Shell going for litterbug of the year award

Nova Scotia has become the latest target for the "let someone else do it" policy of one of the world's largest (and richest) corporations.

Royal Dutch Shell has recently come under fire in the UK for its oil well abandonment plans for the North Sea. According to reports, they will leave the remnants of oil platforms after decommissioning the actual oil production. These include three subsea structures each the size of the Empire State building according to one article. Another report says that the  Brent C topside structure weighs 36,000 tonnes, not including the under water concrete jacket, and that some of it will be left in place because no one knows how to remove it with current technology. Plugging and abandoning a well may cost GBP 10 mn but removing the structure from seabed to topside could be GBP 1 bn or more.

Low oil prices have meant that it is uneconomical to continue to pump oil from many parts of the North Sea. Companies are decommissioning wells even though there may be lots of oil left to recover. Removal of well structures in the harsh North Sea has never been done, and costs are impossible to estimate. The lack of any return to the oil companies' bottom lines means that they want to avoid costly removals, but this has created a toxic political environment. The UK government will also be on the hook for half the removal cost through tax rebates.
Offsetting this is the billions the companies have made pumping oil out of the North Sea, without planning for what happens afterward or setting aside funds to do the removals.

Now Shell wants to abandon  the dropped riser from their first well attempt in the Shelburne Basin off Nova Scotia. The drill ship StenaICEMAX dropped the thousands of feet of pipe last spring while trying to disconnect from the well in bad weather and it is still lying in a jumbled mess on the bottom. Citing a host of reasons for why the pipe should be left there, Shell cannot conceal the fact that they want to be spared the expense of picking it up.

Replacement pipe was handled one pipe at a time onto pier 9C.

 

They are certainly right that it will be expensive, but that is no excuse. They should leave nothing behind period. The Canada - Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board must not let them off the hook so easily.

A small portion of the pipe sections, fully jacketed with flotation collars, that were required to replace the dropped pipe.

A comparable number now sit on the ocean bottom, and may be left there, complete with their plastic collars, to rot and decay.

As we know steel may eventually rust away even in low oxygen conditions. However the thousands of flotation collars are plastic. These will gradually break up and float away in small beads. These are known to be consumed by fish and birds or to remain as pollution for decades if not longer.  

It seems to me that under a drilling permit the license holder should be totally responsible for any and all clean up costs associated with their work  no matter how complicated, dangerous, difficult, costly (or whatever adjective they can find) the work may be. 

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Grand Manan - sad end to a fine little ship

CBC News New Brunswick is reporting on what appears to be the end of the line for a ferry that once served Grand Manan Island. See the report and short video clip:
 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/grand-manan-ferry-panama-fritz-breckner-1.3897918

Now named Sanblas the former Grand Manan has been aground in Panama since July 17 and appears to be there to stay. The uninsured ship ran onto rocks during an unwise salvage attempt on another vessel. When one engine stalled it could not be restarted fast enough to save the ferry from the rocks, and there it sits, its engine room filled with water and its owner unable to save it.

 Grand Manan fresh off the slip in Pictou, NS after its spring refit in 1991.

Built in 1965 by Saint John Dry Dock and Shipbuilding, the 1443 grt car and passenger feerry served J.D.Irving Ltd, CN Marine, and the New Brunswick Minister of Transportation during its 46 year career, always running between Black's Harbour and Grand Manan.

It carried 25 cars, 100 passengers and was originally powered by a pair of 8 cylinder Blackstone engines. Those were replaced vy 12 cylinder Caterpillars in about the year 2000.

In 1991 the ship was renamed Grand Manan IV to free the name for another ship, but reverted to its original name in 1993. It was due to retire after it last trip September 12, 2010, but was kept in reserve for a time. That was fortunate since the new ferry Grand Manan Adventure had some serious teething problems and the Grand Manan re-entered temporary service in May 2011.

Later in the year it was sold to one Fritz Breckner for use between Panama and Columbia. He paid $200,000 and says he spent another $800,000 on it for a new ferry route around the Darien Gap, but could not get the needed permits from the government of Panama.   The owner was using it as a liveaboard when he unwisely attempted to salvage one of his catamarans, which was also lost in the storm.

In another refit, this one in Liverpool in 1995, the ship has its bow door ajar. It has added some chevrons and the New Brunswick logo on its funnels.

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It was a quiet week...

As Garrison Keillor used to say every week on the Prairie Home Companion (NPR Radio in the USA)- It was a quiet week in Lake Wobegon.
Halifax harbour somewhat resembled Lake Wobegon this past week. There was the usual traffic of regular callers, but nothing too much to catch the eye. Some different tugs (see Tugfax) but that was about it.
In cases such as this it is time to dip into the shoebox for some older things. I have pretty much played out 1986, so skipping ahead a decade, here are some choice images from 1996.

Northern Progress sails in ballast. 

