Back to Normal and belated wishes

The port was back to normal work today, with the usual Saturday activity and some catch up work.
Federal Churchill was under the spouts at pier 28 loading wood pellets and displaying an attractive hatch cover, not usually visible except from aboard the ship.

As with many bulk carriers, there is a designated helicopter landing spot marked on the hatch cover between the cranes. However in this case it is more than just a large letter "H" but also an inscription with the ship's name.

At the southend container terminal, PSA Halifax, CMA CGM Ivanhoe occupied pier 41 and Maersk Palermo pier 42, until sailing late morning.

Lightly loaded for its eastbound transatlantic trip, the workhorse ship is beginning to show rust streaks again. By the time spring arrives it will be in serious need of paint.

Autoport was busy too with Victoria Highway unloading its consignment of cars.

Rounding Ives Knoll Victoria Highway heads for sea and its next port.

Just a year old - delivered by the Tadotsu Shipyard Co in Japan, December 14, 2018, Victoria Highway carries the new K-Line autocarriers "super graphic" paint scheme. The 75,528gt, 21,114 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,450 cars.

For some reason I neglected to wish readers a Merry Christmas on December 25 as I usually do. I hope to atone for this oversight by doing so now with the following photo. Probably not original and not unique to Nova Scotia, but appropriate - a lobster trap Christmas tree (with video surveillance).

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Red, White and Blue

After a lengthy refit that included removing and rebuilding the ship's crane CCGS Sir William Alexander moved out into Bedford Basin for some trials today.

Not far away the MOL Marvel was making its first visit to Cerescorp's Fairview Cove terminal.

Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe in 2010 it is a 78,316 gt, 79,460 dwt ship with a capacity of 6724 TEU including 500 reefers.

At the other end of the harbour Titania discharged a load of cars at Autoport.

Still wearing the old Wilhelmsen orange and white colour scheme, Titania (and Atlantic Bear) pass Shearwater outbound from Eastern Passage.

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in Okpo built Titania in 2010. Its 74,255 gt, 31,108 dwt gives it a capacity of  7934 cars.

Federal Churchill also got underway to make the short trip from anchorage to pier 28.

There was more blue to be seen, but it was so far offshore that it was not clearly legible.

Anchored outside the port limits, Ethan is waiting for something.

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Ships at anchor Federal Churchill, Ethan

December 26, the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, is almost as sacred as December 25 when it comes to longshore labour agreements, and there is usually no work done in the unionized parts of the port.  Ships do come and go at the non-union oil terminals (Elka Glory sailed from Irving Oil this afternoon) and they can arrive and depart from anchorages. But any activities that involve organized longshore labour incur huge premium charges, so are avoided.

Federal Churchill arrived from Montreal and anchored with the intention to go alongside tomorrow.

Built in 2016 by Oshima Shipbuilding in Saikai, Japan, it is a Seaway-max vessel of 20,789 gt, 34,564 dwt. It passed up the St.Lawrence Seaway in late November, arriving in Hamilton, ON November 30. It lay at anchor there until December 8 then spent until December 18 unloading (probably a cargo of steel). It then sailed for Montreal December 22.

Also arriving from the St.Lawrence is the veteran Ethan finally released from years of legal entanglements in Quebec City.
See also: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2019/04/court-ordered-sales-1-ethan.html
and: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/02/desgagnes-sheds-oldies.html

Now registered in Lomé, Togo, the ship is bound for Freeport, Bahamas. So far it has not entered port, but is anchored outside.

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Christmas Eve

As usual work in the port slows down to a complete halt for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Rather than having their ships stuck in port for two unproductive days, shipowners like to see their ships at sea. Surprisingly this year there will be a couple of ships in port. Oceanex Sanderling will be at Pier 41 and the tanker Elka Glory at Irving Oil Woodside.

Elka Glory is becoming a regular at Irving Oil after calls in April and November  - all from Amsterdam.

Several offshore suppliers remain in port too, but Atlantic Osprey was off to the Thebaud field this afternoon.

The harbour will be very quiet for a day or two with perhaps only the lobster fishers at work.

