Traffic Control in Bedford Basin - revised

Bedford Basin, and the Narrows leading to it, was the place to be in order to see activity in Halifax harbour today, December 9. The most notable activity was the Float Off of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel AOPV 435 (see previous post). It was moved from Halifax Shipyard aboard the barge Boabarge 37 and was floated off late in the afternoon.

At Pier 9C, the last berth to the north end of the Narrows, the Dutch flag ship Schippersgracht arrived to take on an unusual cargo.

The "S" class ship from the Spliethoff fleet is more usually loading forestry products or aluminum ingots or even yachts for seasonal relocations. Built in 2000 by Mitsubishi, Shimonoseki it is a multi-purpose ship of 16,641 gt, 21,402 dwt with moveble tween decks and three 120 tonne SWL cranes. It has starboard side doors accessing internal elevators. It also has a 1134 TEU container capacity.

Today however it was loading surplus* Canadian military vehicles.

Although the vehicles are wheeled, they are not being loaded as RoRo cargo, but are being lifted onboard individually. It also appears that the ship's cranes are spotting them precisely in the ship's hold.

While lifting operations were underway passing ships were requested to make minimal wake, and this was certainly the case as the container ship NYK Daedalus passed en route to PSA Fairview Cove.

 

Tugs Atlantic Fir and Atantic Maple kept the ship under control but at slow speed as it passed Pier 9C at close quarters.

Name ship of a class of seven ships built by Hyundai, Ulsan, it was completed in 2007. The 55,487 gt, 65,867 dwt ship has a capacity of 4,888 TEU with 330 reefer plugs. It is a regular on THE Alliance's AL5 North Europe to North America service. As with many Japanese ships it was initially registered in Panama, but in 2020 registry was transferred to the Cayman Islands, a rare flag of convenience for a container ship, particularly as it does not appear to have been connected with a change of ownership. (Perhaps Panama's revised registration regulations after the release of the "Panama Papers" might have been a reason.)

Thanks to good communication and good timing, there was no conflict with the ship departing PSA Fairview Cove at the same time. Atlantic Sea made a wide turn away from the berth and went well out into Bedford Basin to make room for the NYK Daedalus to berth. With tug assistance they also stayed clear of the float-off operation off the Rockingham shore.

The small red ouboard craft, leaving a nice wake, is returning to the float-off operation after a pizza run - I'm not sure who the pizzas were for, but they might have benefitted from some reheating after a 10 minute ride in an open boat.

The Atlantic Sea 100,430 gt, 55,738 dwt, and its four sister ships are the most familiar ships in Halifax harbour as they maintain weekly calls eastbound and westbound on their transatlantic service for Atlantic Container Line. They still hold the distinction as the largest multi-purpose container /RoRo (CONRO) ships in the world. They were built in Shanghai by Hudong-Zhonghua between 2015 and 2017, and have a capacity of 3800 TEU and 1300 CEU.

The only other traffic of note in the area was the tug Glenevis YTD 642 which made a brief foray to the Basin for a compass adjustment. This may mean a return to service for the tug, which would be good news as both it and Glenbrook have been in "prolonged" refits, leaving Glenside as the only operational Glen class tug in HMC Dockyard fleet for the past year.

Two replacement tugs for Halifax have been ordered from the Industrie Océan Shipyard in Quebec, but are still some years away from delivery. One of two for the west coast has been delivered. When the Glens were built in 1976, they were state-of-art, with Voith-Schneider propulsion systems, but only 1750 bhp and 19 ton bollard pull. The new tugs will be Azimuting Stern Drive (ASD) propulsion - a much less complex system - but regrettably they will be 20th century design - that is to say - non-electric, non alternate fuel, and not state of any current art. 

 The three Ville class pup tugs, built in1974, and 365 bhp, 7 ton bollard pull remain in service. (View of the tug basin from the Angus L. Macdonald bridge, November 12, 2024.)

