algonorth to serve in Algoma's fleet. The first was a bulk carrier built by Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in Govan in 1971 as Temple Bar for Lambert Brothers. It was a 13,545 grt, 22,157 dwt  powered by a pair of Ruston engines delivering 6,000 bhp to a single controllable pitch screw.  It was re-engined in 1974 with a pair of new Werkspoors of the same power.

In 1976 Nipigon Transports purchased the ship and sent it to Jurong Shipyard, Singapore where it was lengthened 202 feet with a new mid-body to conform to Seaway size, measuring 18,496 grt, 28,481 dwt. Renamed Lake Nipigon it also served from 1984 to 1986 on charter to Misener Transportation as Laketon. Reverting to Lake Nipigon for a year it was sold to Algoma in 1987 and became Algonorth. It continued to run on the Lakes / St.Lawrence but was laid up for extended periods in the early 2000s until 2012 when it was sold for scrap to Marine Recycling of Port Colborne, ON and broken up. 
Correction: The ship was last laid up in Thunder Bay and on July 13, 2012 it was towed out by Anglian Lady to Sault St.Marie, ON where it was broken up by Purvis Marine.

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End of the Line

THE Alliance announced in September that their AL6 service would stop calling in Halifax in December, and with today's arrival of Bilbao Bridge that has now happened.  The cut was originally to stop in the spring but the operators recanted in February, however at only about 200 boxes a week according to some sources, the Halifax stop was not profitable. The service operated jointly with THE Alliance members  Japanese consortium ONE, HAPAG-Lloyd and Yan Ming with ZIM, has now taken on CMA CGM and COSCO / OOCL. The previous port rotation of Salerno, Livorno, Genoa, Marseiile/Fos, Halifax, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Salerno will change to La Spezia, Genoa, Fos, Barcelona, Valencia, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Miami, Algeciras, La Spezia.

A truck carrying a UASC container crosses the MacKay bridge as Bilbao Bridge heads for sea on what is likely its last visit to Halifax. The container may have arrived earlier today on the same ship.

(UASC is now part of HAPG-Lloyd)

THE Alliance's AL7 service, actually operated by ZIM will now carry the former AL6 traffic to Halifax in a slot charter arrangement. However those ships will call at Halterm, rather than Cerescorp in Fairview Cove as the AL6 did.

The AL6 was operated originally with K-Line ships. Although those ships have now been merged into ONE (Ocean Network Express) the ships retain their K-Line identity. They are owned by Washington Group's Seaspan International on long term charter. All were built by the Samsung in Koje in 2011, 2012 and are 4526 TEU ships.    Berlin Bridge, Bilbao Bridge, Brotonne Bridge, Brevik Bridge and Budapest Bridge will be reassigned to other services within THE Alliance.

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Fednav visitor

It's not often that we have a visit from Canada's largest ocean-going shipping company. Fednavv (short for Federal Commerce and Navigation Ltd) is a Montreal based corporation that owns more than 60 ships and charters more for a total fleet of better than 100 ships. It is also the largest single user of the St.Lawrence Seaway and the world's largest owner of ice class dry-bulk carriers. 

Federal Sutton arrived at sunrise this morning with some wisps of sea smoke and a light coating of frozen spray around the bow. The ship was built in 2012 by Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co in Zhoushan, China.


 Fednav ships used to be regular callers here. At one time they had a regular run bring in tire cores for Michelin. Those cargoes are now containerized and carried by other lines. A number of Fednav ships are ice strengthened and regularly serve the Upper St.Lawrence and Saguenay in winter. They used to come  here to embark or disembark ice advisors, and that no longer happens in Halifax, but off Sydney.

Once the tugs were made up alongside, the ship headed for pier 31. It sailed early this evening to continue its voyage from Sao Luis, Brazil to Baie Comeau, QC.

Fednav added is 60th owned vessel in July, one of 22 bulkers ordered from Oshima Shipyard in Japan since 2013. Earlier this year Fednav also ordered a replacement for its Canadian flagged icebreaking bulker //tanker Arctic. It will join the fleet in 2020.

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