Bunker calls

     Halifax has been a bunkering port since the days of coal fired steamships. The number of ships calling for bunkers has decreased in recent years since there is no longer a bunkering tanker based here. Ships must now come alongside where they are refueled from tanker trucks. Many ports in the region do not have truck access to the docks, so ships come to Halifax.

Today January 21 saw two ships arriving for bunkers. The first was the bulk carrier Puna arriving from La Baie (Port Alfred), QC. There is little doubt that it is winter on the North Atlantic as the ship was well coated with frozen spray when it tied up at Pier 9C. By the time the ship spends a few days in the Gulf Stream en route to its destination of Philadelphia, the ice will likely be gone.

The ship was built in 2010 by Yangzhou Guoyu, in Yizheng, China as the Three Rivers for trading through the St.Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes. (Note the derrick at the break of the forecastle for landing crew members to handle lines if the ship needs to tie up at the locks.) 

The 20,535 gt, 29,975 dwt ship carries three 30 tonne cranes, restricted to 24 tonne when using grabs. (I could not see any grabs, but they might have been iced over.) It became the Puna in 2020.

The Puna was reported in Quebec City November 6-11, upbound in the Seaway November 12 unloading in Toronto November 16-19, and loading in Hamilton, November 21-24. It then made its way to Greenore, Ireland December 7, Castellon, Spain December 17-22 and Algeciras December 25-26. It then sailed to the Rasade anchorages off Trois-Pistoles, QC, arriving January 10 and sailing January 11 to Port Alfred. It unloaded and sailed January 14. I can't tell where it disembarked its ice advisor, (it would usually be off Sydney) but might have carried on to Halifax instead*.

The second caller, which met the outbound Puna in the harbour approaches, was the tanker Hai Shang. The ship had unloaded a cargo of crude oil from Bayport, TX at Irving Oil's Canaport mooring buoy off Saint John, then ironically came to Halifax to take on fuel that was probably refined in Saint John. 

It is an unusual sight to see a crude oil tanker, in ballast, transiting the Narrows.

Darkness fell before I could catch the ship turning in Bedford Basin and coming back alongside Pier 9C. 

The well known Greek tanker operators Eletson ordered the ship from Shanghai Waigaoqiao and it was delivered in 2018 as the Argironissos. The ship was sold and renamed Campo Square in 2021 and became Hai Shang in March 2023. Its tonnages of 62,508 gt, 109,900 dwt make it an Aframax. [The term Aframax has nothing to do with Africa, but represents the Average Freight Rate Assessment system of standardized rating of tankers established in the 1950s. Ships of this size can be accommodated in most ports of the world and have a capacity around 600,000 bbls.]

----------------

* In the winter, ships transiting the ice infested waters of the Gulf of St.Lawrence, Saguenay River and St.Lawrence River embark specially qualified advisors with experience navigating in ice. They are highly qualified master mariners, and often also provide their services in polar regions in season.

The advisors are not pilots as such, and work independantly through ship agencies or through private operators. Their work is not associated with the Atlantic Pilotage Authority or the Laurentian Pilotage Autohority, as they provide their services outside the limits of ports.

Most ice advisors embark and disembark off Sydney, NS but I note that the usual launch boat Charlevoix has not been on station there. Earlier today, January 21, the tanker Hafnia Daisy en route to Montreal made a rendez-vous off Halifax with the launch Halmar which may have been to embark an ice advisor. 

 .

Long Way

 The arrival earlier in the week of the ONE Crane [see Monday January 15] was the first of what may be many ships en route from Asia that avoid the Red Sea and divert via the Cape of Good Hope. Today, January 20, saw the arrival of another diverted ship, but this one had an unusual variation in its route.[See Footnote #1]

CMA CGM Cassiopeia sailed from Hong Kong on December 6, calling Singapore ca. mid-December then reported in the Malacca Strait December 18. It may have skipped its normal call in Port Klang, then called in Colombo, December 21-22. It was next reported passing Cape Town December 31.

