Containers and Cars plus oil

 Containers and automobile imports are two of the important areas of business for the Port of Halifax. Containers are handled at two terminals, both operated by PSA, and cars at Autoport, owned by the Canadian National Railway Co - known to all as CN. Today, March 17, saw activity at all three locations.

At PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub, the Oceanex Sanderling was working on its weekly container and RoRo service to Newfoundland. 

At mid-day it was joined by the new to Halifax MSC Cornelia arriving on the Turkey/Greece service.

Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing delivered the ship in 2010. The 54,182 gt, 63,069 dwt vessel has a capacity of 5089 TEU. Originally named RHL Fiducia, it was renamed Cornelia I in 2016 and became MSC Cornelia in 2021. It has a capacity of 5089 TEU including 385 reefer points.

The ship appeared to be well loaded but was only carrying containers four boxes high on deck. Perhaps this was a precaution against potential sea conditions. The ship was built to the SDARI 5100 PMAX standard design (which I assume means 5100 nominal TEU / Panamax) but is listed with a capacity of 3,350 TEU at 14 tonnes each. Therefore depending on the ratio of loads to empties, the deck load may vary. With a glut of empties choking ports world wide, it is likely that the ship would be carrying mostly loads.

At PSA's Fairview Cove terminal, NYK Nebula sailed early in the morning, and the berth was almost immediately taken by ONE Hangzhou Bay joining the weektly Argentia/St-Pierre ConRo Nolhan Ava (The latter's St.Patrick's Day green hull contrasted with O.N.E.'s magenta.)

The ONE Hangzhou Bay was built by IHI Kure in 2012 as Hangzhou Bay Bridge for K-Line. The 96,790 gt, 96,980 dwt ship has a capacity of 9120 TEU. It was brought under the Ocean Network Express umbrella, renamed and repainted in 2021. The other O.N.E. partners, NYK and MOL, have generally not renamed or repainted their ships.

With both berths occupied at Fairview Cove the late afternoon arrival, NYK Romulus, went to anchor in Bedford Basin until the berth becomes available over night.

The 55,534 gt, 66,750 dwt NYK Romulus dates from 2009 when it was delivered by Hyundai Samho. It is a 4922 TEU vessel with reefer plugs for 330. It is on THE Alliance's AL5 service, coming from Antwerp. Several sister ships are committed to this run, including the NYK Nebula built in 2007 by Hyundai, Ulsan, one of twelve ships of the same NYK Daedalus design. It appears lightly loaded and was creating quite a bow wave.

Activity at Autoport centered around Morning Cecilie a 60,876 gt, 22,699 dwt ship, built in 2008 by Imabari Zosen in Marugame, Japan. Its capacity is reported as 6,502 cars.

The ship is on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic service and recent ports have been Antwerp (February 21-23), Bremerhaven (February 24-26), Goteborg (February 28- March 1) and Southampton (March 3-5). On departure today it gave New York as its destination. The Port of New York and New Jersey has three different pre-delivery auto processor companies, and other RoRo facilities centered around the Port Newark gateway.

As reported in yesterday's post, the tanker Rossi A. Desgagnés moved from Irving Oil's Woodside terminal today. It took the place at number 3 dock of the Algotitan which sailed for CornerBrook.

                                                                     Algotitan outbound. 

The Halifax memorial cross at Point Pleasant is visible just beyond the ship's bow. It commemorates those lost in World War I and World War II who have no known graves.

The Rossi A. Desgagnés off the Imperial Oil docks.

 

The tug Roseway stands by inside the #3 dock, to take the ship's headlines. The ship still has cargo on board, so will likely be unloading at Imperial Oil.

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Desgagnés for Irving - updated

 There was an unusual arrival this morning, March 16. The tanker Rossi A. Desgagnés anchored in the lower harbour and is scheduled to move this afternoon to Irving Oil's Woodside terminal.

Tankers of the Degagnés fleet, operated for the subsidiary Pétro-Nav, are usually employed by Valero transporting fuel from the Lévis, QC refinery. It is not unheard of for an Irving Oil tanker or a Desgagnés tanker to dock at the Imperial Oil terminal in Halifax as the competing oil companies typically do exchange product from time to time. However it is very rare for a Desgagnés tanker to bring product from Saint John to Halifax for Irving Oil. The reason appears to be that one of Irving Oil's regular tankers, the East Coast, has been in refit in Setubal, Portugal. (It arrived back in Saint John today, March 16).

