ZIM feeder, Melfi and Autoport

 ZIM

 A new ship on ZIM's CGX feeder service arrived and sailed today for Kingston, Jamaica. This is a little unusual as another of ZIM's CGX feeders was in port yesterday.

Today's visitor was the Seamaster a 23,239 gt, 24,129 dwt ship built in 2013 by SPP Shipbuilding Co in Sacheon, South Korea.

The ship has a capacity of 1756 TEU with  very high count of 350 reefer plugs. It also has three 40 tonne capacity cranes, one of which serves the after deck.

Yesterday's caller the Contship Leo has been a regular caller since 2021.[see yesterday's post]. It also sailed for Kingston. Contship Leo was built in 2008 by China Commerce Group Kouan Shipbuilding as Vega Saturn. It became CFS Paceno in 2016 and took on its current name in 2020. The 9957 gt, 13,803 dwt ship has a container capacity of 1118 TEU had carries two 45 tonne cranes.

 Melfi

Melfi Marine Corp, running Melfi Lines from Spain to Cuba,  has been using the BF Fortaleza since late last year. As reported in my November 28, 2023 post: BF Fortaleza was built by the famed, but now defunct, J.J.Sietas shipyard in Nuenfeld, Germany in 1996. It was launched as Partnership but renamed Yvette on delivery. It became Partnership again from 2003 to 2004 then City of Lisbon until 2005, Carla until 2009 and WEC Rubens until 2011.  The 6362 gt, 7202 dwt ship has a capacity of 700 TEU, and unusual for Melfi, it is gearless.

The ship also has a large section of the hull open to the elements with no hatch cover. This was a design developed by Sietas, as reported in my January 28 post of this year. At that time I did not have a clear photo of this feature. Today, April 9, I did get a better picture.

 
The protective dam between hold number one (which does have hatches) and the open hold is clearly visible. There are high bulwarks around the open section. The step down secton aft of the open hold marks the engine room below deck,but with container stacking over.

Autoport

Spring is usually a busy time for automobile imports, and this year has been no exception. Despite a five week strike (which ended last week) the facility has been handling large numbers of cars, and a small amount of RoRo machinery. (Ships with large amounts of non-auto RoRo go to Pier 9C.)

The Morning Lady arrived today from Southampton on the usual Wallenius Wilhelmsen transatlantic route. The ship's recent itineray includes a departure from Shangai February 8, then, presumably via the Cape of Good Hope, arriving Zeebrugge March 18, Bremerhaven March 23, Goteborg March 28 and Southampton March 30.

It is a large ship of 70,853 gt, 27,343 dwt with a capacity of 8100 CEU. It was built in 2010 by Hyundai Ulsan. Overall length is 232.4 m (762.47 ft) which is well within the limits of the Panama Canal (289.56m / 965 ft).

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The curse of the pylons

 Trying to get a clear photo of a ship, free from background obstructions can be a little tricky. The Narrows between Halifax lower harbour and Bedford Basin presents more than enough of these challenges.

The Nova Scotia Power Corporation has its local electricity generating station at Tuft's Cove on the Dartmouth side of the Narrows, between the two bridges. Its three smoke stacks (it originally had one then added stacks as it expanded) feature prominently  in many of my photos - the trick is not to make them look like the ship's smoke stacks.

In yesterday's (April 7) photo of the BBC Rhonetal at Pier 9C, I managed to squeeze the ship in between some light standards with a bit of an overlap with the stacks.

The power that is generated at the station (by burning natrual gas and sometimes oil) is distributed by high voltage transmission lines, some of which cross the Narrows near the MacKay bridge. The pylons that carry the lines are invariably in the background of my pictures.

As the costal tanker Algoscotia turned in the Narrows to tie up at Pier 9C today (April 8) one of the pylons appeared the background. The ship will be receiving some maintenace at Pier 9C and I believe it may be going to Europe soon for installation of the new ballast water treatment system. It is fully loaded so will likely be headed to its usual destintations of Sydney, Corner Brook and sometimes as far as Sept-Iles, QC.

Only smaller ships can fit between the pylons (photographically) as they pass beneath the MacKay bridge. Today's transit of the Contship Leo on ZIM's CGX feeder service just fit.

There are black balls installed on the transmission lines to make the lines visible to aircraft.

 There are times however when you just have to take the picture no matter what:

...three extra funnels on the autcarrier Morning Peace at Pier 9C and a red and white extra signal mast atop the bridge of the NYK Meteor and another one protruding from a container on deck.

