Busy, Busy, Busy - updated

 Halifax has now joined many other ports in the world with container ships waiting for berths as the terminals seem to be working full out. It is still nothing like the west coast US ports of Los Angeles / Long Beach or Chinese ports such as Shanghai. But to see ships anchored offshore for days, the terminals stretched for space, and CN putting on extra trains is virtually unheard of here.

PSA Halifax, operators of both container terminals, Southend (Atlantic Gateway) and Fairview Cove have been sharing the load between the two facilities, with big ships docking at the Southend and (relatively) smaller ships at Fairview Cove.

At the Southend the14,414 TEU CMA CGM J. Adams, (see yesterday's post) occupied berth 41 today (June 22).

That left berth 42 for the MSC Pratiti  on the Turkey-Greece service.

An interesting ship, MSC Pratiti was built in 2004 by Hyundai, Ulsan, and is a 53,453 gt, 66,597 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4814 TEU including 330 reefers. It was a frequent caller in Halifax under its original name, ZIM Pusan. It was renamed simply Pusan in 2014, then Kowloon Bay in 2017 and MSC Pratiti in 2021. 

I also noted that the ship was refueling while at Pier 42. This is not something I have seen much of as most container lines arrange bunker stops overseas.

As soon as CMA CGM J.Adams sailed this evening Navarino docked. It is MSC's Indus 2 route from North India. I will cover that ship tomorrow.

Back in 2017 Shipfax speculated that the ZIM Pusan was going for scrap. See February 7, 2017 , but it was apparently saved by the huge upswing in demand for even "uneconomic" sized ships, and MSC's buying spree.

Interestingly another MSC ship on the service from Turkey and Greece, MSC Matilde, which was due yesterday, has opted to bypass Halifax. In fact it just cleared Sines, Portugal June 21 and is giving a June 30 ETA for Freeport, Bahamas.

Heading for Fairview Cove, the MSC Alyssa is on the Canada Express 1 service from the Mediterranean. It will stop over long enough to unload boxes to reduce draft to meet St.Lawrence River restrictions.

On the way in it passed the Vistula Maersk, also bound for Montreal, which has been anchored offshore since June 20 awating its turn at the Southend.

 

Built in 2001 by Hyundai, Busan, MSC Alyssa is registered at 43,575 gt, 61,487 dwt with a capacity of 4340 TEU, including 150 reefers.

The ship took the tug Atlantic Oak as stern escort, as required by harbour regulations, to make its way through the Narrows to Bedford Basin where it anchored untill its berth was clear.

Fairview Cove was also working the Humen Bridge. It moved out to Basin anchorage in the evening to allow MSC Alyssa alongside.

 Humen Bridge, built 2007 by IHI, Kure, 98,747 gt, 98,849 dwt, with a capacity of 9040 TEU, settling in at anchor in the Basin. It sailed later in the evening.

Not to be left out, Autoport has been very busy too, with a great many cars originating from Volkswagen's port of Emden. Today's arrival was a first time caller I believe, SFL Composer.

Built in 2005 by Minami Nippon, Shitanoe, the 58,631 gt, 18,881 dwt ship was named Excellent Ace until 2012 then Glovis Composer until 2020. SFL Corp is a NYSE listed ship investment company with ships of all types, including six auto carriers, four of which (including this one) are dedicated to Volkswagen. It has a rated capacity of 6500 CEU.

On sailing this afternoon, the ship gave its destination as Davisville, RI. That port has recently expanded its auto piers and will now be able to handle more than its previous totals of 300,000 cars per year. By comparison Autoport in Halifax handles about 185,000 vehicles per year and is the sole new car import facility in eastern Canada.

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More Big Ships

 It is always impressive to see big ships, particularly when their arrivals and departures are carefully coordinated for safe passing and meeting. 

Early this morning June 21 the bulk carrier Berge Nimba arrived from Amsterdam and anchored in number one anchorage in the lower harbour. The ship had been in Asia recently and required clearance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, that it was free of LDA moth before proceeding to other Canadian ports. (Number one achorage is far enough from coniferous forests that the larvae would not be a threat.)

