Big Ships - north and south

 Both container terminals hosted ships with capacity in excess of 9,000 TEU today, October 25. The first ship to arrive was ONE Hangzhou Bay at Cerescorp, Fairview Cove.

The ship is a regular caller now on THE Alliance's EC5 service. Built in 2012 as Hangzhou Bay Bridge for K-Line, the 96,290 gt, 96,980 dwt ship was renamed earlier this year and repainted in ONE colours. It was here last on September 30 and is now on the return leg. It has a capacity of 9120 TEU and was built by IH, Kure.

The South End terminal operated by PSA Halifax saw the arrival of MSC Lisbon for the first time. 

It is the third ship to call on MSC's Indus 2 service. Built in 2007 by Samsung, Koje, igt is a 107,849 gt, 110,697 dwt ship with a reported capacity of 9178 TEU. That figure seems a bit low based on the ship's tonnage, but some owners are coy about actual numbers. The ship was named Santa Lucilla for a short time when built but was soon renamed.

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Beans and Gas

 The Port of Halifax welcomed two ships today with totally unrelated cargoes (despite the headline above.)

First in was the bulk carrier Tufty. From the Canadian Forest Navigation fleet, it is named for species of ducks. See Canfornav for more on the company.

The ships are regular traders to the Great Lakes carrying a variety of cargoes, but at this time of the year they usually load export grains. On this trip the ship departed Antwerp, Belgium September 15 and unloaded in Quebec City, Cote-Ste-Catherine and PortWeller, ON, then loaded soy beans at Johnstown, ON, to the maximum allowable St.Lawrence Seaway draft. Departing Johnstown October 19 it made good time to Halifax, arriving this morning for the start of the work day at 0800 hrs.

Inbound the Tufty is met by tugs, and the usual gull (which was not added by photo editing).

Built by Shanhaiguan Shipyard in Qinhuangdao, China in 2009 the 19,814 gt, 30,803 dwt ship carries three 30 tonne capacity cranes. It docked at Pier 28 (the worst place in Halifax harbour to try for a photo) and will top up its cargo which is stored in the Halifax Grain Elevator.

This not the first time the ship has called in Halifax. It was also here November 29, 2013, also to top up its cargo of soybeans. See Tufty

The other arrival of note was the tanker Iver Prosperity which tied up at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal.

The ship is on charter to Irving Oil and usually trades between Saint John, NB and US east coast ports. However with the Saint John refinery shut down for maintenance, the ship was sent to Europe to load refined product. It sailed from Amsterdam October 6 and delivered some cargo to Saint John October 17. It then proceeded to Halifax but anchored offshore from October19 until today.

The name "prosperity" seems entirely appropriate as gasoline prices in Halifax have reached $1.47 per litre (for regular grade) - the highest in history - even though the price is government regulated.  (Canadians inexplicably insist on using the word gas to mean gasoline or natural gas, thus making for confusing conversations at times, particularly with the British and Europeans who also inexplicably use the word petrol to mean gasoline.) 

Iver Prosperity dates from 2007 when it was built by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan and measures 23,421 gt, 37,456 dwt. It is the same size as Irving  Oil's other tankers chartered from the Vroon company Iver Ships, but which were given Irving hull and funnel colours and local names. Vroon ships, including offshore support vessels, usually wear the large  "V" painted on the hull.

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AOPV3 - roll on, float off - UPDATED

 The third Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel to be built by Irving Shipbuilding Inc's Halifax Shipyard has taken another step toward completion. Yesterday, October 22, it was rolled onto the launch platform Boa Barge 37 and today, October 23, the barge was moved to an anchorage in Bedford Basin. Later today the barge will be semi-submerged and the ship floated off. The ship will return to Halifax Shipyard for additional fitting out before being handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy. When it is commissioned next year it will be named HMCS Max Bernays AOPV 432.

October 22, halfway onto the barge, the ship is moving on an array of Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs).

 

October 23, tug Atlantic Cedar pulls the barge away from Pier 6 while the tug Atlantic Fir stands by.

Moving through the Narrows the barge and cargo approach the MacKay bridge.

 

Once into Bedford Basin the barge will be anchored and the float off process will begin.

 Update:

As the afternoon wore on drizzle began and intensified into rain, and darkness ensued. Therefore there was not enough light or clarity to catch the actual moment of flotation. 

