Renaming ahead

The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Bernadette Jordan, whose federal riding, South Shore - St.Margarets,  includes Shelburne, NS, has announced that the CCGS Edward Cornwallis, currently in Vessel Life Extension refit at Irving Shipbuilding's Shelburne Ship Repair facility, will be renamed.

The original namesake, cited as founder of Halifax in 1749 and governor of Nova Scotia, has been in disrepute for sometime for his policies regarding indigenous people. In recent years a statue in a Halifax park named for him has been removed and a junior high school renamed. A city street still bears his name, but a church on that street has been renamed. Several other references can still be found in and around Halifax despite the public attention drawn to the issue.

The current ship is the second to bear the name and the official policy was that the second ship was named for the first, and that renaming existing ships was just not done. My infamous open letter to the previous minister (which was not popular with all readers) likely had no bearing, but it does summarize the situation as I saw it.

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2018/01/edward-cornwallis-open-letter.html

Pressure was brought to bear by indigenous leaders, and the Minister has invited the leaders to suggest a new name. This will be an important devitation from policy and a welcome openness to dealing positively with issues.

There can be no doubt that the current ship and its predecessor did excellent work during their careers, and it is unfortunate that the original name choice will cloud those achievements. The pride that seafarers had in their ships was not misplaced, however it is not too late to acknowledge a wrong.

One name suggestion that has already been heard is the name of Donald Marshall Jr. That is a doubly

important name in Canada and Nova Scotia / Mi'kmaq relations, but perhaps still controversial since the ship is tasked with fisheries patrols from time to time. There are still pockets of resentment on both sides over the Supreme Court's granting of fishing rights to indigenous communities.

If you are not aware of the significance of Donald Marshall Jr's name, there is a barely adequate summary on Wikipedia:

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Marshall_Jr.

I predict continuing controversy on this topic as long as the Canadian government insists on naming ships after people.

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Recaps and Updates

This is an update to several items from blog posts over the past few days.

PSA Crane

The new Super Post Panamax crane that arrived yesterday on the Zhen Hua 29 [qv] is still aboard the ship, but the installation crew will be at work arranging for the offloading.

The new PSA crane appears considerably higher than those on shore.

The new crane will be moved off the ship's deck using a system of temporary rails that run onshore, taking into  account the state of the tide and with careful ballasting of the ship. The crane will then be resting on crib work on the dock. It can then be lowered onto its own dollies and permanent rails set into the dock surface.
There are several weeks of work required to load test and certify the crane for use. Unfortunately most of that activity will be invisible from shore.


Seaways Hatteras

Dominion Diving's Halmar stands by the stern of the ship.

Underwater work is still underway on the Seaways Hatteras [see yesterday's post]. I do not know the nature of the work, but divers can perform many different tasks these days that once required drydocking. Propeller repairs, hull cleaning and cathodic anode replacement are all now routinely performed while ships are still afloat.

AS Federica

AS Federica sailed this evening for Saint John, NB to take up new duties for a CMA CGM Caribbean service.
Since coming off a ZIM charter in April, the ship had been idle in Halifax, then at anchor "Outside Port Limits" after proceeding (briefly) to international waters. It is my opinion that this maneuver was to allow the ship to use bonded stores that would have been sealed by Customs while in port.

On June 27 [qv] the ship moved into port, anchoring in Bedford Basin. Again this may have been to allow for inspection, survey or Customs clearance. Ships at anchor are charged a tariff if awaiting orders, awaiting sailing time, or at anchor for repairs or maintenance. There are also other fees and pilotage charges that apply to ships arriving and leaving port. However anchoring Outside Port Limits is free of charge.

Vole au Vent
The offshore wind turbine installation vessel Vole au Vent arrived early this morning and docked at the Woodside berth. It may have some equipment to pick up or drop off after completing operations off Virgina.

Late this morning the ship moved to the nearby Irving Oil dock in Woodside to take fuel. This move followed the unusual move of Irving Oil's tanker Acadian from the oil terminal to Imperial Oil #3 dock.

Due to fog and a dirty 11th floor window, and despite some photo editing, this is the best I could do to capture this event.

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Haven't the foggiest: crane news on CBC and CTV

In case you missed yesterday's Mainstreet on CBC Radio Halifax, here is the link to my interview with Jeff Douglas.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-37-mainstreet-ns/clip/15784853-big-and-bigger...-halifaxs-new-15-storey-high-crane-and-the-vessel-offshore-that-dwarfs-it

I was also interviewed on CTV television.

 

We were lucky to see yesterday's arrival - the fog just lifted enough. I think there was still a little fog in the CBC studio however.

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Odd Callers

Odd Caller 1

We rarely see crude oil tankers in Halifax anymore since there are no refineries here. A crude tanker, even in ballast is therefore an odd sight these days. Seaways Hatteras arrived in ballast this morning from Canaport, off Saint John and went to anchor.

The ship dates from 2017 when it was built by Hyundai, Samho. Measuring 81,433 gt and 158,432 dwt and is classed as a Suezmax . It is managed by International Seaways Corp of the USA, along with forty or so tankers of various sizes. The company is a free-standing spin-off of OSG (Overseas Shipholding Group) independently listed on the NYSE as of December 2016.

