Kopit Hopson 1752 arrives in Halifax

 The CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752 arrived in Halifax this morning, March 10, in tow of the tug Atlantic Spruce.  The ship had nearly completed a Vessel Life Extension process at Shelburne Shipyard, however the work will now be finished in Halifax. Irving Shipbuilding Inc (ISI) was awarded the contract for the refit and assigned the project to its Shelburne yard, but today ISI announced that they will be selling the Shelburne operation to Mersey Seafoods of Liverpool, NS.

CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752 arrives in tow of the Atlantic Spruce (left) and is met by another tug (likely Atlantic Bear). They shepherded the dead ship to the IEL dock in Dartmouth.

The extensive refit of the ship, which included replacement of its cargo derrick with a crane, was accompanied by a renaming. The ship was built by Marine Industries Ltd of Sorel-Tracy, QC in 1981 as Edward Cornwallis. It was the second CCG ship to carry the name of the founder of Halifax. However in recent years the namesake has been brought into disrepute (to put it politely) for his treatment of the first nations population of Nova Scotia. Political pressure forced the CCG to rename the ship, in consultation with the Mi'kmaq people. I have written extensively on this in prior posts: Kopit Hopson 1762 and here

It was not possible to get a close look at the ship on its arrival, but the new crane changes the ship's profile considerably.

 The original derrick has been removed and replaced by a crane, radically changing the ship's profile. Cranes have proven to be quite capable of handling the buoys that the CCG ships tend in this region.

The Kopit Hopson 1752 will look more like its fleet mate the CCGS Sir William Alexander, but the cranes are different. Along with several other similar CCG ships it is considered to be a member of the Martha L. Black class of light icebreaker / navaids ships.

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Morning, Afternoon and Evening

With longer days, and with Daylight Saving Time iminent, the opportunities for ship photos increase almost daily. Today, March 10, the arrival and departure times and the sun cooperated, permitting photos of several interesting ships.

The most interesting arrival is actually covered in a separate post - see Kopit Hopson 1752

An unusual mid-morning arrival for Autoport was the Morning Calypso a Eukor car carrier working on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic service.

Once inside Maugher's Beach, tugs take charge of the ship to assist it round  Macnab's Island to Autoport.

 

Built in 2013 by Imabari Zosen in Marugame, Japan, the 59,590 gt, 18,713 dwt ship has a capacity of 6142 car equivalent units (CEU). Once it had completed loading the ship made a 1700 hrs (AST) departure time and there was still enough light to catch it in roughly the same position after it rounded Ives Knoll and was outbound for New York.

 

 Another caller was the Seamax New Haven on MSC's Indus 2 route from Northwest India to the US east coast.  It arrived early yesterday, March 9 and tied up at PSA Halfax, and had a pilot order to sail at 1730 hrs today. With the usual routine of raising cranes, making fast tugs and letting go lines, it was after 1800 hrs when the ship was clear for a photo.

 

 An unsual charter for MSC (possibly a short term or spot charter, because the ship does not carry an MSC name), the ship is owned by Tranship LLC and under the commercial management of Seamax Capital Management LLC of Stamford, CT. The company manages a closed private equity investment fund and currently runs twelve (older) post-Panamax container ships totaling more than 100,000 TEU. All are named for cities in Connecticut, which has become the "haven" for New York shipping companies.

 

The Seamax New Haven was built in 2005 by Samsung, Koje as Ever Charming for Reederei NSB [Niederelbe] on charter to Evergreen Marine Corp of Taiwan. It is a 90,449 gt, 100,887 dwt vessel with a capacity of 8084 TEU including 700 reefers. It was acquired by Seamax and renamed in 2017. As with many US owned ships it is registered in the Marshall Islands. Technical management is entrusted to Fleet Ship Management Pte Ltd of Hong Kong.

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Halifax - a nuclear port

 With the war clouds roiling in Europe, the population of Halifax cannot help but be reminded of the Port of Halifax's role in wartime. Halifax was founded in 1749 as a counter to the fortress of Louisbourg, and has been used by naval vessels ever since. It has also played an important role in merchant shipping during every major conflict ever since. The population has paid the price in various ways but has also benefited, with the military, defense based industries and HMC Dockyard as the major employers in the City.