A number of small craft attended the operation, including RMI Marine's Tidal Runner, RMI Seafox and Speculator, the Coast Guard work boat CGE 316 and the tugs Atlantic Cedar and Atlantic Fir which were later joined by the Atlantic Willow.

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Grande Florida, and MSC update

 The auto carrier Grande Florida made its first call in Halifax today, October 22. It is one of seven ships of its class built for Grimaldi Europa SpA of Italy.

The Yangfan Group of Zhoushan, China built the ship in 2020. With a capacity of 7600 CEUs, the ship has tonnages of 65,148 gt and 15,583 dwt. It also carries a 150 tonne capacity stern ramp.

The ship called at Autoport only, and did not discharge any RoRo cargo on the Halifax side. That kind of cargo can be carried by the ships of the Atlantic Container Line, which is also owned by Grimaldi. 

In bright sunlight the ship's yellow hull really stands out.

Update:

The MSC Pamela was still working at PSA Halifax today, so it must be here on paying business, rather than just picking up empties. As an unscheduled caller it is likely clearing a back log of cargo for an established route.

The truck gate at PSA Halifax was still jammed up at 5 pm today as last minute cargo was also arriving for Oceanex Sanderling.

PSA Halifax was bustling today. At Pier 41 Oceanex Sanderling was loading for Newfoundland, but MSC had boxes coming and going.

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MSC Pamela - unscheduled

 It is difficult to keep track of all the container ship schedules these days, since there have been "blanked" sailings, where the ships have bypassed the Port of Halifax. This may be because of delays in other ports, and owners are trying to make up time by skipping smaller ports such as ours. Interestingly there have also been unscheduled arrivals. These are container ships that are not regularly scheduled for Halifax, but are deviating from regular routes to stop here or they are "extra loaders". Due in the early hours (that is while it is still dark) of October 21 is one such "extra loader", MSC Pamela. It has been anchored off Halifax since October 19. (Way out in the anchorges there is heat distortion and a maxed out lens that fuzzify the image. Those are fishing vessels on the far background, and the Mars Rock buoy H9 in the foreground.)

(For more info see: Mars Rock on the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic's Marine Heritage database.)

Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry Co built the MSC Pamela in 2005. It is a large ship at 107,849 gt, 110,592 dwt, with a capacity of 9178 TEU including 700 reefers. While it does not appear to have much additional container capacity, it is apparently coming in to pick up empties. 

Many ports, particularly in Europe, are so clogged with empty containers that they have been refusing trucks entrance to the port if they are hauling empties. These extra loaders are sent to retrieve as many empties as they can to return to Asia.

Footnote to readers:

Technical issues may prevent frequent postings over the next few days or weeks. I have been instructed to be patient while a solution is found. Please bear with me.

 

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Maria S. Merian

 The German research vessel Maria S. Merian has completed its summer projects in Canadian waters and will be moving on to its next project off northwest Africa. After refueling this morning it shifted from Irving Oil Woodside to the C.O.V.E. dock, and sailed from there late this afternoon.

 

The ship's most recent work off Prince Edward Island involved seismic and other surveys searching for under sea aquafers. This is reportedly pioneering work which may assist in dealing with fresh water shortages in many parts of the world. Prior to that, from July to September its was working in the Labrador Sea exploring the North Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel (NAMOC) by core sampling and other techniques. The ship returned to Emden briefly between the two missions.

Maria S. Meriam is named for an early (1647-1717) naturalist and scientific illustrator, and operates for the University of Hamburg and the German Research fleet. It is made available through charters to a wide range of research insitutions and is equipped for a wide range of research work.

For more information see: Maria S. Merian

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Contship Leo - new ZIM feeder

Ever since ZIM started its East Coast North America feeder service, called Canada Feeder Express (CFX), in April 2018 it has been using short term charter ships. All have been about the same size and configuration, and today's first time arrival is no exception.

Contship Leo was built in 2008 by China Commerce Group Kouan Shipbuilding as Vega Saturn. It became CFS Paceno in 2016 and took on its current name in 2020. The 9957 gt, 13,803 dwt ship has a container capacity of 1118 TEU had carries two 45 tonne cranes.

The CFX runs between Halifax, New York and Kingston, Jamaica, using two ships, but the schedule has been disrupted in recent weeks and was reduced to one ship. Published schedules now indicate that Contship Leo will become a regular and the second ship will be the Taipei Trader, which was a regular, resuming in November. It was recently reported en route to Brazil.