Siem Pilot sails

 The offshore support vessel Siem Pilot sailed this evening for the Cabot Strait. As reported previously in my companion blog Tugfax August 16 there is no traditional work for suppliers off Nova Scotia since there is no oil or gas activity.  

Siem Pilot conducted trials in Bedford Basin after the ROV equipment was installed.

However several of the vessels are equipped to support ROVs and submersibles and there is work for them involving submarine cables. Siem Pilot has been fitted out with a small gantry on the port side to deploy a ROV. The gantry is painted in the distinctive colours of Dominion Diving.

It is reported to me that Siem Pilot will be surveying the submarine power cable that runs from the island of Newfoundland to Nova Scotia. The cable was installed to deliver power from the Muskrat Falls hydro electric development on the lower Churchill River in Labrador.

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Busy Monday

 It was a busy Monday in the port with almost all facilities seeing ships alongside. Although rainy, misty and at times foggy in the morning, the weather did clear later in the day allowing for some photos.

PSA Halifax had three ships, MSC Sandra B (east bound for top up), Zim Yokohama (see yesterday's post) and Lagarfoss. The latter ship is on the Icelandic shipping company Eimskip's Green Line service en route to Portland, ME.

Eimskip also offers a New England feeder service to other shipping lines, but today the ship looked fully loaded (at least on deck) with Eimskip boxes. 

Built in 2014 by Rongcheng Shenfei Shipbuilding Co in Rongcheng, China, Lagarfoss is a 10,119 gt, 11,811 dwt ship with a capacity of 880 TEU. It also carries a pair of 45 tonne capacity cranes.

The autocarrier Torrens arrived early in the morning at Autoport to discharge cars, then moved to Pier 27 on the Halifax side of the harbour to unload machinery. Its usual Ocean Terminals berth at Pier 31 was occupied by Augusta Luna (see yesterday's post).

 

Because the ship's 237 tonne capacity stern ramp is angled to starboard, the ship must berth bow in when at Pier 27. At Pier 30-31, it berths stern in, which is a more convenient arrangement for cargo work.

Both oil docks had "customers" today. Irving Oil's Woodside terminal saw the company tanker East Coast on its customary "milk run" to several regional terminals. Its last port was Charlottetown. Later in the day the tanker Mitera arrived from Amsterdam and anchored awaiting the berth to clear. It may also have required CFIA inspection for  L. dispar clearance.[ see August 18 explanation for the new terminology].

Unlike most product tankers, this one was not built in Korea. It comes from the Onomichi Zosen in Japan, where it was built for MOL as Pioneer Express. The 26,938 gt, 47,370 dwt ship was acquired and renamed by present owners Olympos Shiptrade Co Ltd in 2019. 

Meanwhile Imperial Oil had its own version of product tanker - also non-Korean. The Swedish flag Wisby Pacific dates from 2017 and the Guangzhou International shipyard in China. A 29,681 gt, 49,686 dwt vessel it has a distinctive wide wheelhouse as compared to the previous vessel.

The ship arrived from Beaumont, TX and tied up at number 3 dock. The rail siding behind the dock is lined with autoracks ready awaiting loads from Autoport.

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DOUBLE HEADER, TRIPLE HEADER

 Two of the facilities in Halifax harbour were busy today. Gold Bond Gypsum (formerly National Gypsum) had one ship alongside and one waiting and PSA Halifax (operators of the southend container terminal) had two ships alongside and a third waiting.

Gold Bond had been accumulating a large stockpile of material for the last several weeks:

The raw gypsum ore is transported from the open pit mine at Milford by CN rail in dedicated unit trains. Cars dump their loads in the white building at left, where the material is conveyed under ground to the large stacker/crane. It is conveyed again (white structures to left of centre) to the mobile ship loader on the pier (dark structure in centre, in front of the stacker crane).

Arriving this morning, August 29, Algoma Integrity began to load immediately, and by late afternoon had reduced the stockpile noticeably. It has raised its self-unloader boom to allow the mobile ship loader to access all the ship's hatches. The loader is at about midships position in this photo, and appears to be loading the ship from aft to forward - perhaps in one pass.

Also arriving today, Thunder Bay anchored nearby and will move in as soon as the Integrity is finished.

At PSA Halifax (formerly Halterm) there were two ships alongside. CMA CGM Andromeda is new to Halifax. A 131,332 gt, 131,236 dwt ship, it was built by Hyundai Ulsan in 2009 and has a container capacity of 11,200 TEU. It is sailing on the Columbus JAX service.

Also alongside was Maersk Penang on the east bound leg of its transatlantic regular run. Returning from Montreal its next scheduled port is Bremerhaven.

Once both ships are clear, it will be time for the long awaited Zim Yokohama to berth, now scheduled for tomorrow morning.

The ship has been in quarantine anchorage off Halifax since August 6 due to COVID cases among the crew. 

The only other commercial activity in the harbour today was at Pier 30-31 where another regular caller, Augusta Luna, was tied up.

The ship arrived yesterday with another load of nickel sulfides from Cuba. The ship sails for the Dutch company Nirint Shipping BV. Cuba's economy is in paralysis, since the shut down of tourism due to COVID. One of the country's few sources of foreign revenue is the sale of nickel - although it is believed rum is still doing well. (See the container tanks on deck forward.)