Since I make it a policy never to "photoshop" my pictures (except to crop them and straighten the horizon) I get what I get.

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ZIM feeder

 ZIM's feeder service to New York and Kingston, Jamaica, called CFX (Canada Feeder Express) has apparently been combined with another feeder service the Central America Gulf Express (CGX) which includes calls in Kingston, Houston and Altamira, Mexico. The recent callers on the CFX, the Contship Leo and Contship Pep have extended their trips to the Gulf of Mexico and today's arrival (November 17), the Pacific Trader was listed for CGX, arriving from Altamira (October 30 - November 2), Kingston (November 8-9) and New York (November 14-15).

Built as the Pacific Trader in 2008 by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, the 9957 gt, 13,760 dwt ship has a capacity of 1118 TEU and carried tow 45 tonne SWL cranes. (The cranes are extended over side to clear the shore cranes as the ship works cargo at PSA Fairview Cove.) The ship carried the name Mell Semakau from 2010 to 2012.

Combining the two feeder services is likely a way of better utilizing the ships. After couple of boom years, shipping lines are being forced to tighten their belts again, with some shipping rates in free fall and charter rates for ships diving.

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ZIM moves (Part 2)

 ZIM has moved its operations to the PSA Fairview Cove terminal after fifty plus years at the South End Container Terminal (SECT) (now operating as PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway). The common management of the two terminals has allowed this rationalization to take place for a variety of reasons, as covered in yesterday's post. Today (August 5) saw ZIM ships at Fairview Cove for the first time.

Contship Leo on ZIM's CFX feeder service is at the east berth (left in photo) and ZIM Vancouver on the ZCA service is working at the west berth. There were more cranes at the SECT, but both ships will be ready to sail with a little overtime this evening. Cargo could be transferred from one ship to the other without spending a lot of time on the ground

Back in the day when the SECT operated as Halterm, ZIM's boxes were everywhere - particularly their reefers an important part pf ZIM's business. I was not expecting to see any ZIM boxes at the SECT today, but there were still a few empties in storage. 

ZIM has a sophisticated monitoring and tracking system that ensures that climate control is maintained during delivery. Called ZIM Monitor, it is described by ZIM as "a real-time monitoring system that provides customers with 24/7 alerts on route deviations, temperature and humidity deviation on their valuable cargo."

In the pre-container era local grocers eagerly anticipated the first fresh produce from Israel each year. Refrigerated cargo arrived on specially built high speed reefer ships owned by Maritime Fruit Carriers Ltd (MFC) - a company owned by the State of Israel .

Bananacore was typical of the MFC ships. Built in 1965 by Bergens MV it was a 8242 gt, 8400 dwt ship, capable of cruising at 20 knots. It was managed by the Swedish reefer operator Salén Reefer AB.

There are few reefer ships left in the world today as most temperature controlled cargo is containerized. With systems such as ZIM Monitor, the cargo can be transported quickly and efficiently.

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ZIM moves

 Another shoe dropped today (August 4) in the rationalization of container lines between the two container terminals in the Port of Halifax. Under common management of PSA, previous shifts saw some MSC ships moving from the South End Container Terminal (SECT) to PSA Fairview Cove and some Alliance ships moving from Fairview to the SECT. Then there was SPMI moving its Nolhan Ava on its weekly service to St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia from Fairview Cove to the SECT. 

Yesterday (see post) it was the long expected Oceanex move from the South End  to Fairview Cove. Predictably there were many more trucks at the Fairview gate today, and at one time they were lined up outside the property.

Most of these trucks were for Oceanex and therefore would have been diverted from going through downtown (to the relief of the truck drivers and the rest of the population) but some of the boxes were likely interchanges from the South End that had to travel the length of the peninsula to reach Fairview. Planned changes to the nearby Windsor Street Exchange, and better truck access to PSA Fairview Cove are in the planning stages, but so far, from the truck traffic point of view, this is just relocating the congestion. (I even noticed one the SECT yard tractors on a flat bed, possibly also moving north!)

This afternoon the next big shoe began to drop (the analogy is not a great one, since it is a two step drop!)

ZIM's CFX feeder service from Halifax to Kingston, Jamaica (and way ports), currently operated by two ships, the Contship Art since July 28, and the Contship Leo since October 2011 had the latter ship at the South End terminal this morning. This afternoon it moved to Bedford Basin anchorage.

This is the first sign of ZIM's move to Fairview Cove with its ZCA service. Presumably the Contship Leo cleared out empties and waiting boxes at the SECT and will await tomorrow's arrival of ZIM Vancouver which will now dock at PSA Fairview Cove (the second part of the shoe to drop).

