Bad day for Atlantic Companion

1. Atlantic Companion arriving Halifax September 7, 2010.

Atlantic Container Line's Atlantic Companion parted its lines while docked in Baltimore on February 25. Wind gusts in the range of 65 to 70 miles per hour resulted in the ship breaking free from the Dundalk Terminal and drifting across the channel and, according to some reports, running aground.
The ship was freed by tugs some time later and returned to its berth.

Another Swiss bulker

The Swiss flagged bulker Moléson arrived this morning for bunkers. There has been a noticeable Swiss contingent in Halifax this winter, with several ships putting in for various reasons,. The relatively small Swiss registry has been well represented!

Moléson (named for a 2000 meter high mountain in southwest Switzerland) was built in 2010 and measures 22,697 gross tons, 34,266 deadweight. It is owned by Suisse Atlantique, one of several shipping companies based in the landlocked country. It specializes in carrying grain.

The ship headed for Bedford Basin to refuel. In view of unpleasant weather predicted for later today, that is a better place to anchor.

Brtitish Esteem anchors, Halmar retrieves pilot

1. British Esteem has her anchor down and the launch Halmar has disembarked the pilot.

2. Halmar returns the pilot to shore.

The tanker British Esteem anchored this afternoon for bunkers after discharging at Saint John, NB. The chemical/ products carrier belongs to British Petroleum and is registered in the UK. It was built in 2003 and is 23,235 gross tons, 37,220 deadweight. It has called in Halifax several times before.

On its way to Saint on February 17, it participated in the search for a missing seaman from the bulk carrier Elbe Max. That ship was 435 miles southeast of Newfoundland en route US to Hamburg, Germany, when it reported a man washed overboard by high seas. Despite air searches by the US Coast Guard, the man was not found and is presumed lost.

The launch Halmar is operated by Dominion Diving Ltd, which has a contract to transport pilots in the harbour when the pilot boat is away from base. Built in 1960 by Halifax Shipyard for its own use, it was extensively rebuilt in 2009, re-engined, and fitted with a bow thruster.

Sherman Zwicker still looking for a home

1. Sherman Zwicker in Halifax 2007-07-16 Parade of Sail. This photo also appears on the ship's website (with my permission.)

The banks schooner Sherman Zwicker is still looking for a new home. Built in 1942 by Smith & Rhuland Shipyard in Lunenburg, the vessel has operated out of Boothbay, Maine since 1968. Owners Grand Banks Schooner Trust are seeking a new owner, preferably in Canada, to take over the schooner, maintain it and make it available to the public. They have been looking for a new owner for at least ten years and interest in Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia has been notably muted.

She is one of the last schooners to fish the Grand Banks from dories, still in original condition. Built for F. Homer Zwicker of Lunenburg (Zwicker & Co) she fished out of Nova Scotia for all but a few years. In her last days in Nova Scotia she fished out of Louisbourg on Western Bank in season, but could not attract enough crew to use all eleven of her dories. In 1959, she was fishing eight dories, with a crew of eighteen, all from Newfoundland.

At that time there were about eight other salt bankers still fishing from Nova Scotia with dories, and salting their catch on board. Five were out of Riverport and three out of Lunenburg. Before refrigeration and icing was available to fishermen, salting fish was the only way to preserve the catch. In 1900 there were more than 100 salt bankers fishing from Nova Scotia alone. This was down to 15 in 1954. In the 1950s and 1960s trawlers were built by the scores, and frozen fish became a more lucrative market. In 1963 political unrest in Haiti cut off one of the major salt fish markets, and the trade went into a steep decline.

Sherman Zwicker was sold to owners in Glovertown, Newfoundland, where she was employed for a few years, but laid up until sold to George McEvoy of the US. He had the vision to retrieve the schooner, and restore her to original condition. She was built as a motor schooner with a 240 bhp Fairbanks Morse engine and is 144 feet long. Unlike the original Bluenose (built at the same yard) she is not fitted with topmasts or bowsprit, and was built strictly for work, and was never a racer. In fact she is more representational of the typical workaday banking schooner than the Bluenose.

