Reflag, Rename and Reload

 Reflag

After three days at anchor outside, Acadia Desgagnés entered port and tied up at pier 25. The ship is still flying the Barbados flag and as it did last year it has come to Halifax to transfer back to Canadian flag.  The ship was acquired by Transport Desgagnés in 2017 and registered in St.John's, NL. It worked that summer and fall in Atlantic Canada then shifted to Barbados on January 1, 2018.

Last year it arrived in Halifax May 23 and returned to Canadian registry May 29. On January 1, 2019 it went back to Barbados flag on a charter arrangement for international work.
The ship was built in 2013 by Shantong Baibuting in Rongcheng, China as Sider Tis for Italian owners. Measuring 7875 gt and 10,396 dwt it carries a pair of 40 tonne cranes. Although ice classed it does not normally work on northern supply, but instead works around the Gulf of St.Lawrence and into the Se3way will bulk cargoes.

Rename

The tanker Parsifal II arrived from New Orleans for Imperial Oil this morning.  This is not the ship's first visit here. Its last call was Just a year ago, April 28, 2018.

The ship as it appeared today from over George's Island.

 

On that trip however it was carrying the name Conti Agulhas. The name change took place when the ship changed ownership between two obsurely named companies on May 1, 2018. Previous owners Conti 145 Conti Agulhas became Condor 220 Schiffahrts. Management remained with NSB Niderelbe Schiffahrtsges however, so aside from the name change there is no other difference in the appearance of the ship.

 The ship as it appeared a year ago from a position I cannot access today.

The 23,403 gt, 37,606 dwt tanker came from Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan in 2008. Its last port of call was New Orleans.

Reload

BBC California sailed this evening from Pier 9C giving its destination as Ogdensburg, NY. While in Halifax the ship transferred six wind turbine blades to fleet mate BBC Brazil. The latter ship is due to sail tomorrow.

Yesterday in the midst of moving one blade the longhoremen took their lunch break with the load suspended in mid air. A thick coating of fresh snow was melting away all the while.

On departure today, there was insufficient room for the ship to turn round at its berth in the Narrows, so it headed north into Bedford Basin then turned outbound and headed for sea. 

The ship still had a good many blades on deck, along with a couple of tower sections. No one seemed concerned that the tarps on those sections had gone adrift on the way to Halifax, It may have other components below deck, but it is lightly laden.

The pilot boat Scotia Pilot paces the ship outbound. The boat had been out of service since January, but now appears to be fully operational again. 

 

Tanker Traffic

What little tanker traffic we have nowadays is usually limited to MidRange type product tankers for Irving Oil or Imperial Oil, bringing in refined product for local distribution.
Imperial's winter shuttle from Lévis using the Algonorth has stopped with the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway. The ship is now in the Great Lakes headed for Sarnia.

Occasionally another tanker drops in and today there are two such vessels in port.

Arriving this afternoon was Swan Biscay, tying up at pier 27. It will not be loading or unloading cargo, as this appears to be a pit stop for fuel delivered by truck.

Built by Torlak in Tuzla, Turkey in 2008 the ship was originally called Ozay- 6 for a variety of Turkish owners until 2014  when it was acquired by the current owners, identified only as Swan Biscay LLC.  Management is by Norstar from Singapore, with offices in Westport, CT, and the ship is registered in the Marshall Islands.
The 8198 gt, 11,530 dwt ship has a "turtle back' over the forepeak, somewhat unusual in tankers, but in view of the very low freeboard, quite sensible. The ship is en route from New Orleans to Port Alfred (La Baie), QC, so is likely carrying some chemicals for the aluminum industry.
The ship works generally in the Atlantic Basin and Gulf of Mexico, although it did enter the Great Lakes in 2015.

 The other tanker is in fact an articulated tug barge combination,. Leo A. McArthur (tug) and John J. Carrick (barge) operate for McAsphalt Marine Transportation Ltd and arrived at the newly refurbished McAshpalt dock in Eastern Passage on April 9. The pair were among the early vessels to exit the Great Lakes when the Seaway opened for the season. Despite being held up by ice in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario for several days, they cleared the Seaway on March 31.

