Tenders Ahoy

 There were three large cruise ships in Halifax again today, September 26. The Arcadia (84,342 gt, 285 meters) was assigned to Pier 20 and the Enchanted Princess (145,281 gt, 330 meters) to Pier 21- 22. That left no more room at the seawall so the smallest ship, the Volendam (60,906 gt, 237 meters), took up position in #1 anchorage in the lower harbour.

The Volendam's tenders worked to lighter passengers ashore to the landing stage at Pier 24.

 With the gigantic Enchanted Princess taking the entire south two thirds of the seawall, it used the 150 tonne capacity yellow bollard at the end of the Pier 22 (see yesterday's post). The floating landing stage at Pier 24 was busy with the Volendam's tenders shuttling back and forth to the ship.

Volendam tenders 9,10 and 11 (and perhaps others) were in use late in the afternoon, ferrying passengers (and crew) back to the ship.

 The boats have bow and side loading doors with tarps as rudimetary awnings to protect from rain (there were very light showers). Labels near the stern declare the boats suitable for 90 persons when used as tenders and 150 persons for lifeboat service. (Flying the Dutch flag is a reminder that the ship uses its own (foreign) crews on the boats in apparent contravention of Canadian cabotage laws and as line handlers, contrary to the longshore union's collective agreement.)

The Volendam has been a perennial caller during the cruise season, and like the other two ships in port today, it was built by Fincantieri, this one at the Breda yard in Monfalcone in 1999. It carries 1432 passengers and 647 crew.

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I repeat that the Arcadia is one of the best looking cruise ships despite the "super graphic" flag on the bow (not visible in thsi view).

It was also built by Fincantieri Breda in Monfalcone, but in 2005, and carries 1952 passengers (single) and 2,388 maximum, with a crew of 976.

As the afternoon wore on it became more and more gloomy and slightly drizzly so there is no current photo of the Enchanted Princess. Today's call was its last for this year, but I was able to get a photo on a previous visit (September 29, 2022).

 The ship came from Fincantieri's Italiani yard in Monfalcone in 2020 and has a capacity of 3660 passengers and 1346 crew.

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British arrivals, new cruise news and another tanker update

 British Arrival #1 As usual when Cunard's Queen Mary 2 visits Halifax people flock to the waterfront to see it arrive and depart. This morning's (September 25) arrival was delayed, with its ETA at the pilot station changing a couple of times, but eventually picking up its pilot at about 0930 hrs ADT. Nevertheless there were small groups of viewers at various spots along the shore with cameras and smart phones at the ready.

The ship is on a long loop that started in Southampton on September 15 with stops in New York, Rockland ME, and Halifax. It will sail from here for Sept-Iles, Saguenay, Quebec City, Sydney, New York, Newport, Boston, Southampton October 13 and Hamburg October 15.

The ship had the entire Seawall (berths 20 to 22) to itself today, so did not need to use the bright yellow bollard at the end of north end of Pier 20. That bollard, which is visible in today's photo (you may have to squint) is known familiarly as the "Queen Mary bollard" named for this ship's  illustrious predecessor. It has a companion bollard at the south end of Pier 22 which the ship very likely did use today.

As noted in some previous posts, the yellow colour of the bollard represents a maximum load limit of 150 tonnes and is the highest capacity type of bollard in the port. See: May 19, 2022 and May 20, 2022

The small object off the ships starboard bow is likely the tug Dominion Rumbler with the sanitation barge Dominion Branwyn. I saw the duo getting underway September 23 from their base in Dartmouth Cove to service other cruise ships.

The barge is a former Canadian Naval Auxiliary vessel, a fresh water lighter, believed to be YSF 220. If so, it was built in 1956 by Marine Industries in Sorel, QC likely as an ammunition lighter YE 220 and later converted to a water barge YW 220 before becoming YSF 220. When acquired by Dominion Diving it was assigned the less salubrious name Honey Barge but was given its present name a few years ago.
 

British Arrival #2 The second British arrival may not have been as happy a one. The RSS (for Royal Research Ship) Discovery has been working off Nova Scotia for the past weeks, likely for the Bedford Institute. The Discovery put in to Halifax briefly this afternoon, September 25, for a medical evacuation. 

The transfer to the launch Halmar took place at number one anchorage, after which the ship returned immediately back to sea.
  

Cruise News

A new to Halifax cruise ship arrived in Halifax today, September 25.  The French Compagnie du Ponant operates Le Lyrial under the flag of Wallis and Futuna, an overseas collective of France situated between Tahiti and Noumea. The port of registry is Mata Utu.

 Fincantieri's Ancona shipyard delivered Le Lyrial in 2015. The 10,992 gt ship can accommodate 264 passengers and 139 crew. It is on a nine day outing from Montreal to Quebec City, Saguenay, Percé, Cap-aux-Meules and Halifax then on to Boston, Oak Bluffs (Martha's Vineyard), Newport and New York.

