MSC, ZIM, UBC and WWO

 Continuing on the "initials" theme started two posts ago, today, March 23, was another "initial day" - but with some variations.

An early morning arrival was the ZIM Shekou a familiar caller since 2018 on the ZIM Container Atlantic (ZCA) service. Altough "ZIM" in the company name ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd is always capitalized and pronounced "zim" it is an ancient Hebrew word meaning "a fleet of ships" and should be pronounced "tsim". It is therefore not an abbreviation as many think - (that would be ZISS).

ZIM Shekou tied up at the south end of Pier 42 to allow room for the next arrival.

The ZIM Shekou was built in  2007 by the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co at its Dalian #2 (or New) shipyard. The 39,906 gt, 50,629 dwt ship has a capacity of 4260 TEU.

 At noon time it was another "new to Halifax" ship the MSC Zlata R. arriving on the Turkey / Greece service. MSC is known for running older ships, but it has invested in scrubbers to keep them running on heavy fuel. Scrubber equipped ships often switch from heavy fuel to lighter MDO while maneuvering, but in the case of this ship there was massive particulate emission - all the way in from the pilot station.

 

I have never heard of a ship being fined for air pollution in Halifax, but this one would certainly be a candidate.

 

The ship was built by Samsung HI Co Ltd in Geoje, South Korea in 2002. Its 45,803 gt, 53,452 dwt result in a capacity of 4112 TEU including 1300 reefers. It was launched as Santa Ricarda, but delivered as P+O Nedlloyd Botany Bay. In 2005 it was renamed Maersk Dunafare and became Cap Ricarda in 2010. In 2013 it reverted to Cap Ricarda and in 2015 took its present name.

Much of the smoke was expelled aft when it was still moving, but as the ship slowed the smoke gathered more around the funnel. It cannot have been pleasant for those on board. Even after the ship tied up at Pier 41 it continued to smoke, so perhaps the problems were with the ship's auxiliary engines.

A mid-afternoon departure was the bulker UBC Santos (see previous posts).

When it sailed its AIS signal gave a destination of Fort de France, Martinique.  The company Albioma operates an "all-biomass" generating station in Martinique, which generates power and supplies steam to a large sugar processing operation. The ship's cargo of Nova Scotia wood pellets will feed the plant.

Inbound shortly after was the autocarrier Bess. A 2010 product of Shin Kurushima Toyohashi, it is a 58.750 gt, 18,013 dwt ship with a capacity of 6,284 cars (RT43).

This was my first opportunity to catch the ship in the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean colours. It was originally painted in traditional Wallenius colours, and called here frequently with its green hull.

In my April 25, 2011 photo the ship looked brand new. It is interesting that the painters of the original scheme dropped the white topside to clear the banner name. The "broken" line certainly looked odd. In the new scheme they decided on a straight line, and the teal colour just barely clears the banner name, which appears to be in exactly the same location - no doubt outlined in a thin bead of weld.

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HMM Courage - more initials

 When the Hyundai Courage was last here on the westbound leg of the EC5 service of THE Alliance I posted ship's info and the details of HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine.) See: Shipfax March 7, 2023

At the time I was not able to get a decent photo, but today (March 21) when the ship returned on the eastbound leg conditions were ideal.

As the Hyundai Courage made its way inbound it passed the outbound CCGS Captain Jacques Cartier.

 Due to its size the ship used the tethered stern escort Atlantic Fir.

It was met by the Atlantic Oak in the lower harbour for the transit through the Narrows. Once the ship reached Bedford Basin it held off PSA Fairview Cove while the NYK Constellation got underway. That ship is on the westbound leg of THE Alliance's AL5 service from Antwerp and bound for Port Everglades.

Built in 2007 by Hyundai HI, Ulsan, it comes in at 55,534 gt, 65,919 dwt with a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers.

Back to the initials again, NYK Line or Nippon Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Shipping Line) is part of the giant Mitsubishi conglomerate, with some 800 ships of all types in its fleet. However it spun off its container interests in 2017 with the founding of Ocean Network Express (ONE). NYK has a 38% interest in ONE with MOL (31%) and K-Line (31%). Some ships continue to appear in "heritage" colours and with parent group names., while others have adopted ONE colours and names.