As a member of NATO, Canada contributes ships to standing forces and participates in exercises with other NATO countries, most notably the United States. For the past few weeks, the next ship to be assigned to NATO in the Mediterranean has been working up off Halifax. HMCS Halifax put into port today (March 8) and anchored in the lower harbour.

 It was announced in late February that the ship will be sent to Europe in direct response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sister ship HMCS Fredericton Montreal sailed from Halifax January 19 for a six month deployment with NATO.
 

Halifax has seen very few United States warships recently, there was a very significant US Navy arrival today. (March 6).

An as yet to be identified US submarine arrived at noon time and tied up at Navy Jetty Alpha.

 Accompanied by four navy tugs and a fleet diving unit boat, the sub made its way to the Shearwater pier. All US submarines are nuclear powered, and they always tie up at Shearwater rather than at HMC Dockyard itself, which is in the centre of town.

As if we need more reminders of the nuclear age, the cargo ship CLI Pride made one of its seasonal calls in Halifax, arriving yesterday and sailing today. I have covered this ship many times in the past see: CLI Pride references

 We usually only see the ship in winter when it avoids the St.Lawrence River with its cargoes of uranium hexaflouride. This year however the ship did make its January trip to the St.Lawrence as there was not much ice. The ship is owned by Compass Schiffahrts and operated by SMS Bereederung of Haren (Ems), Germany.As with many German ships its flies the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

On this trip the ship loaded in Ellesmere Port (near Liverpool UK), site of a large nuclear power plant called the Ince Power Station. Spent uranium from European reactors is sent to Canada for reprocessing to make it viable for long term storage or to be prepared for re-enrichment. Canada also exports uranium hexaflouride. As usual Wikipedia provides a potted story about the material see: Hex

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Fuel from Europe

 With events in Europe unfolding as they are, one has to wonder how much longer Canadian oil companies will be able to import refined product from Europe. Shortages of fuel are predicted in the medium term as supplies of Russian crude are blocked. Demand in Europe will likely lead to even more increases in prices for gasoline, diesel fuel and furnace oil.

Fuel users in Canada will suffer as world oil prices will govern the local price. Of course Canadian sourced crude, refined in Canada will also be sold at world prices - even within Canada, because the cost to produce the crude from oil sands is so high.

Imperial Oil (which wholesales fuel to others for sale under various brand names) has long been importing refined product from Antwerp for the Atlantic region. The latest tanker, Pacific Jade, arrived in Halifax March 5 and is due to sail this evening March 6.

 A typical MR tanker of 29,476 gt, 49,995 dwt, it was built in 2020 by STX Offshore and Shipbuilding in Jinhae, South Korea. It operates for Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte (hence the EPS on the hull). According to its website, the Singapore based company manages 191 ships totaling 19 million deadweight tonnes. They claim 44 tankers, including 11 chemical and 22 gas carriers, 38 bulkers, 55 container carriers and 9 autocarriers. (The arithmetic does not add  up so I am not sure where the error may be).

Irving Oil imports fuel from Amsterdam, where it has a blending facility. However it also has a refinery in Ireland, so may continue to import refined product from Europe into Canada. It also imports crude oil from various sources for refining in Saint John, NB, and other fuels from around the world. 

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MSC times two at PSA

 PSA Halifax handled two ships for the Mediterranean Shipping Co today March 5 - one east bound and one west bound.

The eastbound ship, MSC Sandra arrived last evening March 4 from Montreal on its regular Canada Express 2 service from Montreal to Spain. The ship stops in Halifax to top up cargo to seagoing draft after having to comply with St.Lawrence River draft restrictions.

Before sailing several crew members gathered on the forecastle head to clear lines. The ship had picked up a dusting of frozen spray on its way in. After previous posts on the subject, this is an example of an anchor being iced up, but apparently free to deploy if needed. (The mate may have been having a Jack Dawson moment).*

MSC Sandra dates from 2000 when it was built by Hyundai, Busan. A 43,575 gt, 61,468 dwt vessel it has a capacity of 4340 TEU including 150 reefers. On sailing late this afternoon it gave its destination as Barcelona.

Arriving at noon time today was fleet mate MSC Kim from Sines, Portugal en route to Montreal on MSC's Canada Express 1 service from Italy and Portugal.