More Tanker Update 

Thanks to a well informed source I can report that the "mystery" short return visit of the CB Pacific (see two previous posts), was indeed to discharge a small quanity of cargo. The shore facility reached capacity before the ship offloaded all of its ethanol cargo on a previous visit in August, so the ship carried on with deliveries of other products for Irving Oil (the ship has many segregated tanks and can carry and handle a dozen or so discrete chemicals at the same time). On this recent return visit it offloaded the remaining 5000 cubic meters of ethanol.

The source also reported that the ship has signed a five year charter with Valero, so we may see more of the ship in the future. Valero has a large tank capacity in Eastern Passage, but has not had direct tanker deliveries in several years.

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Shorter Days: Cruises and Tanker Updates

 With autumn comes shorter days, but more intensive cruise ship activity. It is therefore a challenge to get photos before the sun sets. Fortunately today, September 24, both cruise ships sailed on time so there was still ample light.

Norwegian Jade was first to leave and from its berth at Pier 22, bow south, it headed directly for sea, with a bright low sun on its starboard side.

There was some wind from the south, so there were wavelets on the rocky shore at Point Pleant Park. 

Built in 2006 by Meyerweft, Papenburg, the Norwegian Jade is a 93,558 gt ship of the Jewel class with a capacity of 2,402 passengers and 1,037 crew.  The ship is on a seven day cruise from Boston to CornerBrook, Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, Saint John, and return to Boston.

Today's other ship was the Jewel of the Sea coincidentally also built by Meyerwerft, Papenburg but in 2004. One of the Radiance class it is also of a similar size at 90,090 gt with a passenger capacity of 2,501 but with a much smaller crew of 842.

With both ships tied up along the seawall (Piers 20 to 22) and measuring 294 m (965 ft) for the Jade and 293m (962 ft) for the Jewel the latter ship at Pier 20 sent headlines out to the north bollard on the Tall Ships Quay using a line boat. On departure it used the tug Atlantic Willow to get away from the dock. It then headed northward and east around George's Island for sea.

 

The Jewel of the Seas is also on a seven day trip out of Boston to Halifax, Saint John, Portland, ME and back to Boston. 

Tanker Updates

1. It is still a question as to why the tanker CB Pacific went alongside the Irving Oil terminal in Woodside  [see yesterday's post]. The ship had no cargo for Halifax and its draft on sailing last night was still listed at 7.4 meters. It is due in Saint John, NB tomorrow morning.

2. The CL Xunjang sailed from Imperial Oil this afternoon for Point Tupper, NS, in ballast.

In 2022 NuStar Energy LP sold the Point Tupper terminal to EverWind Fuels. EverWind planned to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia there. The facility has 7.8million bbl of storage capacity, and can accommodate the largest ships of any port in eastern North America. 

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Two Tankers

 There are two tankers in port today, September 22 - one alongside and one waiting at anchor.

Arriving early this morning the CL Xunjang tied up alongside Imperial Oil's number 3 dock to offload product from Antwerp. 

A typical MidRange tanker of 29,455 gt and 49,727 dwt it was built in 2016 by the little known Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Tongyeong, South Korea. [The company was renamed HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding in 2020 after investors bought the company out of receivership.] 

Originally named Maersk Torshavn (an interesting Danish/Norwegian name) it was sold in 2020 to Chinese investors but not renamed until 2023 when Tianjun Yuli-I Leasing Ltd became owners, with Nanjing Tanker Corp listed as commercial managers.

The anchored tanker is the now familiar CB Pacific which has been trading back and forth between US ports such as New York, Albany, New Haven and Boston to Halifax and Montreal since February for Irving Oil. It arrived yesterday from Montreal.

 The CB Pacific, built by Jiangsu New Hantong shipbuilding in Yangzhong, China, was delivered in 2020. The 27,250 gt, 37,787 dwt ship is equipped to handle crude oil, clean petroluem products or chemicals in twelve phenolic epoxy coated tanks (plus two slops tanks). The ship is also built to DNV Baltic Ice Class 1B and is fitted with a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber which can be run at zero emissions. As previously noted it has a covered fore deck - a feature rarely incorporated in tankers.

It is due to move alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal tomorrow, Monday, September 24. It does not appear to have much, if any, cargo on board, so it may not be in port for very long. (My guess is that it is here for bunkers but that is purely a guess. Current draft is reported at 7.4 meters - we will check its departing draft when that become available.)

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ACL and H-L call it splits

 The fallout from the Maersk / Hapag-Lloyd "Gemini Cooperation" began earlier this year. As soon as the arrangement was announced H-L stated that they would be leaving THE Alliance effective early 2025. There was some fear that that the other partners, ONE, HMM and Yang Ming would not be able to survive the loss, but it has now been reported that MSC has stepped in. As the world's largest container line MSC can bring considerable stability to THE Alliance. (MSC had been party to the 2M Alliance with Maersk which will also expire). It is still possible that various lines will re-form into different arrangements, but it is now much less likely.