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UBC Santos

 The bulk carrier UBC Santos arrived late last evening March 21 and tied up at Pier 28.This morning it began loading wood pellets from storage in Halifax Grain Elevators silos.

Spouts from the loading gallery have been positioned in three of the ship's five holds.

The UBC Santos operates under the United Bulk Carriers banner, a Philadelphia based operator of fifteen bulkers, but part of the larger Hartmann Group of Leer, Germany, which counts 150 ships of all types.

 The ship was built in 2008 by Saiki Jukogyo in Saiki, Japan. It is a 19,748 gt, 31,569 dwt ship with four 30 tonne SWL cranes and grabs ranging in size from 8 cubic meters to 12 cubic meters. The ship is also equipped with cement hatches, and has box shaped holds.

As with many bulk carriers it is not equipped with a bow thruster, nor is it fitted for the St.Lawrence Seaway.

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Initials and more initials

 It seems that the proliferation of initials or abbreviations is well entrenched among shipping companies, with a few notable exceptions. Today, March 21, saw six representatives of seven "initial companies", one hold out, and one anonymous.

PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway saw two "initial ships". The CMA CGM Nerval arrived from Bremerhaven on an unscheduled call. In other words, the ship is not on any of CMA CGM's regular routes through Halifax, and appears to be a "sweeper" dropping off or picking up boxes that have not been accommodated on the other CMA CGM services.

Built in 2010 by the Sungdong Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Tongyeong, it is a 72,884 gt, 83,318 dwt ship with a capacity of 6540 (or 6570 depending on sources) TEU including 500 reefers. It is an odd sized vessel for Halifax as we usually see larger or smaller ships.

The ship was carrying boxes from all the Ocean Alliance lines (APL, OOCL, Evergreen, and COSCO).

It sailed in the early afternoon for Charleston.

Its place was soon taken by the MSC Sena from Italy and Sines, Portugal on the CANEX 1 service to Montreal - here to off load some containers to reduce draft for the St.Lawrence River.

The ship has been renamed six times since built as ZIM Sydney by Halla Engineering +Heavy Industry, starting in their Inchon yard, and completed at Samho. The 30,280 gt, 35,966 dwt ship has a capacity of 2825 TEU including 214 reefers.

The ship was renamed in 2000: Rhein, 2002: E.R.Albany, 2004: CMA CGM Egypt, 2006: MacAndrews America, 2007: E.R.Albany and 2013: MSC Sena. [The MacAndrews name comes from the old time British MacAndrew Line, taken over by CMA CGM in 2002 and operated as a "niche service". Founded in 1770, it was was eliminated in 2019.]

Also at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway was the Tropic Hope, No initials in use by Tropical Shipping, as the name says it all in terms of its routes.

A hold out in today's initial parade, the ship shares Tropical's weekly service with sister ship Tropic  Lissette. Its company containers also spellout "Tropical" in huge letters.

Due to sail late this evening the ship will head for West Palm Beach, FL then take in several Caribbean ports in cluding San Juan, St Thomas, Philipsburg and Sint Eustatius.

There was a triple "initial" meet in Bedford Basin late this afternoon as two ACL and one CSL ship were visible at one time.

Atlantic Container Line  (ACL) usually has two ships in Halifax each week - one eastbound and one westbound. They rarely meet here, but it does happen once or twice a year when schedules get disturbed - usually by weather. It is always tricky to get both ships in the same frame.

Atlantic Sun arrived this morning on the eastbound leg of this voyage, and (right in picture) sailed for Hamburg.

As the Atlantic Sun was preparing to depart, with the tug Atlantic Beaver in attendance, the bulk carrier CSL Tacoma was gliding past the Bedford Insitute of Oceanography, heading for sea.

The initials CSL are used for the international operations of Canada Steamship Lines, but its domestic Canadian flag ships, use the full name, spelled out in full on the ship's hulls. The Bahamas flag CSL Tacoma has a load of gypsum bound for Baltimore.

ACL was founded by a consortium of traditional shipping lines, but now carry the letter "G" on the funnel recognizing the present owners, the Grimaldi Group.