This is a major shift, since ZIM was an early (and for many years the largest) customer at the South End Container Terminal - the former Halterm, now PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. The move is partly due to expansion and other changes at the South End that will disrupt normal operations. Demolition, construciotn of new buildings, additional rail sidings, worker parking and truck gate changes are in the works). Also, since ZIM uses relatively small ships, it can move whereas other lines use ships that are too large to reach Fairview.

This June 19, 1977 view of the Halterm facility, shows the grey hulled ZIM New York approaching Pier 41. This view has already changed considerably, but is due to change even more in the near future. All of the buildings in the picture are or will be gone when the expansion is completed.

Built by Italcantieri SpA, Genoa in 1972, the ZIM New York was launched as the Thermopylae, but it never sailed with the name of the famous China tea clipper as it was immediately chartered by Schiffs. Meyer KG to ZIM Israel Navigation Company. (ZIM bought the ship in 1980 and it was scrapped in 1991.) The 25,831 gt, 25,200 dwt ship had a capacity of 1426 TEU, and dimensions of 208.1m LOA x 30.6m. It was considered sizeable at the time.

By comparison the ZIM Vancouver is a 39,906 gt, 50,532 dwt vessel, built in 2007 by Dalian #2 Shipbuilding Industry and has a capaciity of 4250 TEU, with dimensions of 263.23 m LOA x 32.20 m. Hull shape and deck load height have been maximized for containers since 1972! Even so ZIM Vancouver would be considered inefficient in certain trades.

ZIM's debut at Fairview Cove may have been delayed somewhat as the ship NYK Constellation, which was supposed to sail late this afternoon, and free up the berth, has been rescheduled for late tonight. (See yesterday's post for more on that ship.) This caused Contship Leo to anchor and ZIM Vancouver to change its pilot order from 1630 hrs today to 1530 0530 hrs tomorrow. An 23 12 hour delay is certainly an inauspicious start to the new arrangement.

As a matter of record, PSA Fairview Cove was also working the Oceanex Sanderling at the west berth (at the RoRo ramp) on its usual Friday schedule, and SECT was working the Nolhan Ava at Pier 42, on its Friday schedule, and the ONE Grus (see today's earlier post) at Pier 41.

 Nolhan Ava at Pier 42 (it was at Pier 31 from yesterday for maintenance.) Not sure where it will work RoRo traffic - if any (I saw two cars on flat deck containers).

 

ONE Grus with the big cranes at Pier 41. 

Not a ZIM box in sight for the first time in 50 plus years.

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Contship Art - for ZIM and Tarifa for WWO

ZIM

ZIM's CFX service - a weekly Caribbean feeder line from Halifax to Kingston, Jamaica via New York, has been opearting since April 2018 using short term charters.

Today (July 28) saw the arrival of Contship Art for the first time, with this name.

 The ship was built by Jangsu Yangzijiang Shipyard in Jiangyin in 2014 as Taipei Trader. It was renamed Cap Avatele on delivery and renamed Taipei Trader in 2016. It is a 9932 gt, 13,063 dwt vessel with a capacity of 1102 TEU including 220 reefers and carries two 45 tonne SWL cranes. As Taiepi Trader it called in Halifax for the CFX service in 2020 -2021. It was renamed Contship Art in 2022.

It replaces Warnow Master which took up the service in May of this year. Contship Art will join  Contship Leo which has been on the service since October 2011.

WWO

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean operates a regular North Europe / North America service delivering automobiles and other RoRo cargo. The automobiles are handled at Autoport, and most of the RoRo at Richmond Terminals, Pier 9C. As usual today (July 27) the RoRo brought in by the Tarifa consisted of mostly construction, agriculture and forestry machinery with some miscellaneous objects such as small boats and crates.

 

Built in 2007 by Stocznia Grynia in Poland, the ship was launched as Tarifa but renamed Morning Charisma on delivery for EUKOR, but was soon renamed Tarifa. The 57,692 gt, 21,120 dwt ship has a capacity of 6400 RT43 cars.

An amazing quantity of RoRo cargo form previous ships has been cleared from the Pier 9C area in the past few days, but the space was soon filled up again today. (The photo above was taken early in the morning.)

The heavy lift ship Pijlgracht (see previous post - updated)  moved out to anchor in Bedford Basin last evening to make way for the Tarifa and is expected to move back alongside again.

