Fairview Cove - new work

 A $15 million project at Fairview Cove is now underway. The work consists of a new truck gate and a container examination facility.

The 1.03 hectare area will accommodate four "in" gates and two "out" gates, staging for trucks (sources say 140 trucks, but that seems like too many to me).

The examination facility will include a 2700 square meter building with eleven truck bays. It will house the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) inspection facility, and King's warehouse (for detained goods). CBSA also handles Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspections of containers, primarily for invasive species, but also for prohibited goods. 

CBSA container inspection has been carried out in the Burnside Industrial Park in Dartmouth, and has meant that containers had to be  trucked from the two container terminals across the MacKay bridge to reach the facility. Despite the Port's press releases the new facility will not reduce truck traffc through downtown Halifax, since containers from the Southend container pier will have to be trucked to Fairview Cove.

The new project is located on part of the infill area just to the east of the existing PSA Fairview Cove container terminal. 

So far some foundations are visible, and a mysterious tower - about 30 feet high (so far) - which did not show on previous renderings of the project.

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SFL Conductor

 The large shipowning company SFL (formerly Ship Finance International Corp) made another appearance in Halifax today. Since its founding in 2003 the company has expanded from tankers into bulk carriers, containers, auto carriers and oil rigs. 

Its last caller in Halifax was the large tanker SFL Thelon on March 20. The 159,500 dwt ship required repairs en route from Saudi Arabia to Saint John, NB with a cargo of crude oil. 

 

After a short spell in port here, it stood by about 50 miles offshore until repairs were completed and on March 23 it got underway for Saint John. It anchored off Saint John March 24 and today, March 29, moved in and connected with the Single Point Mooring unit off Canaport and began to discharge cargo via pipeline.

Meanwhile in Halifax SFL's presence was marked this morning by the auto carrier SFL Conductor, a ship that called here twice in 2022 (see Shipfax July 14  and December 30.)

Built in 2006 by Shin Kurushima in Onishi, Japan, the 60,116 gt, 17,709dwt ship served initially as Favorite Ace, becoming Glovis Ace in 2012 and SFL Conductor in 2019. It has a capacity of 6500 CEU, and is on charter to Volkswagen until the third quarter of 2023.

Although incorporated in Bermuda with its shares traded on the New York Stock exchange, SFL's owner's base of operations is Oslo. Its various subsidiaries have offices in London, Singapore and Limassol. The majority owner, with 18.6% of the shares, is a John Frederiksen family trust. Frederiksen is the publicized shipping magnate who has recently been involved in the take over of another tanker company, Euronav, controlled by the Belgian Saverys family. Euronav's "Cape" tankers are regular suppliers of Valero's Jean Gaulin refinery in Lévis, QC.

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Quiet Day

 Today, March 28, will be a quiet day in the harbour. The only scheduled arrivals are the Atlantic Sail at 1500 hrs and the CSL Tacoma at 2300 hrs. Therefore I have looked backward a few hours to a departure from last evening.With Daylight Saving Time now in effect, and with the days growing longer, it is still light enough in the early evening for some photography.

Last evening's departure was the general cargo ship Fairwind Legion from Pier 9C. (The pilot was called for 1900 hrs ADT).

 Deckhands rig the pilot ladder as the ship clears Pier 9C.

The ship arrived in Halifax March 11 (see Shipfax of that date) and was fitted with fibreoptic cable storage racks (called tanks). With that work completed, the ship sailed for Portsmouth, NH to load the cable.

As a relatively small ship, it was able to turn directly off the pier without having to go to Bedford Basin to turn. It did use two tugs however: Atlantic Beaver and Atlantic Willow.

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Something for everyone

 It was a real mixed bag in the harbour today, March 27, with several ships sailing and arriving. In more or less chronological order:

HMCS Montreal was in and out of the harbour as it works up for its deployment for the Indo-Pacific in the latest Operation Projection (see yesterday's post).

above: time stamp 15:58 hrs ADT

It sailed "officially" yesterday, but is expected to be in and out for the next few days, but not tying up in port.

                                                above: time stamp 16:52 hrs ADT

A pilot was ordered for 1600 hrs to sail the container ship Humen Bridge. It was some time before the ship was actually underway, and it departed Pier 41 with tug assistance. It kept the Atlantic Bear as stern tethered escort because the ship needed to make a sharp turn to use the western channel.

The Humen Bridge was built by IHI Kure in 2007 and is a 98,747 gt, 98,849 dwt ship with a capacity of 9040 TEU. Assigned to THE Alliance's EC5 service, it would normally have been handled at PSA Fairview Cove. But due to its size and the arrival of Atlantic Sky the  ship was handled at PSA Atlantic Gateway, (southend terminal).

Using the wesrern channel allowed the inbound tanker Great Epsilon to use the main channel.

The Great Epsilon was arriving from Antwerp with refined product for Imperial Oil. It is a 30,237 gt, 49,998 dwt MidRange 2 tanker built in 2020 by New Times Shipbuilding Co in Jingjiang, China. It is also scrubber fitted, allowing its Hyundai-built main engine to burn heavy fuel.

Also sailing was the cable ship IT Intrepid. The ship left its berth at Pier 9A early in the morning and  carried out trials in Bedford Basin before putting out to sea for more trials. It is expected back in port early this evening.

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Operation Projection - updated (again)

 The Royal Canadian Navy uses the title Operation Projection to describe many of its activities with other nations that include port visits and exercises around the world. The early 2023 version saw the Halifax based HMCS Glace Bay and HMCS Moncton sailing to the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa and returning via the Caribbean.