It has become the norm for the pair to arrive in Halifax in early spring as the first visitors from the Great Lakes.

Purpose built in China in 2007 to carry asphalt (which must be kept heated) the barge has a gross tonnage of 6916 tons and a capacity of 80,000 bbls. It is double hulled and ice strengthened.. The tug remains connected to the barge at all times, even while travelling to Saint John, NB and Newfoundland.
The tug was named Victorious when built, but was renamed in 2017 to recognize one of the co-founders of McAsphalt along with John. J. Carrick.

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More changes

There are more changes coming in the Canadian short sea shipping business, with several sales and purchases either completed or in the offing.

Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc (NEAS) operates northern sealift supply. Majority owned by Nunavik's Inuit Birthright Corporation, Makivik Corporation it operates Transport Nanuk Inc (jointly owned with Logistec Corp and the North West Company)  and through several  corporations owns the ships that make several trips each summer from ports on the St.Lawrence River to the far north.

After listing two of its ships for sale, I hear that they have now been sold and replacements are coming in time for this year's supply runs.

Avataq and Umiavut were built in the late 1980s and there have been issues with their reliability recently.

Umiavut upbound in the St.Lawrence Seaway for Valleyfield, one of its usual loading ports for northern supply.

Avataq was built by Miho Shipyard in Shimizu, Japan as  Poleca and carried the names 89: Mekhanik Volkosh, 91: Tiger Speed, 92: Mekhanik Volkosh, 92: Lootsgracht, when it was acquired by the Dutch company Spliethoff's . In 2007 Transport Inukshuk Inc at first chartered, then purchased the ship and renamed it Avataq. It has carried out summer supply ever since.
Although it has never called in Halifax it was drydocked in Shelburne in 2012.

For several years it reverted to Netherlands flag for winter work for Spliethoff's but that ended in 2011. The 6037 gt, 9588 dwt ship carries two cranes

Umiavut dates from 1988 from the same shipyard, and was built as Newca, but renamed Kapitan Silin on delivery. In 1992 it was acquired by Spliethoff's and renamed Lindengracht. Umialarik Transportation Inc acquired the ship in 2000. It measures 6037 gt, 9653 dwt and also carries two cranes. From 2000 to 2011 it was usually chartered back to Spliethoff's in the "off season" November to June and sailed under the Netherlands flag.
Last August 12 it ran aground in Lac-St-Pierre while returning from northern supply and had to be lightered off in a four day operation before it could be refloated.

Umiavut was able to use its own lighterage barges and tugs to offload empty propane cargo tanks and other cargo after it grounded last summer.

It is understood that replacement ships have been acquired from Spliethoff's "E-class". These are 12,750 dwt ships equipped with three 60 tonne cranes. They are sister ships to the former Edisongracht, now Qamutik in the NEAS fleet since 2008.

 The E-class Qamutik in Halifax in 2015 while still on winter charter to Spliethoff's.

McKeil Marine Ltd is expanding its dry-bulk fleet, and getting into the tanker business. Long a tugboat and barge operator, in recent years it has acquired small bulk  carriers fitted to carry cement and other cargoes. It has just been announced that they are acquiring another ship, similar to the two already in its fleet. The new ship is due in Canada from Italy in May.

Evans Spirit is one of two similar ships in the current McKeil fleet.

Currently named Sider Gagliarda it is a 9286 gt, 14,600 dwt ship built in 2010 by Tuzla Gemi in Turkey as Gagliarda. It was renamed last in 2018.


McKeil previously announced that it had bought a pair of tankers currently in the far east. These are also Turkish built ships: Turquoise-T, 8638 gt, 13,947 dwt, built in 2008 and Topaz-T, 8638 gt, 13,966 dwt built in 2009. No ETA has been given for their arrival in Canada.

All three ships will be renamed by McKeil before entering into service under Canadian flag.

It is encouraging to see Canadian shipowners investing in ships rather than relying on chartered in foreign tonnage under coasting licenses.

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Snowy going - Updated

Last night's heavy wet snow was clinging to surfaces today as ships went about their business.