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Update - corrected

  With the return of sunny and mild weather today, there was little to remind anyone that there had been a post tropical storm less than a week ago. Nevertheless harbour traffic could not be considered exactly normal. 

ZIM's feeder service, the Canada Feeder Express saw the arrival of AS Felicia, a ship that has not been seen here on that route for several years.

The regular feeder ship Contship Leo on leaving here September 14 sailed to its usual destination of  Kingston, Jamaica, but then went on to Altamira, Mexico, and has been reported in Veracruz, Mexico since September 27. This seems to be a weather related diversion, since the ship would normally have returned from Kingston to New York. Also AS Felicia normally runs to San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was badly hit by Fiona when it was at hurricane strength, so has likely been redeployed to keep it running productively.

Another unusual caller is the Irving Oil (long term charter) tanker Nor'easter. Sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, its normal trade is between Saint John, NB and US ports. I assume it has been granted an emergency coasting license to replenish local fuel supplies, as some facilities ran short following Fiona. Sydney and Charlottetown may also be on its itinerary as those cities have also experienced shortages. Correction: Due to a maintenance shutdown of the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, both Nor'Easter and Great Eastern were dispatched to Amsterdam for cargoes from Irving Oil's European depot. Nor'Easter sailed from Amsterdam September 17 and delivered some of the cargo to its Saint John terminal September 27-28, before arriving in Halifax. Great Eastern is due in Amsterdam October 6.

 Similar to the other Irving Oil charters (which were built in 2005), it was built in 2007 by Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan as Iver Progress. The 23,589 gt, 37,412 dwt ship was brought into the Irving fleet by Vroon after the previous Nor'easter was moved to Canadian flag and renamed East Coast in 2014, joining the other Canadian flag tanker Acadian. 

The (current) Nor'easter works with New England and Great Eastern under Marshall Island flag running to US ports. It did operate for Irving Oil under its orginal name until 2016.
 

Cruise ships have returned to normal schedules too, but today's arrival of Enchanted Princess was slightly unusual. The ship was due here originally on Thursday, September 22, the eve of Fiona's arrival on September 23-24. Arriving off Halifax from Saint John, NB, it did not actually enter port, but returned to sea and made for New York. I imagine it took a wide loop out ot sea to avoid Fiona's track, but must have found some rough weather en route.

On arrival in New York September 24, it sailed again for Boston (September 26) and called on Saint John yesterday.

 

Built by Fincantieri, Monfalcone in 2020, the 145,281 gt ship had to postpone its maiden voyage from June 2020 to November 2021 due to the world wide shut down of cruises during the height of COVID. It has a capacity of 3,660 passengers and a staff of 1,346. It sailed this evening again for New York and will likely have a more pleasant voyage than its last one.

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All Out

 It was a busy port today, September 13, with most available berths occupied. PSA's southend container terminal, known as the Atlantic Gateway, was going full bore, with ships arriving and departing. Like many container facilities world wide, it appears to be filling up with empty containers. The southern wing of the pier - usually empty - is now stacked with boxes.

Many of the boxes stacked at the south end of Pier 42 are designated as HAPAG-Lloyd, a line which serves this terminal through a slot arrangement with ZIM.

Lagarfoss arrived this morning on Eimskips Green Line weekly service from Iceland, and docked at berth 42. It sailed at noon time for Portland, ME.

 As the schooner Bluenose II glides past in the background, one crane works cargo on the Lagarfoss at berth 42.

Built in 2014 by Rongcheng Shenfei Shipbuilding Co Ltd the 10,119 gt, 11,811 dwt vessel has a capacity of 880 TEU and is fitted with a pair of cranes. The ship is registered in Thorshavn, the Faroe Islands.

With Lagarfoss at the south end of berth 42, the mid-berth was occupied by the MSC Angela which arrived yesterday morning and sailed in the early afternoon today.

It is now headed for Montreal after lightening its load to St.Lawrence River draft.The ship is a regular on MSC's Canada Express 2 service from Italy and Spain. It was built by Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co in Ningbo in 2008. Its 50,568 gt, 50,568 dwt gives a carrying capacity of 4254 TEU including 550 reefers. It appears to have lots of space aft for empties.

Shortly after the MSC ship sailed its place was taken by the CMA CGM Navegantes a first time caller in Halifax, arriving from Montreal.

It is the newest ship on CMA CGM's SL-1, Europe  / St.Lawrence River service, operated jointly with Maersk's CAE service, replacing the long time caller EM Kea.

