In From the Storm

A couple of days of very high winds forced the suspension of pilotage activities on the weekend, which delayed the arrival of some ships. One of these was Tropic Lissette which rode out the stormy weather anchored deep within St. Margaret's Bay off  Mill Cove. 

The Tropic Lissette has been a regular for Tropical Shipping ever since September 16, 2019 fresh from  Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in China. The 15,215 gt, 20,313 dwt ship has a capacity of 1100 TEU, including 200 reefers, and alternates its weekly calls with sister ship Tropic Hope. 

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MOL Glide for the first time

 Another first timer, MOL Glide arrived at Fairview Cove this morning (early) and will sail after dark this evening.

I have always liked the MOL hull colour, especially when combined with the orange funnel. And now while in service with THE Alliance with lots of HAPAG-Lloyd boxes on deck it looks even more colourful.

Otherwise the ship is a pretty standard Hyundai Samho product of 2011, coming in at 59.307 gt and 71,339 dwt, it has a capacity of 5100 TEU.

The ship is owned by Heliconia Shipping Ltd (part of Singapore's Temasek Holdings) but with seemingly German managers, and therefore likely on long term charter to MOL. MOL is now part of Ocean Network Express (ONE), but many of its ships will continue to carry "heritage" names and colour schemes until the charters run out. 

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MSC Ornella -another first timer

 Another first time caller arrived for MSC yesterday and sailed today.

 Built in 2004 by Hanjin Heavy Industry and Construction Ltd in Busan, it is a 54,304 gt, 68,372 dwt ship with a 5050 TEU capacity. After working cargo at PSA Halifax, Pier 42 it moved early this morning to Pier 27-28 for repairs. The ship had a technical deficiency when it arrived, which was corrected, allowing the ship to sail for Montreal. 

Ships of this size are currently the largest that sail to Montreal, but due to seasonal draft restrictions they are not able to load to full capacity. Dropping off or topping up in Halifax allows the ships to sail more efficiently.

Halifax on the other had has no such restrictions (nor ice) and so can handle the largest ships currently trading to the east coast of North America, such as APL Sentosa which arrived at PSA Halifax today.

This is the second call in Halifax (see April photo above) for the 13,892 TEU ship. At 151,015 gt, 150,936 dwt it is not far off the 14,400+ TEU size of the current record holders.

Halifax still needs some more cranes to be able to handle two such ships at once, but that is unlikely to happen soon unless other lines up the size of their callers.

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CSL times two

 CSL Tacoma arrived during the night at National Gypsum. The ship is a regular caller and would not normally rate much notice. However when fleet mate and sister ship CSL Tarantau arrived at Pier 9C for repairs it became a challenge to get a photo with both ships in the same frame.

With portions of CCGS Jean Goodwill (left) and CCGS Captain Jacques Cartier at right, and CCGS G.Peddle S.C. at the BIO, CSL Tacoma is still visible at National Gypsum's dock in Wright's Cove.

CSL Tacoma was built by the Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China and is a member of CSL's ocean going Trillium class of self-unloaders. It measures 43,691 gt, 71,552 dwt.

CSL Tarantau, also a Trillium class ship, built by the same yard in 2013 with a tonnages of 43,691gt comes in at 71,279 dwt. did not start life as a CSL ship. It was built for CSL Americas pool partner Klaveness and named Balto.

In 2016 Klaveness withdrew from the pool and sold its ships to the other partners, CSL and Algoma. Although Balto's orange hull was repainted and labelled for CSL, the CSL Tarantau still has orange painted self-unloading gear, betraying its Klaveness ancestry.

CSL Tarantau's arrival at Pier 9C was not unexpected. A crane and a truck load of equipment and several smaller vehicles and workers were ready to greet the ship. Some of the equipment may include replacement belts for the self-unloading equipment. Belts are subject to considerable wear and tear and need replacement after conveying thousands of tons of material.