The other ACL ship, the Atlantic Star, arriving from Liverpool on the westbound leg, held off until the berth was clear, but was already backing in as the Atlantic Sun was clear.

 A ship going the anonymous route - resisting the trend to emblazon the owner's initials on the hull - arrived at Autoport this morning and disgorged a quantity of new automobiles, loaded at the European ports of Bremerhaven March 1-3, Zeebrugge March 4-6 and Goteborg March 9. It is on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean transatlantic route.

A small fraction of the myriad new cars at Autoport inclues hundreds of Audis, probably offloaded yesterday by the Violet Ace.There is also some machinery and other RoRo cargo on the dock.
 

The Grand Pavo dates from 2005 and was built by Shin Kurushima Toyohashi, and at 59,217 gt, 18,376 dwt has a capacity of 6400 cars. The ship's operators are Cido Shipping of Korea and Hong Kong. They seem to be in the business of chartering ships out to others on various term lengths.

Are those the same scaups I saw ship watching at Black Rock Beach yesterday?

Rounding up the "Initial ships" was the after dark arrival of the bulker UBC Santos for Pier 28 to load wood pellets. "UBC"  stands for United Bulk Carriers and I expect to see  "UBC" emblazoned on the ship's hull - but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

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SFL Thelon - updated

 It is not often that fully loaded crude oil tankers visit Halifax. There are no longer any oil refineries here, and neither of the oil terminals (Irving Oil nor Imperial Oil) currently handle crude oil. 

Today (March 20) the Suezmax tanker SFL Thelon arrived and anchored in number one anchorage in the lower harbour. The ship is en route from Saudi Arabia to Irving Oil's Canaport crude oil unloading facility off Saint John, NB. The ship will have tugs standing by for the duration of its stay in Halifax, while it undergoes some repairs, possibly weather related. Dominion Diving's Halmar met the ship on arrival with some personnel or materials from shore.

The tug Atlantic Bear stands by the bow of SFL Thelon in number one anchorage.

(The tug Atlantic Beaver is off the stern.)

 

The SFL Thelon was built in 2015 by Bohai Shipyard in Huludao, China and delivered as Atina. The 83,377 gt, 159,500 dwt ship was renamed in 2022 when it was acquired by current owners SFL Corporation (formerly Ship Finance International Ltd.), an associated company of the Norwegian mogul John Frederiksen. Records indicate that it is chartered to an arm of Koch Industries Inc, the Wichita based multi-nat conglomerate. It loaded crude at a Saudi Aramco crude oil storage terminal.

Currently SFL Corporation has 17 tankers on its roster (along with 15 dry bulkers and 36 container ships) several of which are named for rivers. The Thelon River is in Canada and stetches 900 km from the Northwest Territory to Baker Lake in Nunavut, and drains through Chesterfield Inlet to Hudson Bay. Perhaps not well known in the south, it is a major water course, with a huge drainage basin stetching as far south as Saskatchewan. The Thelon has been recognized as a Canadian Heritage River.

The ship is recorded as drawing 14.7m (48.22 ft) and interestingly did not appear to have taken a tethered stern escort tug as it glided inbound, however the tugs Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver were nearby and came alongside as the ship reached the anchorage location.

Update:

Late in the afternoon, the ship put out to sea. Whether this was for trials or was actually a departure, I am not certain. It was characterised as a "Move" by pilot dispatch and the ship's AIS was not updated and shows Halifax as its destination. This leads me to believe that the ship may be returning to an outer anchorage (where no pilot is required.)

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Qingdao double header

Several container lines name their ships for cities - usually important ports on their routes, or sources of cargo. HAPAG-Lloyd is one such line as is ZIM. Other lines seem to have various naming schemes and sometimes use cities - MSC is one of the latter.

It had to happen that two ships named after the same city would arrive in Halifax on the same day, and today, March 19, was the day.

First in was MSC Qingdao, joined later in the day by ZIM Qingdao, tying up at adjacent berths at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway.