Dominion Diving's Halmar stands by to take off the pilot once the ship brings up at anchor.

The Rossi A.Desgagnés was built by Besiktas Tersane A.S. in Yalova, Turkey in 2019. The 12,061 gt, 14,919 dwt ship is a dual fuel vessel, and carries conventional fuel and has tanks on deck for LNG. The ship is also built to IACS Polar 7 standards, allowing for summer and autumn operation in the high arctic in first year ice. Winter navigation in more southerly waters is well within the ship's capability. It is the fourth in a series of tankers built by Besiktas to Desgagnés' specification. (Sister ships are the Paul A. Desgagnés, Mia Desgagnés and Damia Desgagnés.) This ship is named for Mario Rossi a longtime Desgagnés employee who was very involved in the planning and delivery of the tankers.

Update:

Late this afternoon, March 16, I noted a pilot order to move the ship from Irving Oil to Imperial Oil dock #3 for early tomorrow morning, March 17. An interesting "double header". I don't know if the Rossi A. Desgagnés will be unloading or loading at Imperial Oil. The latter seems the more likely. 

 

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Clear up then close in

Following a storm with very high winds last night, things began to clear up and calm down this morning, March 16, allowing most lingering ships to resume their interupted voyages, and a return to normal arrivals and departures. However by late afternoon things began to close in again with fog, strong gusts and periods of rain.

One of the two MSC ships anchored in Bedford Basin, the MSC Brianna moved in to PSA Fairview Cove this morning and completed shedding weight to reach St.Lawrence River draft. With the ships Oceanex Sanderling and Tropic Lisette at the Southend terminal, PSA opted to send the ship to Fairview to unload. Once the operation was completed the MSC Brianna sailed in the early afternoon, leaving fleetmate MSC Rosella at anchor. (It has no ETD yet, but is due in Barcelona March 22.)

As the ship moved past my position I noted some interesting features:

When the ship was built in 1996 by Daewoo, Okpo it was equipped with Japanese style radio masts at each bridge wing. In those days ships carried morse code marine radio, and a radio operator. That type of communication was on the way out by then, and the last official broadcast was in 1999. But even in 1996 few ships still carried it. Although the aerial wires that were slung between the towers have been removed, the towers remain as supports for lighting and some wires and wire stays remain.

A more modern touch is the exhaust gas scrubber system retrofitted to the ship , and highly visible as a large high yellow/orange box on the after deck. There is exhaust coming from the regular exhaust pipe in the ship's funnel as the ship is likely using low sulfur MDO (Marine Diesel Oil) while in port and maneuvering. Once at sea it will switch to HFO (heavy fuel oil) and the exhaust gasses will be diverted to the scrubber.

As the ship squeaks under the A. Murray MacKay bridge, it gives bridge users a smoke bath.

A delayed arrival due to weather was the coastal tanker Algotitan. Since acquired by Algoma late last year, the former Chantaco was renamed and brought under Canadian flag January 11. It has now settled in to regular coastal voyages between Imperial Oil's Halifax depot, and Sydney, NS, CornerBrook, NL and Sept-Iles, QC.

It must have had a fairly lumpy ride along the eastern shore last night. It arrived at the Halifax pilot station at 0800 hrs ADT this morning, but pilot boarding was put off until 1500 hrs, perhaps due to sea conditions from the lingering effects of the storm.

The autocarrier Morning Peace put off its arrival from Southampton, UK, until 1030 hrs this morning when it made for Autoport. By the time it was ready to sail at 1800 hrs rain had moved in again and it was touch and go for a photo as it passed the Mauger's Beach light outbound for Manzanillo. 

 A 2017 product of Hyundai Samho, the 66,802 gt, 22,438 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,368 (or 7,549 - take your choice, depending on the source) cars.

 

An arrival of note was the new to Halifax CMA CGM Nouga from Montreal on the joint CMA CGM/ Maersk St-Laurent 1 service  (Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Montreal, Halifax, Bremerhaven).

 

A dark and rainy arrival, but not as dark as it will be on departure at 0230 hrs.

