Themis - two stops

 The Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean RoRo ship Themis made a two point stop in Halifax today (October 5). Its first call was at Autoport to discharge automobiles, which was accomplished by noon time. It then moved to Pier 9C to off load a variety of other RoRo cargo. This of course gave an opportunity to see the ship from both sides.

 Transiting the Narrows north bound, the Themis approaches the A. Murray MacKay bridge.

Once into Bedford Basin, the ship begins to make its slow turn to port.

The tugs Atlantic Oak (forward) and Atlantic Fir (aft) provide braking and turning assistance.

Built in 2016 by Hyundai Samho, it is a 75,283 gt, 23,786 dwt ship with a capacity for 8,000 RT43 size cars and has a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. As with many newer autocarriers, it has no side ramp. It is also fitted with an exhaust gas scrubber, and is emitting water vapour from its scrubber vent.

Once the turn is completed, the ship glides back to the Narrows to berth starboard side alongside Pier 9C. [In the background - under the ship's bow - HMCS Montreal is discharging munitions at the Bedford Magazine (Jetty November November) , having returned yesterday from a six month assignment with NATO.]

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Slow Boat from China

 The legendary "slow boat to China" of song, will be appearing in Halifax, but in reverse, this fall. The Zhen Hua 23, a Chinese specialized heavy lift ship, is giving an ETA of November 5, having left Shanghai September 13.

The ship will be carrying two new Super Post Panamax container cranes for PSA Halifax's South End Container Terminal. The crane manufacturer, Zhenhua Port Machinery Company, provides its own transportation for the fully assembled cranes. On arrival in port, the ship is able to adjust its draft so that the cranes can be rolled ashore directly from the deck of the ship. Zhen Hua technicians also set up and commission the cranes once they are on shore, which can take several weeks.

Zhen Hua has had several ships over the years, and some of them have been to Halifax delivering previous cranes. As with those ships the expected ship Zhen Hua 23 is a converted tanker. Built in1986 by Kasado Kudamatsu as a 50,285 gt, 79,999 dwt single hull crude oil tanker, it became obsolete when double hull tankers became mandatory. The Rich Duchess as it was called, still had good machinery and sound structure, and so in 2007 it was converted with a new reinforced cargo deck and a sophisticated ballast control system to allow it to load and unload large and heavy cargoes.

Although the ship has not been in Halifax before, the company's earlier vessels were of similar appearance, and generated considerable attention when they called here.

 Zhen Hua 4 had two cranes and two Rubber Tired Gantries (RTGs) for Halifax in 2000. It also had two cranes for another port.

 

Zhen Hua 29 came to Halifax in 2020 with one crane while en route to France and Algeria with four more cranes.

The Zhen Hua 23 cleared Port Louis, Mauritius October 3 and is en route to Halifax via the Cape of Good Hope. (It is too high to pass through the Suez Canal, and is taking the westbound route to avoid a long, and potentially rough, Pacific crossing.)

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Peek-a-Boo at 22

 The cruise ships Zuiderdam and Emerald Princess both had pilot orders for 1530 hrs ADT (October 4). They were at adjacent berths (Pier 20-21 and Pier 21-22 respectively) and as far as I could tell, they let their lines go simultaneously.

Zuiderdam had some head lines on the big yellow150 tonne capacity "Queen Mary" bollard at the very north end of Pier 20.
 

As the Zuiderdam came off the pier it headed northward to go around George's Island.

Meanwhile Emerald Princess backed away from its berth out into Number One anchorage to turn outbound, creating a peek-a-boo situation.

 As Zuiderdam came clear, the Emerald Princess became visible in profile view.

 As the Emerald Princess swung round, the sun caught the ship's starboard side.

Soon the Zuiderdam had rounded George's Island and was also outbound.

The Port Authority workboat Maintainer I was returning to its base at Pier 25 after its day's work at Fairview Cove, and just managed to stay clear long enough for a photo.

Zuiderdam is headed for New York and Emerald Princess for Saint John, so will be in sight of each other at least until sunset if not later.

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Alfred Needler on the move

 The retired research trawler CCGS Alfred Needler was on the move today (October 4) - but not very far from its start point. In November 2022 a generator failure meant that it could not use its trawl winch. That resulted in cutting short a research trip. Later that month there was a failure in an air receiver tank fitting. The ship returned to its base at the Bedford Institute (BIO) on December 18, 2002 and was laid up. At some point, likely in January 2023, it incurrred structural damage to a potable water tank when it was slammed against the dock in severe weather. In February 2023 Fisheries and Oceans Canada cancelled a planned life extension refit and announced that the ship would not be repaired but would be retired and recycled.

Recently its name and all government identifiers have been painted over. This usually means that the ship will be given a new numerical name prior to selling it. So far at least a new name has not appeared.

 

This morning the navy tugs Glenbrook and Listerville moved the ship to an adjacent berth at the BIO. In recent days the CCGS Sir William Alexander and the visting British research ship RSS Discovery have tied up at Pier 9C because the 'Needler was occupying prime space at BIO.

The CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752 and the CCGS Earl Grey are also alongside the north pier at BIO. (CCGS G.Peddle S.C. is ahead of the Grey but not visible in the photo.) As for the other Halifax based CCGS ships, the CCGS Captain Jacques Cartier is currently in Pictou, NS and the icebreaker CCGS Jean Goodwill is in drydock in St.John's. When the CCG takes delivery of its new Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels in a few years time, it will need more pier space at BIO if one of the ships is based in Halifax. (One of the AOPVs will likely go to the west coast.). The current pier replacement project may make up some of the needed space. 

The CCGS Alfred Needler has been the subject of many posts here over the years. It was built by Ferguson Industries Ltd in Pictou in 1981 and measured 925.03 gross tons. It  was originally operated by the Department of Fisheries, but was merged into the Canadian Coast Guard when the Minster of Fisheries and Oceans took over responsiblity in 1977. At that time it adopted the Canadian Coast Guard red hull with white stripe. The ship originally carried a grey hull and white superstructure as a Department of Fisheries vessel. It also had a white hull for a time in 1990s.

Sister ship CCGS Wilfred Templeman, built in 1982, was renamed 2011-01 then sold to McKeil Marine and renamed Blain M in 2012. It was sold to Marine Recycling Corporation (MRC) of Port Colborne, ON. At last report it had been laid up at MRC's scrapping facility in Sydport, NS since 2019. The Needler is likely to be heading in a similar direction.

CCGS Wilfred Templeman in 2004.

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Spirit of Discovery

 Due to the ship's late afternoon arrival (1500 hrs ADT, October 3), passengers on the Spirit of Discovery missed out on a perfect summer-like day in Halifax. With the temperature reaching 25 degrees C (77degrees F) it felt like mid-August. The ship will be sailing again at midnight, which does not allow much time for shore excursions.

 The Spirit of Discovery arrived from Portsmouth, England on a twenty-eight day "Colours of New England" round trip. (Two transatlantic crossings in one voyage must be uncommon.) Early reports indicate that it will not be a great year for fall colours due to early dry and late wet weather. Many leaves have turned brown and hurricanes have brought many leaves down already.

Built in 2019 by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Spirit of Discovery's gross tonnage has been quoted as 58,119 gt up to 58,250 gt with a passenger capacity of 999 and 523 crew. The ship's appearance is very striking with an intense blue hull and bright yellow funnel. (The white stripe below the skeletal black "cap" is barely visible on this ship.)

There was suprisingly little heat distortion for photography. (Water temperature was also quite high at 16 degreees C, 60 degrees F - and that is recorded offshore. It was even warmer closer to land.)

Pleasure craft were getting in a few more hours of sailing before the traditional season end on Thanksgiving Weekend (this coming weekend) when summer boat insurance coverage used to run out.

For the record, two other cruise ships, Vision of the Seas and Viking Star were also in port. The latter drew the short straw and berthed at Pier 27.

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More Cruisin'

 There were only three cruise ships in Halifax today (October 2), down from five yesterday (see previous post) . It was a return to more or less normal visitor activity for this time of year. The largest of the three ships was Sky Princess contributing 3,660 passengers.

Despite a relatively late arrival time - 0915 hrs ADT at the pilot station - there were very few people in view on deck and I coudn't see anyone on a balcony. Granted what I saw was the shady side of the ship, but even so I would have expected more people enjoying the view and the arrival.

An earlier arrival was the Arcadia, a 0715 hrs ADT arrival at the pilot station. It arrived just at sunrise (at 0714 hrs), which would have been a quite pleasant experience. The sun shone brightly all day, and with a high temperature in the range of 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) it was a very good day for touring for the 2,000 or so passengers. Citadel Hill, for example was "crawling" with visitors from the Harbour Hoppers and more conventional coaches.

The third ship is the unique "live aboard" The World in which well heeled cruisers can buy an interest in the ship (and a suite) for about $13 million. It carries around 200 - some of whom are the owners and some are "sublets".

The World arrived yesterday and remained alongside Pier 23 all night. It has a pilot order for 2230 hrs ADT this evening. (see also yesterday's post).

This year the cruise season is extending well into November, with the last ship, the Silver Shadow due on November 9.

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A 5 ship day

 It was a five cruise ship day in Halifax for the first of October. 

Ctystal Serenity after over-nighting in Halifax moved in the early hours from Pier 20 to Pier 27 to make room for the Norwegian Pearl, then sailed in the early afternoon for Sydney, NS. 

Queen Mary 2 tied up at Pier 22, as usual. giving a solid panorama of ships at the seawall.

The World arrived at Pier 23 and Pearl Mist at Pier 24.

The World, arriving from Montreal, will be staying in port over night. It will then depart for US east coast ports, the Caribbean, and the Pacific coast of South America and eventually to Antarctica by the end of the year.

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