Florencia Bay - second of two

The second of the new Canadian Coast Guard Bay class lifeboats, Florencia Bay arrived in Halifax late this afternoon (October 13) in advance of some stormy weather.

Not quite as nice a day as it was for the arrival of its sister Cadboro Bay yesterday (October 12), nevertheless the crew conned the boat from the flying bridge. It must have been a bracing trip, racing  along the eastern shore in excess of 20 knots to get in ahead of weather.

Hike Metal Products in Wheatley, ON built the Florencia Bay, which has been delivered all the way to Halifax on its own hull. It will be stationed in British Columbia and is to be transported to the west coast by heavy lift ship.

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Making a Dent

 Despite being the (Canadian) Thanksgiving holiday the container ship Glasgow Express was busy loading at Cerescorp Fairview Cove today.

The ship arrived from Montreal early this morning, carrying no cargo - (look at the amount of hull showing!) and began to load "stranded cargo" left over from last month's longshore strike in Montreal.

It is hard to understand why there is still cargo in Halifax left over - surely there was railroad capacity for the boxes. Maybe CN wanted to be paid extra?

Glasgow Express is more or less typical of the type of ships on the St.Lawrence routes, which are restricted in size. It was built in 2002 by Daewoo SB+ME, Okpo as Contship Borealis. It was renamed CP Borealis in 2005 and Maersk Dayton in 2006. It became Glasgow Express in 2007. The ship measures in at 46,009 gt, 54,2220 dwt with a capacity of 4115 TEU, including 300 reefers.

As reported yesterday, the ship will return to Montreal, sailing early tomorrow morning.

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Cadboro Bay - first of two

 CCGC Cadboro Bay arrived in Halifax today on its delivery trip from the builders.

Crew use the flying bridge as the boat arrives in Halifax after a leisurely 20 knot run down the coast in ideal weather.

One of twenty new Bay class high endurance Search and Rescue lifeboats for the Canadian Coast Guard, it was built by Chantier Naval Forillon, in Gaspé, QC. As the boat's name implies, it will be based in British Columbia, (Cadboro Bay is in the Victoria area.)

Also en route from builders is Florencia Bay. Built by Hike Metal Products in Wheatley, ON, it is currently off the Gaspé Peninsula and is also destined for British Columbia via Halifax.

The 20 boat order has evolved into one boat per year from each yard. West coast boats are delivered to Halifax in alternate years. They are then loaded aboard heavy lift ships for transport to British Columbia.

The boats of this class measure 19m x 6m, have a crew of four and range of 200 nautical miles at 14 knots. They have a maximum speed of 25 knots and are self-righting.

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Jonquière Bank activity

     Dominion Diving's workhorse vessel Dominion Victory has been at work in Bedford Basin in an area known as Jonquière Bank.  Along with the barge Dominion Jupiter there is some sort of underwater activity going on in relation to the Royal Canadian Navy's test anchorage area. It seems that every year or so there is a lengthy project on the bottom, usually involving several Dominion Diving vessels. 

Navy ships sometimes anchor nearby for testing. There are several sound ranges in the harbour - mostly off York Redout where there are static and dynamic sound ranges - and nearer to BIO. These may or may not be connected to the DRED barge anchored off Birch Cove which is used for Sonar work.

History Lesson Alert

The name Jonquière seems somewhat out of place in Halifax harbour since it is the name of a Governor of New France from the 1700s, but there is a good reason. 

In 1746 the Duc d'Anville headed up a huge fleet of 64 ships and 11,000 troops that set out from France to retake Louisbourg and drive the British out of Acadia (mainland Nova Scotia). Through a combination of incompetence and bad luck the expedition was a fiasco. The ships were badly damaged by storms, delayed for weeks by calms, and when 44 ships finally arrived in what is now Halifax harbor hundreds of the crews and troops had already died from from scurvy and typhus, and most of the rest were ill.

 The fleet sheltered in Bedford Basin (which they called Beaubassin), landing the sick at Birch Cove (and thus infecting the indigenous population). The shallow area where they anchored is now known as Jonguière Bank.

 D'Anville soon died, his successor was unable to mount a successful offensive, and retired. By this time a force of New Englanders had arrived in Nova Scotia to counter De Ramezay's force from Quebec.

Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière, governor of New France, and also a naval officer of some note, was left to command the weakened force and ordered its return to France. He was blamed for abandoning the Acadian population to the eventual expulsion by the British. 

Jonquière's term as governor ended in 1752. However he was revered enough in New France that a new settlement in the area near Chicoutimi, QC was named for him. (Several municipalities, including Jonquière and Chicoutimi were merged to form "Saguenay" in 2002).

 

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Whole lotta nothin'

 The dearth of posts in the last weeks has been occasioned by a lack of interesting activity in Halifax harbour. The (Canadian) Thanksgiving holiday (October 12) may be part of the cause, but blanked sailings due to hurricanes to the south may also be a factor. It may also be no coincidence that there is still a cargo backlog at both container terminals* left over from the Montreal longshore strike last month.

Fairview Cove container terminal

Some partial relief for the latter is on the way as the container ship Glasgow Express is due October 12 at Fairview Cove* to load "stranded" imports left over from that strike. The ship arrived in Montreal October 6 on its regular schedule and unloaded, sailing for Halifax October 8. It will load in Halifax October 12 -13 and return to Montreal October 16 to unload, then load its regular cargo, sailing October 21.

Speaking of the two container terminals in Halifax, it has recently been revealed that PSA, operators of the southend terminal (formerly Halterm) have purchased the Fairview Cove assets from Cerescorp. When they acquired Halterm from Macquarie last year they renamed it PSA Halifax. No announcement has been made yet on a rename for Fairview Cove. Let us hope for something more original this time. Some rationalization of activity is also expected as Fairview has lots of room to expand. However bridge heights restrict access to "smaller" ships.

One other activity of note in the harbour is the gradual demolition of the "tug docks" on the Halifax side of the harbour. 

The salvage shed is gone now and the pier is being dismantled. The main pier will soon follow.

The Foundation Company of Canada acquired the dock, which was called the Mitchell pier, when they purchased the Halifax Towboat Company in 1936. It was successively owned by Eastern Canada Towing Ltd (ECTUG) from 1971, then its successor Svitzer Canada Ltd. Develop Nova Scotia (the former Waterfront Development Corp) is the current owner. As part of the redevelopment the pilot boats have moved their base to the former Fader Agency dock, now expanded, just south of the Macdonald bridge in Dartmouth.

The main pier will be rebuilt as the base for more seasonal marina docks, but activity on the water side will be minimal and strictly non-commercial.

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Containers: big and twice as big

ONE Magnificence made another visit to Cerescorp, Fairview Cove. The former MOL Magnificence made its debut in Halifax in April 2020 as the first ship to call with the Ocean Network Express (ONE)  magenta hull paint.

 When ONE came up with the magenta hull colour I wondered how it would wear after months of nudging by tugs. The ship looks remarkably fresh however, and if there are touch ups they don;t stand out.

The 6724 TEU ship was built by Mitsubishi, Kobe in 2010.

At the other end of the harbour at PSA Halifax, a first time caller was the 12,562 TEU (including 1,000 reefers) CMA CGM Alaska. At 140,259 gt, 146,114 dwt it is nearly twice the size.

Painted in a serviceable deep blue, the ship was built by Samsung, Koje in 2011.

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Cars and Gas for Same

 The harbour seemed to be catering to automobiles today with an autocarrier and tankers arriving.

  Elka Angelique arrived from Amsterdam for Irving Oil, but anchored until the company tanker Acadian could arrive and discharge its cargo.

A twin of Elka Nikolas which sailed  September 27, this ship's tonnages of 27,539 gt and 44,781 are almost identical - not surprising since both ships were built by Brodosplit in 2001. Elka Angelique has been here several times since its first call in 2013 and sometimes for Imperial Oil.

Also arriving, first at Pier 31 to offload machinery, Torrens showed off the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean colours in the late afternoon sun.

Atlantic Willow (midships) and Atlantic Oak (aft) take hold of the ship to swing it into Pier 31 stern first.

Built by Mitsubishi, Nagasaki in 2004 the 61,482 gt, 19,628 dwt ship has a capacity of 6354 CEU (Car Equivalent Units). [CEU is a largely relative term now, since it is based on a 1966 Toyota Corolla, the first car to be sent in large numbers by sea, measuring 4.1m long.]

Not all refined petroleum product is used by cars. Some is used by what I would call "counter surfers", one of whom was enjoying a small swell coming in from sea.

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