 

CMA CGM Louga dates from 2018 when it was built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan County, China.The 29,316 gt, 34,694 dwt ship has a capacity of 2462 TEU and was built to the heavy 1A Baltic ice class. Until last year it was employed on a service to St.Petersburg, Russia and was expected to transit the Baltic Sea without icebreaker assistance. Its bridge wings are fully enclosed, and it no doubt has other features for winter navigation.

It is not clear if the ship will be replacing the EM Kea on the St-Laurent 1 service or if it has been added to Maersk's two ships Vayenga Maersk and Vistula Maersk to increase voyage frequency.

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Eimskip - changes coming

 On about March 14 Eimskip, the Icelandic shipping company, announced that a Joint Venture with Ernst Russ has acquired an unidentified container ship to be delivered in the second quarter of this year. The 1025 TEU ship will be chartered to Eimskip for up to three years and renamed Bakkafoss. It will be placed on the line's North American Green Line route which runs from Reykjavik to Halifax and Portland Maine (acting as a New England feeder for CMA CGM from Halifax) and return via Halifax and Argentia, NL. 

Due to the added ship's size, Eimskip expects to reduce the number of ships on the Green route from  the current four to three while still maintaining what they call "system capacity" [I'm not sure I understand their arithmetic, nor how they hope to maintain a schedule]. This will mean the redeployment of two ships currently on the route. Almost certainly one of those will be the Canadian owned Vivienne Sheri D - which sailed from Halifax this morning, March 15, after waiting out weather. The gearless 10,965 gt, 12,640 dwt vessel was built by Naval Gijon SA in Spain in 2009. It has a capacity of 925 TEU including 200 reefer plugs. Intially named Pictor J it became Pictor in 2020.

Vivienne Sheri D at anchor March 14.

Of the other ships on the Green route, Lagarfoss 880 TEU and Selfoss 724 TEU are owned ships and will likely remain on the run, while the Skogafoss 698 TEU will likely be reassigned by another branch of  the Eimskip/Russ JV- Feederstar.

When the Picton, ON based Doornekamp Shipping Ltd acquired the Vivienne Sheri D in 2021, it was already chartered by Eimskip as the Pictor and  Doornekamp reportedly stated they would keep the ship with Eimskip for up to two years or so then transfer it to their own Transatlantic shipping operation. That operation, in coordination with Spliethoff, so far has only one ship, the Peyton Lynn C which runs into the Great Lakes seasonally.

So far Eimskip's published schedules are not showing any revision, but the second quarter of 2023 will soon be upon us and we will see how the Bakkafoss is slotted in.

Knowlegeable sources speculate that the Bakkafoss is currently sailing as the Elbsummer, built in 2009 and lengthened in 2014, now rated at 11,550 gt, 14,669 dwt. More on this ship later, if it appears in Halifax. 

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Taking Shelter

 With a major Nor'easter storm on its way from New England to Nova Scotia, several container ships are remaining in the Port of Halifax, rather than risking conditions at sea, particulary in the Gulf of Maine. Container ships are vulnerable to loss of containers in severe storms, so the ships are taking a wise precaution of staying put. 

Also memories are still fresh, despite the passage of thirty years, of the loss of the Gold Bond Conveyor in just such a storm. Sailing out of Halifax for Tampa, FL with a load of gypsum, the ship went down with all thirty-three crew members on March 15, 1993.

The rare scene in Bedford Basin was two MSC ships at anchor.

 The Rockingham railyard was not the only place to see MSC containers.

MSC Rossella arrived from Montreal March 10 and moved out to anchor March 11 (see also Shipfax of March 11.) Headed for Italy and Spain on MSC's Canada Express 2 service, the ship would have to cross the storm's path while crossing the Atlantic.

It was joined at anchor by MSC Brianna which arrived yesterday March 13 from Sines, Portugal on the Canada Express 1 service, en route to Montreal. Rather than cross the storm's track somewhere in the Gulf of St.Lawrence, the ship opted to move out to anchor.  It now appears on tomorrow's (March 15) pilotage assignments to be moving to PSA Fairview Cove, instead of PSA Atlantic Gateway, to complete "decanting" of cargo to meet St.Lawrence draft restriction.

