End of the Road for Salarium

 The bulker Salarium has reached Aliaga, Turkey today on the end of a tow line and will soon be reduced to scrap. Renamed Sal for the trip across the Atlantic, the ship left Montreal October 27 in tow of the tug/supplier Thor I.

Emerging from drydock at Halifax Shipyard, with a fresh coat of paint, the ship's unusual bulbpous bow is fully exposed.

 The ship was a periodic caller in Halifax from the time it was built in 1980 as Nanticoke until 2009 when it took on a charter to carry salt and became Salarium. It then stopped carrying grain, and its visits here were less frequent.

Unloading grain the old fashioned way, using the grain leg.There is now a hopper arrangement that allows self-unloaders to use their own equipment.

Salarium made its last visit in November 2019. It was laid up in December 2019, and aside from one last non-revenue trip from Toronto to Montreal earlier this year. Its last paying cargo was the load of gypsum out of Halifax for Hamilton, ON.

 The ship's last load out of Halifax, and its last cargo, was taken on at Natkional Gypsum, just over a year ago.

Although thoroughly modern when built, The ship was replaced by the Trillium class ships which have greater carrying capacity and are more efficient . Salarium was among the dwindling number of Canadian built merchant ships.

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Odd goings on

 It was a day for some non-typical activity in the harbour. The ZIM feeder ship Taipei Trader (see yesterday's post) moved from Pier 36 to anchorage in Bedford Basin. 

The ship appears to be fully loaded, so must be either getting a repair or waiting out a schedule. ZIM seems to have a lot of empty boxes in Halifax, so maybe it is hauling some of those away.

The newly delivered CCGS Jean Goodwill moved from the Bedford Institute to Pier 9C where a crane lifted off a large cylinder and placed it on a truck. The cylinder looked like a stern roller, but was secured on deck when the ship arrived. (See previous post)

There was another unusual arrival at Pier 9C, the factory stern trawler Mersey Venture.

The attractive vessel was built in 1988 in Norway (started by Tangen Verft, and completed by Langsten Slip, Tomrefjord). It is a 2337 gt freezer trawler, usually engaged in the shrimp fishery for Mersey Seafoods Ltd of Liverpool, NS. The shrimp fishing grounds are in the far north, off Greenland, and trips can take up to two months. However its recent track shows it coming from the Gulf of Maine, headed for its home port of Country Harbour, NS. Its visit to Halifax must represent a change of plan of some sort.

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Three's Company at PSA Halifax

 The benefit of the recently completed pier extension at PSA Halifax is not restricted the Ultra size (10,000 TEU and larger) container ships. Today the terminal accommodated three ships at once and even a fourth for a short time.

The largest ship was ZIM Shekou a 4250 TEU vessel, which tied up between berths 41 and 42, leaving enough room for Oceanex Sanderling at the RoRo ramp to also work containers. That still left lots of room at the extension for the 1102 TEU ZIM feeder Taipei Trader.

Not long after it finished work, it moved to Pier 36 (also now within PSA's area) to allow Eimskip's Pictor to tie up at the extension. There is no crane at pier 36 now, so the  ship could not work any cargo there.

I am not aware if the Port will be naming the new PSA extension Pier 43, or just spreading out the number 41 and 42 to cover the whole length of the pier.

The bow of ZIM Shekou is just visible under the crane at the left, at what was originally pier 42, leaving lots of room for Taipei Trader or a much larger ship.

The wonderful walkway on the breakwater and pier extension is inexplicably still not open to the public.

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CSL TACOMA - light load

 The self-unloading bulk carrier CSL Tacoma sailed today with less than a full load of gypsum. Built in 2013 by Chengxi, Jiangyin, it is a 43,691 gt, 71,552 dwt ship that can load to a draft of 13.5 m (summer) [about 69,000 tonnes deadweight at winter draft of 13.2m]. However it does not load to full draft in Halifax due to the depth of water at the National Gypsum pier. The ship's AIS signal states that its draft at sailing was 9.2 m which would give a deadweight of 42,000 tonnes. I could not read the draft marks, but it appeared to be much less than that - say about 8 meters giving about 34,000 dwt.

I know of no draft restrictions at its destination port of Savannah, GA, so it is likely just the Halifax restriction that causes it to sail with a lighter than maximum load.

The ship is a regular caller in the CSL Americas pool.

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Tankers Coming and Going - updated

 The oil terminals were busy today with arrivals and departures. The familiar Elka Nikolas arrived at Irving Oil, Woodside. This tanker has been in Halifax several times, mostly recently in September  when it brought product from Antwerp for Imperial Oil.

