Running on all cylinders

 The Port was bustling today. There were arrivals and departures of "repeat customers" at the container terminals, and Autoport and there were several ships in for repairs.

Autoport welcomed back Siem Confucius the pioneering LNG fueled auto carrier. This time I was able to catch the ship before it tied up.

I gave the ship's particulars when it called here the first time June 26, 2020

PSA Halifax greeted CMA CGM A.Lincoln another of the 14k TEU class ships that are the backbone of the Columbus service. The ship made an unusual Western Channel passage inbound and gave an interesting broadside view to boat watchers at Point Pleasant Park.

I also covered this ship's particulars when it called here April 14, 2020

Among the ships in port for repairs, Singelgracht was able to sail today. After arriving here January 23, 2021 in tow from a few miles offshore, it haD been tied up at Pier 9C.

As the ship sails outbound it passes Siem Commander (red hull in background) the tug that was mobilized to tow the snip into port in a matter of a few hours.

Not visible from forward, is the added exhaust gas scrubber, installed to allow the ship to continue to use heavy fuel and meet environmental regulations.

Perhaps it is a coincidence, but a sister ship, the Snoekgracht had an engine failure January 30 in the English Channel off Dover. It was able to anchor and self repair in a few hours.

Another ship that has been in port for some time is Imedghassen, an Algerian flag vessel that was to sail for Melfi Lines, but has remained tied up at Pier 34 since January 9, 2021.

I saw a crane landing some material on the ship several days ago, so some sort of repair was underway. The ship may now be waiting for its turn to come again in the rotation if its charter has not been voided.

At Pier 27 the unfortunate Giulia I remains tied up since its arrival January 31. The ship encountered severe weather January 30 and was struck by a  heavy wave resulting in the death of one crew member and injuries to three others.  

Bound from Norfolk, VA for Tunisia the ship was 320 nautical miles SE of Halifax when it was overcome by a near hurricane. In view of prevailing conditions it made for Halifax, the nearest safe port. The 25,303 gt, 39,2020 dwt bulker was built in 2014 by the Yangfan Group in Zhoushan, and carries four cranes and grabs.

Due to its position at Pier 27 it is difficult to see if there is damage to the ship or cargo, but in view of the circumstances, the crew must be traumatized at the very least. Depending on the severity of the injuries to the three seafarers, the ship may also be below safe manning levels. Acquiring replacements for some or all of the crew will certainly be difficult under current travel restrictions. It has been reported that the crew may have been aboard the ship for more than a year.

With the recent loss of six Yarmouth area fishermen, Nova Scotians do not need to be reminded of the dangers of seafaring. Nevertheless it is still a chilling fact that seafarers risk their lives every day to carry cargo for those of us who enjoy comparative safety on shore.

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News - not all good, not all bad

 Perhaps the bad news was not a total surprise, but it is still sad to learn that there will be no cruise season in Halifax in 2021. The Port of Halifax made the announcement today. With COVID-19 still not under control the federal government has apparently made the call through the Minister of Transport. Some cruise lines are still operating elsewhere in the world in a limited way, but most have extended last year's shut down as ships continue to be idled and even scrapped.

Most of the modern ships are being kept in "warm layup" but without income, one has to wonder how long the industry can retain the ships it has, let alone continue to build new ones. It will be many years before pre-COVID levels of travel resume, by which time some of the better known ships may be too old to return to work. Queen Mary 2 seen above was built in 2003, for example.

The good news was not delivered by the Port of Halifax, but was well covered in the trade press, and that is MSC's confirmation that its temporary calls in Halifax have become "permanent". Starting in August 2020 the world's second largest line, Mediterranean Shipping Company, diverted ships from Montreal due to labour issues in that port. Once those were resolved the line continued to call, having found local business to support. They could also reduce ship's drafts here to meet seasonal restrictions on the St.Lawrence.

MSC's Canada Express 2 service, which runs from Valencia to Montreal and Barcelona will likely call on both the east and westbound legs of their trips. Montreal will remain the terminal port, but there will still be significant traffic for Halifax - reportedly 700 moves per call. Access to MSC's two Mediterranean hubs is a major attraction to local shippers also. 

With congestion at west coast US ports reaching crisis levels, cargo diversions via Suez can be expected. These Mediterranean hub ports could be instrumental in easing the demand. At last report more than 40 ships were awaiting a week or more for berths in LA/Long Beach and Oakland was backing up too. Seattle/Tacoma was next in line but will be hard pressed to make a dent in the log jam.