Among the regular winter and spring callers were the ships of Alcan Aluminum (now Rio-TintoAlcan). These were ice class ships, that ran year round to Port Alfred (now La Baie). They made frequent stops in Halifax for ice advisers and bunkers to and from their loading ports in Jamaica or Brazil.
Northern Progress was purpose and built in 1989 by Nippon Kokan KK in Tsu, along with sister Northern Venture and  measured 21,69 grt, 36,445 dwt. They sailed under the Bermuda flag until January 2002 when both were drydocked and renamed in Halifax upon sale to Fednav. They became Federal Progress and Federal Venture under the Hong Kong flag and continued in the alumina trade, but no longer exclusive to Alcan. They extended their range to Camsar, Guinea.
In March 2013 the pair were sold to Greek owners and renamed Progress and Adventure in Montreal.
They did not last long under those names. In July 2014 Progress arrived in Gadani Beach and was broken up starting July 26. Adventure followed and was broken up starting September 3.

When cruise ships were more often converted passenger liners, they really looked like ships.

IslandBreeze started out life in 1961at the John Brown + Co shipyard in Clydebank as RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Transvaal Castle for the Union-Castle Line. One of the last of world's truly great liners, it operated at 22.5 knots powered by steam turbines delivering 44,000 shp to twin screws. It was also one class, operating more like a hotel, the only (passenger) ship in the fleet that did not have first class accommodation.

It became S.A.Vaal in 1966 under Safmarine ownership, but continued running from Southampton to Durban via Capetown until September 1977 when it was the last of the line to follow that route, sailing from Southampton, returning October 10.  Passenger ships like her were hit by increasing air travel for passengers and mail, but also the loss of cargo to containers. Her 11 1/2 day run to South Africa was no match for a 12 hour plane ride.

Carnival Cruises bought the ship, renamd it Festivale and carried out a reconfiguration at Kawaski HI that nearly doubled passenger capacity from 728 to 1432, by fitting decks in the cargo holds and adding superstructure. Fortunately these did not utterly spoil the ship's handsome profile.

As new ships were brought in Carnival sold it off to Dolphin Cruise Line in 1996. Renamed IslandBreeze [one word, but with a capital B in the middle] it was chartered to Thomson Cruises and called in Halifax twenty times (one more was cancelled due to weather) in 1996 only, including the infamous Titanic cruise. On that occasion scores of Titanic buffs and three actual survivors (one at age 102) observed the recovery of a 10 tonne hunk of hull plate by flotation bagfrom the recently located wreck.

The ship was sold again in 1998, this time to Premier Cruise Line and renamed The Big Red Boat III . After suffering that indignity for two years, Premier went broke and the ship was laid up until 2003. It was finally renamed The Big Boat for the trip to the scrappers, arriving Alang, India July 9, 2003. 

 Nanticoke self-unloads a grain cargo at pier 25. Ships from the lakes usually work all night to discharge.

Built in 1980 by Collingwood Shipyard, the ship was one of  the new breed of Lakers that could also go to sea. It was originally to be called Gleneagles, after a previous CSLer, but became Nanticoke to recognize the port on Lake Erie that was, at the time, a major destination for coal and iron ore. 

The ship often called in Halifax with grain and loaded gypsum for the return trip to the Great Lakes.  As a self-unloader, it discharged directly into a hopper and its cargo was transferred by conveyor to the grain elevator. 

In May 1997  it was one of the three CSLers converted in Dartmouth to carry magnetite for ballasting the Hibernia gravity base off Newfoundland.

In March 209 it was renamed Salarium when it took up a long term charter to carry salt from the les Mines Salines in the Magdalen Islands. It is still doing that work, but is probably soon due for replacement.

 CCGS Parizeau looks quite smart as it sails out on another research trip.

The ship's red paint was barely dry, having been applied in September 1996, covering its previously white hull. The s 1328 grt survey ship was built in 1967 by Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver and transferred to the east coast in 1992. It was laid up in 2000 at BIO, renamed 2001-04 and eventually posted for sale.

In late 2003 it was sold, but it was not until 2005 that the new name Destiny Empress was scrawled on its hull. It remained under Canadian registry and sailed for Shelburne and then headed south, only to return after engine trouble near Bermuda. It eventually made its way south again and was resold perhaps more than once. 

On December 22, 2009 it was seized off the Spanish coast carrying a tonne of cocaine and its crew of seven (including one Canadian) were arrested, along with 16 people on shore. The ship was sold for scrap and arrived in Aliaga, Turkey July 19, 2011.

So many ex Canadian government ships have been implicated in drug smuggling, one wonders how the government can justify the paltry returns it gets from surplus sales. Many of the ships were fit only for scrap anyway, so there was really no need to go to all the trouble of selling them.

Halifax Shipyard was busy cranking out coastal defence vessels in 1996. Shawinigan was preparing to launch in November.

