Torm and Schulte

I always enjoy seeing a ship from the Danish company Torm A/S. They are among the few tankers that display the company name on the side. Not only that but the company house flag design is also painted on. Then there is the unique paint scheme. which certainly makes them stand out from the rest.

Torm Camilla arrived this afternoon and tied up at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal. The ship started out in 2003 from STX Shipbuilding Co in Jinhae, South Korea with the unusual name Gron Falk but took its present name in 2005 when acquired by Torm. It flies the Danish flag, but is otherwise a fairly typical MidRange tanker of 30,024 gt, 46,219 dwt.

As Torm Camilla docks at Woodside, the small tug Roseway is tucked under the stern, picking up mooring lines to take ashore.

Tugs are kept well away from the billboards, so as not to mar the paint job.


Gerhard Schulte also arrived this afternoon for ACL and went to Fairview Cove. Apparently the ship has been chartered in to make up for lost capacity due to the unplanned drydocking of Atlantic Sail in Hamburg
The ship is owned by the Bernard Schulte company of Hamburg, and was built in 2006 by Shanghai Chengxi Shipyard. Shortly after delivery it was renamed APL Bangkok for a charter which ended in 2014, and it reverted to its present name.

The 35,991 gt, 42,082 dwt ship has a capacity of 3534 TEU, including 500 reefers. ACL's schedule shows the ship sailing from Halifax on Friday. so it will be in port for some time. It is also scheduled to be back in Halifax June 13. (The ship is to sail earely tomorrow morning).

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CMA CGM (again) at Halterm

The Columbus JAX service was initially named for its connection between Jakarta, Indonesia and Los Angeles, but it is virtually a round the world operation using 18 ships on a 118 day rotation, thereby making weekly calls at a bewildering array of ports.

Starting from Hong Kong, it calls in Vung Tau, Singapore, Port Klang, Colombo, Halifax, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, Port Klang, Singapore, Jakarta, Laem Chebang, Ving Tau, Los Angeles, Oakland and Hong Kong.

CMA CGM is the operator of the service, but as part the Ocean Alliance, there are three other partners:
APL, which is owned by CMA CGM,  OOCL, which is owned by COSCO, and Evergreen.
COSCO/OOCL calls their share SEAP (South Est Asia Pendulum) and Evergreen calls theirs PE 1

The line's Halifax calls, usually on Saturday have been adjusted recently when a new ship was inserted in the rotation and all the other ships were moved one week later. This has caused some irregularity in arrival times. There was no call Easter weekend. That meant one ship called on Friday-Saturday (CMA CGM Ivanhoe) last week-end and another yesterday and today (CMA CGM Fidelio).

At 349 meters long, it is hard to get a sidelong view of the ship without resorting to a wide angle lens. After its first North American call, the ship is still well loaded.

Although not giant ships, they are certainly big at 9415 TEU and take a long time to work with Halterm's current facilities where sometimes only two cranes are available if other ships are in port at the same time. Having two of these ships in such a short spell also puts pressure on the storage areas and rail service.

The situation will only become worse if larger ships are added.

The great advantage to Halifax (and Canada) is that we are the first port of call from Asia thus expediting imports to Canada. A lot of the cargo that comes off these ships is destined to the US mid-west too, and Canada effectively "piggy backs" on that traffic.

 Dredging continues off the south end of pier 42, as CGA CGM Fidelio gets underway. The scale of these largish ships gives an idea of how much longer the pier will have to be to host two at a time.
 
Halterm expansion is certainly on the front burner, and current operators Macquarie Infrastructure Partners have apparently finalized a sale to an as yet unidentified buyer, but believed to be PSA International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the PSA Corporation. Formed in 1997 when the Port of Singapore Authority was privatized, the company has interests in many lines of business including tug operations and ships, but is primarily known as a leading terminal operator. (The parent of PSAI, Temasek, were the previous owners of APL's parent NOL - see above)

Mcquarie on the other hand is also an important terminal operator. Coincident with the sale of Halterm they have announced the acquisition of the former OOCL Long Beach container terminal for a cool $1.87 bn (US). US authorities required OOCL divest the terminal as part of approval process for the takeover by COSCO.

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Inaugural Call and Repeat Visitors

It was the inaugural call for Holland America's Zaandam today as the 61,396 gt ship tied up at pier 31.
The regular cruise terminal facilities at pier 22 are not ready for the tourist season yet, so the ship berthed at the open (and highly industrial) pier 31.

Zaandam makes the turn in for pier 31.

Built in 2000 by Fincantieri, Venice and refurbished most recently in 2015, the 1430 passenger ship will become a familiar sight in Halifax this year with  no less than 23 scheduled port calls. The ship replaces the veteran Maasdam (1255 passengers) that has been reassigned to the Alaska/Pacific area.