 Anchoring in the lower harbour was Eimskip's Vivienne Sheri D. which also arrived yesterday (March 13) from Iceland en route to Portland, ME. It moved out to anchor yesterday afternoon.(pictured today)

Today's arrival at the PSA Gateway, the Tropical Lissette spent the day at the pier, then in the late afternoon moved out to anchor in the lower harbour. It would not be safe to remain alongside the exposed pier face, due to swells, during a major storm.

It is scheduled to move back to the pier tomorrow to continue loading, before heading south.

 The non-container ship arrival today was the Canadian flag cement carrier NACC Argonaut from Setubal, Portugal.

The 9255 gt, 13,977 dwt sahip was built in 2003 by Kyokuyo Shipyard Corp ii  Chofu, Japan as Arklow Wave. It was acquired in 2016 by NACC Shipping Canada Ltd (the initials stand for Nova Algoma Cement Carriers) and initially renamed NACC Toronto but that was changed to the current name in 2018, presumably to honour the Canadain Football League team the Toronto Argonauts.

The ship sailed from Corner Brook, NL January 11, arriving in Setubal January 22. The mild weather in Portugal allows for painting and other work that would not be possible in Canada at this time of year. (Not to mention the few Canadian ship repair yards). On completion of the work, the ship sailed from Setubal February 19. It has apparently been creeping across the Atlantic at slow speed (perhaps on a southerly route.)

It tied up at Pier 25, I am assuming to await the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway on March 23. 

The Gold Bond Conveyor's history has been give here before, see: September 14, 2014.

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MSC moves for CMA CGM, and other activity

 PSA Halifax usually has room to spare, since it operates both container terminals in the Port of Halifax. However it takes considerable advance coordination to shift cargo or ships from one facility to the other, because schedules are usuallly set weeks if not months ahead of time. Ships of the same line almost always dock at the same terminal, but there are exceptions (see MOL Charisma earlier in the week). Also due to size limits, some ships can only dock at the Southend terminal (PSA Atlantic Gateway).

Yesterday (March 10) the MSC Rossella arrived from Montreal on the Canada Express 2 service for Spain and Italy. After topping up with some cargo at Pier 41 PSA Atlantic Gateway, the ship moved out to anchor in Bedford Basin. I am assuming it moved to make way for today's arrival, CMA CGM Otello, and will move back alongside tomorrow or the next  day.

 The MSC Rossella was built in 1993 by Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry on Geoge Island (formerly rendered as Koje) South Korea. Launched as Hansa Europe it was renamed Ville de Carina on delivery. It became MSC Rossella in 1997. The 37,938 gt, 43,605 dwt ship has a capacity of 3398 TEU. 

MSC has come under criticism in recent days for running older ships, which it always has, but in poor condition. One ship was banned from Australia and another lost 45 empty containers overboard en route from Boston to the Dominican Republic. According to sources the company has acquired 292 second hand ships since August 2020 - an "unprecedented event in the history of shipping."

CMA CGM Otello arrived this afternoon from Tanger Med, Morocco on Ocean Alliance's Asia / North America Columbus JAX service. The last port of call for ships on this line used to be Colombo, Sri Lanka. Recently the ships have been stopping in the Morocco port, which is a useful depot for European feeder services. (MSC uses Sines Portugal in a similar way).

Built in 2006 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, the 91,410 grt, 101,810 dwt ship has a capacity of 8488 TEU (including 700 reefers). The ship made its first call here July 8, 2017, but this was the first opportunity I have had for a photo.

The CAM CGM Otello needed the larger cranes at Pier 41, while one of the smaller cranes at Pier 42 was working Melfi Lines X-Press Irazu.

The ship dates from 2007 when it was built by Guangzhou Wenchang Shipyard Co Ltd. At 18,480 gt, 23,716 dwt, it has a capacity of 1732 TEU including 379 reefers. It also carries a pair of 45 tonne capacity cranes.

The Melfi route, called MEDCAN, is westbound from Livorno, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Setubal (for Lisbon), Halifax, then Mariel, Cuba.

At Irving Oil's Woodside terminal the Aldabra was discharging refined product loaded in Amsterdam.

 Onomichi Zosen, in Onomichi, Japan delivered the ship in 2008 as Nord Organiser. In 2020 it was renamed Dee4 Dogwood and in 2022 it took on its current name. The 26,900 gt, 47,399 dwt MidRange type tanker operates in the Hafnia MR pool.

