Sanderliing makes a RORO only trip

 Due to a backlog of automobiles destined for Newfoundland, Oceanex Sanderling made a rare mid-week, RoRo only trip to Halifax today. It usually sails on Friday with container and RoRo cargo. On this special trip it did not carry any container traffic, and docked only at Autoport. It is rare to see the ship with no containers on deck, and regrettably I did not get a photo this time.

Normal appearance with containers on deck.\ (file photo)

For various reasons, Newfoundland car dealers could not get the cars they needed. With manufacturing shutdowns earlier due to Covid-19, there is a general shortage of vehicles. Also Oceanex's other RoRo ship, Oceanex Connaigra, which operates from Montreal, was in a lengthy refit in Belfast. Although some of those cars were brought to Halifax, they could not be shipped in sufficient quantity to meet demand. 

Oceanex Connaigra at speed on the St.Lawrence. (file photo)

Now that Connaigra is back in service, things are expected to return to normal. 

There have been comments recently on the remarkable age of Oceanex Sanderling. Built in 1977 by Sasebo, Heavy Industries in Japan for D.D.G.Hansa as Ravenfels it was renamed Essen in 1980 and Kongsfjord in 1982. In 1983 it was renamed Onno and it was under that name when it made its first call in Halifax, substituting for ACL. 

Outbound in the Narrows as Onno in 1987.

Later in 1987 it came to Canada to stay, as ASL Sanderling for Atlantic Searoute the predecessor company of the current owners, Oceanex, who renamed the ship in 2008 as Oceanex Sanderling. 

For many years the ship sailed from Halifax to St.John's, then CornerBrook and back to Halifax weekly. After CornerBrook was dropped the ship has sometimes made a mid-week call in Halifax to meet demand, but usually shuttles between Halifax and St.John's once per week.

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CITIES

 Container Lines are fond of naming ships after cities - usually ports - but also those  centres where cargoes may come from or are destined for. Three arrivals today more or less fill those categories.

Kyoto Express (pictured during its August 20, 2020 visit) called in at Cerescorp's Fairview Cove terminal. It is just about as big a ship as the facility can accommodate due to bridge clearances. A 93,750 GT, 103,890 dwt ship it has a capacity of 8749 TEU, including 750 reefers and was built in 2005 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan for HAPAG-Lloyd. Named for Japan's "second city" Kyoto was once the country's capital, it is now the cultural capital, but with neighboring cities of Kobe and Osaka it is also an important industrial hub.

At the southend terminal, PSA Halifax, APL Miami made an early afternoon arrival.

It is named for Florida's largest city, the centre of much of the state's commerce and a significant port. With a capacity of 9200 TEU, the ship is just under the "Ultra" class of 10,000 TEU. Nevertheless it is a sizable vessel of 109,712 gt, 109,712 dwt. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd, Okpo delivered the ship in 2014. Owners APL (American President Lines) merged with Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), in 1997 and in 2016 CMA CGM acquired 100% ownership of NOL so that APL is now a wholly owned subsidiary of CMA CGM.

Autport's arrival is named for Canada's largest city, and thus a major market for the automobiles that Toronto carries. The ship operates in the now merged Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean fleet, but it was built, and is owned by Wilhelmsen Lines. It is that company's policy that all its ships names began with the letter "T".

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki delivered the 61,482 gt, 19,628 dwt ship in 2005 as a Pure Car and Truck Carrier, with RoRo capability for other cargoes. The ship has a capacity of 6,354 RT43 car equivalent units. 

Wilhlemsen has been hard hit by the drop in demand for vehicles brought on by the pandemic. Up to ten ships were to be put in cold layup in June to reduce the ship's fleet operating costs, and others will be redelivered to charterers. Another four or five ships, more than 24 years old, were to be scrapped. Cold layup, where machinery is not operating, nor maintained, can save US$3000 to $4000 per day, but requires significant outlay to re-condition the ships the longer the layup goes on.

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PSA full steam - plus (revision)

 PSA Halifax was working two ships today, with lots of room at its newly expanded pier.

At pier 41 it was MSC Martina in from Sines, Portugal. A fairly typical MSC ship (generally older than average) it was launched by Samsung, Koje in 1993 as Hansa Atlantic, but delivered as Maersk Hong Kong. It only carried that name until 1997 when it became MSC Martina. It has a capacity of 3398 TEU, including 150 reefers and measures 37,398 gt, 43,346 dwt.