This time the ship has cargo from Amsterdam. Irving Oil's Woodisde terminal is a little more visible now that the leaves are off the shrubs.

Last evening the tanker Largo Desert anchored in the lower harbour awaiting its berth at Imperial Oil, which was occupied by Irving Oil's Acadian. When that ship sailed this morning Largo Desert moved in. *

Distinctive for its all gray colour scheme, the ship is also unusual because it was built in Ninh Hoa, Vietnam, by Hyundai's Vinashin Shipyard. It is nevertheless a pretty typical MR tanker of 29,463 gt, 49,703 deadweight. Delivered in 2018 as  ECO Palm Desert it was renamed in March of this year when it was acquired by the anonymous Jupiter 2 Ltd. It also changed technical management at the same time and is now operated by Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Singapore. 

Anglo-Eastern manages more than 600 ships, including 200 tankers, and 100 container ships. Commercial management is handled by another rather opaque corporate based in London, UK.

Meanwhile at Pier 27, Onego Deusto [see previous post] has just about completed discharging its cargo of rails. It is showing a particularly clean looking hull, suggesting a recent drydocking and painting.

The ship is due to sail at midnight, so no closer picture is likely!

* Forgot to mention that the Largo Desert arrived from the Marathon refinery in Garyville, Louisiana.

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An Ill Wind

 High winds and rough seas continue to cause delays to harbour traffic. Movements within the harbour are possible, but conditions are too rough at the pilot station to embark or disembark pilots.

CSL Thunder Bay completed loading at National Gypsum, then  rather than staying at an exposed berth overnight, moved to anchorage position number 1 in the lower harbour.

The ship will remain there until pilotage operations resume - perhaps this evening. Number one anchorage is for short term visitors, and it can accommodate large ships. I suppose Thunder Bay chose this anchorage to leave lots of room for other ships in Bedford Basin.

Dalian Express completed its cargo work at Cerescorp, Fairview Cove and moved to anchor in Bedford Basin yesterday, allowing Budapest Bridge to tie up. Dalian Express, 88,493 gt, 100,006 dwt, built in 2001 by Hyundai, Ulsan has a capacity of 7506 TEU (including 700 reefers).

Naval vessels also came in from sea to anchor, including HMCS Fredericton, which has been exercising offshore for several days.

Fredericton's helicopter sits on the flight deck as the ferry Vincent Coleman makes its way from the Halifax terminal to Woodside.

Yesterday's self-piloted departure from Imperial Oil, the Algoscotia [see: post ] left number 3 dock free, and Irving Oil's Acadian moved in there from Irving's Woodside terminal.

Irving and Imperial Oil used to share terminal and tank space, but it is now rare to see an Irving tanker at an Imperial dock. Irving Oil also used to be the only source for furnace oil in the region, so there may be a similar reason for this visit.

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Business - not as usual

 Very high winds have had widespread effects on navigation and marine activities in the Atlantic region today. From cancellation of ferry service between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and delay to the start of the lobster season in southwest Nova Scotia, many mariners are sitting comfortably on shore or in port. 

Of course there are many others having a rough time of it at sea. Those include crews on ships scheduled to arrive in Halifax since this morning, who are now looking at tomorrow at the earliest before pilots are able to board. Departures from port are similarly effected, but with an exception.

Algoscotia arrived in Halifax November 30 in breezy conditions. The tug Atlantic Willow assisted it to dock at Imperial Oil.

The tanker Algoscotia arrived yesterday, November 30 from Sarnia, ON and docked at Imperial Oil.  It sailed again this afternoon "self-piloted". That generally means that the ship's master or a senior officer has a pilotage waiver. Having satisfied harbour pilots of acquaintance with the harbour over number of previous voyages, a waiver can be issued. 

It has been known for a master to take a ship to sea without pilot and without waiver, but that is extremely rare, but might occur in an emergency.

Imperial Oil has been importing most of its refined product from Antwerp and some more is coming soon from Louisiana, but it is rare to bring cargo from Sarnia. Imperial operates its former refinery here as a storage and distribution centre for the area, so has a variety of fuels in storage, including gasolines, diesel and aviation fuels.

Algoscotia was built in 2004 by Qiuxin shipyard in Shanghai and measures 13,352 gt, 16,810 dwt. Algoma Tankers purchased the Imperial Oil tanker fleet and carries their product extensively.

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