 The tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Fir provided double tethered stern escort, and Atlantic Larch made up forward.[see Footnote #2]

Instead of heading directly for Halifax it sailed up the African west coast passing the Canary Islands January 10,  and arrived in Tanger Med Morocco January 12. Tanger Med is a hub port that collects cargo via feeder services from a variety of European ports. Now with ships diverting from the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean I expect the port will likely be collecting more southern European cargo.

Hyundai Ulsan built the CMA CGM Cassiopeia in 2011 as one of their 11,300 class. The 131,332 gt, 131,247 dwt ship now gives a capacity of 11,200 TEU. It is among the largest ships with conventional placement of the bridge well aft. Many even slightly larger ships have the "island" type bridge situated forward of amidships for improved visibility. This ship appears to have a good forward sight line however, as its bridge was quite visible when it presented a bow on view as it arrived via the western (deep water) channel. 

Footnote:

#1 The ship is sailing for the Ocean Alliance which consists of CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen, and OOCL. The Asia / Europe / North America service routed through the Suez and Mediterrnaean usually makes no stops between Colombo and Halifax.

#2 Using two tugs for stern braking and turning is not normal practice, but can be used if the ship has a deficiency, is a difficult one to manage or there are adverse conditions. Since today's operation appeared to be otherwise normal and with very little wind, I assume it was a training and familiarization exercise for pilot, tug crews and ship's crew. The ship did appear very heavily laden however and that may have been a factor as it would have very large momentum.

One tug, likely the Atlantic Fir, swings out perpendicular to the ship and provides braking as the other stern tug, Atlantic Oak, maintains position for steering. The tugs will turn the ship 180 degrees to tie up at Pier 41 starboard side to the dock. Atlantic Larch is positioned as far forward as possible, with getting under the flare of the bow, but will still get leverage to assist in turning.

.

Next To Go?

Algoma Central Corp and its wholly owned Algoma Tankers Ltd are in a fleet renewal pattern, adding to their domestic fleets and shedding older tonnage. They have also been active on the international scene with their Nova Algoma Cement Carrier fleet and other bulk ships and tankers*. 

On January 18, 2024  the company announced that they are acquiring two more tankers from the Norwegian operator Knutsens OAS (Algoma acquired another from Knutsen in 2023- the former Birgit Knutsen now renamed Algoluna). As with that ship Algoma will bareboat charter the ships back to Knutsen for a time until bringing one of the ships to Canada as replacement tonnage later in 2024.

The current domestic Algoma Tankers fleet consists of six ships ranging from 14 to 20 years of age. It is therefore not hard to guess which ship will be replaced first. The odd man out is the twenty year old Algoscotia, a well known ship in Halifax. It is usually employed in the milk run between Halifax, Sydney, Corner Brook and Sept-Iles with occasional forays to other regional ports, the US east coast or Great Lakes. It also had a short term deployment to Finland from January to April 2016 and was reflagged to Barbados for the time.

Algoscotia arrived in Halifax August 16, 2004 fresh from the builders.

 Purpose built for Algoma by the Jiangyan Shipyard Group's Qiuxin Shipyard in Shanghai in 2004, the Algoscotia is a 13,352 gt, 18,610 dwt product tanker. Coming up to its next five year survey, it may well be in line for some expensive refitting that Algoma is unwilling to bear. 

The new acquistions date from 2009 and are 16,000 dwt size. The only two ships in the current Knutsen fleet that meet this description are the Eli Knutsen anbd Liv Knutsen built by Jiangnan, Shanghai, measuring 11,889 gt, 16,568 dwt and are sisters to the previously mentioned Algoluna ex Birgit Knutsen which was built in 2010.

They are only "semi-modern" - that is to say not state of the art dual fuel or future proofed for methanol or hydrogen. The company's three 2023 acquistions were 14, 17 and 17 years old so it is hard to say how long term this investmant may be at 15 years old already.