Nonetheless she is a significant vessel and it would be a shame if no one stepped forward to save her. She is in need of significant expenditure, and that may be what is holding people back. Her hull is obviously hogged and despite years of TLC from McEvoy it is probably time for a rebuild. Perhaps not as drastic as Bluenose II is getting, but extensive nonetheless. As the Bluenose II project proves we certainly still have the skills in Nova Scotia to do such a rebuild, and the schooner would certainly seem to belong here is anywhere.

See: http://www.schoonermuseum.org/ and many other web entries under her name.

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Overseas Cathy

The crude tanker Overseas Cathy arrived this morning and will sail tonight from the Esso refinery. Unlike most crude tankers we see, this one did not arrive loaded. It may have had some cargo on board, but it is more likely that it came in for tank washing and slops removal.
These residues are reprocessed by the refinery.

Overseas Cathy was built in 2004 by Hyundai, Samho yard and measures 62,371 gross tons, 111,928 deadweight. Registered in the Marshall Islands, she is managed by OSG's British operation, Tanker Management Ltd of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

She is a fleet mate to the Canadian flag (non-duty paid) Overseas Shirley, 62,385 gross, 111, 205 deadweight, built in 2002 by Hyundai, Ulsan.

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Atlantic Concert finally gets away

1. Atlantic Concert revs up to pass under the MacKay bridge at 0830 this morning in blowing rain.

Atlantic Concert arrived on Wednesday February 16 with two stowaways aboard. The two had apparently boarded the ship in Liverpool, UK, ten days before. The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) is not releasing much information about the incident, but it is most likely that their presence was detected by the crew before the ship arrived in Halifax.

The ship was held in port while the two were removed (they have apparently applied for refugee status in Canada) and a full scale search conducted to see if there were any more on board.

Stowaways are unusual on the North Atlantic in winter, but the Atlantic Companion and its sister ships of the Atlantic Container Line (ACL) are not typical container ships.

As the largest RoRo/LoLo (Roll on Roll off/Lift on Lift off) ships in the world, they are in reality huge floating garages with many internal decks to stow trailers, cars, and other rolling goods, as well as conventional deck loaded containers. Built specifically for ACL's transatlantic service, the ship run on a tightly organized schedule with weekly eastbound and westbound calls in Halifax. They have been targeted by human smugglers before, since they are a fairly quick way to get across the Atlantic, have lots of places to hide, and stop in Canada first before going on to the US.

The ship was built in 1984 and lengthened in 1987. Between 1987 and 1994 the ship was renamed Concert Express when HAPAG-Lloyd and ACL ran a coordinated service. Otherwise the ship has lead an uneventful existence plying its route in strict rotation with the other ships in the fleet.

Because the ship was not able to get away until this morning, that schedule must be in a bit of a mess at this point, however it will probably be made up by skipping some US ports and its eastbound call in Halifax. The ship is giving Baltimore as its next port.

Atlantic Container line is part of the Grimaldi Group of Italy, but its ships still fly the Swedish flag reflecting some of the orginal founding owners of ACL. Crew services and other management has recently passed from Rederi AB Transatlantic to other operators.

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New Spill Boats

The Canadian Coast Guard is taking delivery of fifteen new oil spill/pollution control boats. All the boats are built by C&W Industrial Fabrication of Bay Bulls, Newfoundland and will be based in Newfoundland, the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

The first two I have seen arrived in Halifax last week on Thebeland (filling in for Ocean Sanderling on the Halifax/ St.John's route)

The 30 ft x 15 ft aluminum boats are powered by two 150 hp outboard motors and will be used for boom deployment, spill cleanup and other similar work. As is apparent from the photos they are trailerable and can thus be deployed throughout the region from a central base.

The total contract value was $2.5 mn.

Another contract for 40 foot x 15 foot boats is also underway, with Marener in Halifax. - More on those later.

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