On a very un-February like day, a few speculative starlings await picnic table activity in Point Pleasant Park as MSC Rochelle works cargo at Pier 42 PSA Halifax. [A closer shot was not possible as the breakwater remains closed to pedestrians - for dubious reasons.]

The Canada Express 2 service is currently maintained by five ships: MSC Rochelle, MSC Eleni, MSC Angela, and MSC Poh Lin. 

Scrappers take a pair - Bernhard Oldendorff and Caroline Oldendorff

Ships going for scrap are not usually news, since most ships end up at the scrap yard eventually, if they do not succumb to the dire circumstance of sinking. Thirty years is about the maximum life expectancy for a ship these days since insurers and the classification societies that rate them require major overhauls at that age. These refits are so extensive that the cost usually exceeds the residual value in the ship.

A pair of sister ships arrived at Chittagong January 27 for their appointments with the breakers. The ships have worked in tandem since built in 1990 and 1991, and will now go under the torch together. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Machinery in Okpo, South Korea built the ships as self-unloading bulk carriers for Fearnley + Eager of Oslo. That company went under before completion, and they were taken over, along with long term charters, by Egon Oldendorff of Luebeck, Germany. The ships were given the names Yeoman Burn and Yeoman Brook on delivery in 1990 and 1991 respectively to take up charters with the British construction materials company Foster Yeoman, carrying aggregates in the UK and Europe. 

In 1993 Egon Oldendorff and CSL (Canada Steamship Lines) formed a pool to operate ocean going self-unloading bulk carriers, and were later joined by Klaveness and Algoma. The pool was managed by CSL Americas, now called CSL International out of the unlikely port of Salem, MA.

Yeoman Brook had a serious fire that started in the self-unloading structure May 6, 1994 while tied up in Bremen, however the ship was repaired and returned to service August 25, 1994.

Later in 1994 Yeoman Burn was renamed Caroline Oldendorff 43,332 gt, 77,549dwt and Yeoman Brook was renamed Bernhard Oldendorff 43,332 gt, 77,548 dwt and both were chartered to CSL. The ship's paths did not cross often as they were assigned to various trades with CSL International.

Bernhard Oldendorff delivered coal to Nova Scotia, and usually loaded aggregates as backhaul. However when it came to load gypsum in Halifax it was found to be too high out of the water to fit under the loading device at National Gypsum in Dartmouth. A smaller ship, Atlantic Erie came in to transfer enough cargo to allow the ship to get in alongside. Even then it could not load to full draft due to shallow water at National Gypsum. 

 Atlantic Erie starts off the loading process at anchor in Bedford Basin.

Unloading aggregates at Tampa.

Therefore the ship was a rare caller in Halifax, but a notable one due to its size. Its last visit was in July 2015 when it called for bunkers.

Sister ship Caroline Oldendorff did not call in Halifax as far as my records go.

In 2018 Oldendorff sold the two ships and withdrew from the CSL International pool, selling its remaining three ships to Algoma. 

New owners, reported to be in Abu Dhabi, renamed them Berni and Carol for a short time and sold them on later in 2018 to Hong Kong, where they were to work on a large land reclamation project and were renamed Berni HK and Carol HK.

As the ships were approaching thirty years of age it can be imagined that the last owners did not make much of an investment in terms of maintenance, and that on completion of the Hong Kong work they were quite ready for the breakers.

 

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Another clean up for the Coast Guard

 During the period of high winds two weeks ago the derelict fishing trawler Hydra Mariner parted its mooring in the Wright's Cove area of Bedford Basin and fetched up on Navy Island. Today the Coast Guard's CGE310 could be seen alongside. That boat is used for pollution response.

Built in 1963 by George T. Davie + Son s Ltd in Lauzon ,QC as Cape Mira for National Sea Products, it was a groundfish trawler and fished out of Louisbourg, NS. It was later converted to a scallop dragger, having had several owners.

In 2001 it was sold and was renamed Hydra Mariner for intended conversion to a "chase boat" to protect offshore seismic operations, but the work was never completed.  It passed through several owners, but remained laid up at the Dartmouth Marine Slips. On June 4, 2009 it moved under its own power to the Navy Island Cove area where it has remained ever since except for other unscheduled departures from the mooring. I know of at least two - one in 2011 and one on 2014 when it also drifted and ran aground. It may have been a "live aboard" for a time, but seems to have been largely abandoned recently.

The Canadian Coast Guard will step in and carry out a clean up and charge the owner for costs, but if no owner can be found to take responsibility for the vessel, the taxpayers will be on the hook for any clean up and likely demolition.