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Big Moves

There were a couple of big moves in the harbour today, keeping the tug fleet very busy (see also Tugfax).

The biggest move was the arrival of the jack-up drill rig Noble Regina Allen.

Siem Commander and Atlantic Osprey brought the rig into harbour where harbour tugs came along to assist.

The rig is just coming off some work with Exxon Mobil in decommissioning gas wells off Sable Island. It will spend January and February in Halifax at the IEL dock in Woodside in refit then go to work for Encana until June when it will return to the IEL dock again before heading for Trinidad.

Built in 2013 the rig is a Friede Goldman type JU3000 capable of working in 400 ft of water and drilling to a depth of 3500 ft. The three jack-up legs are 554.7 feet in length.

Also moving at the same time as the arrival was the autocarrier Torino. The Pure Car and Truck Carrier had discharged some industrial vehicles at pier 31 and was moving over the Autoport to offload cars. Two of the harbour tugs carried out that move leaving two others for the rig.

Torino sporting the new Wallenius Wilhelmsen colour scheme.

The ship was built in 2009 by Mitsubishi,  Nagasaki and has a capacity of 6,354 cars (RT 43 type) and measures 61,828 gt, 22,160 dwt.

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Busy Sunday

There was a fair amount of activity in the Port today, some of which I was able to catch.

ZIM Constanza was an early morning arrival and early afternoon departure. Built by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jingjiang, China it is a 40,542 gt , 50,107 dwt ship with a container capacity of 4256 TEU including 698 reefers. Interestingly the ship's keel was laid December 25, 2009, and it was completed August 11, 2010.

Meeting the inbound Algoma Mariner in the Middle Ground area took some careful coordination by the pilots.

Algoma Mariner was also built in China about a year later. Its keel was laid October 21, 2010 and it was completed May 31, 2011 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin.

The ship went to anchor in Bedford Basin for a time then went in to National Gypsum to load. A Seaway sized self-unloader its gt is 24,535 with a dwt of 35,500. Its last port was Sydney where it delivered a load of coal from the Great Lakes.

ZIM Constanza's Pier 41 berth was taken almost immediately by APL Yangshan. Another of the "biggies" with a capacity of 10,960 TEU, it measures 128,929 gt, 131,229 dwt. Built in 2012 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co in Okpo, it is owned by NOL Liner Pte Ltd of Singapore. NOL (Neptune Orient Line) and APL (American President Line are all owned by CMA CGM.

There has been some unusual tanker activity at Imperial Oil in the last few days. I neglected to mention the very rare visit of a Canadian tanker. Algoscotia made a quick trip from Montreal, arriving December 17 and heading back December 18.

Since Imperial demolished the refinery the Dartmouth facility has been a depot for local deliveries, with the source of fuel usually the southern US or Europe, so getting product from Canada is rare.

The tanker Avon was on and off the dock several times due to weather and to allow Algoscotia to dock, then another Canadian tanker, Kitikmeot W.

Today Kitikmeot W. had moved to Pier 9 B where it was in the process off re-flagging to the Marshal Islands for the winter.

And Avon was back at Imperial Oil for the third time, unloading the last of its cargo.

And for something completely different the British research ship James Cook arrived at The Cove just as the threatened rain arrived.

Operated by the National Environment Research Council, the ship was built in 2006 in a combined effort between the Crist yard in Gdansk, Poland for the hull and Flekkefjord Slip in Norway for completion.
It has had many accomplishments in its career as a Royal Research Ship, many of which are listed in the Wikipedia entry:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRS_James_Cook

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Cabrera - bulk load

The Malta flag bulker Cabrera arrived Wednesday to load bulk cargo from the grain elevator. The ship had discharged a cargo of gypsum in Saint John, NB and came directly to Halifax. The new cargo is likely a wood pellet product.

Built in 2011 by Qidong Daoda Marine in Qidong, China, the ship ship measures 24,210 gt and 34,613 dwt and carries four cranes. It was one of the first of the Seahorse 35 design which has become a popular bulk carrier type. I could not read the capacity ratings on the cranes, but they appear to be a typical 35 tonne type rigged for 20 tonne grabs.

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