The major shipbuilding program by Irving Shipbuilding Inc delivered 12 ships over the span of three years. All were stern launched in the traditional manner, with only one launching ship itself ahead of time!  The MCMDVs continue to serve the RCN, in a variety of roles. HMCS Kingston has just returned from the Caribbean from drug patrol work.

In the background of the photo is HMCS Endeavour AGOR 171. The survey ship was transferred to Halifax in 1995, and was finally decommissioned in 1999 (after being decommissioned for a time in 1998 and 1999). It left Halifax in October 2001, classed as a yacht. It was last seen in Green Cove Springs, Florida in 2002 where a planned luxury yacht conversion had stalled. 

Veendam sails under a glowering sky. The black clouds overhead compliment the ship's black hull. In the background the tanker Irving Eskimo unloads at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal, which after many years of inactivity, has been re-opened in 2016.

Veendam was brand new in 1996, delivered by the Fincanitieri yard in Venice, and is still sailing, although much modified. Two passenger decks were added in the stern during a 2009 refit. It had another refit in 2012, but had serious engine problems in 2014 and was forced to cancel cruises for a three week drydocking.
For several years it was paired with twin sister ship Maasdam as regular Halifax callers. This year Maasdam was replaced by Rotterdam, but Veendam made twenty during the 2016 cruise season, including the inaugural cruise ship call April 30 .

The cable ship Sir Eric Sharp sails on a repair job.

The ship was named for the Chairman and Chief Executive of Cable + Wireless plc from 1980 to 1990, Sir Eric Sharp, later Eric Sharp, Baron of Grimsdyke (b.1916-d.1994). He oversaw the re-privatization of the company which had been nationalized in 1947 and placed under the control of the (British) Post Office. The ship was built in 1989 by Swan Hunter, Wallsend, a company with several Halifax connections, most notably as builder CSS Acadia, the flag ship of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

Cable and Wireless reconfigured itself many times over after 1990, but the ship was acquired in 2005 by IT International Telecom, the Canadian communications operator. Renamed IT Intrepid and placed under Barbados flag, it continues to carry out cable work, primarily in eastern North America, often working from Halifax.

I pictured it in this blog on October 6 when it arrived for a refit at pier 9. With that work nearly done, the ship is due to sail this week to repair a cable break on the St.Lawrence River between Pointe-à-Santerre and Forestville.

Aside from the twin stacks, it is very much in the traditional style of cable ships

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Caribbean Princess - her name is mud

The cruise ship Caribbean Princess, a familiar caller in Halifax, has just made history by receiving the largest environmental fine ever levied on a ship in the United States. The $40 million fine is certainly in proportion to the offence which including pumping oily waste overboard through a series of illegal "magic pipes", falsifying records and covering up the offence which took place over several years.

It was discovered in England in August 2013 by a new ship's engineer. He blew the whistle on the other engineers and when the ship arrived in the US the Coast Guard went aboard and discovered where the magic pipe had been. Some crew had been busy trying to remove the evidence, but traces were left.

Not only must the ship's owner (ultimately Carnival Corp) pay the fine, but its eight subsidiaries, AIDA, Carnival, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, P+O, Princess and Seabourn are now under a court supervised Environmental Compliance Program for five years. Good.

Known by some as "the Shopping Cart" due to her odd observation deck above the stern, Caribbean Princess is seen here leaving Halifax under a cloud September 19, 2015.

Caribbean Princess was in Halifax September 27, October 7, 17 and 27 this year, and several times a year in previous years, since its first call in 2008. How many of those times was it discharging waste overboard in Canadian waters - apparently undetected.

In the case of egregious offences such as this the US courts have been known to ban ships from US waters. I think Carnival got off lightly.

One has to wonder what the crew's motivation was in pumping the waste over. In some rust bucket ships with sleazy owners, it is easier to understand - they want to save the cost of disposing of waste and to cover up sloppy practises. But in a supposedly well managed operation like a cruise line, unless management was complicit - and there has been no such suggestion - it must have been entirely motivated by the crew. What were they do gain? Covering up their own poor management? Trying to live within a budget?  Even some sort of kickbacks from shore side organizations? There doesn't seem to be any explanation that of why the crew did what they did.

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Irving invasion

There were two tankers in port today, both operated by Irving Oil.
The Marshall Islands flagged Great Eastern arrived Friday and tied up at Imperial Oil #4 dock.

Great Eastern at Imperial Oil dock #4.

 

This is an interesting development. The ship runs regularly from Saint John, NB delivering Irving's product to the US east coast. On this trip, after discharging it went on to Port Arthur, TX and loaded up on refined product for competitor Esso.

Then this afternoon the Canadian flagged East Coast arrived for the second time in a week.  The ship arrived last Saturday too, but that time docked at Ultramar. I believe it unloaded Ultramar product, picked up in Lévis, QC on the return leg of a trip when it delivered Irving product to St.Lawrence River ports.