Odd Caller 2

With only decommissioning work underway offshore these days, it is unusual to see specialist marine construction ships. Adhémar de Saint-Venant  sailed from pier 27 today after a brief port stay.

Built in 2017 by AVIC Weihai Shipyard Co, it is a 7531 gt, 6424 dwt ship used to bury offshore pipelines. It carries the rock aggregate in its hold and deposits the material by means of a "fall pipe" - a large diameter black tube. It works to precise location using a sophisticated Level 2 Dynamic Positioning system. 

Owned by the Belgian marine construction company Jan de Nul, it is registered in Luxembourg and named for Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant (1797-1896) a French mathematician who pioneered hydraulic engineering. A sister ship is named for the better known Daniel Bernoulli.

The ship has apparently completed whatever work it was doing and is headed for Zeebrugge.

The Jan de Nul company has been working on the offshore wind project off Virginia Beach and its installation ship Vole au Vent is due back tomorrow.

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New Cranes

The slow boat from China arrived this morning bearing PSA Halifax's new container crane. Ordered before PSA acquired the Southend terminal from Macquarie, it is part of a major expansion project.

With a reach of 24 containers (ship width) x 11 high the crane supplements two cranes of 22 wide x 10 high capability and two 22 wide x 8 high and one 13 wide x 5 high already in service at the terminal.  Coupled with construction of the third berth and option of another similar crane, PSA will soon be able to handle two Ultra class (more than 10,000 TEU) ships at the same time.

The ship, owned by the crane manufacturer Zhen Hua Port Machinery Corp (ZPMC), left Shanghai April 24, and sailed via the Cape of Good Hope. It is also carrying cranes for France and Algeria.

Built by Hashihama Zosen in 1987 as the 51,156 gt, 89,999 dwt tanker Blue Sky River, the ship was renamed Cook Spirit in 1999 and Merbabo in 2003. ZPMC acquired the ship in 2009 and rebuilt it as a specialized heavy load vessel with a sophisticated ballasting system. Renamed Zhen Hua 29 in 2010, it delivers the corporation's cranes and straddle carriers world wide.

Building the cranes in China and delivering them to site was unheard of when the Southend Terminal was built. In 1970 the original cranes (long since replaced) were erected on site over many months from components made by Canron Corp.

Fifty years ago, the terminal was still under construction and passenger ships were still calling in Halifax.

The original cranes were built to serve ships such as Dart Europe. It was 31 meters breadth whereas the Ultra class ships exceed 45 meters.

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Tortugas - still orange

The Wallenius Wilhelmsen auto carrier Tortugas arrived at Pier 31 yesterday to unload machinery. It spent the night there and completed cargo work this morning.

Seen through a space between containers at Pier 31, Tortugas is painted in a similar orange colour to the old Halterm yard tractors and skeleton trailers, now operated by PSA Halifax.

One of more than 50 PCTCs and RoRos in the Wilhelmsen fleet, Tortugas was built in 2006 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki. It is a 61,321 gt, 19,628 dwt* ship with a capacity of 6354 RT43 autos. [*DNV records 14,512 dwt]

Founded in 1861 in Tonsberg, Norway, in sailing ship days, the Wilhelm Wilhelmsen Group's first steamship, bought in 1887 was the Talabot. Company lore has it that this ship was the first to make a profit, and therefore all subsequent ships have been given names starting with the letter "T". Still family owned, the company also operates American RoRo Carriers (ARCO), United European Car Carriers and EUKOR (majority owned by Wilhlemsem, Wallenius, with minority holders Hyundai and Kia).

Tortugas with tug assistance, makes its way cross harbour from Pier 31 to Autoport. Many of its fleet mates have been repainted in new colours.

In 2017 the Swedish Wallenius Lines agreed with Wilhelmsen to merge their vehicle operations to form Wallenius Wilhemsen ASA. As ships cycle through their regular drydockings they are being repainted in new colours, and the traditional Wallenius white over green and Wilhelmsen white over orange are gradually disappearing. Since major drydockings take place on a five year basis, it will may be a few years yet before all ships are repainted.

Tortugas is shown remaining at Autoport until late Monday afternoon.

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AS Federica moves in

The idled container ship AS Federica moved back into port this morning after languishing at anchor since May.
  
The ship is scheduled to take up a slot on a Caribbean service through a CMA CGM subsidiary called ANL. The ship is scheduled to sail from Saint John July 2 for New York, Savannah, Miami, Kingston, Rio Haina, Philipsburg and back to Saint John July 23. (It may be taking over from fleet mate AS Floretta).

 ANL (Pte) Ltd, is the former Australian National Line, acquired (in name) by CMA CGM in 1998. It has previously concentrated on Oceania, working from Melbourne, but has now apparently expanded into a global logistics provider, using the name "Cagema Main Liner" - another acronym.

The ship arrived in Halifax initially on April 17 fresh off a ZIM feeder service charter. It moved out to anchor  OPL (Outside Port Limits) May 26,  http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2020/05/as-federica-sails.html and has remained there ever since. It may have moved back in to port to take stores or perhaps for a crew change, although no activity was spotted today.

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