Can spring be far away

Crew members began taking in the storm mooring lines this morning on the Radcliffe R. Latimer. By the time I happened by they had already brought home the starboard anchor that had been on the bottom since January. Although difficult to see in the photo, the ship was also rigged with fire wires for the winter. These are steel cables slung overside fore and aft to allow tugs to tie on without the aid of ship's crew in case of emergency.

With all lines slacked off, crew will bring in the extra lines rigged for storm conditions.

The ship has been in winter maintenance since January and is now fitting out for the season, to be ready for the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway March 29. As with most Great Lakes ships, and even this one that spends much of its time in salt water, it lays up for the winter months. This allows time for necessary repairs and maintenance that can't be done during the non-stop navigation season. Unfortunately there won't be much time for painting. That will have to wait for better weather or a drydocking.

This afternoon the ship is scheduled to move from its layup berth at pier 25-26 to pier 27 for some more work.

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Here we go again - and an opinion piece

Bad weather - high winds, no shipping. For the second week in a row, horrible weather is wreaking havoc on shipping schedules in and out of Halifax.
As of the time of this writing there are at least four ships holding off Halifax waiting to get in and a pair of ships in the port waiting to leave. After a brief weather window Tuesday/Wednesday things began to get bad again last night and are predicted to remain that way, off and on for some days to come.
Other ships that may have been due in Halifax are perhaps en route, but staying well away from the latest weather centre.

Opinion Piece

Much will be written over the coming weeks after another tragic accident aboard a large ship. A few weeks ago it was a fire on a tanker, and yesterday it was a fire on on an ultra large container ship, with more loss of lives. Seafaring is a dangerous occupation - although much safer in recent years - but the stark truth is that no matter what precautions and training may be put in place, shipping accidents, whether they be collisions, sinkings or fires, sill happen and all to often they result in deaths.

A number of issues are likely to receive attention:

1. The call for autonomous ships. Technology is far advanced in removing human crews from ships, but most experts agree that it may be ten years or more before truly autonomous ships sail the seven seas, and then only in very specific situations. While the systems are well advanced, the risks and dangers may be multiplied if seafarers are not on board to deal with precise navigation control and emergencies.

2. Improved firefighting on large container ships. It has been pointed out for some time that there is no effective means of fighting deep seated fires on large container ships. The containers stowed way below deck in tight stacks are almost unreachable. The shear mass of adjacent cargo provides so much fuel for fire that once there is ignition it is almost impossible to reach the fire to put it out, and so it will spread. The advent of split superstructures on container ships has at least divided the ship into three sections, which may limit spread. However crews may be trapped in a section and unable to reach safety.

While big buildings are required to have fire walls and sprinkler systems, ships are not, and only engine rooms are protected with CO2 systems. Perhaps it is time to rethink the requirements for fire spread, smothering or extinguishing fires in the cargo spaces. Depriving fires of oxygen is the only sure way to extinguish them. Drowning them in water does not always work, and of course could lead to ships sinking.

3. Lifeboats. There have been many fatal accidents involving the current self- launching lifeboats. Most of these have happened in training exercises. Some new thinking must be done to develop safety capsules in which crews can abandon ships quickly and safely.

4. Sensors and warnings. Early warning systems are needed, and the technologies are out there, but they may not be in use.

5. Cargo declarations. There is a lot of dangerous cargo on ships. This week's loss or damage to 70 containers off the Carolinas revealed that one lost container carried 2700 kgs of sulphuric acid. Perhaps it is fortunate that the box went overside where the acid would be neutralized by sea water. Had it ruptured on board it might have been more serious. The bigger problem is of course undeclared or mislabeled cargo. There have been numerous incidents where the ship's crew was not aware of the dangerous cargo through falsification of bills of lading, and could not protect themselves or the ship. Even better controls are needed to track, handle and stow dangerous cargoes.

All this is not to diminish the excellent Search & Rescue and marine fire fighting and salvage forces that respond to these situations, but these accidents will happen anywhere and the resources are not always near at hand. The primary effort to save lives then must be made in the design, construction and management of the ships themselves. 

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Returning to normal - almost

The port began to return to normal late yesterday and into today. As the seas flattened out a bit and the wind tailed off, ships were able to arrive and depart safely.

APL Phoenix getting underway this morning, with ZIM Alabama also at anchor in the background. The Maugher's Beach lighthouse did indeed suffer damage and its light signal is now considered "unreliable".

