More departures for Quebec

 The tug W.N.Twolan which arrived in Halifax December 12 [see post of that date]with its barge NT 1802 finally sailed Sunday January 8. Once again it did so without pilot, despite the barge exceeding 1000 gross tons. The tug was in port to load some components for the McInnis Cement facility on Port Daniel, QC. 

The cargo was loaded at PSA Fairview Cove, but the process was barely visible from any shoreside vantage point. Several cranes were employed initially, but the very large red crane in the photo above was not one of them. It is employed in dismantling the smallest of the container cranes. 

It is possible that the presence of the ship Rosaire A. Desgagnés at Fairview Cove at the same time might be connected in some way to the McInnis cargo, but I have no inside info. [see previous post]

Today January 9 there was another departure for Quebec. 

The Oslo Bulk 1 arrived from New Haven, CT on January 7 and anchored offshore until this morning when it came alongside Pier 28. It appears to have taken on bunkers from trucks and did not handle any cargo. It sailed mid-afternoon for Quebec City. It is rather small for the usual bulk carriers calling at that port, so bears watching for future developments.

The ship was built as Oslo Bulk 1 in 2010 by Jiangsu Yangzijiang in Jiangyin and is a 5629 gt, 8040 dwt vessel fitted with two 25 tonne cranes. It also carries its own grabs for bulk cargo. It was renamed Corral from 2010 to 2012, then reverrted to its orginal and current name. The ship is termed a "single deck, open hatch, boxy bulker".  In other words the ship has no 'tween decks, its hatches are the same size as its holds, which are generally box shaped. Its three holds have ventilation and the ship can carry 109 (empty) TEU containers on deck or 48 x 20 ft @ 14 tonnes, or 24 x 40 ft @24 tonnes loaded containers on deck.

At Pier 28, the ship is just ahead of the future Algotitan (still called Chantaco) see another post.

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Rosaire A. Desgagnés sails

 The Canadian owned, but (seasonally) Barbados registered Rosaire A. Desgagnés sailed this afternoon, January 8. The ship arrived January 4 in ballast from El Ferrol, Spain and remained at anchor until this morning.

The ship then moved to PSA Fairview Cove where it loaded containers.

The ship is not fitted with cellular container guides in its holds, as far as I know, so the containers were likely secured with lashings and dunnage - and were apparently empty, as the ship showed no significant change in draft. It seems likely that this is a "sweeper" trip, picking up empty containers to re-position them in a foreigh port.

On sailing the ship gave Argentia, NL as destination. 

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Back to Belgium

 Imperial Oil stocks its Dartmouth, NS distribution facility with refined products from various sources. Sometimes that is its own refineries in Sarnia and Nanticoke, ON. With the St. Lawrence Seaway now closed for the winter Imperial has turned once again to Antwerp, Belgium where it has been meeting a good part of its local needs, year round, for the past few years. [Imperial Oil is 69.6% owned by Exxon Mobil. The company markets its products in Canada under the Esso and Mobil trade names.]

Today (January 5) it was the Liberian registered tanker Aquasmeralda arriving from the Belgian port, where Exxon Mobil Benelux operates large refinery and chemical facilities.

Immediately identifiable from the large "CHI" (Greek letter X) on the funnel, the ship is a member of the Chandris (Hellas) shipping fleet. The Chandris family has been in the shipping business since the 19th century (if not before) and has been a tanker operator since the 1920s. It now operates 33 tankers of 3.8 mn tonnes deadweight in most size ranges.

This ship was built in 2021 by Jiangsu Newyangzi Shipbuilding in Jingjiang, China to the shipyard's own account and was laid down as Yangze 18. It has typical MidRange dimensions of 29,725 gt, 50,295 dwt. Chandris (Hellas) acquired and renamed it after completion  along with another sister MR tanker, built at the same yard, the 50,315 dwt vessel now named Aliai. [Some sources term tankers of this size to be "LongRange 1", others as "MidRange 2", still others as "Handysize". In any case they are the most common size of chermical / product tanker in service.]

We are more accustomed to see the "X" funnel on ships of the Celebrity Cruise Line. The Chandris family operated passenger liners starting in 1960 and founded Chandris Cruises in 1977. In 1988 they renamed the operation as Celebrity Cruises, then sold it to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines in 1997. Celebrity has maintained its identity within the publicly traded Royal Caribbean Group and still carries the highly recognizeable "Chi" funnel mark on ships such as Celebrity Summit a frequent caller in Halifax during cruise season. Chandris has no role in operation of Celebrity Cruises.