Atlantic Container Line has announced that it is withdrawing from the longstanding "reciprocal space charter and sailing agreement" with Hapag-Lloyd. Initially established in 1986 and renewed every ten years, the agreement saw ACL moving some of its ships to H-L's Montreal route for a time and even renaming them with "Express" names.

The G3 (third generation) ACL ship Atlantic Companion was renamed Companion Express from 1987 to 1994.

 There was lots of Hapag-Lloyd orange on deck as Atlantic Cartier arrived in Haifax and also on the Atlantic Compass:

Atlantic Concert carried the name Concert Express from 1987-1994.

In recent years H-L boxes (and the green United Arab Shipping Co's UASC boxes) have been fewer and fewer on ACL ships (at least from what can be seen on deck), so it is uncertain how severe a jolt this latest development will be for the Grimaldi-owned ACL. There is also talk that H-L may establish a new transatlantic service of its own calling in Saint John, NB. H-L and CP Rail (now CPKC) also have longstanding ties, so this may be a loss to Halifax which is served only by CN Rail.

 Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will be establising feeder services as part of of their new network but ACL also has feeders to Gothenborg and between Liverpool and Dublin and Belfast. The shakeup may have more ramifications however, but that is purely speculation at this point.

You can play "Where's Waldo" trying to spot the Hapag-Lloyd and UASC containers on the Atlantic Sky at PSA Fairview Cove yesterday, September 20. 

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More Lighetring

With three cruise ships in port today, there was only room at the usual passenger berths at Pier 20 and Pier 22 for the Viking Mars and Enchanted Princess respectively and they occupied the entire length of the sea wall.

 

With the deep water commercial piers no longer used for passengers due to construction and expansion of the South End Container Terminal, the only spot left for a large ship was anchorage number 1. That is where the Zuiderdam fetched up.

Passengers wishing to go ashore were then transported on the ship's own lighters - in this case boats number 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16 - to the floating landing stage at Pier 24. It appears that the passengers were "processed" through the Pier 23 building, not the temporary tents at Pier 24.

That is the autocarrier Amethyst Ace at Autoport in the background.

Lightering ashore may not be to every passenger's liking. and it remains to be seen what happens in inclement (or worse) weather.

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Morning Pilot

 Today, Sunday, September 15, the car carrier Morning Pilot followed the now familiar routine of docking first at Autoport to offload automobiles then moving to Pier 9C to unload RoRo cargo. This is the second such caller in recent days with Wallenius Wilhelmsen's Tiranna docking at Autoport and Pier 9C on Thursday September 12.

By the time I arrived back in Halifax on September 12 the Tirranna had already tied up at Pier 9C so I did not get a photo of the ship underway. It was in the process of discharging the usual variety of wheeled vehicles for construction and forestry work, and one unusual "vehicle" - a shrink wrapped helicopter on a MAFI trailer.

I was more fortunate this evening and was able to catch the Morning Pilot northbound in the Narrows, turning in Bedford Basin and southbound back to Pier 9C to dock starboard side to the pier.

The tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Maple (operating in reverse mode) shepherded the ship through the Narrows northbound.

 

With the sun rapidly sinking behind the Bedford Hills, the tugs squared up to slow and then to turn the ship.

Once turned and headed south, the ship passed CSL's Baie St.Paul loading gypsum at the Gold Bond dock in Burnside.

 

 As the ship clears the A. Murray MacKay bridge it is apparent why this movement is necessary. The stern ramp is skewed to starbaord and not adjustable, so the ship must tie up starboard side to the dock. The side ramp may not be large enough to accommodate the RoRo cargo.

The Morning Pilot was built in 2014 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, registering 65,276 gt and 22,675 dwt and has a capacity of 7627 CEU*. It is managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management (Korea) Ltd and is running on Wallenius Wilhelmsen's transatlantic route.

The Tirranna dates from 2009 and was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Enginerring Co in Okpo. The 71,659 gt, 30,089 dwt ship can carry 7620 autos of RT43* size and is fitted with a 320 tonne stern ramp.

* The term CEU for Car Equivalent Units and RT43 are used by RoRo carriers to represent the standard size of an automobile. Dating back to the first dedicated car carrier, the unit represents a  1966 Toyota Carolla of 4 x 1.5 meter size. All cars and other RoRo cargo are thus rated as a percentage of CEU or RT43 for cargo stowage planning purposes, so a very small Sub-compact may be a 90% CEU or RT43 and a large car such as a HUMVEE may be 150% of a CEU or RT43. The term is thus a useful one to compare the capacity of different ships, but may not represent the total number of cars on board on any given voyage. When the ship is carrying large sized RoRo cargo, the figure may be even less representative. In those cases the ship's capacity may be quoted in "lane meters" or "lanes in meters" (LIMS) which may also account for variation in lane widths between ships.

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