Ships that had been trapped in the port were able to sail, starting with Toscana (which was not in for repairs after all, but was waiting out the weather since last Thursday) and Nolhanava (was due to sail Friday) both  left yesterday, and Aniara was able to move from pier 31 to Autoport, a move that had been intended for Friday).

Aniara was then able to get away this morning.

The Maersk/CMA CGM EM Kea arrived form Montreal yesterday and sailed this morning (it would have been a Saturday caller)

YM  Modesty and Altantic Star departed from Ceres in Fairview Cove. They had been scheduled to leave Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Among arrivals today APL Phoenix got in to Halterm, but left Zim Alabama waiting at anchor outside until tomorrow. Zim Ningbo is also at sea waiting for tomorrow - both several days behind schedule.

Tomar arrived for pier 31. It is a sister to Toscana at 61,328 grt, 22,144 dwt, built in 2008 by Mitsubishi Nagasaki, with a capacity of 6354 CEU

The long awaited Pegasus Highway also finally made it in today (was due March 1) and got underway again this afternoon. An interesting ship, it is rather old as autocarriers go, built in 1994 by Oshima Shipbuilding in Oshima, Japan, it is also relatively small by today's standards, at 49,012 grt and 15,553 dwt. On departure it gave its next port as Cristobal, Panama. It is unusual that it would have no USA stops.

Also making it into port today was the Irving Oil tanker East Coast and the Newfoundland connector Oceanex Sanderling.

The pilot boat Scotia Pilot was kept busy today, running in and out with pilots. Some pilots disembarked early and the boat, with pilot aboard, then escorted the ships out to the pilot station area.
 
This was a busy day in the port as a result, but there have been several other delayed arrivals due to the weather to the south. The regular Melfi and Tropical ships, usually here on Monday or Tuesday have extended ETAs. Melfi's Jona is scheduled for tomorrow (but not confirmed). Tropical's Bomar Rebecca has been postponed for a week to March 12, and all subsequent ships are advanced a week.

Numerous other schedules have also been thrown in disarray by weather both in Europe and the North American eastern seaboard.

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Suspension - day 3

Pilotage operations remain suspended for the third day as high winds and seas continue to blast the port. Despite sun and above zero C temperatures today and relative calm inside the harbour it continues to be very windy and unsafe to board or disembark pilots at the pilot station.

Seas crash over the Maugher's Beach spit.

There may be damage to the lighthouse since it appears to have a slight tilt.

 

 Even inside the harbour high gusty winds halted the movement of big ships. The master and pilot of Aniara agreed that it was too windy for the autocarrier to move from pier 31 to Autoport. The ship has been in port since Friday.

APL Phoenix continues to hold off Halifax. It did make an attempt to board a pilot this morning the but the operation was scrubbed.

The autocarrier, Pegasus Highway, has had its arrival put off again. It was originally due March 1, but because of the potential backlog at Autoport it remains at sea with no firm ETA. The ship was hove too off Cape Breton for the weekend, but today was it was noted closer to Halifax.There is concern ashore that the ship has cargo damage, but my sources are close lipped as usual.

HMCS Toronto completes a turn off Africville Park. Winds in the Basin averaged 24 knots and with gusts over 30 knots there were lots of white caps. 

There was small craft activity in the harbour today (see Tugfax) but the only large ship movement took place in the blustery Bedford Basin where HMCS Toronto was doing some high speed turns. Hope the crockery was well stowed.

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Weather Watch

Very high winds coupled with high tides resulted in delays for arrivals, departures and moves in the harbour.
The container ship APL Phoenix was due at the pilot station at 0800 but instead went to anchor off Chebucto Head until conditions become safe for pilot boarding and docking.

Although about 7 miles from my vantage point, the lens brings the ship closer and flattens out the seas that prevent the ship from entering port. 

The 109,712 grt, 115,075 dwt ship with a capacity of 9200 TEU is on the Columbus JAX service. It was built in 2013 by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Ltd in Okpo for NOL (Neptune Orient Line) parent of APL (American President Line) which has since been taken over by CMA CGM.

The ship was not the only Daewoo Okpo product to be seen today.

Built in 2000 by the same yard, the ferry Fundy Rose is tied up at pier 9B for a refit.Earlier in the week the ship was turned end for end at the pier to allow work from the shore on extending the ship's fenders and other work. This morning workers had the stern ramp down.  And surprise - a personnel door adjacent to the ramp is still surmounted by a name plate identifying the ship in its original name.