Today March 26, saw the departure of two more ships on the latest version of Operation Projection, but there is a difference. It is unusual for Halifax-based frigates to sail to the Pacific Ocean, but that is the destination for HMCS Montreal FFH 336. Along with NRU Asterix the ship sailed this morning in an unpleasant combinaton of driving wind and wet snowy / rain. However as their route to the Indo-Pacific will be via the Panama Canal, they will soon be changing to whites.

The NRU (Naval Resupply Unit)* Asterix is the privately owned and operated interim supply ship that the RCN has hired until new ships are constructed by Seaspan ULC in Vancouver. The ship operates with a combined civilian crew and specialist naval personnel as needed. It was commissioned in 2018 after it was converted from a container ship and is classed as a non-combattant.

However it has participated in numerous naval exercies and operations in the Atlantic and Pacific. Among them was a 2018-2019 deployment that took the ship to Hawaii and the Middle East. It was away from Halifax for 500 days. The ship is fitted with "refueling at sea" equipment and reportedly made 197 fuel transfers in that mission alone.

Asterix is Canada's only naval supply ship at the present time. The two new ships of the Protecteur class, (Canadianized Berlin class), are still several years away from completion. Current estimates are 2025 and 2027 deliveries, but even these seem optimistic. It is therefore likely that the Asterix may be in service longer than the originally suggested seven years.

This morning's conditions did not favour a photo of HMCS Montreal. The Halifax class frigate was commissioned in 1994, and has undergone numerous updates and refits. Thanks to AIS I was able to "see" the ship off Halifax later in the morning as it positioned itself to receive its CH-148 Cyclone helicopter which was to fly out from Shearwater and join the ship.

On December 12, 2021 the ship was highly visible on the Syncrolift at HMC Dockyard in Halifax, sporting a new coat of anti-fouling paint.

 

Update

The Asterix had to return to port late in the afternoon (March 26) to disembark a medical case. The ship picked up its (civilian) pilot at about 1700 hrs ADT and made the transfer north of George's Island in the main harbour, and returned to sea. HMCS Montreal stood by offshore. I do not know how the transfer was made or what watercraft participated. 

 

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Second Update

I have been made aware that I incorrectly applied the designation "NRU" to the ship Asterix. (In my defence [no pun intended] I used the designation based on an official news release.) However it turns out that the NRU is "a naval unit of people... that deploys detachments onboard Asterix to undertake naval functions" and should not be applied to the ship which is a "leased civilian vessel".

Therefore the proper designation is: "The NRU (Naval Replenishment Unit) aboard MV Asterix".

I note in the message I received that the author does not use the article "the" before the name of the ship. This departs from current convention where naval vessels are designated without the article, but civilian vessels are designated with "the". This modern convention (along with dropping the feminine in referring to ships) has been widely adopted in the maritime press including such august publications as Lloyd's List , The Maritime Executive, Splash 247.com and Shipfax. While respecting tradition generally, these publications have managed to face present day reality and celebrate political correctness despite some pointed criticism from readers.

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CMA CGM Lapérouse

The Ocean Alliance / Columbus JAX service brought in another Ultra size ship to PSA Halifax's Atlantic Gateway today, March 25. This time it is the CMA CGM Lapérouse, a 13,880 TEU ship, with reefer plugs for 800 TEU.

 

Built in 2010 by Daewoo SB + ME, Okpo, it is a 151,446 gt, 165,442 dwt ship, and as usual with ships of that size has the split superstructure with bridge and accommodation forward of midships.

The ship is named for the French naval officer and explorer Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de Lapérouse (1741-1788?). In his early naval career he was on re-supply ships to Louisbourg in 1757 and 1758 and in 1782 he captured Fort York and Fort Prince of Wales in Hudson Bay.

However he was better known for his expedition to the Pacific in which he was never seen again after sailing from Australia in early 1788. His disappearance was the mystery of the century and it was not until 1826 that some wreckage of his ships was found on the Vanikoro Islands  in the Solomon Islands. More was learned in expeditions of 1964, 2005 and 2008. It is believed that some members of the expedition survived for an extended time, but probably died in conflict with the local population.

The Lapérouse mystery was on many minds, including that of King Louis XVI who, on the day of his execution, January 21, 1793, is reported to have asked "Any news of Lapérouse?"

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Another Sign of Spring

 There have been a few signs of spring this year - intermixed with snow showers. This evening, March 24, was just one of those as the bulk carrier Baie St. Paul sailed with a load of gypsum, bound for Hamilton, ON.

As the ship was leaving Bedford Basin and as the sun was going down, a brief snow shower swept over the area. Although it did not effect visibility, the snow did "fuzzy up" the view as the ship approached the A. Murray MacKay bridge.

The sure sign of spring however was the annual opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway after nearly three months of winter shutdown. Despite the dire predictions in 1959 when the Seaway first opened it was not the death knell of Halifax as a port. In fact there continiues to be trade between Halifax and Great Lakes ports.

The tanker Algotitan, which has been working out of Halifax this winter is in the Seaway en route to Sarnia. The cement carrier NACC Argonaut, after leaving Halifax March 17, proceeded to Port Daniel, QC to load and arrived today at Cote-Ste-Catherine (near Montreal and within the Seaway) to offload.

The Baie St.Paul which often carries salt, is a regular caller at Gold Bond Gypsum in Bedford Basin and in recent years has delivered the raw material to Hamilton, ON. It is a Canadian flagged ship and as per a previous post is a member of Canada Steamship Lines' domestic fleet - a fact that is underlined by the large lettering on the ship's hull. Members of the company's international fleet make do with the abbreviated "CSL" on the flanks. The lettering on the red hull is not quite so legible in the glinting sun, but shows off well at a distance when in the shade.

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