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Colour it Red

 

It was made official today (January 5) that Irving Shipbuilding Inc (ISI) will build two Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard. The government originally announced the two ships in May 2019 as an "add on" to the six Harry DeWolf class Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels already under construction for the Royal Canadian Navy (subject to an agreement on terms.) The two ships were awarded to Irving's Halifax Shipyard as a stop gap to keep the yard fully operational and fully staffed after the DeWolf  ships were completed and before construction could begin on the new frigate construction program.

The government has now signed the construction contract for $1.6 bn allowing the shipyard to complete design work and begin cutting steel. There will certainly be many differences with the CCG ships - not just red paint. Crew quarters will have to be to a civilian standard and the ships will need to accomodate different helicopters. Most systems will be quite different, and then there is the question of weapons. Will these ships be combat ready "military grade" ? Only fisheries patrol vessels in the CCG are currently armed, and the crews are civilians. When they are required to conduct some policing operations they embark RCMP officers. They also co-operate with other government civilian services with policing mandates such as Border Services and the Food Inspection Agency.

How the Coast Guard will use the vessels is the question. They will likely assign one to each coast as the CCG currently has very limited space at its east coast bases. The navy had to build a new pier for the DeWolf ships, so I expect a new pier will be needed at the BIO Coast Guard base in Halifax - although there may be political pressure to base the ship(s) in St.John's, using the same faulty logic that sent the CCGS Terry Fox and Louis S St-Laurent from Halifax to Newfoundland.

The DeWolf ships are not heavy icebreakers, nor particularly fast for patrol duties - both part of the CCG's mandate. As Fisheries Patrol and Search + Rescue ships, they may be less than ideal. However Halifax Shipyard is supposed to be the Combatant shipbuilding specialists, and sovereignty patrol is the mandate of the RCN.

In the current era of inflation and supply chain issues the predicted cost is probably very optimistic. However they should be cheaper per ship than the RCN vessels, being at the top of the learning curve - even if they are military grade. The delivery dates of 2026 to 2027 also sound optimistic.

ISI states that they will be able to increase their work force by 500 from the current 2300 workers. The two extra ships were originally justified only to be a stop gap to maintain the skilled workforce. This sounds more like a ramp up to frigate construction by training new people on the CCG ships - that also means they would need to be working on military grade systems and methods.

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A bit of everything - Part 2 (Revised)

 Thanks to its strategic location just off the North Atlantic Great Circle Route, Halifax has been a convenient port of refuge for centuries. However the number of casualties arriving in port has declined over the years as ships have become safer and navigation aids such as radar have reduced the numbers of collisions and groundings. That the port is ice free also means that ships can call in Halifax no matter the time of year.

Today (January 4) marked the arrival of a damaged ship in tow - the first in many months. The bulk and general cargo ship Ale has had a difficult few months in Canadian waters, although its first trip went off well in the spring.

Built in 2012 by Taizhou Shinfu Engineering Co in Taizhou, China, the 13,579 gt, 17,074 dwt ship, equipped with three 30 tonne SWL cranes, was named Raba by Polska Zegluga Morska PP, "Polsteam", and was a Great Lakes caller under that name. It was aquired by Oslo Venture Pte Ltd and renamed in 2021, and continued its Great Lakes trading this year.

 The ship arrived in Canadian waters in late May and made its way up the St.Lawrence Seaway system May 26 arriving in Chicago to unload on May 30. It then sailed for Thunder Bay where it loaded June 6-7 then sailed out of the Seaway Jun 11, passing Montreal June 12. I picked up its trail again in late August when it sailed from Italy, passing Gibraltar August 31. It apparently stopped in Safi, Morocco from August 31 to September 2, then made for Long Pond, Newfoundland.

On September 14, while backing into the harbour, the ship found bottom and incurred hull, rudder and prop damage. After re-anchoring the ship was boomed off when a light sheen was detected in the water. On September 30 the tugs Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Larch sailed from Halifax for Long Pond and on October 4 had the ship in tow for the Verreault Shipyard in Méchins, QC [the shipyard was recently acquired from the Verreault family by Groupe Océan but has not changed its name.]