Although reports are that MSC is not yet fully committed to calling Halifax, it certainly appears to be having a major impact with PSA's laydown area chockablock with MSC boxes. Perhaps MSC Martina is also acting as a "sweeper" gathering up stranded boxes from the previous service disruptions.

Meanwhile PSA's largest customer, ZIM, had their feeder Taipei Trader working at pier 42.

With Tampa Trader, they operate a weekly service to ZIM's Kingston, Jamaica hub via New York.

See previous references: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2020/06/trading-closer-to-home.html

In an update from yesterday's post, Boreas was loading at Pier 28. 

From the white colour of the dust the load appeared to be wood pellets.

Revision: The ship loaded grain for Cuba.

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Comings and Goings

 The Port of Halifax is seeing the usual arrivals and departures and some unusual ones.

Boreas arrived at Pier 28 this morning, likely for bunkers, however it also seemed to attract the attention of the Canadian Border Services Agency. It is a little late in the season for Asian Gypsy moth inspection,  since they are thought not to hatch in cold weather.

The ship was built in 2008 by Chongqing, Dongfeng, China and is a general purpose cargo/bulker with two 45 tonne capacity cranes that can work combined for a 90 tonne lift on a single spreader.The 6569 gt, 8090 dwt vessel started life as BBC Tunisia, but became Qing Hua very soon after delivery when current owners Boreas GmbH acquired the ship. In 2010 was renamed Thor Boreas and took its present name in 2014. 

The ship's last port was Santiago de Cuba and it appears to be in ballast.

Across the camber Augusta Luna is also in from Cuba (it arrived yesterday) unloading another cargo of nickel sulfite in bags.

 Longshore workers are on lunch break and the spreaders for the nickel bags are suspended in mid-air.

Built in 2011 by Xinshun Yueqing in Wenzhou, China, it is a 12,772 gt, 17,370 dwt multi-purpose ship, strengthened for heavy cargoes. It carries a pair of 150 tonne cranes that can work in combination for a 300 tonne load. Its container capacity is 894 TEU (504 on deck and 390 below) (or 903 according to its operators) but that decreases to 698 TEU if they are loaded at 14 tonnes. It also has 60 reefer plugs. Originally named Lolland, on delivery it was renamed Rickmers Yokohama then took its present name in 2015.

The ship operates for the Dutch company Nirint Shipping BV with container and general cargo from Rotterdam and Bilboa to Curacao and Cuba. Does the number of liquid bulk containers on deck suggest a thriving rum trade?

PSA Halifax is using the full length of the extended berth at Pier 42, as Skogafoss completed loading. 

Although not ideal for photos, it does show most of the ship.

Also a Chinese built, German ship, it came out of the Sainty Jiangdu yard in 2002 as Ice Bird. A 7545 GT, 8209 dwt ship, it has a capacity of 698 TEU. Chartered by Eimskip as Skogafoss since 2011 the ship is one of three ships on the weekly service between Iceland and Portland ME, that also provides a feeder service for lines from Halifax. (It doesn't appear to have any takers today.)

For something completely different, the crude oil tanker Front Cosmos has taken up position deep in Bedford Basin, in the long term anchorages.

The 82,515 gt, 157,528 dwt ship was delivered by New Times Shipbuilding Co, Jingjiang, China in 2017 and is operated by the former Norwegian (now Cypriot) billionaire John Fredriksen's giant Frontline tankers - the largest tanker fleet in the world. It is perhaps as well that John has very deep pockets, because the crude oil tanker business is in steep decline, with demand and rates tanking (sorry) thanks to COVID-19. 

The ship arrived off Saint John September 26, and did not unload at Canaport until November 3. It now has no immediate prospects for work and may be idle for some time.

With crude prices very low, some refiners bought up supply, but with poor demand for product, they are storing the crude on tankers all around the world, since there is limited storage for refined product. Once unloaded the crude ships at idled. There are reported to be 2,464 tankers larger than 80,000 dwt, with 37 more to be delivered from shipyards. Despite the fact that 120 of the ships are more than 20 years old, only 11 tankers have been scrapped in 2020. Owners are clearly expecting a return to "pre-COVID" in 2021, but if that does not happen, expect even newer ships to go under the torch. In the meantime the big ships are laid up wherever they can find space.