USCG Campbell sailed too early for me to catch (I had to shovel myself out first) but I did see USS Jason Dunham leaving for sea.

There appeared to be lots of snow left on deck - perhaps they don't carry shovels as standard equipment.

I hope that crew on the forepeak know how to bring the anchor home. It wouldn't do to have it unsecured once out at sea.

The Canadian bulker Ferbec sailed this morning for Havre-St-Pierre. It arrived March 13 for reflagging back to Canadian at the end of a winter season sailing under the Barbados flag.

 Winter doesn't appear to be quite over yet with lots of snow sticking to the tug Atlantic Bear.

Mining has resumed for the season at the RioTinto Alcan mine at Lac Tio, north of Havre St-Pierre. Ferbec operates a constant shuttle from Havre-St-Pierre to the smelter in Sorel-Tracy on a dedicated service each year until late fall.

There was another snowy scene at the Seaview Park boat launch just north of the MacKay bridge.

RMI Marine's "Tidal Runner" [officially C16286NB] an aluminum hulled workboat / landing craft was standing by at the end of the slip, with no evidence of anyone aboard. It was later noted to be doing "unmanned vessel trials" in Bedford Basin.
I am assuming that this did not mean that it was being navigated by women*. Instead I believe it was being operated remotely from some other location. Since the maneuvers took place near the Defence Research and Development barge, perhaps it was doing the trials for that government agency.  

Update:
An "Unmanned" craft identified as C Cat 3 110 with British flag has been tracked by AIS in Bedford Basin. For further details see: https://www.asvglobal.com/product/c-cat-3/

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*Some of the Halifax ferries, at least one Dockyard tug {altough not currentlyt} , one ATL civilian tug and one tour boat in season, are regularly in command of women, with several female crew members on particularly navy and Coast Guard, but civilian also.
Rather than using the term "unmanned" I prefer to use autonomous, which seems to be the term favoured by industry. There have been numerous demonstrations of this technology - most recently a boat in Boston went through a variety of movements and used its firefighting equipment while controlled from New Orleans, 1500 miles away .
In 2018 the first remotely controlled long distance tow saw the tug Giano towing a 10,000 dwt loaded barge from Palermo, Sicily to Genoa. Remote controllers in Naples operated the tug for 264 nautical miles of the 430 nautical mile trip. 

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BBC continental drift

It sounded like a bit of plate tectonics at Pier 9C today when BBC California drew alongside BBC Brazil. As reported yesterday some sort of cargo shift was expected between the two ships berthed together.

BBC California is carrying a deck load of wind turbines and blades, and during the day crews were successful in shifting one blade from California to Brazil. Original pilot orders for this evening were cancelled, so it is apparent that more blades are to be shifted, and work continues this evening.

Inclement weather in the form of snow descended on the ships late this afternoon, precluding further photography. With 15cm or more of snow and moderately high winds in the forecast, cargo work may be  hampered.

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Cruise Season - UPDATE

Believe it or not cruise season has begun again. Despite predictions of 15 to 20 cm of snow later today, hardy tourists emerged from Marina at pier 31 to see the sights. The ship did not dock at pier 22, the normal cruise ship berth, since the cruise pavilion and its merchants, are not open for business yet this year.

The snow did not set in until the afrernoon and then it was very fine and wet. However visibility was quite limited when the ship sailed at 1830. According to news reports passengers had been warned to expect cold and snow, so seemed unfazed by the experience.

Marina under more clement conditions in May 2016.

Marina has been an early caller in previous years too. In 2014 it was here May 25 and in 2016 on May 18, and then May 3, 2018. This is the first year that it has broken into the April time line however.

After last year's experience they will not try the St.Lawrence River this year. Last May the ship had to berth in Trois-Rivières when high water levels prevented it from passing under the Laviolette bridge. A thousand passengers were bused to and from Montreal.

The ship was in Saint John, NB on Sunday where the passengers would have enjoyed real spring weather.

