Today

Fog and rain eventually hampered visibility in the harbour late in the afternoon, just as the autocarrier Pleiades Spirit was sailing. I was hoping to catch this ship since it does not belong to one of the well known lines. Built in 2008 by Toyohashi Shipbuilding, it is a 60,330 gt, 17,424 dwt vessel with a capacity in the range of 5232 to 6303 CEU. It is managed by World Wide Marine Co Ltd of Japan as one of 17 autocarriers in its 128 ship fleet. Interestingly the ship arrived from New York and is sailing for Southampton - the reverse of the usual autocarrier route.
Originally to be operated by Nissan, it has been operated by World Wide since 2009. It seems to be on charter to MOL but this can't be confirmed independently.

At Fairview Cove, Yantian Express (photo'd early yesterday) was due to slide back along to the west end of the pier to resume unloading. There are still a lot of the 3200 container still on the ship.

Shippers are being advised that when their boxes are released, upon posting of security, they will be sent to destination, by rail, truck or ship, without inspection, since there is no room to do that in Halifax.

Another "reverse" arrival was Elka Nikolas tying up at Irving Woodside last night. The ship came from Saint John and has a small amount of cargo for Halifax.

Built by Brodosplit in Croatia in 2001, it is a 27,542 gt, 44, 787 dwt ship of the MidRange type. It is part of the European Product Carriers Ltd fleet, based in Athens. Shortly after delivery, the ship was renamed Fusus but reverted to its original and current name in 2009.
Sister ship Elka Eleftheria, built the same year at the same yard, was here May 13, but came from Ijmuiden / Amsterdam then sailed to Saint John.
The ship is due to sail early tomorrow morning and its place will be taken within an hour by Irving's East Coast.

There was no call by Maersk /CMA CGM's Maersk Patras over the weekend. It was scheduled to call May 25, but perhaps the fatal accident last week resulted in a delay. The second officer was lost overboard off the Escoumins pilot station May 19 and his body has not been recovered.
There were protests for safer working conditions when the ship docked in Montreal. Instead of sailing for Halifax, the ship headed directly for Bremerhaven, the next scheduled stop.

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CME plans to grow

The locally based Canadian Maritime Engineering Company (CME) is on a growth curve. Its latest acquisition will increase its footprints in eastern Canada.

CME's parent company Russell Industries Corp is involved in project and maintenance work related to power generation and heavy industry. CME serves the marine sector with a variety of services related to repair and maintenance. Over time CME has acquired various small shipyards that allowed them to to do marine repair and various kinds of industrial fabrication in their own facilities.They are also builders of small craft, usually work boats, and are dealers in marine engines.

Their current list of yards includes CME Halifax Harbour Shipyard in Sambro Head, formerly Brenton Grey's Boatyard. It has a 150 ton and a 300 ton slip. They also operate the North Sydney Marine Railway with a 2500 ton capacity slip. These are complimented with a fabrication facility in Barrington Passage, and several other divisions including coatings, and engine sales and servicing for major manufacturers. They also do alongside repairs at locations where ships are berthed.

Their west coast operations include Port Alberni with two 150 ton and one 250 tons slip and Nanaimo with an 80 ton and 150 ton slip. They also do work in Esquimalt using the publicly owned drydock. There is a further division based in Niagara-on-the-Lakes, ON.

Their latest acquisition is still pending. CME is the preferred bidder for the Clarenville Shipyard in Newfoundland, owned by the Burry Group, that went bankrupt in 2018. The yard became insolvent, owing nearly $5 million when several projects went wrong for them and continued financial backing was no longer available.

CME's bid, apparently the highest of several, is less than 75% of the assessed value of the yard and will have to approved by the courts before it becomes final. When it was operating the yard carried out repairs to Newfoundland government ferries and other local craft, and was a major employer in the area.

CME received some unwelcome publicity last winter when its Sambro yard was the target of vandalism. Wires securing CCGC Corporal McLaren MMV were cut during the night and the ship slid down the ways, fell on its side and nearly capsized. Although it has since been recovered repairs have not been completed, and other work planned for the yard is backing up. The two retired Halifax-Dartmouth ferries are waiting in Sambro and would be drydocked before sailing to Toronto.

CCGC Corporal McLaren M.M.V. back up the slipway, will require extensive repair to water and other damage before it can return to service.

Burry's yard made a $500,000 write down on a failed bid to acquire the Marystown Shipyard They lost a further $1.3 mn when the owners of the ex ferry Sir Robert Bond refused to pay a $1.3mn bill for conversion work. (The ship was to be used for transporting peat moss, but the work was suspended, the ship was removed from the shipyard and was eventually sold for scrap - see previous post.) The last straw was an incident involving the Newfoundland government ferry Gallipoli that "shifted in the cradle", damaging both ship and cradle. The government cancelled the refit contract and removed the ship.