East Coast came in west of George's Island. 

 

On today's visit it tied up at Irving Oil's Woodside terminal. To do so it sailed up west of George's Island, made a big sweep north, and came in alongside with the aid of the tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Oak. Dominion Diving's Halmar did line boat duties.

This is the first time I have had a close up look at the exhaust gas scrubber system, installed abaft the original funnel. Certainly an unattractive addition, but a necessary one to comply with emission regulations in Canada and the US.
 

The white structure attached to the aft side of the funnel houses the exhaust gas scrubber.

The Irving tankers each carry the ship's initial on the superstructure.

Tugs turn the ship for its approach to the Woodside pier. 

East Coast ex Nor'Easter (i) will be sailing early tomorrow morning, after pumping off a part load. See last week's post on Nor'Easter (ii).

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Are there storm clouds ahead for ZIM

With the most recent container line takeover, reducing the number of major players on the industry from 11 to 10, questions swirl around the future of ZIM.

ZIM Piraeus arrives on Wednesday, one of two ZIM callers each week in Halifax.

Yesterday A.P.Moller-Maersk announced the purchase of Hamburg Sud from the Oetker family, pushing Maersk's share of the world container business up to over 18%. At the beginning of the decade there were 20 global container lines, now there are only 10, leaving ZIM as the sole unaffiliated player in the tempestuous industry.




The recent epidemic of mergers, takeovers and alliances (several of which, including the Hamburg-Sud one, will not come into effect until well into 2017) is putting even more pressure on beleaguered smaller operators. There is even talk of a desperation merger of OOCL and Yang Ming - even though a Hong Kong - Taiwan union was unthinkable until recently, or even a sell off to the other majors. Analysts reckon both lines are about half the size needed to survive as global players.
HAPAG-Lloyd also received approval from the EU this week for its purchase of USAC.


ZIM is even smaller*, so must be under tremendous pressure.




A major Port of Halifax customer, ZIM has been a steady presence here for decades, but like all container lines it is suffering from the industry over capacity and the rate wars over shrinking cargo volume. ZIM has been able to survive thanks to deep pocketed investors, and is denying the inevitable rumours of a sell off.

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*Generally accepted capacity numbers are as follows:

Maersk 3,800,000 TEU (>610 ships)

Hamburg Sud 650,000 TEU (130 ships)

HAPG-Lloyd + UASC 1,600,000 TEU

Yang Ming 575,000 TEU

OOCL 575,000 TEU

ZIM 326,615 TEU



Dimitrios K. - ship with a history

The general cargo ship Dimitrios K. is due for bunkers December 1. The ship has been here before and made the news early in its career.
The Wuhu Shipyard in Wuhu, China built the ship in 2001 as the Cedar for Sabine Trading (Diana Shipping Agencies, managers) of Greece. The 16,360 grt ship had a deadweight tonnage of 24,765 and was classed as a general cargo ship, equipped with four cranes and grab buckets for bulk cargoes.
On November 16, 2001 it had a steering failure on the St.Lawrence River and strayed 200 feet out of the channel and grounded on a rocky bottom near Deschaillons. Although freed the next day it was sent back to Quebec City for inspection. It was found to have been holed in two places, but was allowed to proceed to Thorold, ON to unload its cargo of bauxite and alumina and return to Quebec City for repairs.


In 2003 it was sold and renamed Atlantic Castle under the Antigua and Barbuda flag and little was heard of it until it was sold again in 2007 and renamed Ladytramp. The new owners were associated with Korkyra Shipping Ltd of Korcula, Croatia, and the ship was flagged in the Marshall Islands. Its gross tonnage was revised to 16,807.

On June 4, 2013 it arrived in Halifax in ballast for bunkers and made a most unladylike departure a few hours later under a pall of heavy smoke.

On arrival in Baie-Comeau On June 8 it was detained by Transport Canada until June 10 for a defective emergency fire pump and piping.

Later that year it was sold again to current owners, Kallianis Brothers of Athens, Greece, but remains under the Marshall Islands flag. I last saw the ship in Point Tupper November 11, 2014,  where it was unloading cargo using its grabs.

On it latest visit to Halifax it is giving Baie-Comeau as its last port of call on November 29, but may have stopped off Sydney, NS on November 30. It is a little early in the season for an ice advisor, but it may have had a pilot to disembark.


The ship appears to be loaded, which would mean a cargo of grain from the Cargill elevator in Baie-Comeau.

At anchor in the harbor off Purdy's wharf, the research vessel Coriolus II can be seen tied up at the old Coast Guard base in Dartmouth, the site of a new ocean research facility.

Unlike the pleasant weather of the previous photos, today's very high winds will likely delay bunkering for some time.

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