It is regrettable that ships have to tie up at pier 31, and then have to be bussed off the Port property through other port related activity. However there may be more ships docking there this year as the only two berths for large ships may be occupied by other cruise ships. If ships want to take bunkers, they may have to tie up at pier 31, because tanker trucks can't access the Pier 20-22 seawall and there is no bunkering barge service in Halifax anymore.
The Port's master plan will eliminate pier 31, so there will not be enough berth space at the deep water piers for all the cruise ships that usually call here. - definitely a problem awaiting a solution.

The Canadian owned tanker Kitikmeot W arrived early this evening and tied up at pier 27. The ship was last here, at the same pier, December 30, 2018 to January 2, 2019 and sailed under Marshal Islands flag for foreign going winter work. It returned to Canadian waters last week when it sailed up through the Seaway to Hamilton, ON, arriving there April 22. After unloading, it headed for Halifax in ballast. It will likely be re-flagged Canadian here in the next few days.

Kitikmeot W exhibits a case of "lock rash" from its recent trip through the St.Lawrence Seaway. 

Ships slide along the approach walls to the locks on their "knuckle" and incur serious scraping.

Coastal Shipping Ltd of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, part of the Woodward Group, are owners of the ship. Built in 2010 by Icdas, Biga, Turkey, the 13,097 gt, 19,938 dwt ship sailed as Icdas-09 until last year. It arrived in Halifax May 8, 2018 for AGM inspection, but was still under Marshal Islands flag. It then made a trip to Oshawa, ON to deliver cargo then was first registered in Canada June 5, 2018.

A tanker that was last here in 2012 arrived yesterday for Imperial Oil. At first it tied up at Number 3 dock, then today after  NS Pride sailed, moved to Number 4 dock.

Ance sails for the Latvian Shipping Co of Riga, but is registered in the Marshal Islands.

The 30,641 gt, 52,622 dwt tanker was built in 2006 by 3 Maj Brodogradiliste in Rijeka, Croatia., and arrived from Houston.

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Three New to Halifax - corrected: make it two

Most ships that come to Halifax these days are repeat callers. Even if it has been some time since they were here last, they are familiar to varying degrees. Today however there were three two first time callers to to see.

Arriving over night at Irving Woodside, the tanker Elka Glory is, as usual, coming from Irving Oil's bleanding terminal in Amsterdam. It was anchored off Halifax yesterday, then moved to anchor inside the harbour. It then waited  for Irving's Acadian to sail early this morning before moving alongside.

 Due to the angle of the photo, it is Imperial Oil's tanks that show in the background, even if the ship is tied up at Irving's Woodside terminal. 

The ubiquity of the Irving name however is safe, thanks to a Midland Transport truck on Pleasant Street. (Midland is owned by the other side of the Irving family from Irving Oil, namely J.D. Irving.)

Elka Glory is a member of the European Product Carriers fleet of "Elka" ships. It came from the Brodosplit shipyard in Split Croatia in 2008 and measures 27,612 gt, 44,598 dwt.

Oddly another Croatian built tanker arrived this afternoon. Brodotrogir of Trogir, built the NS Spirit in 2006.

 With tugs alongside, NS Spirit  NS Pride heads for Imperial Oil's number 4 dock.

Owned by the Russia based SCF, it is a 27,357 gt, 46,941 dwt Mid-Range type and is giving Antwerp as its last port.

Correction:
I mis-identified the ship. It is in fact NS Pride, built in 2006 by ShinA Shipbuilding Co in Tongyeong, South Korea. Its tonnages are 25,467 gt, 40,119 dwt and in fact it has been here before - 2017-05-13 for Irving Oil.

The third second "new to us" ship is  JSP Levante, owned by a German investment syndicate and registered in Antigua and Barbuda with Jebsen Shipping Partners as managers. It was built in 2006 by Kouan Shipbuilding Industry in Taizhou, China. The 9957 gt, 13,634 dwt ship is a CV1110+ type feeder container vessel with a capacity of 1118 TEU. It carries a pair of 45 tonne SWL cranes.

The tug Atlantic Oak is positioned near the ship's stern to swing it around for backing in at pier 31.

This is a new ship to Melfi Marines regular service between Europe and Cuba. It is on the return leg of the trip, and as usual the ship has a load of nickel sulfides in bags, which it will unload here. There are no containers stacked on hold number seven of the ship's eight holds, to allow the bags to be craned out.

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Write if you find work

It think it is time for a letter from the Lomur. After a short tenure with Eimskip, the ship arrived in Halifax April 12 and anchored in Bedford Basin. Original schedules showed Lomur with a longer term charter with Eimskip, but perhaps all the storm damage incurred to ship and cargo in March convinced someone that the ship was not suitable for the type of work, and cut the deal short.