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Horizon Arctic arrives

 The offshore support vessel Horizon Arctic arrived in Halifax today, August 28, from its expedition to explore the wreck of the Titanic. Chartered by OceanGate Expedition Inc the ship was base for the five person submersible Titan. The sub went 2500 ft down in what is to be the first of an annual series of visits to monitor the condition of the wreck, the debris filed and surrounding eco-system. 

As Horizon Arctic arrives today it passes USCG Escanaba tied up at HMC Dockyard after returning from Greenland.

Built as Bourbon Arctic in 2016 by Vard , hull in Tulcea, Romania, and completed in Brattvaag, Norway, the 8143 gt ship was acquired by Horizon Maritime in 2019. At 8143 gt, 4129 dwt, it is a very sizeable vessel. In fact, in addition to its ROV capabilities, and 307 tonnes bollard pull, it has accommodation for up to 60 persons for offshore crew transfers and construction work. As a modern offshore vessel it has diesel/electric propulsion and advanced hull design.

With no activity in exploration or development of resources off Nova Scotia Horizon Maritime is finding other innovative uses for its fleet. They recently won a $370,875.00 contract with the Royal Canadian Navy to participate in Operation Cutlass Fury 2021.  That is a nine day exercise with NATO Allies the US, UK and France, 50 to 100 miles southeast of Halifax, during which the ship will be the subject of surveillance, boarding and searching. The ship will also be carrying five RCN personnel in addition to the usual crew.

The exercise will commence September 6 with a low altitude flyover of Halifax harbour by CH-148 cyclones, CP-140 Auroras and Alpha* jets. The flyover, at 500 feet, will occur at 1300 hrs ADT. We can expect to see some of the cooperating vessels in Halifax before and possibly after the exercise ends on September 17.

*The Alpha jets are privately owned by Top Aces (a Montreal based "adversary air provider") and are former Belgian military aircraft retired in 2018, and provide combat training.

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Acadia to sea

 The legendary Canadian Survey Ship Acadia put to sea today in tow for Shelburne, NS. This is the first time the ship has left the confines of Halifax Harbour since it became the centrepiece of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in 1982.

The tug Atlantic Larch backs Acadia out of her berth at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, as fog rolls in from the sea. That is Canada's naval memorial, the corvette Sackville in the background. Where else can you take a picture of two World War II veterans?

There are no available drydocking facilities available in Halifax to carry out the needed "shave and haircut" to the ship's hull and quite probably some repairs before a new anti-fouling coating can be applied to the underwater parts of the hull.

Built in 1913 by Swan Hunter, Newcastle on Tyne, the ship was a hydrographic and oceanographic survey vessel before it was retired in 1969. It was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy in World Wars I and II and conducted important survey work in Hudson Bay and elsewhere in Atlantic Canada. A more detailed history can be found in the Wikipedia entry: CSS Acadia

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Another ONE

THE Alliance brought in another "new to Halifax" ship on its EC5 service today. ONE Honolulu is one of three H class sister ships owned by K-Line. All have been renamed and repainted in Ocean Network Express (ONE) colours as K-line joined partners MOL and NYK to form ONE.

Built in 2012 by IHI, Kure as Honolulu Bridge, it adopted its new name in December 2019. The 96,790 gt, 96,890 dwt ship has a capacity of 8930 TEU.

Sister ship ONE Helsinki called in Halifax July 30 and ONE Houston is due September 24.

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Big Changes at PSA Halifax

On August 20 we learned through media that the thirty day written submission period was ending the next day for the latest "plans" deposited with the Canadian Impact Assessment Agency for a major redevelopment of the southend container terminal operated by PSA Halifax. No public notice had ever been posted by the Port, thus removing any reasonable opportunity to comment or make constructive suggestions.

The submission to CIAA was verbal only, with no engineering drawings or artists renderings to show the nature of the "proposed" work at and around the terminal, changes to roads, and to CN rail lines and another, perhaps unrelated, expansion of warehouse space at P+H Milling's flour mill. It would require a fairly intimate knowledge of the facility to determine how the changes would impact the public without seeing engineering drawings. A contact address was available to an engineering firm, but there was no way anyone could see the nature of the project in the submission itself, or even to learn if there had been comments received. Apparently work will now begin almost immediately.

In addition to additional tracks in the terminal, the truck arrival gate will be changed and several buildings removed or rebuilt. The area can be choked with truck traffic in the present configuration, resulting in long wait times for truckers. Can you count the trucks? [I counted fifty]

The "proposed" project will mean major disruptions to truck, train and likely car traffic, but there is no explanation of how this will be mitigated during construction.  It is also stated that a pedestrian and bicycle bridge will be built to assist in crossing tracks during train shunting. However the media report August 21 suggested that the bridge may be optional, or built much later.

Underutilized track between the terminal and the P+H flour mill (to the right of the pole in the photo) will be removed and the area converted to port workers' parking. The mill will also be expanding its warehouse space.

Those tracks were once heavily used before the container era. Freight was moved through pier sheds to and from box cars. It took some years for the full transition to containers.

In the early days of Halterm (now PSA Halifax) there was still freight being handled from general cargo ships through pier sheds into box cars, but container cars were also showing up on the tracks.

This pair of  sequential late 1973 or early 1974 photos show the original Halterm configuration, which has since been changed more than once as has the alignment of Marginal Road.

The top (colour) picture was taken from the Young Avenue bridge. The lower two (black and white) photos were taken from the Ogilvie Towers apartment building.

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