It seems that the CSL ships may have been involved in a "topping off" operation in the Strait of Canso over the last few days. The big bulker NSU Voyager 107,829 gt, 208,745 dwt with a cargo of coal from Norfolk, VA was anchored for several days and CSL Tacoma was recorded alongside. CSL Tarantau on the other hand likely delivered a load of coal to Sydney, NS before coming here.

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Notorious Barge arrival

 The barge at the centre of the controversial tidal power turbine in the Minas Passage, Upper Bay of Fundy, arrived in Halifax today.

For more on the barge Scotia Tide and its towing tug, Atlantic Elm - see today's post on Tugfax

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New for Melfi, the Imedghassen

 Melfi Lines, the trading name for the Melfi Marine Corp is a long time user of the port of Halifax. Its regular trade from Europe to Cuba, and onward connections to Caribbean and South American ports, now consists of a twelve day rotation with five days transit from the PSA Halifax terminal to the home port of Mariel. Over the years, the company has used a variety of chartered vessels, some short term and others quite long term. Today's arrival, on its first trip for Melfi Lines, is fairly typical of the ships the line uses, which is to say, multi-purpose, fitted to carry containers, and generals, and equipped with cranes for cargo handling.

    

The smart looking ship was built in 2012 by Daesun Shipbuilding + Engineering Co, Pusan as Majority and has carried the names 2013: Dignity C, 2017: Sofrana Surville, 2019: Majority and taking up its present name in 2019. It measures 9998 gt, 12,754 dwt with a capacity of 1048 TEU and carrying two 40 tonne cranes.

The ship is owned and operated by Global Maritime Algerie SpA, and flies the Algerian flag. Its name also refers to a temple-mausolueum dating perhaps to 200 BC and considered to be one of the country's major heritage sites. 

The ship arrived with some sort of technical deficiency and was escorted from the pilot station by the tug Spitfire III. It then tied up at pier 34, a berth usually used for repairs or layups. Its scheduled departure date was January 8, but that has now been extended.

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Augusta Luna - in the news, twice

 Most ships lead uneventful lives, seldom appearing in the news or attracting much attention to their activities. That has certainly been the case with Nirint Shipping's Augusta Luna, a regular caller in Halifax. It plies its normal route from Europe to the Caribbean and back via Halifax with nickel sulfides from Cuba. The cargo, which is very tricky to handle in bulk, (it tends to behave like a liquid) is therefore shipped in large bags which prevents liquification and means that it can be handled as break bulk cargo.

A versatile ship of 12,772 gt, 17,370 dwt, Augusta Luna has a capacity of 903 TEU (nominal) including 60 reefers. It also carries two 150 tonne and one 80 tonne cranes. Built in 2011 by the Xinshun Shipyard Group in Yueqing, China, it started life as Rickmers Yokohama. In 2015 it became Lolland and Augusta Luna in 2019. 

To assist in loading heavy cargo the ship carries a pair of large spreaders, stowed starboard side forward at number one hatch (painted the same colour as the cranes.) Those cranes were put to good use "recently" when the ship loaded "a number" of Russian built railway locomotives for Cuba. The press release about the move was rather coy about details, but did state that the engines weighted 86,000 kg each - fairly light work for this ship. Even at a 31 meter outreach the larger cranes have an 80 tonne maximum capacity. 

The other newsworthy recent event occurred on December 25 in Mariel, Cuba, when the ship allided* with the tug Capricornio I, causing a 50cm dent in the hull in the way of the starboard number 1 ballast tank. No dent was obvious today while seen through a couple of layers of fence. The press item also stated that the dent was 7.4 meters above the waterline. Even at light draft that would seem to me to be very high on the hull for a ballast tank.

(* The term allision, which I like, means coming into contact with a stationary object, as opposed to a collision when two moving objects come into contact.)

After completing its cargo work tomorrow, the ship will be returning to Rotterdam to start its cycle again. It is due next in Halifax February 18.

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