The ship entered Verreault's large graving dock on October 10 where it was determined that temporary repairs could be made that would allow the ship to be towed to Europe for permanent repairs.The Italian tug Kamarina was engaged for the tow, and it sailed from Rotterdam November 29, reaching Méchins December 12.

While leaving the drydock on December 17 the Ale found the bottom again. It was freed * with the assistance of shipyard tugs and the tug l'Anse du Moulin from Baie Comeau - and it was towed across the river to the sheltered harbour of Baie-Comeau where it was prepped for the ocean tow. (Kamarina sailed over to Baie-Comeau on Decmber 23.)

Kamarina, with  Ale in tow sailed from Baie-Comeau December 27, destined for Setubal, Portugal, but apparently encountered some adverse conditions in the gulf where one penant of the tow line parted. Since it was not possible to reconnect the tow while underway, and with ice building in the Gulf, it was decided (or ordered) to re-route to Halifax.

Tug and tow arrived off Halifax last night and with the assistance of three harbour tugs, made fast at Pier 9C. Although the Ale has crew aboard, and operational auxiliary power,  it is not able to use its main engine and may be difficult to steer.

Today it was possible to see the ship and the towing arrangements.

The anchors had been stoppered off and the anchor chains re-rigged through fairleads, port and starboard. The two sections were then lead forward and yoked together with what is termed a fishplate, connecting with a single wire to the tug's towing winch. Also a light weight emergency line was rigged from the centre fairlead in the bow, looped along the side of the ship (shows in white) and connected to an insurance line to be towed astern and buoyed at the end with a float. In case of the entire main towline parting, the tug can grapple the insurance line and retrieve the light weight emergency line which is connected to a heavy secondary tow line stowed on deck forward.

A file photo of a fish plate - fully rigged - may assist in deciphering the above description:

A close up view shows several people forward working on deck, and heavy chafe marks on the hull where the anchor chain was rubbing from its fairlead. The anchor line is hanging over side from its fairlead (above the "A").

 It appears to be a text book exaple of how to rig a tow, but nothing is 100% weather proof.

The tug Kamarina, dating from 2010 when it was built by Rosetti, Ravenna, is a 8,518 bhp, 123 tonne Bollard Pull anchor handling tug supplier, operated by the large Italian operator Augustea.

What with all the machinery unloaded at Pier 9C yesterday by Asian Destiny (see previous post) it was not possible to get a full view of the tug.

 

The Ale as Raba has had previous grounding experience. On July 5, 2018 it went agound shortly after leaving Liebaja, Latvia. In that incident there was no leak and no serious damage.  However its several years of service to the Great Lakes was apparently free of incident.

*2023-01-05 Revision  I have received comment that the ship did not touch bottom at Méchins. This clearly conflicts with a previous report . It appears that shipyard tugs may have lost control of the ship due to high wind while waiting for the tug l'Anse du Moulin to arrive from Baie-Comeau. Therefore in the interest of correct information, I will await reliable news and have crossed out the "found bottom again" statement.

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A bit of everything

 The Port of Halifax carries out many types of business from containers and RoRo, to break bulk and bulk, but also as a conveniently located ice free and sheltered harbour just off the North Atlantic Great Circle route, it welcomes ships that have had misadventures and need a place to make repairs and get straightnend out again.

Today, January 4, saw ships of most of these categories:

Conti Courage arrived from India via Suez, with recent stops in Haifa and Valencia on MSC's Indus Express service. Built in 2005 as Hatsu Service by Samsung Shipbuilding + Heavy Industry Co, Geoje, it was renamed by Conti Lines in 2017. The 90,449 gt, 106,984 dwt ship has a capacity of 8084 TEU including 700 reefers. The ship is a first time caller in Halifax, and tied up at PSA Atlantic Hub, Southend Terminal.

A regular caller in Halifax on THE Alliance's EC5 route, the Hyundai Faith arrived at PSA Fairview Cove and experienced very calm conditions in Bedford Basin.