ZIM Qingdao is securing at Pier 42 (left) while the larger MSC Qingdao occupies Pier 41 (right)

The city of Qingdao (meaning Azuere Island), China, is in Shandong Province on the Yellow Sea. A major commercial and technical hub it has a population in excess of 10 million. Its port is an important one for the region and is served by most shipping lines.

MSC's ship took its name in 2019 when the former OOCL Qingdao was renamed MSC Qingdao. It was built in 2004 by Samsung HI in Geoje and is an 89,097 gt, 105,162 dwt ship with a capacity of 8063 TEU including 1400 reefers. MSC usually uses women's names for its own ships, but in this case the ship is chartered, so is an exception. It also carries the funnel markings of its managers Technomar Shipping Inc.

 Most OOCL ships were built for trans Pacific service and have sturdy lashing frames on the stern to secure containers from following seas.

(A flotilla of ducks - I believe Greater Scaups - ignores the arrival)

ZIM's ship was built in 2006 by Dalian New Shipbuilding and is a 39,906 gt, 50,689 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4250 TEU.

 

 In this file photo, the ship is seen with many Hapag-Lloyd containers. ZIM and Hapag-Loyd have a slot agreement.

Both ships have been calling in Halifax for several years, but this is the first time that the two have been in port at the same time.

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Fog Season

 With the arrival of spring comes fog. Although it is a major annoyance for photographers, it is only a minor hindrance to shipping, which carries on with due caution.

Today's (March 18) blanket of fog lifted in the afternoon, and despite off and on showers, it became possible to see some shipping.

Yesterday the tanker British Engineer arrived off Halifax and anchored for a time. The launch Eastcom appeared to have rendez-voused with the ship while at anchor - perhaps with a technician. Later in the evening the ship made its way to an anchorage in the main harbour, where it was shrouded in fog for the early part of the day today.

The ship made a gloomy sight if it was visible at all.

(In fact the camera saw more than the human eye in this case.)

 By mid-afternoon the fog had retreated and the ship became visible from the Halifax shore.

Passengers on the ferry Rita Joe got a very good look at the ship en route from Dartmouth to Halifax.

The Mid Range type tanker of 30,948 gt, 45,999 dwt was built in 2017 by Hyundai Mipo, and as with all British Petroleum Tankers it has superior accommodation and always looks smart with its traditional funnel marking. 

[Who first thought of painting what was essentially an exhaust pipe, in  company colours ?]

Fog lingered over the Halifax side of the harbour.

The British Engineer has a cargo of refined petroleum products from Amsterdam and will move alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal on departure of their tanker Acadian.

Meanwhile the Rossi A. Desgagnés (see yesterday's post) completed unloading at Imperial Oil and sailed for Saint John seemingly for another load.

At Pier 9C the early morning arrival of the Don Pasquale was also fog covered, but the ship became visible once it was alongside.

It was carrying a huge consignment of RoRos, with machinery from red, yellow and green manufacturers. The ship is expected to move to Autoport tomorrow to off load cars.

 The Don Pasquale was built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in Okpo in 1997 and in 2007 it was lengthened from 219.3 to 227.9 m by Hyundai Vinaship in Vietnam. The reworked ship now registers 67,141 gt, 28,142 dwt with a capacity of 7,194 cars.

At the southend, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway welcomed the "Ultra" size CMA CGM Amerigo Vespucci . Altough somewhat smaller than the largest container ships to call in Halifax, it was nevertheless an impressive sight as it made its way inbound with the assistance of three tugs.

 

 A group of wintering mallards were a tough audience and not easily impressed.

At 151,446 gt, 165,171 dwt, the ship is rated for 13,880 TEU including 800 reefers. Daewoo Shipbuidlng + Marine Engineering Co Ltd built the ship in 2010 at their Okpo yard.

At Pier 27 the Onego Deusto (see previous post) continued to unload rail - one piece at a time. The photo shows a large forklift carrying a single rail. A shore side crane removes the rails from the ship  (also one at a time) and a forklift moves the item to the carefully stacked stockpile. 

Foreground in the photo is a weigh scale for trucks that are bringing in material to fill the area at Pier 33-37. The pile of crushed stone to the right is for backfilling around the foundations for a new PSA  maintenance facility that will block this view.

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