MSC Kim is a slightly newer ship, built by Zhejiang Yangfan in 2008. At 41,225 gt, 50,547 dwt it has a capacity of 4254 TEU including 550 reefers. It is due to sail for Montreal overnight after unloading some containers to reduce draft.

A regular on the St.Lawrence River for several years, I photo'd the ship in August 2107, very lightly loaded and doing 18.5 knots. It is always i,mpressive to see these ships booming along at speed.

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* My apolgies for a couple of perhaps oblique movie references in recent days.

The first was in the title to my post of March 3. It was a play on the title of a wonderful 1966 move entitled "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming", which in itself was a play on the reputed Paul Revere cry "The British are Coming, the British are Coming". The movie was about a Russian submarine crew that sought help from a New England island village when their sub ran aground. If you haven't seen the movie, or haven't seen it for a long time, the Wikipedia entry is worth a read at: Russians

The second reference is in today's post to the fictional Jack Dawson in the 1997 movie "Titanic" who, perched on the very prow of the ship, proclaims that he is "king of the world". 

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The Russians are Not Coming

 Russian flagged ships have been fairly rare in Canadian waters recently, but Russian owned ships, flying the flags of Liberia or other flags of convenience have been fairly common. The huge SOVCOMFLOT (SCF) tanker fleet was the most often seen as they delivered refined product to ports in eastern Canada, including the St.Lawrence River. The recent ban on trade with Russia has brought an end to those calls.

Two SCF tankers have been in Canadian waters very recently. The SCF Ussuri was making its way inbound to the Gulf of St.Lawrence March 1 when it turned back off St.Paul's Island, just west of the Cabot Strait. It returned to disembark its ice adviser off Sydney, NS and after a time hove to in Canadian waters it returned to sea. Its cargo likely belongs to a Canadian company, so what will become of it is not known.

The most recent SCF ship to call in Halifax was Transsib Bridge which unloaded cargo at Irving Oil on February 20-21. It had previously loaded in Amsterdam February 1-2 and delivered some cargo to Saint John, NB, February 19.

When it sailed from Halifax it gave Amsterdam as its next port, but on approaching Europe that was changed to Ust-Luga, a Russian port on the Gulf of Finland.

From the 1960s to the 1980s there were Russian ships in Halifax almost constantly. Members of the fishing fleet such as factory trawlers, research ships, tugs and tankers were in and out of port regularly. There was also a large trade in bulk grain and shipments of bagged flour to Cuba. There was even RoRo traffic as ships of the USSR delivered the infamous Lada automobiles for unsuspecting North American buyers.

 See my series of posts from 2015: April 7, and April 8 and May 13

As world events evolve, there is little likelihood of seeing a Russian flagged or Russian owned ship in Halifax in the near future.
 

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Full out at PSA

It has been a busy few days at PSA Halifax with a steady stream of ships and a cleanup operation thanks to recent snow falls. This morning the ZIM feeder ship Contship Leo had three cranes working to get its cargo moved before the next ship arrived.

The cranes appear to be considerably oversize for a small feeder ship, but their height and long reach are needed for the next ship. That ship is another "UItra" class vessel, CMA CGM Mexico

It is a 15,000+ TEU ship that is one of five Argentina class ships. It is owned by Seaspan Corporation and operated by CMA CGM under a long term financing / charter agreement.

Although the ship displays CMA CGM on its side, it is actually sailing for the Ocean Alliance a slot sharing / vessel sharing agreement between three major shipping lines and their subsidiaries. CMA CGM (and its subsidiary APL), COSCO (and its subsidiary OOCL) and Evergreen Marine Corp (EMC) use the ship as part of their independant shipping services.

The large shipping Alliances are under fire from customers with charges of price fixing. Many major US retailers have banded together to charge the lines with pricing collusion in contravention of US competition laws. The three main alliances control a very high degree (some say 90%) of the main east-west trade lanes.

Halifax is also served by THE Alliance which is made up of Hapag-Lloyd, HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine), ONE (Ocean Network Express) and Yang Ming. The third group is called 2M and consists of Maersk and MSC. 

There are still inepedants such as ZIM and ACL, but even they have slot charter agreements with other lines. In fact there are too many of these agreements to list here. However the Federal Maritime Commission has kindly published: FMC List

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