Built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan County, China in 2010 it was first named Zosco Huzhou, renamed  New Huzhou in 2016, and took its current name in 2019.  The 91,971 gt , 175,949 dwt ship is a fleet mate of the Berge Bulk Maritime 180,180 dwt Berge Atlas that was here May 30 for the same reason.

With the anchorage area occuppied, the outbound NYK Romulus sailed west of George's Island.

On the horizon is the Vistula Maersk on the CMA CGM / Maersk St.Lawrence service, waiting its first call at PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub. It would normally be in port today, but other ships are ahead in line, so will come in tomorrow.

Inspection of the Berge Nimba was completed by late morning and the ship was cleared to depart for Port Cartier, QC to load iron ore. The light ship, took the straighter outbound course - the eastern channel.

The next inbound took the western, deep water channel. That ship was CMA CGM J. Adams which had three tugs to assist with the dog leg course if needed.

The CMA CGM J. Adams is the second Ultra class ship (greater than 10,000 TEU) to call this week. Sister ship CMA CGM A. Lincoln was here Sunday June 19. Built in 2017 by Hyundai Ulsan the Adams is a 140,872 gt, 148,992 dwt vessel with a capacity of 14,414 TEU.

It is not often that I get three ships and three tugs in the same photo. (Atlantic Beaver is the stern tethered escort, with Atlantic Oak alongside forward and Atlantic Fir standing off ahead.)

 The tugs were needed to turn and squeeze the big ship into berth #41 at Pier C as berth #42 was already occupied by the ZIM feeder ship Contship Leo.

Contship Leo was using the smallest of the five cranes at the Southend terminal, now known as PSA Atlantic Hub. The ship has been on the Canada Feeder Express service since October 2021.

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ZIM to CMA CGM

 

 Zim Tarragona meets a CGM ship April 27, 2016.

I noted on an international shipping news site that two familiar ZIM ships have just been sold to CMA CGM. The sister ships ZIM Constanza and ZIM Tarragona were built in 2010 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang in Jingjiang, China. At 40,542 gt and 50,106 dwt /50,088 dwt (respectively) they have a container capacity of 4256 TEU including 698 reefers. 

 The ZIM Tarragona November 10, 2016.

The ships have been regular callers in Halifax since new, on ZIM's ZCA service, and they are Israeli flagged. They were built with a relatively high reefer plug number to cater to the important fruit exports from Israel.

The Zim Constanza May 3, 2017.

The selling price was reported to be US$72 million each, which seems a good price for ships that were thought to be too small only a few years ago. The high demand for ships now has changed all that. It will be interesting to see what ZIM will use as replacements.  

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Arrivals, Departures and Moves

 Most days in Halifax harbour there are several ship arrivals and departures and often some moves within the harbour. The arrivals and departures often coincide with the normal hours of the longshore workers, so tend to be early in the morning for the arrivals and late in the afternoon for the departures. Moves are usually unpredictable.

However there are times when the ship movements are at odd hours, more conducive for photos.Today June 20 was such a day, with several mid morning arrivals.

The container ship NYK Romulus was due at the pilot station at 1000 hrs, followed by the auto carrier Grande California at 1030 hrs.

Built in 2009 by Hyundai, Samho, the NYK Romulus is a 55,487 gt, 65,883 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4922 TEU including 330 reefers. It is sailing on THE Alliance's AL5 service (North Europe - North America).

Heading for Autoport, Grimaldi's Grande California may be making its first call in Halifax.

Just a year old, the Grande America was delivered by the Yangfan Group, Zhoushan in early June 2021. It is a 65,148 gt, 15,853 dwt ship with a capacity of 7700 cars in 5,000 lane meters of deck space. It is arriving from Salerno and Gioia Tauro, Italy and Valencia, Spain.

While these two big ships were arriving, two smaller vessels were putting in an appearance.