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* The vehicles may not be surplus - they may be headed overseas for use by our forces or those of a friend.

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Float off AOPV 435

 The sixth Harry DeWolf class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel for the Royal Canadian Navy was moved to Bedford Basin today, December 9, to be floated off from the semi-submersible Boabarge 37. The ship, unofficially named AOPV 435, was rolled aboard the barge on Saturday, December 7 and would have been floated off yesterday, as scheduled, but weather conditions early in the day had high winds and wet snow turning to rain. Today's weather was totally different, with bright sunshine, light winds and temperatures hovering around 0ºC.

With the attendant tugs, Atlantic Beaver, Atlantic Cedar and Atlantic Larch providing power and direction, the barge and valuable cargo made its way through the Narrows.

Despite being perched on a barge the ship still had considerable clearance passing beneath the A. Murray MacKay bridge.

 It took my 18mm wide angle lens setting to take in the entire scene,

Loading operations on the Schippersgracht (at right) at Pier 9C were not disrupted by the passing flotillla. (see following post).

Once well out into the Basin (and clear of other traffic - see following post) the parade was brought to a halt off the Rockingham shore. There they were met by several small craft, including the mini-tug Eagle Fury and some open boats. (By this time it was close to luch hour, and one boat made a "pizza run" to shore - see following post).

By mid-afternoon AOPV 435's hull was getting wet, but what with rush hour traffic and impending darkness, I did not witness the actual float off, which was likely after sunset. (The scarecrow flags at the Africville museum were barely futtering,)

AOPV 435 will continue fitting out at Halifax Shipyard for a time before handover to the RCN. When it is commissioned sometime next year it will be named HMCS Robert Hampton Gray AOPV 435. Lt. Robert Hampton Gray VC , DSC, RCNVR was a 27 year old pilot flying for the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm when he died in combat in Japan on August 9, 1945. (Victory over Japan Day, "VJ Day" is marked in Canada as August 12.) His name is perhaps better known in Halifax as the former elementary school (a Recognized Federal Heritage Building) in the Canadian military facility Shearwater was named for him. He is less well known elsewhere, but there is a brief biography in Wikipedia and a more detailed life in the book A Formidable Hero: Lt. R.H. Gray, VC, DSC, RCNVR by Stuart E. Soward, published by Trafford Neptune.

AOPV 435 is the last of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels to be built for the Royal Canadian Navy, but two variants for the Canadian Coast Guard are under construction for delivery in 2026 and 2027. These two ships were ordered by the federal government as a "stop gap" to keep Halifax Shipyard operating at a high level as work on the new RCN destroyers ramps up.

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ONE Millau

 THE Alliance (or THEA), a global shipping network, claims to operate 260 ships on 31 services. Formed in 2016 it consists (for now) of Hapag-Lloyd, HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine), Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Yang Ming. Hapag-Lloyd is withdrawing in February 2025 and from all reports it appears that MSC may be joining in some capacity.

One THEA service that calls in Halifax weekly is the EC5 from Asia to North America, and the current arrival (December 7)  is the ONE Millau.

 The ship was built for the Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K-Line) as Millau Bridge. Imabari Zosen, Mihara delivered the ship in 2015. Measuring 150,709 gt, 147,443 dwt it has a nominal container capacity of 13,870 TEU (9500 TEU at 134 tonnes each) and 800 reefer plugs.

The ship's last port was Port Klang Malaysia, October 31. It passed CapeTown November 18 and sailed directly for Halifax.

When K-Line, NYK Line and MOL formed ONE, some of the ships adopted the ONE naming scheme and colour scheme. This is somewhat unfortunate for K-Line ships as they lost the significance of their original names. Thus this ship's name dropped the "Bridge" in 2020. Millau is a not particularly notable town in France, but its bridge (the Millau Viaduct) is one of the engineering wonders of the world. All its descriptive numbers are superlatives, and are best summarized by this Wikipedia entry.

The ONE Millau is expected to sail over night or in the dark tomorrow morning, if so my only photo from this visit may be the one above.  