 Lomur awaiting assignment, Bedford Basin.

It now appears that the ship has been fixed for work with Transport St-Pierre International (TSMI) for at least a few trips. Lomur will move from anchor to Cerescorp Friday morning to load, departing later in the day.


TMSI also serves Argentia, NL but Lomur will be unable to do that as a foreign flag vessel, so it will only run between Halifax and St-Pierre. As for lack of RoRo capability, TSMI has recently taken delivery of a number of flat rack 53 foot containers containers, which should accommodate most RoRo items such as cars. TSMI and Oceanex are among the very few container lines in the world to carry 53 foot containers to sea. Both companies operate ships that do not have celluar holds, which limit the size of containers.

TMSI's brand new 53 foot flat racks await work at Cerescorp. 

 (They carry reporting mark "MMJ")

 

The regular TMSI ship Nolhan Ava is in Freeport, Bahamas for reft. Is there a small chance that it will handle some of the Halifax bound cargo from Yantian Express that has been stuck in Freeport for months?

Nolhan Ava with several 53 foot dry containers on deck

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Algoterra Sails

After a remarkably quick "Canadianization" the tanker Algoterra sailed this afternoon to take up its new duties. It had only arrived on Sunday April 14, and in less than a week it had made all the needed changes.

First order of business after getting away from the dock today was a compass swing in Bedford Basin. (I noticed a lot of welding going on around her main mast, above the bridge, which likely played havoc with the ship's magnetic field.)

Away from the berth, bound for Bedford Basin.

Countering a stiff nor'west breeze, making for the Narrrows outbound.

Once that operation was completed, the ship was outbound for Montreal, giving an ETA of mid-day April 23.

The pilot ladder is rigged to disembark the compass adjustor to the launch Halmar in the lower harbour. The pilot will be aboard for another hour until they reach the pilot station.

Algoma Tankers Ltd have their entire tanker fleet "booked" for the navigation season according to information from Algoma. There may still be a need for some coasting licenses for foreign tankers, but so far Algoma seems to be getting along without, except for one short term trip for a US flag tug and barge.

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Worth a Wait

I've never been one to adhere to the old adage about all good things coming to those who wait. However I did wait it out today in hopes of getting a sunny photo of a first time caller, Grande Senegal Although the pilot was called for 1630 and the tug Atlantic Bear was alongside, the ship was not ready to call for clearance until 1740 and then did not get away from Cerescorp, Fairview Cove until 1915. There were some sunny breaks in the interval, but it was down to glimmers when the ship actually hove into view.

Owned by Grimaldi Lines, parent company of Atlantic Container Lines, the ConRo is here as a substitute for ACL's Atlantic Sail which had to go into drydock in Hamburg April 10. It is still there.

Fortunately Grimaldi was able to find another ship in its stable to take over for at least one round trip. Grande Senegal was built in 2010 by Uljanik Shipyard in Pula, Croatia and is one of fifteen similar ships in the Grimaldi fleet, and two of its class, at 47,218 gt, 26,653 dwt with a capacity of 800 TEU and 2500 CEU.  While nowhere near the giant size of the ACL G5s, it certainly takes some of the weight off the line which relies on five ships to meet a weekly transatlantic schedule. This ship's next port is given as Baltimore, so apparently ACL is skipping New York entirely on this voyage.

Another Grimaldi ConRo, Grande America has been in European news for several weeks after it caught fire and sank in the Bay of Biscay March 12. A large oil slick resulted, but seepage has now been halted by sending down an ROV to seal vents. The wreck is intact and upright on the sea bottom, 15,000 ft down. It carried 365 containers, of which 70 carried hazardous cargo, and 2,000 cars, many of which were luxury models.
Porsche went to the extent of re-activating a closed production line to replace four 911 GT2 RS models that were included in those lost. Thier Brazialian owners will be overjoyed I am sure.

I did get one photo when the sun peeked out, as Atlantic Condor moved from pier 9B to Bedford Basin for a short trial period.

The supplier is one of two Atlantic Towing vessels servicing the Deep Panuke gas installation off Nova Scotia. Both Atlantic Condor and the smaller Atlantic Tern have been drydocked this spring in St.John's forcing the partner vessel to spend almost three weeks at sea, since one vessels stands by the facility at all times, while the other shuttles back and forth with supplies. 

The Encana owned Deep Panuke gas field ceased production last year and is in the decommissioning stage, which will last until 2021 when all four production wells and one injection well are capped, and production trees and topsides structures are removed.
For whatever reason government regulators allowed the pipeline to shore to be abandons in place. It is to be purged and opened and filled with seawater.

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