 Hyundai Faith is a 8562 TEU ship built in 2008 by Hyundai Samho. At 94,511 gt, 98,967 dwt, it is among the largest pure container ships to call at Fairview Cove. (The ACL Con Ros are larger)

Roll on Roll Off is very big part of the port's business and it consists of two types of cargo. One is automobiles, most of which are imports from Europe to CN Rails's Autoport facility in Eastern Passage. (Cars are also imported and exported at Fairview Cove, with a few exports at the deep water piers.) (Cars are also shipped to Newfoundland from Autoport.)

Today's caller at Autoport is the car carrier Asian Dynasty.

The 55,719 gt, 21,224 dwt ship is among the smaller auto carriers with a capacity of 6,450 CEU. Built in 1999 by Hyundai, Ulsan in operates for Eukor Car Carriers, and is managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management (Korea) Ltd. 

Yesterday the ship was at Pier 9C  where it off loaded a large consignment of industrial vehicles and machinery before moving to Autoport last evening..

Unlike most Eukor ships it is registered in Korea and carries its name both in Korean and English on the bow and stern. Signage above the ship's stern ramp declares a SWL of 150 tons. (Korea uses the metric system.)

The Transport Desgagnés general cargo ship Rosaire A. Desgagnés arrived at daybreak this morning and requested anchorage in the lower harbour. The ship normally spends half the year on northern supply work, then in winter it is chartered out to Briese Schiffahrts to operate internationally under Barbados flag, and with an international crew. That appears to be the pattern again this year, with the ship transferring from Canadian to Barbados registry in early December in Montreal and sailing to El Ferrol, Spain. The reason for its return to Canada is unclear. (I have a theory, that someone needs a heavy lift, but it would involve returning the ships to Canadian flag).

The ship was built in 2007 by Jiangzhou Union, Ruichang, China as part of a large order for the German company Beluga. A 9611 gt, 12,776 dwt vessel it is equipped with two 120 tonne SWL cranes that can work in unison for a 240 tonne lift. When the Beluga company failed, also in 2007, the ship, which was named Beluga Fortification, and two sisters, Beluga Festivity and Beluga Freedom were aquired by Transport Desgagnés. The latter two became the Sedna Desgagnés and Zelada Desgagnés. respectively.

"Casualties" are rare sights in Halifax these days, but today's arrival is a first in many months. It will be subject of a following post.

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Who Guards the Coast

 One of the responsibilities of the Canadian Coast Guard is the maintenance of aids to navigation (known as Navaids) such as buoys and various shore installations including lighthouses and range markers.

 Different coloured buoys, usually illuminated, and lighthouses with lights that flash in unique patterns are among the Navaids that mark channels and assist mariners in safe navigation.

Ships entering ports such as Halifax rely on these various devices to assist their masters or local marine pilots for safe navigation by identifying the shipping channels. Even if the ships are equipped with highly sophisticated radar (and not all ships have up to date equipment) or have access to satellite navigation, these do not always work. In that case the ships must rely on the visual characteristics of the navaids, such as colour, frequency of flashing lights and relative position. This is made more diffficult at night when the background lights of the city can make the navaids hard to see.

Most landfolk may not be aware of shore based Range Light markers that align with shipping channels. One prominent one is located in Dartmouth, not far from the Macdonald Bridge, on very high ground in Sinnot Hill Park, above St.Paul's cemetery. There is a fine look off there with a view all the way out to sea, but few people would actually be aware of the name of the park (I wasn't) or the tiny old cemetery.

Fewer still may be aware of the Inner Range Light marker, which aligns with another marker on Georges Island.

It allows ships to line up with the main shipping channel in the harbour and is illuminated at the top with a slow flashing light. It is not hard to understand that light from other sources might well make this marker difficult to see at night, and only the regular flashing light on top would make it stand out.

 The Metropolitan Place - former Holiday Inn building in the background, might also make a difficult backdrop.

There is another such marker farther out toward the harbour entrance - this one located on the grounds of the Damage Control School (naval firefighter training facility) near Sandwich Point.

Situated just off John Blackett Drive (highway 253) between York Redoubt and Herring Cove, the Sandwich Point range light marker is highly visible on shore. However it is not so visible at night as its illumination has been out of order for at least three weeks according to reports I have received. Apparently the Coast Guard does not have an operating reporting system for defective navaids, nor the resources to repair faulty units.

Navaids may be critically important at some point, and they must be reliable to be of use for their intended purpose. That is to keep ships and sailors safe and by inference, the environment of the harbour.

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