The Algoscotia has been highlighted on these pages numerous times - among them:

March 6, 2020  and most recently December 17, 2023.

So far in 2024 the Algoscotia arrived at Imperial Oil January 4 from Sept-Iles and sailed January 5, returning January 15 from Sydney (January 7) and Corner Brook (January 12-13) and moved to Pier 9C to allow the import tanker STI Pontiac to dock. It is due to move off to anchor later this evening. Pictured this afternoon - the ship still looks good:

 

-----------------------

*  In June 2023 Algoma announced the order for two new ice class methanol ready tankers from Hyundai Mipo. The 37,000 dwt ships will be long term chartered to Irving Oil, so will not be operating on Algoma's usual trade for Imperial Oil. They will also be too large to use the St.Lawrence Seaway.

 In September 2023 Algoma announced the order of two dual fuel battery hybrid tankers for their Furebear joint venture with Fure Tankers. To be built by Jiniling, they will operate in the European tanker pool Gothia Tanker Alliance. There is no indication that they would be brought to Canada.

.

Cars and More Cars

 Autoport has hosted ships for two days in a row and expects another tomorrow. The inventory of cars at the facility has appeared thin lately, so this will allow them to build up their inventory of imports. Autoport is owned by CNRail and customarily holds cars and light trucks in storage until they are called for by dealers, then sends them out by truck or train. CN also owns at least one of the large truck companies that specializes in auto transport.

Yesterday, January 17 it was the 7,194 CEU Don Pasquale, a regular caller on Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic loop. It called here in June, August and October of 2023. When it completed offloading at Autoport yesterday and was moving to Pier 9C to offload RoRo cargo, the next auto carrier, Lake Wanaka was making its way inbound.

 Don Pasquale (left) exits Eastern Passage with Lake Wanaka taking a wide turn round Ives Knoll off PSA Halifax.

Lake Wanaka. a smaller ship with a capacity of 4902 CEU has also been here before, most recently in March and August 2023, and is apparently dedicated to carrying Volkswagen products, loaded in Emden, Germany. The ship remained alongside Autoport over night and sailed late this morning heading for Jacksonville, FL.

A third auto carrier, the 6500 CEU SFL Composer is drifting offshore and is due tomorrow, January 19. It is also arriving from Emden, Volkswagen's export port.

European auto makers are experiencing production problems due to parts shortages from Asia. Some manufacturers have shut down completely as shipments through the Red Sea / Suez route have been delayed or curtailed due to the hostilities. It is therefore inevitable that there will be noticeable shortages of some kinds of cars in North America.

China on the other hand is building new auto carrying ships as it shifts to building entire automobiles. For example Ford is building some new Lincoln models in China for the North American market. With assembly closer to the component manufacturers some of the recent "supply chain" issues may be resolved. 

.

C.T.M.A. Vacancier - follow up

 My report from December 19, 2023 regarding the scrapping of the ferry C.T.MA. Vacancier can now be updated, but probably not for the last time. Soon after the scrapping announcement, it was revealed that the ship would be sailing to India "on its own bottom". As usual with ships sold for scrap, it was re-registered in a flag of convenience country - in this case St.Kitts and Nevis - a favourite amongst ship scrappers. Its name was also altered with a few swipes of the paint brush, becoming the Ancier. (The C.T.M.A. banner on the side may have been painted over previously).

On Friday morning, January 12, 2024 it departed its layup berth in Georgetown PE under its new name and flag, but only moved "around the corner" to Charlottetown where it arrived mid-afternoon.

 Ancier arriving in Charlottetown January 12, 2024.

(Contributed)

On Saturday, January 13 it was reported to be re-fueling, and possibly taking on stores for the trip. On Sunday a sheen was reported on the water in the area. The sheen was confirmed to be a spill from the ship, but the circumstances have not been reported. A clean up operation got under way, a boom was rigged at the stern of the ship and other Coast Guard and commercial assets were deployed.