Another Burry Group company, Norcon Marine Services supported the shipyard fiancially for a time, but is listed among the creditors and are owed $1.6mn. Norcon owns and /or operates ferries for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and for a fish farming company and were also a major customer of the shipyard.

CME has a small presence in Newfoundland, but should this acquisition go through they will become a significant player there.

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One Summer(like) Day

A rapid turnaround in weather gave Halifax a summer-like day and thus the land side of the waterfront was jammed with people and traffic. This imposed serious limitations on photographic mobility, and so coverage of today's port activity is a little thinner than usual.

Late last night the tanker Zephyros arrived and anchored in the lower harbour.  It is not common for these ships to anchor inside the harbor, particularly when the destination berth is unoccupied. Coming from Port Arthur, TX, the ship has refined product for Imperial Oil.

Built in 2013 by SPP Shipbuilding in Sacheon, South Korea, the 29,924 gt, 50,155 dwt ship flies the Panama flag for the anonymous Zefyros Trading SA of Greece. Management of the ship is handled by Benetech Shipping SA, employing a crew entirely of Georgian nationality through Elvictor Ltd, also of Athens. (The pyramidal shape symbol on the funnel is the Benetech logo.)

The ship is expected to move to Imperial Oil by midnight tonight.

Also at anchor for the morning CMA CGM Libra required an Asian Gypsy Moth inspection before it moved to Halterm for noon.

Cerescorp remained busy today, with Atlantic Sun arriving this morning, sailing this afternoon, and its berth taken by MOL Partner soon after.

MOL Partner works its way inbound with the tug Spitfire III as tethered escort.

The tour boat Peggys Cove Express speeds along inbound for the Cable Wharf.

The Yantain Express did not go to anchor in Bedford Basin last night as expected. Instead it was still working cargo at the west berth through the night. It finally moved to the east berth at 0400hrs this morning. It remained idle today.

One of the large stacks of boxes offloaded from Yantian Express.

It has been reported that it will take twelve days to unload the Yantian Express's cargo. Containers that have been cleared by the insurers will be arranged on the dock to allow forwarding by rail or ship. Another stack will be created for those boxes for which security has not been posted. Their fate remains unknown.

An unusual Saturday arrival at Halterm was Oceanex Sanderling. It normally sails for St.John's weekly on Fridays. However this week it arrived and sailed on Tuesday, making a quick turnaround at Halterm and Autoport. It will now make another hasty round trip, due to heavier summer demand, sailing early tomorrow morning. 

Also from Halterm, dredging work stopped early this week. The last I saw the dredge Derrick No.4 working was on Wednesday. 

McNally's barges and tugs and other gear are now at pier 9 and pier 9C setting up for construction of the cribs for the Halterm extension. The Port Authority states the extension work will be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

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Harbour Business - More Rain and Fog - and some updates

Today's weather forecast is for more rain and fog, so harbour picture taking will again be curtailed. Harbour business continues unabated however.

The Nirint Shipping Augusta Mars at pier 31 is expected to complete unloading the latest consignment of nickel sulfides from Cuba this afternoon then sail for Europe.

The ship arrived yesterday under ideal conditions, and was assisted to its berth by the tugs Atlantic Fir and Spitfire III.

As the ship made its way to pier 31, the outbound container ship Brighton encountered what was believed to be an inattentive pleasure craft crossing its course just south of George's Island. The ship had to sound its signal horn five times to warn off the boat. The ship may also have had to reduce speed or even attempt to stop. It was certainly going very slowly by the time it reached Ives Knoll. The incident was blocked from my view as I was taking the above picture.

Pleasure craft are are an inevitable hazard in summer time and it is a wonder there have not been more serious incidents. Boaters seem oblivious to the presence of big ships and their right of way.

At Fairview Cove, work continues to unload the Yantian Express. The ship has shifted from the west end (big cranes) to the east end (small crane) and back again to make room for other ships, and this evening is expected to move out to anchor in Bedford Basin.

Yantian Express gets ready to shift from the west to east berth at Fairview Cove on Wednesday evening to make room for the Brighton. It moved back again after Brighton  sailed.

Yantian Express will unload all of its cargo in Halifax before sailing to China for permanent repairs to fire damage. Thanks to the trade imbalance with Asia, empty containers continue to pile up in North American and European ports. It is difficult to find room on ships with paying cargo to return the boxes to China for re-use. Several ideas are in the works including folding boxes that can be reduced to about a third of their normal height, and stacked to take up less space for the return trip.