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Wall to Wall at PSA

 Container traffic numbers must be doing well at PSA Halifax, with MSC ships as frequent callers these days, adding to the regular callers. Today was no exception with three ships occupying the piers. Oceanex Sanderling was at the stern ramp at Pier 41 and Tampa Trader for ZIM at the south part of berth 41.

  MSC Sariska was occupying Pier 41, with only one crane available to decant some cargo to reduce draft en route from Sines, Portugal to Montreal.

I gave the 4437 TEU ship a full write up when it called here in August: MSC Sariska

The former Maersk ship still looks sleek (if not Majestic) despite its 31 years of service.

PSA will be busy again tomorrow with regular callers Maersk Penang and  ZIM Shekou, the latter postponed from today.

PSA worldwide handled 86.6 million TEU in 2020 with Singapore alone accounting fore 36.6mn TEU. That makes Halifax a minuscule player in PSA's portfolio of ports around the world.

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Reminder of the Captain Jim tragedy

 On January 29, 2019 the service boat Captain Jim sank off Eastern Passage. The boat's skipper and a cargo surveyor were able to escape to a raft, but the boat's deckhand was apparently trapped below and died. The two survivors were picked up by the pilot boat, and the deckhand's body was recovered by navy divers. The boat itself was raised and broken up.

The Captain Jim was returning from a cargo sampling trip to a tanker anchored off Halifax. At the tine there were two such tankers, Star I bound for Imperial Oil and Elka Hercules bound for Irving Oil.

In one of those strange coincidences, Elka Hercules is in Halifax again two years later, and berthed at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal.

Elka Hercules arrived from Saint John, NB, January 28 and is pictured this morning January 29 discharging its remaining cargo at Irving Oil's Woodside Terminal.

Elka Hercules was built in 2002 by Brodosplit in Split Croatia, measuring 27,539 gt and 44,481 dwt. It is operated by European Product Carriers.

Also in Halifax, but anchored inside the harbour is  a tanker from Antwerp destined for Imperial Oil.  High Trust is operated by one of the d'Amico companies, part of the Societa d,Amico di Naigazione S.p.A., which also operates tankers and bulk carriers. It was built in 2016 by Hyundai Vinaship Shipyard Co in Ninh Hoa, Vietnam and measures 29,935 gt, 49,990 dwt.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the loss of the Captain Jim. Initially they stated the investigation would likely take 450 days or 15 months, but no official report has yet been published.

For my posts on the loss of the Captain Jim see:

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2019/01/search-operation-underway.html

and

http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/01/captain-jim.html

Strange Sightings - Woolastook I

 There have been strange sightings in Halifax harbour over the years, but like most UFO sightings, there is a simple explanation.

With the tug out of sight on the ferry's starboard flank, it appears to be sailing on its own.

Perhaps a New Brunswick cable ferry* is not immediately identifiable as such (Nova Scotia has several too), but even so cable ferries are not equipped to stray from their normal routes**. And so it is with Woolastook I which normally plies the 0.7 km, 5 minute route from Grand Bay-Westfield to Hardings Point, not too far upstream from Saint John. This time however it is in control of the tug Strait Raven under tow for a refit at Port Hawksbury.

Superport Marine, operators of the tug, have developed expertise in refitting cable ferries, and won the contract for refitting Wollastook I in November 2020 with a bid of $424,637.50. Superport also recently completed the refit of a fleet mate which was delivered back to New Brunswick by the Strait Raven last week.

I believe the tug had a navigational system glitch (possibly radar) and put in to Halifax for repair.

Strait Raven comes alongside the Tall Ship Quay with Woolastook I.

 Woolastook I was built in 1980 by Apex Machine Works Ltd of Moncton, and has a capacity of 15 cars. It is owned by the New Brunswick Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Strait Raven is a 500 bhp tug, built in 2013 by Superport Marine of Port Hawksbury. 

* Cable ferries have no independent means of propulsion. A hauling engine (like a winch) picks up a cable which runs from shore to shore and winds the ferry back and forth across the river The cable is seldom visible since considerable slack is built in, allowing the cable sit on the river bottom so as not to impede other marine traffic. 

** On October 15, 1996, sister ferry F-39 which served the same route took an unscheduled 5 mile, 2 hour drift down river when its cable parted. On board, in addition to the crew was one auto with two adults and a child. The Transportation Safety Board determined that the cable was corroded, and made a number of recommendations, including the installation of anchors on cable ferries.

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