No departure date has been confirmed yet, as it may take some time to carry out an investigation. The ship may be detained officially.

.

Seeing Red

 Two ships arrived today with the only similarity being their hull colours, and even those were quite different shades of red.

The hull colour of the first arrival was only revealed after sunrise when the ship was already tied up at Imperial Oil's number 3 dock. The somewhat faded red showed off well in the morning sunshine.

 

The ship is the STI Pontiac a member of the 111 ship strong Scorpio Tankers Inc. fleet. The publicly traded Scorpio uses its own Turkish based management group Zenith Gemi to operate its ships, while the Chinese based Taiping + Sinopec Leasing Co Ltd still holds the ownership papers and is responsible for the commercial management.

The ship was built by the prolific Hyundai Mipo in Ulsan and has typical MidRange dimensions of 29,889 gt (some sources say 29,785) and 49,990 dwt. The ship's last port is listed as Houston.With the St.Lawrence Seaway now closed for the winter Imperial Oil will have to source refined products from refineries other than its own facilities in Ontario.

The second arrival also did not immediately announce its colour, arriving as it did with the sun behind it. Its form however was service unmistakeable as it is one of several sister ships operating for THE Alliance's EC5. 

As its bridge loomed over the Black Rock Beach knoll, several spectators were startled to see such a large ship so close to shore. It was using the deep water Western Channel, which is not used as much as the main channel, which means that it must change course very closed to Point Pleasant.

The ONE Crane was built in 2016 by Japan Marine United, Kure as NYK Crane and renamed in 2019 as NYK Lines partnered in the Ocean Network Express (ONE) joint venture. Its unique magenta hull colour soon revealed. The 144,285 gt, 139,335 dwt ship has a container capacity of 14,026 TEU.

According to the Port of Halifax schedule the ship is some eleven days behind its orginal schedule. A little digging reveals that the ship sailed from Colombo Sri Lanka December 12, 2023. In order to avoid the dangers of the Red Sea, the ship diverted from its usual Suez Canak route and transitted around South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. It passed Cape Town December 28.

This may be the first ship to reach Halifax after making such a wide doversion, but it will not be the last. Despite naval patrols and defensive and offensive measures against Houthi forces in Yemen, the Red Sea route is not dependably safe, and we can expect other ships from Asia to seek alternatives. 

.

Departures follow up.

After yesterday's post the predicted storm passed though over night with high winds and storm surge. Pilotage operations were suspended at some point during the night and not resumed until this morning (January 14). Some arrival and departure times changed as a result.

Among the delayed departures were:

JY Lake resumed its voyage from Romeville, LA to Rotterdam. It anchored in Halifax January 12 probably for some technical adjustments. The 43,968 gt, 81,146 dwt ship was built in 2019 by Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangijn, China. It appears to be fully loaded with grain.

The unusual ConRo ship Ramhan sailed from Autoport. This is the second trip to Halifax recently for this ship. The last was on November 12, 2023 and like the last time the ship was carrying no containers. At one point it was scheduled to move to Pier 9C, but remained at Autoport. This time the ship is eastbound from Davisville RI, bound for Gibraltar, Since its previous call here, when it was westbound, the ship went to Altamira, Mexico, Abu Qir, Egypt, Civitavecchia, Italy and Algeciras anchorage (Gibraltar) then directly to Davisville.

As noted in my November post ConRo ships are rare these days, with Grimaldi Lines and Atlantic Container Lines (owned by Grimaldi) among the few companies operating this type of ship. The ship's previous owners Ignazio Messina + Cia SpA work shorter hauls in the Mediterranean and combine containers and various RoRo cargoes.

The last departure of note was the Pacific Trader which was also covered in yesterday's post.

After completing its cargo work at PSA Fairview Cove yesterday afternoon, it made its way to anchor in Bedford Basin, waiting out the rough weather overnight. It is now en route to Kingston, Jamaica.

.