Yantian Express's "non-revenue" trip to China is an opportunity send a number of those empty boxes back (believed to be in the range of 1,000).

More information has emerged about the incident aboard Maersk Patras on Monday when the ship's second officer was lost overboard. The man's apparent death (his body has not been recovered) had nothing to do with pilot boarding, and may have only been coincidental to the ship's position off the Escoumins pilot station at the time.

Maersk Patras heads to sea from Halifax in 2013. The lashings on the containers, secured by longshoremen,  are clear to see - they are the large X-shaped bracing rods connecting the corners of the containers.

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) has condemned the dangerous practice of unlashing containers while the ship is underway on the St.Lawrence River. Montreal is one of the few if not only ports in the world where ships are expected to arrive in port with the containers unlashed. The heavy retaining rods are removed by the ship's crew to make the ship ready to unload immediately on arrival.

The ITF states that this dangerous work should be done by qualified longshoremen, while the ship is in port, and not by ship's crews who may be inexperienced and may be shifted off balance while handling the heavy lashing gear at sea. The ITF has requested that the practice be banned by Transport Canada and the Port of Montreal, stating that they have allowed the practice to continue despite warnings about the dangers.

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Coast Guard Renewal

The much anticipated Coast Guard renewal process was announced today by the Prime Minister at a photo op in Vancouver. With a federal election coming in the fall everything is now timed to maximize political benefit.  This announcement could have (should have) been made years ago, but at least the wheels are in motion.

The essence of the announcement as I understand it is as follows:

Halifax Shipyard / Irving Shipbuilding:

•  will build two Arctic Offshore Patrol vessels for the Coast Guard. These will be adaptations of the six AOPS currently contracted for the RCN. (This will provide more stop gap work until the 15 ship surface combatant project gets rolling, and will likely be added at the end of the AOPS program. (That grinding sound you hear in the background is the gnashing of teeth in some CCG circles.) The AOPS ships are the great "unloved" of the RCN and now the CCG!

Vancouver Shipyard / Seaspan:

• will build 16 multi-purpose vessels to include light [I hope this means medium duty at least]  ice breaking, environmental and SAR duties. This represent replacement of the entire current CCG fleet of medium and light duty icebreakers, navaids vessels and offshore patrol vessels of any significant size, except the three recent ex Swedish supplier/icebreakers. There was no indication in the announcement I saw today of how many classes of vessels are involved, but I think there will need to be at least two. One would be medium/heavy duty icebreakers and one would be light icebreaker/navaids types. 
• VSY is also committed to building the polar icebreaker but just when is the question. The plan was for it to follow the JSS (Joint Support Ships) for the RCN which are underway now.That would mean that some of the newly announced vessels could start construction in 3 to 5 years.

"Another Yard"
As part of the announcement the PM said that the CCG will also get a new class of inshore, shallow draft, multi-mission vessels that can do inshore science.
No yard has been selected, but commentators expect that Davie will get the work.
I am not so sure. Details are skimpy on these vessels as of now, but in view of several past decisions, "in-shore" means undersized. Certainly well below the capabilities of Davie, and well within the capabilities of several smaller yards, mainly in Quebec, such as Meridian in Matane and Forillon in Gaspé, perhaps acting in consortium.
Davie has just been handed the Holiday Island and Madeleine replacements, which will be largish ships of medium to high complexity, particulary if they go with eco-hydrid types.

Also
Since the vessels announced today will be some time (5 to 15 years) to complete, the CG has been allotted $2 bn to refit and life extend ships. Some of those will be limping to the finish line, but it will provide work for a variety of yards outside the National Shipbuilding Strategy program.

NSS
The National Shipbuilding Strategy already in place has committed to the following:

Vancouver Shipyard:

• 3 Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (DFO /CCG)
• 2 Joint Support Ships (RCN)
• 1 big icebreaker (CCG)
• 1 Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (DFO/CCG)

Halifax Shipyard:

• 5, recently increased to 6, Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels (RCN)
• 15 surface combatants - 12 frigates and three? destroyers

Still Missing:
One more interim supply ship for the RCN.  Maybe another sop to Quebec if the election polls are looking bad?

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Grandeur of the Seas - but things not so grand for others.

It was a blustery mid-morning arrival for Grandeur of the Seas today. Its last port was Saint John, NB, so perhaps the skipper decided to take it easy and not press the ship into high winds and seas to get here earlier.
 