Built in 2011 by Fincantieri Sestri Ponente, Genoa, the 66,084 gt ship has a maximum passenger capacity of 1300. The cruise schedule indicates it may have 1250 on board for this trip. The ship is en route from New York for operators Oceania Cruises Inc  (a brand owned by NCL Norwegian). It has planned stopovers in St.John's, Cobh, Dublin, St-Malo and Le Havre, before arriving in Southampton, UK April 19. After that it will go on to France, Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

Update
Although the next port was to be St.John's, NL that visit has been cancelled. The winter weather would be chasing the ship and I assume that is the reason. The ship is sailing directly for Cobh, Ireland instead.  

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Naval gazing and other views

Visiting naval craft have been rare in recent months but today was an opportunity to see two very different navy ships in Halifax.

It comes as a surprise to some to know that France has a naval presence in North America. The French department of St-Pierre et Miquelon off the south coast of Newfoundland is not just a group of small islands, but is also the centre of a 188 mile long, but only 10 1/2 mile wide Exclusive Economic Zone extending south out into the Atlantic Ocean.

As a consequence France maintains a patrol vessel, based in St-Pierre to police and enforce fisheries regulations in the area. The particular ship assigned to the role frequently visits Canadian mainland ports as a courtesy and Halifax is a regular port.

The current vessel, Fulmar P740, is a classed as a Coastal Patrol Craft (PC). Built as a trawler in 1990,it was converted in 1996-97 and recommissioned October 28, 1997 for service in St-Pierre.

It has made many visits to Halifax, and is usually here every year to escort the annual St-Pierre sailing race. The chaotic start to the 2010 race resulted in part from the ship sailing without a pilot then maintaining radio silence. A close call with the inbound Essen Express could have turned out badly.

 

Sailing this afternoon, the ship was not displaying a pilot flag. However it did have a pilot this time.

It also has its periodic refits in Canadian shipyards. Previous refits were conducted in Lunenburg. In 2017 France entered into a four year contract with the Industrie Océan shipyard in Ile-aux-Coudres, QC for annual refits for the Fulmar in the autumn but also for emergency repairs (which it needed in May 2017). The contract applies to all French naval vessels in North American waters that may require repairs.


A very much  larger and more sophisticated warship tied up at HMC Dockyard this morning. USS Jason Dunham DDG-109 is one of the large class of Arleigh Burke destroyers. Based in Norfolk, VA the ship was built by Bath Iron Works in Maine in a very short space of time. Laid down in April 2008 it was launched in August 2009 and commissioned in November 2010. One can only hope that the production efficiencies that Bath has developed can be transferred to Halifax Shipyard when it comes time to replace Canada's frigates.

Tied up at Jetty NB with HMCS Ville de Québec in the background.

This is not the ship's first visit to Halifax. It was here from July 13 to 15, 2017.

While not a naval vessel strictly speaking, USCG Cambpell WMEC 909 is also in town, but perched out on the end of a pier in HMC Dockyard and difficult to photograph. It is a Famous class medium endurance cutter, based at the US Navy's Portsmouth naval dockyard in Kittery, Maine. Launched in 1986 and commissioned in 1988, it has been extensively refitted and reconditioned. It has visited Halifax several times, as far back as January 2000.

USCG Campbell at the same jetty with several ships in the background. Certain aspects of its appearance have changed since 2000.

As for commercial shipping, the general cargo ship BBC Brazil, which arrived at anchor yesterday, moved to Pier 9C this afternoon.

The 8059 gt, 10,872 dwt ship dates from 2011 when it was built by the Damen Yichang shipyard in China, and completed by the home yard in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Launched as Wenningstadt it was delivered as Thorco Copenhagen. It reverted to its original name in 2016 but was again renamed BBC Brazil. It became Ds Brazil January 1, 2018, but reverted to BBC Brazil January 1, 2019. The ship carries two 80 tonne cranes.

At anchor early this morning, the ship shows the hull sponsons square off the main cargo holds into box shapes.

Tomorrow, fleet mate BBC California is due to berth alongside the ship at Pier 9C. Perhaps it will use its pair of 180 tonne cranes to make some sort of cargo transfer. Built in 2008 by Jiangdong, Wuhu, it was first named Beluga Fraternity. When Beluga failed, it became Fraternity briefly in 2011 before becoming BBC California later the same year. It measures 9611 gt and 12,672 dwt.

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