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Carmen - no pun intended

 The Large Car and Truck Carrier (LCTC) Carmen arrived at Autoport yesterday, December 6, and was in port all day today. The ship sails for the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean fleet, and belongs to joint venture partner Wallenius Lines. The Swedish company names all its ships after operatic characters. Carmen is the title character, a fictional Romany dancer, in the opera of the same name composed by Georges Bizet in 1875. The company has used the name several times over the years, so it is unlikely that this one is intended as a pun on the ship's crew or their line of work.

As usual, my arrival to take a picture of the ship this morning, startled a number or napping gulls and ducks. The section of beach in Eastern Passage is usually devoid of humans, so is favoured by birds.

This Carmen made the headlines earlier this year when it was held in the port of Baltimore for a month due to the ship strike and collapse of the Frances Scott Key Bridge on March 24. A task force suceeded in removing enough debris and clearing a temporary channel to allow the ship to sail on April 25. Wallenius Wilhelmsen ships make about 150 calls per year on Baltimore, and during the closure diverted ships to several other US east coast ports.

Carmen dates from 2011 when it was delivered by Daewoo Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering in Geoje, South Korea. It is a 74,258 gt, 31,143 dwt ship with a capacity of 7934 CEU (or 7879 RT43 size cars, depending on the source.) It has twelve decks, five of which are hoistable for oversize loads, and reinforced for heavy loads. It has a stern ramp with a 320 tonne capacity and a single side ramp with unknown capacity.

When built Carmen was painted in Wallenius colours, and that is how it appeared when it called in Halifax in 2018. Wallenius Shipping and the Wilhelmsen Group merged in 2017 and adopted the current  colour scheme over time.

 

On its current transatlantic loop it sailed from Bremerhaven November 20, Goteborg November 22, Zeebrugge November 25 and Southampton November 28. It is due in New York December 11 and is expected to then call in Brunswick and Baltimore before returning to Europe. It will then embark on a long run to Santander, Spain; Durban, South Africa; Fremantle, Melbourne and Port Kembla, Australia and Masan, South Korea (for March 18.)

Despite punishing traiffs threatened in the United States, Wallenius Wilhelmsen is forging ahead with fleet expansion. It has recently confirmed construction of two 11,700 CEU Shaper class ships with options for two more and upsizing two ships already on order to 11,700 CEU. It now has fourteen ships in its orderbook for delivery between 2027 and 2028. 

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RoRo and PoPo updates

 There are some updates to yesterday's long post:

RoRo

The latest Roll On operation at Halifax Shipyard proceeded today, December 6, as scheduled. The sixth and last of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels for the RCN was rolled onto the Boabarge 37. The ship, for now called AOPV 435, was carried aboard on a flotilla of SPMTs (Self Propelled Modular Transporters.)

The tug Atlantic Larch stood by alongside the barge to ensure that it stayed in position during the transfer. 

Once safely aboard the barge, the ship, on its cradles, was lowered down onto the barge deck. (The SPMTs show as a thin red line, and the cradles are gray.)

The barge will remain alongside Pier 6 overnight, then tomorrow it is due to move out to Bedford Basin where the barge will semi-submerge and the ship will be floated off. (So in this case I guess it is not a RoRo but a RoFo operation.)

Once the ship is completed it will be handed over to the RCN to be fitted out and will be commisisoned as HMCS Robert Hampton Gray.

While all this was going on ceremonies were underway on the high ground just behind the shipyard on Fort Needham. This was the annual commemoration of the Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917 which leveled the north end of the city. An estimated 1,782 people died and 9,000 were injured. 

As part of the commemoration ceremony, bells on a memorial structure on Fort Needham rang shortly after 9 am and ships in the harbour sounded their horns for a prolonged period as they did in 1917. That futile warning could not prevent the massive eruption of high explosives on the ship Mont Blanc which caught fire after colliding with Norwegian ship IMO. The explosion took place where the Shipyard's Assembly Hall stands today.