The ship is a familiar visitor to Halifax. Now based in Baltimore, it has been calling here since at least 2001. Built in 1997 by Kvaerner Masa in Helsinki, the 73,817 gt  ship has a passenger capacity of 2446 with 760 crew. The Port of Halifax schedule indicates it may be carrying 2000 passengers on this trip. Weather is always an issue this early in cruise season, especially for the smaller ships.

Yesterday's caller, Pearl Mist bravely set out last evening for its next port of call which is to be Pictou.

Two cruise ship visits to Halifax have already been cancelled this year. The small cruise ships Victory I (scheduled for May 5) and Victory II (scheduled for today) are now operated by American Queen Steamboat Co. Last year they took over Victory Cruise Lines that market summer Great Lakes region cruises.  Victory I may simply have bypassed Halifax due to weather. The ship is already on the Great Lakes.
Victory II has just left West Palm Beach, FL, and is due in Montreal May 30. It may have experienced some sort of technical issue.

Not included in the regular Halifax cruise schedule are the ships of One Ocean Cruises. A Canadian company that organizes Arctic and Antarctic cruises they have been using the Russian research ships Akademik Sergey Vavilov and Akademik Ioffe since 2011. Last year the latter ship ran aground in the arctic and evacuated all passengers and non-essential crew (more than 100 people) to the former ship. The damaged ship then spent several months at the Verreault Shipyard in Méchins, QC undergoing repairs.

This year One Ocean planned extensive cruising in the north and had been granted a coasting license for the Akademik Ioffe starting in July. However it is now reported that the Russian Shirshov Institute, owners of the ships have withdrawn them. Fortunately One Ocean has a third ship, Resolute, with available space and it appears that the summer season will not have to be cancelled.

The two Russian ships have called in Halifax from time to time for stores while repositioning from the Arctic to the Antarctic, but have not been regular cruise ship callers since they are not usually carrying passengers when they call here.

They have been covered in previous posts: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/09/akademik-sergey-vavilov.html

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Fire not the only hazard

Today's arrival in Halifax, the Yantian Express, is just one of several ships that have suffered fires at sea recently. Ships of Grimaldi Lines (parent company of ACL) have suffered two fires in past months, one of which resulted in the total loss of the ship when it sank in the Bay of Biscay. In the other, two fires broke out in the same ship on different decks within an hour or so. In that case the crew was able to extinguish both  fires and minimize damage.
The chairman of Grimaldi Group is calling for stronger regulation to control the contents of  containers, and the condition of automobiles shipped by sea.

Recent fires have been traced to containers that were improperly labelled or stowed, but there are other causes too. Another regular caller in Halifax suffered a serious fire in the engine room. November 1, 2016 while 90 miles ESE of Las Palmas, a major fire erupted in the engine room of Maersk Patras knocking out the main engine and generators. Fortunately the fire was suppressed by the on board CO2 system and no lives were lost. The ship eventually returned to service and is on the Canada Atlantic Express operated by Maersk and CMA CGM, calling in Montreal and Halifax.

 Maersk Patras with its accommodation ladder raised.

 It will be lowered when it is time to disembark the pilot. No pilot ladder will be used

On Sunday May 19 while Maersk Patras was inbound on the St.Lawrence River to embark a pilot at Escoumins, QC, one of the crew members fell overboard. Despite an immediate response with the ship's own rescue boat and the pilot boat and a large SAR operation with Coast Guard vessels and aircraft, the victim was not recovered from the 6 degree C waters. Reports indicate that it was the ship's second officer that was lost, and that he was not wearing a PFD or life line.

Particularly with high sided craft such as container ships and tankers in ballast, ships use what is called a "combination ladder", that is  an accommodation ladder in combination with a pilot ladder.

 Making the awkward transition between pilot (rope) ladder and accommodation ladder is difficult enough in calm harbour conditions at anchor let alone with the ship underway in any kind of seas.

Some container ships and autocarriers have side port doors low on the hull to eliminate the need for a combination ladder. That is no guarantee of safety however. In a recent incident a sea broke into the opening as two crew members were opening the inner door. One man was swept away and the other injured.

Crew members frequently have to use the accommodation ladder while the ship is underway to ensure it is rigged properly for the pilot. And pilots have to use the ladders all the time while embarking and disembarking. It is unfortunate, but accidents still happen despite measures to make boarding and disembarking safer.

Maersk Patras is due in Halifax next weekend on its way back to Europe. As with any ship that calls in certain ports regularly, crew members have friends or family in those communities, and I am sure there will be many in Montreal and Halifax who will be grieving the loss of this officer.  I extend my sympathy to those effected.

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