 

Lady Melissa, built by Ferguson Industries in Pictou in 1990 and owned by Comeau's, Saulnierville, NS. Morning Star was built by Caraquet Marine Ltd in 1991 and is owned by Scotia Pelagic of Yarmouth.

 

Both are herring seiners, and have not been seen in Halifax for some time. The commercial herring and mackerel fisheries were closed by government order in April, so these boats must be operating for research or for a limited bait fishery. The collapse of the herring stock on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts is worrisome, but has happened before.

One ship arrived this morning and will sail again this evening - Irving Oil's tanker East Coast

Built in 2005 by Hyundai, Mipo for long term charter to Irving Oil, it was orginallly named Nor'Easter and sailed internationally out of Saint John, NB. It was brought under Canadain flag and renamed in 2014.It is a handysize vessel of 23,552 gt, 37,515 dwt.

Most of today's departures are echeduled for early evening (after this is posted) but one late afternoon sailing was the Royal Canadian Navy's chartered supply ship Asterix.

As usual with naval vessel movements, its destination was not given.

Movements within the harbour were limited to small craft as far as I could tell. Among these "craft" was the "Harbour Hopper 6", giving its cargo of tourists a cold and damp ride.

The Halifax Fire and Emergency Services "Fire Boat 1" was exercising its sealegs in the harbour too:

The boat is also named Kjipuktuk , the first nation's word for Halifax Harbour, which the early English settler-colonizers corrupted to "Chebucto". [I have "defaced" one of the crew men to avoid identification.]

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CMA CGM A. Lincoln

 I missed taking a picture of this ship the first time it arrived April 14, 2020. At the time it was the "new largest" container ship to call in Halifax. It has since been eclipsed by the larger "Explorer" class, but I have managed to get decent photos of it on subsequent visits. The old shipwatcher adage that you can always get a better photo has been my motto, but I will be hard pressed to do better than this evening's departure, as photographed from Ferguson's Cove.

The ship took some time to get away from PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub, and I was fearful that the sun would be gone by the time it got to my perch.

 As I had hoped the ship took the western, deep water channel and swung in towards the shore.

The sun was a bit past its best angle, but came out from behind some clouds at the right moment.

The ship hung onto its stern escort, the Atlantic Bear, until it had passed my post.

Built in 2017 by Hyundai, Ulsan, it is a 140,872 gt, 148,992 dwt ship with a capacity of 14,414 TEU.

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Cross reference to Venture Sea

 Readers may be interested in the fate of the offshore tug / supplier Venture Sea, once based in Halifax. If so, look no further than Tugfax for today, June 18: Venture Sea

The Venture Sea served the oil industry, but also participated in some salvage tows over the years, including the infamous Australian Sprit.See Shipfax December 12, 2014.
 

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Atlantic Sea to Pier C

 In an unprecedented move today the Atlantic Container Line ship Atlantic Sea moved from PSA Fairview Cove to PSA Atlantic Hub, the southend terminal (Pier C), tying up at berth 41, under the big cranes and at the RoRo ramp.

 Atlantic Sea coming up west of George's Island this afternoon in thin drizzle. The ferry, likely Rita Joe, crosses from Halifax to Woodside in the background.

The ship is on its westbound voyage out of Liverpool, UK and arrived in Halifax early this morning June 14. At 1630 hrs ADT this afternoon it began its move and was secure alongside at shortly after 1800 hrs. It used a tug while getting away from Fairview, and as required while transiting the Narrows, but did not use a tug at Pier C. 

There has been considerable talk that the Fairvew Terminal is plugged with containers and has no more room, and that CN has locomotive and container car shortages and is unable to move boxes out quickly enough to clear the terminal and the railyards. The southend Atlantic Hub apparently has more room. There was likely room to unload and load RoRo cargo at Fairview however, since that takes up less space.

Atlantic Container Lines has been a user of Fairview Cove exclusively and its current G4 ships have never berthed elsewhere as far as I can recall. 

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