Also during the Roll On operation the lead ship of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel  program HMCS Harry DeWolf AOPV 430 transited the Narrows, returning to HMC Dockyard from exercising in Bedford Basin, with Dockyard tugs to assist in docking.

Built at Halifax Shipyard it was launched from the same barge on September 18, 2018 and was commissioned into the RCN on June 26, 2021. The ship has recently returned from a trip to the Great Lakes, including the ports of Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton and Windsor. A similar trip last year had to be cut short due to a COVID-19 outbreak onboard.

The ship's namesake, Vice Admiral Henry George DeWolf CBE, DSO, DSC, CD , was born in 1903 in Bedford, Nova Scotia, and was a survivor and certainly a witness to the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1918 and rose through command appointments to Chief of the Naval Staff. One of his World War II commands was HMCS Haida which is preserved in Hamilton, ON, one of the ports the ship visited in October.

PoPo 1

On the other side of the harbour, and well to the south, the articulated tug / barge Leo A. McArthur / John J. Carrick resumed "Pumping Off" operations this morning at Eisner's Cove. The pair had moved out to harbour anchorage last night due to high winds. The mooring arrangement for the tug and barge consists of a small deck barge across the end of the Cherubini dock, which carries the piping ashore. Any breach in that connection could have very undesirable consequences, so no chances are taken when high winds are forecast. The barge's cargo of asphalt is pumped ashore to the General Liquids Canada tank storage facility.

 PoPo 2

An addition to the Pump On Pump Off category is yesterday evening's arrival at Imperial Oil. Seen only partially in the background is the YASA Pelikan. Built in 2019 by Hyundai Mipo, it is a typical LongRange1 size ship of 29,681 gt, 50,215 dwt. It appears to be owned by the Turkish company YASA Tankers, and operates in the Equinor tanker fleet. (Equinor ASA, formerly Statoil, is the Norwegian state owned petroleum giant.) It is unloading refined product from Antwerp at Imperial Oil's number 3 dock. It is worth noting that it did not move out to anchor due to winds, so the dock's new mooring arrangements seem to be doing the job.

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RoRo, LoLo, PoPo

 The terms RoRo for Roll / On Roll Off and LoLo for Lift On /  Lift Off are well used in these pages, but today I had to add PoPo for Pump On / Pump Off to include all the traffic in Halifax harbour today, Decmber 4.

RoRo 1

There was lots of RoRo activity including, at least for me, a surprise arrival. When the Palmela sailed from Autoport yesterday (December 3) it was giving Cristobal Panama as its destination. However once the ship was well offshore, it came about and stood by until late this morning (December 4) when it entered port again. Yesterday it offloaded at Autoport, but today it went to Pier 9C. This necessitated a trip through the Narrows to Bedford Basin to turn and then return back to dock, port side to the pier.

I rook a good many pictures of the ship's arrival yesterday, and noted that the ship had the unusual feature of a ramp on each side, but that they were obscured from view. Today they were both easy to see: The port side ramp is just forward of midships and just aft of the tug Atlantic Cedar.

The starboard side ramp, just forward of midships was also easy to see, [the broken line rectangle is presumably a safe pushing point for tugs] but the Plimsoll mark (at midships) could use a touch up.

The 80 tonne capacity stern ramp was also easier to see.

 I  am not sure why the ship went to sea over night, but I suppose it had to do with security as both Autoport and Pier 9C would require extra security if a ship were alongside, but it may also have been because another ship was scheduled for this morning at Autoport.

RoRo 2

The much larger autocarrier Tannhauser arrived early this morning (December 4) from European ports on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Atlantic service. 

Built in 2020 in Tianjin, China by Tianjin Xingang, it is a 73,358 gt, 23,892 dwt ship with a capacity of 7656 cars of RT43 size. It also has a 350 tonne capacity stern ramp to handle heavy cargo. Once it had completed its work at Autoport it was also due to move to Pier 9C (after dark).