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Swiftly doth daylight flee...and other seasonal thoughts

 Most ships coming and going from Halifax tend to align their movements with the normal working day of longshoremen to avoid overtime rates if they can. Now that we are back to Standard Time it will be dark for many ship arrivals and departures until February, making it difficult shooting for this shipwatcher. Fortunately some ships vary from the norm by spending less than a full day in port - nevertheless the days are short so it is essential to take every opportunity. So it was that I was poised for the midday departure of the autocarrier Swift Ace.  (Why Swift? - not sure!)

Despite yesterday's record 12 cm of snow, today's temperature rocketed back up into the teens with a warm but stiff wind, melting away most of the white stuff. One die-heart sailor was out for a sail from Shearwater [see off the ship's stern] but for the rest of us, it is a reminder that winter is nearly here.

Swift Ace, remarkably, is owned by Snowscape Car Carriers SA, and managed by MOL Ship, the operations arm of Mitsui OSK Lines. It was built in 2008 by Minami-Nippon, Shitanoe, and measures 56,685 gt, 18,865 dwt, with a capacity of 5,220 Car Equivalent Units (CEUs).

My regrets about the fading light of dusk are aptly summed up in the first stanza of the ode Landlocked by Celia Thaxter, written as long ago as 1861.

Black lie the hills; swiftly doth daylight flee;
And, catching gleams of sunset’s dying smile,
Through the dusk land for many a changing mile
The river runneth softly to the sea.

O happy river, could I follow thee!
O yearning heart, that never can be still!
O wistful eyes, that watch the steadfast hill,
Longing for level line of solemn sea!

Have patience; here are flowers and songs of birds,
Beauty and fragrance, wealth of sound and sight,
All summer’s glory thine from morn till night,
And life too full of joy for uttered words.

Neither am I ungrateful; but I dream
Deliciously how twilight falls to-night
Over the glimmering water, how the light
Dies blissfully away, until I seem

To feel the wind, sea-scented, on my cheek,
To catch the sound of dusky flapping sail
And dip of oars, and voices on the gale
Afar off, calling low, — my name they speak!

O Earth! thy summer song of joy may soar
Ringing to heaven in triumph. I but crave
The sad, caressing murmur of the wave
That breaks in tender music on the shore.

(After the first stanza, the rest of the poem describes the poet's feeling about life in landlocked Massachusetts after growing up on Isles of Shoals in the Gulf of Maine, off the Maine/New Hampshire border, where her father was light keeper.)

The camera tends to flatten the appearance of waves, but the ferry Viola Desmond en route from Halifax to Woodside had its own method of ironing out the surface.

Note the yellow marker leaning into the breeze. It has been placed to warn shipping away from the demolition work at the Svitzer (former Foundation Maritime) pier.

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PSA crane demolition

PSA Halifax is shedding another crane. After adding a new Super Post Panamax crane last summer, it appears they are scrapping the one remaining old Panamax crane.

Stationed at pier 36-37, the crane appears to be the crane that was originally built to move from the Pier 41-42 pier face to Pier 36-37 thanks to a specially designed swiveling carriage. However that set up was the same rail gauge as the old Panamax cranes, now replaced with a wider gauge track. There is apparently insufficient demand for a crane at pier 36-37. Halifax's original RoRo ramp was built in the old Pier 35 / 36 corner. 

The only user of Pier 36 now is Oceanex, when Oceanex Sanderling makes its weekly call. However it must move to Pier 41 to load containers and complete its RoRo loading. If Oceanex should move to Fairview to reduce truck traffic downtown, that will allow the camber can be filled in creating much more laydown area for PSA Halifax.

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Tancook Ferry to be replaced

  The Province of Nova Scotia announced yesterday that there will be a major change in the Tancook Islands ferry service. Tenders will be issued for construction of a new vessel to be delivered for 2022, and the ferry terminal will be shifted from Chester, NS to Blandford, NS. Crossing time will thus be reduced from 50 minutes to 30 minutes and the number of daily round trips will be increased to eleven. (There are now four to six trips on weekdays, with two on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, and cars go by reservation only.)

 The new $10mn ship will be funded jointly by the Province and the Federal government.

I did a major post on the ferry service several years ago:

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2014/11/tancook-troubles.html

The current vessel, William G.Ernst is in refit with Scotian working as replacement. I see the tug Kenneth A making many trips to Chester, but also to Blandford too, but whether this is involved or not I can't tell.

Many questions remain to be answered, such as why is there such a sudden increase in demand for vehicles on the islands, and why make such a radical change in terminus. Surely both changes will have a huge impact on island life.

 

An older photo of the William G. Ernst taken at Snyder's Shipyard in Dayspring, NS.

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