 Although launched as Superferry Ithaki it was renamed Blue Star Ithaki before entering service for Blue Star Ferries, SA of Athens. That is the name that still appears on the plate - an interesting artifact of its previous life.

In October 2014 the ship made its last run between Tinos/Syros/Mykonos and arrived in Piraeus to be handed over the (Federal) Minister of Transport. It was renamed Canada 2014 for its delivery trip to Canada. It arrived in Saint John, NB, December 2, 2014 but was sent to Halifax for refit, arriving December 5. That refit at pier 9A took until July 13, 2015 when it sailed for Saint John, entering service between Saint John and Digby, NS July 18, 2015, operated by Bay Ferries Ltd. Its current refit was scheduled for completion by March 20, but that has been extended possibly to March 31.

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Busy at Pier 9C, and elsewhere

Pier 9C, the recently developed area of Richmond Terminals has been very busy recently, certainly justifying the investment the port made in expanding the area nearest the A. Murray MacKay bridge.

Today, in addition to the suppliers Atlantic Tern and Burin Sea, regular users of the area, there is a large load of drill pipe and riser assembling for BP's drilling program this summer. The finishing touches are also being made on the new MI Swaco drilling lubricant facility at the extreme north end of the pier.

The surprise visitor at the pier is the autocarrier Toscana which seems to be in for repairs, since its ramps are in the up position and no cargo work appears to be going on.

It is unusual to see an autocarrier in the Narrows, and such a large ship at Pier 9C.

The dock area is covered with drill pipe (rusty coloured) and riser assembly (white) that BP will be using for their exploration well. There would be little room for the ship to lower is cargo ramps - especially the 300 tonne capacity stern ramp.

Toscana is not super large by today's standards, but it does measure an impressive 61,328 grt, 22,250 dwt and has a capacity of 6,354 CEU. It was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki in 2009. It is a Wilhelmsen ship operating in the Wallenius Wilhelmsen fleet that numbers about sixty auto carriers.

Speaking of autocarriers, another Wallenius Wilhelmsen ship was tied up at the other end of the port at pier 31 at the south end Ocean Terminals.This one however is a member of the Wallenius partner in the line. Aniara although essentially the same type of ship is quite a bit bigger at 71,673 grt,  30,087 dwt, with a capacity of 7,600 CEU (car equivalent units). This largely achieved by length- it is 231.6m long versus 199.9 for Toscana. Aniara was built in 2008 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Engineering in Okpo. The ship will likely move to Autoport, but no time has been given due to weather. Pier 31 is a much better place to be during very high winds.

In the the new fenced off era it seems that ships have become more background than foreground.

At nearby Halterm both Oceanex Sanderling and Nolhanava were loading for their coastal trips. However Nolhanava has opted to go to anchor tonight in view of the winds predicted for the next 24 hours.

Fairview Cove had two ships today also, Glen Canyon Bridge which arrived this morning and YM Modesty arriving late this afternoon.

 YM Modesty is a 6258 TEU container ship built in 2013 by Koyo Dockyard in Japan. It measures 71,821 grt and 72,730 dwt.

Just to give an idea of how blustery it is already, the launch / tug Captain Jim was making a lot of spray on its way back from a chore in Bedford Basin.

The boat was built in 1989 along fishing boat lines, but is a jack of all trades, doing small towing, working as a launch and crew/supply boat in the harbour for owners RMI Marine.

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Neither Lamb nor Lion

The old adage is "in like a lamb out like a lion" for the month of March. Today's weather is sort of in between, neither here nor there, so it is not a reliable predictor.


It was a bit blustery, with a some chop in the harbor, but very mild temperatures, as Spuigracht arrived for Fairview Cove. The 16,639 grt, 21,349 dwt ship, built in 2001 is in Spliethoff's regular cargo run. Halifax is the "winter" port for the service, but once the St.Lawrence Seaway opens before the end of the month it will shift to Cleveland, OH (and other St.Lawrence and Great Lakes ports).

The ferry Woodside I scurries across the harbor toward Woodside giving Spuigracht lots of room.

Contrary to my previous post on the subject of harbor ferries, Woodside I, built in 1986,  is also due for replacement this year. The new ferry Rita Joe is under construction now at A+F Thériault in Meteghan River.

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