RoRo3 LoLo1

The RoRo / LoLo ship Oceanex Sanderling (also termed a ConRo) has been a familiar sight in the harbour since 1987, running weekly (sometimes twice weekly) to Newfoundland. It arrived this morning as usual and headed directly to PSA Fairview Cove where it will handle container and RoRo cargo. The ship will also call at Autoport where it will load new cars and light trucks for Newfoundland. Its usual sailing time is end of working day on Fridays.

 As it strides through the Narrows, the Oceanex Sanderling passes Halifax Shipyard and the next RoRo on my list.

 

RoRo 4

The fourth RoRo is a little bit different: Boabarge 37 is a semi-submersible barge used by Halifax Shipyard to "launch" new ships by float off. The shipyard is preparing to launch the sixth and last Harry DeWolf class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel. AOPV 435 will be rolled on to the barge using self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) in the next few days. Once lowered back onto the cradles the ship will then be readied to float off in Bedford Basin later in the month.

This morning tugs were positioning the barge in line with the pier so that the ship (at right) can be rolled onto the barge.

The barge remains in Norwegian registry, so Irving Shipbuilding Inc has to apply for a coasting license each time it is to be used. The current application runs from December 7 to 31. Once launched there will still be many months of fit out before the ship can be handed over to the RCN. It will eventually be commissioned as HMCS Robert Hampton Gray. 

Halifax Shipyard has two variants of the AOPV to be built for the Canadian Coast Guard before it  shifts to production of new River class destroyers for the Royal Canadian Navy.

LoLo2

 A relative new comer to Halifax is the Box Endurance on charter to ZIM's expanded ZCX service.

The feeder size ship was delivered in 2015 by Guangzhou Wenchong and is registered at 17,907 gt, 21,667 dwt with a capacity of 1708 TEU. It appears to have significant reefer capacity too. It last sailed from Halifax October 29 for Kingston, Jamaica and has since called at Callao, Peru and other west coast South America ports, then worked its way back through the Panama Canal to Kingston, Miami, and Philadelphia. 

It is always fun to catch a container on the bridge as a ship from the same line passes under. Lucky day today - unless the container missed the boat!

 

 LoLo 3

Another regular Lift On Lift Off ship is the Volga Maersk on the Maersk / CMA CGM transatlantic service from Montreal to Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp. Built in 2018 by COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard Co in China, it is a 34,882 gt, 40,079 dwt ship rated as LR Ice Class 1A with a capacity of 3600 TEU. One of seven "V" class ships, it was intended for Baltic service to Russia, but was displaced due to sanctions imposed against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. It is an ideal size and classification for year round St.Lawrence River service. (Ships of this class were the largest ever Ice Class 1A ships when built.) The ship's Maersk sky blue colour is highly visible (and fresh looking) even from across the harbour.

LoLo 4

Not quite so visible was the other ship in at PSA Atlantic Gateway. The MSC Matilde V is en route to Montreal on the Med Canadian route. (Photo taken December 3).

The ship was built in 1999 by Samsung Geoje and registers 53,208 gt, 70,753 dwt, with a capacity of 4400 TEU with 350 reefer plugs.

The ship was originally called Saudi Jubail and in 2002 was renamed MSC Matilde. The Roman numeral "V" was added in 2023 to denote MSC's cargo capacity class.

Since August 2020 MSC has purchased more than 400 second hand ships equalling 1.6 million TEU. With an average age of 20 years, the ships maintain MSC's reputation for getting the most out of older tonnage. The company is building new ships too, with an order book of twenty ships under construction or pending - all from Chinese shipyards. 

Competitor Maersk held off building new ships until recently but has just signed for construction of twenty new dual fuel ships ranging in size from 9,000 TEU to 17,000 TEU, (six from Korea, 14 from China) for delivery between 2028 and 2030. It will also charter ships with a total of some 500,000 TEU capacity and dual fuel capability of methanol and LNG.