Another Japanese built ship was also in port, tied up at Pier 9C. The Fairwind Legion is the former Thorco Legion (to 2020) a 13,110 gt, 16,957 gt multi-purpose general cargo ship built in 2015 by Honda Shipbuilding in Saiki, and equipped with a pair of 50 tonne SWL cranes. Several of its "L" class sisters have also been here to be fitted with fibreoptic cable storage racks. (See March 4, 2023 post and  for example December 22, 2022.)

 

For the sake of completeness there was another arrival today, the auto carrier Elektra at Autoport. It is a regular on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean trans Atlantic run.

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The Polish Connection

 Poland has had a long time shipping connection with Canada and Halifax specifically. During World War II, the "Pride of the Polish fleet", the passenger ship Batory transported the UK's gold reserves to Montreal, acted as an evacuee ship from Dunkirk, then a mercy transport of children to Australia. It called in Halifax many times as a troop ship, then as a passenger ship post war when Poland fell under communist control. It was even drydocked in the graving dock at Halifax Shipyards. A second and later Polish passenger ship, the Stefan Batory (ex Maasdam of 1952) was a regular on the St.Lawrence, and one of the last transatlantic passenger liners when it was retired in 1988.

 The Polish fishing fleet were regular callers in Halifax during the 1960s and 1970s - at least until the declaration of the 200 mile limit and the cod moratorium. Their factory trawlers were state of the art.

 The Wlocznik was a stern trawler / factory ship.

From the 1980s the French Polish Shipping Company ships were regular callers in Halifax with their four large ConRos. See their story in Shipfax May 9, 2012

Kazimierz Pulaski an impressive Polish ConRo of the 1980s.

Over the years a number of Polish Ocean Line bulk cariers and cargo ships have called in Halifax too, and many Polish built ships have been seen here. Even the beleagured Ale, still docked at Pier 9B (see many previous posts) was the Polish Ocean Lines' Raba until 2021.

In recent years however the Polish connection has dwindled, and the only regular visitors are not actually Polish ships at all, but are ships carrying Polish made steel rail for the Canadian National Railway. Polish built ships are rare too, except for members of the Ray Car Carriers (STAMCO Ship Management) fleet, which call occasionally.

Today, March 10, the neatly kept Morning Courier moved from Autoport to Pier 9C to discharge RoRo cargo. The ship arrived yesterday on the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen route from Rotterdam, Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Goteborg and Zeebrugge (February 21-23.) Although carrying the Eukor banner (Europe/ Korea - a Wallenius Wilhlensen company) it is owned by Ray Car Carriers with technical management by their STAMCO subsidiary.

Built in 2005 by Gdynia Stocznia, the 57,692 gt, 21,053 ship has a capacity of 6658 cars.

As usual wuth such moves, the ship transited the Narrows and turned in Bedford Basin before returning to the Narrows and berthing starboard side to at Pier 9C.  That gave a good look at the ship from both sides and the stern.

North bound in the Narrows.

In Bedford Basin, preparing to turn. The tug Atlantic Beaver is made up to a hull bollard well aft for maximum leverage. It is working stern forward to stay clear of the ship's stern overhang.

Making the turn. Tug Atlantic Oak works the bow and Atlantic Beaver the stern.

South bound heading for the Narrows.

Arriving later in the day, was the Onego Deusto has a cargo of rails loaded in Szczecin February 12-22.

The ship's hull was built by Vahali S+M, Belgrade, Serbia and completed by Volharding at Foxhol, Netherlands. The 6312 gt, 9832 dwt ship was originally named Beluga Skysails until 2011 when it became BBC Skysails and was equipped with an experimental kite / sail mounted forward. Onego took over operation of the ship and renamed it in 2019 and by the time the ship arrived in Halifax in 2020 (see Shipfax 2020-11-28 ) the kite was no longer used. Nevertheless the "jib boom" structure remains at the bow.

A multi-purpose, open hatch  single deck / tween deck type ship with pontoon hatch covers and box shaped holds it mounts a pair of 40 tonne SWL cranes that can work in combination.

This is the second ship with rails in as many weeks, with the previous ship Onego Bayou taking from February 21 to March 5 to unload. CN must be planning major rail renewal projects this summer, and so is stocking up.

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