Po Po

I left the "new" category of Pump On / Pump Off to last as the operation is somewhat specialized. The barge John J. Carrick and its articulated tug Leo A. McArthur arrived this morning with a cargo of asphalt for General Liquids Canada. The cargo, which must be kept heated, is pumped ashore in an insulated pipeline to tanks at Eisner's Cove.

The pipeline runs from the Cherubini pier to the so called Dexter Terminal, where the storage tanks are located. General Liquids is part of the Dexter Group of companies which includes Municipal Contracting - a large quarrying and road building operation. They carry out asphalt paving as part of their work, and would seem to be in competition with Miller / McAsphalt - operators of the tug / barge and paving contractors in their own right. They are also asphalt producers and formulators and are part of the Colas Group from France. McAsphalt also has its own marine terminal and storage tanks farther along into Eastern Passage next to Autoport.

McAsphalt has taken delivery of its new 73,600 bbl capacity tanker Asphalt Advantage. It arrived in Montreal from China last month and is now in Hamilton, ON. It is still not known if the new ship will be an addition to the current fleet or if it will mean the retirement of an older articulated tug/barge.  

The tug Everlast was built in 1977 and with its barge Norman McLeod (built in 2001) are normally used only on the Great Lakes / St.Lawrence. If they are retired the Leo A. McArthur / John J.Carrick might take their place and the Asphalt Advantage would do the coastal work. We will have to wait and see as the winter shutdown of the St.Lawrence Seaway nears.

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Palmela for Autoport

 The dedicated automobile handling facility named Autoport, located on the Eastern Passage of Halifax harbour handles many thousands of cars annually. The most recently reported number is an astounding 185,000 vehicles. The vast majority of those are imports, although there is a small export business, including the delivery of new cars to Newfoundland.

Autoport Ltd is owned by the Canadian National Railway (CN Rail) and provides finishing, storage and distribution of cars and light trucks such as vans, mostly from European manufacturers. However in recent years it has also been receiving Asian-built cars for delivery to eastern Canada. Those vehicles used to be handled by Vancouver only. 

Today (December 3) the arriving ship is almost certainly bringing in cars from Japan.

The Palmela is neither new nor large by current standards, but is certainly a workhorse having made two trips from Japan to east coast North America since September.

Built in 2000 by Shin Kurushima Dock Yard Co Ltd in Onishi, Japan, it comes in at 55,926 gt, 20,581 dwt with a capacity of 5,080 CEU.  It is a fairly typical ship with a couple of exceptions. That is to say, that in addition to the usual stern ramp (rated at 80 tonnes capacity) the ship has two small side ramps - one on each side. Most auto carrriers don't have side ramps anymore, and having two is most unusual.

The port side ramp is well forward and unfortunately mostly blocked from view by the forward tug Atlantic Beaver. (The after tug is the Atlantic Ash.) The ramp is also mounted quite low and may service one deck lower than the main deck.

 The starboard side ramp is in a more typical position, about midships and also appears to serve the deck below the main deck. (The ship has twelve car decks altogether. Counting from the topmost deck, the main car deck is number seven and it is served by the stern ramp. The accommodation and bridge structure consists of three levels and is mounted on the weather deck.)

The ship is owned by the small Japanese company Kansai Steamship Co Ltd. One of only five autocarriers in the fleet it is also managed by Kansai and is on long term charter to an undisclosed manufacturer, but most likely Nissan.

Tracing the ship's movements since it sailed from Baltimore September 18 then via the Panama Canal (presumably) reached Kawasaki, Japan October 20. It then called in Yokohama October 21-22; Kobe October 23-24 and Kanda October 25-28. It then crossed the Pacific and transited the Panama Canal November 20. It called on Brunswick, GA November 25; Dundalk (Batlimore) November 29 -30 and New York December 1-2. The Palmela is expected to sail this evening for Cristobal, Panama, with an ETA of December 11.

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