CMA CGM Navegantes was built in 2006 by Hyundai Mipo as Irenes Rainbow. Renamed Kota Segar in 2008 and Irenes Rainbow again in 2010, it became CMA CGM Navegantes only last month (as of August 1 according to most sources). The 28,592 gt, 39,382 dwt ship can carry 2824 TEU including 554 reefers. It joins Vayenga Maersk and Vistula Maersk which were new additions to the St.Lawrence service earlier this year. The joint service calls in Halifax weekly, outbound from Montreal for Europe.

 The ZIM feeder Contship Leo which arrived last evening, was invisible behind stacked containers at berth 41. It is due to sail in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

The port was also busy with three cruise ships alongside. 

Viking Star  was a mid-morning arrival from Sydney, NS.

 The sleek lines are the product of the Fincantieri Marghera shipyard in 2015. The resulting 47,842 gt ship carries 930 passengers and a relatively small crew of 602. One of the best looking of the cotemporary cruise ships, it is operated for Viking Ocean Cruises by Wilhelmsen Ship Management. It is free of hull graphics and extraneous recreational structures that would spoil its lines.

Following shortly after was the familiar Enchantment of the Seas arriving from Portland, ME to berth at Pier 22.

 

It is another fine looking vessel (even though its funnel is a bit far aft for my liking). Built in 1995 by Kvaerner Masa New Yard in Helsinki, it was lengthened 72 feet in 2005 by Keppel Verolme Shipyard in Rotterdam. The new section added 151 passenger cabins and increased the ship's gross tonnage from 74,136 gt to 82,910 gt. The Vision class ship can carry 2446 passengers and 760 crew. It also received a major refurb in 2012.

The third ship was Norwegian Pearl (see August 30) and it occupied Pier 31. Arriving from Sydney, NS it sailed in the late afternoon.

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A Summer Sunday Summary

 There was a fair amount of activity in the harbour today (Aunday, August 28), including an abundance of pleasure craft. The last weekend before Labour Day weekend (which marks the traditional end of summer) is always a busy one for boaters - weather permitting. And this weekend weather was nearly perfect, with warm temperatures, light winds and lots of sun. That also meant ideal conditions for ship watching.

The Lake Wanaka arrived early this morning at Autoport from Emden, and sailed this afternoon for Davisville, RI weaving its way through small craft without incident.

 The Lake Wanaka was here March 30 of this year, and Shipfax reported its unusual movements and technical details. The 46,800 gt, 12,272 dwt PCTC was built in 2008 by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co and has a capacity of 4902 CEU. The ship sailed under the name Triumph until 2019 when it was renamed after a lake in New Zealand. Since new it has been managed by Eastern Pacific Shipping UK, a 200 ship strong operator for many owners - some with uninformative corporate names.

Following it in was the Vayenga Maersk from Antwerp en route to Montreal, and docking at Pier 42, PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway (a.k.a. the southend terminal).

Shortly afterwards its route mate CMA CGM Montreal arrived at mid-berth Pier 41-42 from Montreal en route to Europe. The two ships (along with EM Kea and Vistula Maersk) operate the weekly joint Maersk/CMA CGM St.Lawrence service, and usually call in Halifax to top up (eastbound) or lighten (westbound) because of St.Lawrence River draft restrictions. Because of the many containers on the pier the CMA CGM Montreal was hidden from view.

Another arrival this morning was the Canadian tanker Algoterra from Sarnia, ON, docking at Imperial Oil, number 3 dock.(It is the only operational dock at Imperial Oil - docks 4 and 5 are still there but not in use. Docks 1 and 2 were demolished many years ago.)

Ships usually dock starboard side to at the oil dock (bows north) but for some reason Algoterra tied up bows south- thus an unusual photo angle. The harbour tour boat Silva of Halifax is just rounding George's Island on one of its regular outings with a full deckload (of people).

Algoma ships are usually painted a very dark blue, but Algoterra is the exception to the rule. It had very nice paint from original owners Knutsen Produkt Tanker of Norway when it was acquired in 2019, so presumably Algoma Tankers saw no reason to replace a perfectly good coating. The ship was built in 2010 by Jiangnan, Shanghai as Louise Knutsen. The 11,889 gt, 16,512 dwt ship was renamed Louise K. briefly in 2019 for the delivery trip to Canada. The paint is looking a bit faded now, but its next class renewal survey and drydocking is not due until March 2025 so it may not see new paint until then.

Amongst today's departures was the Contship Leo sailing for Kingston, Jamaica, the sole ship on ZIM's Canada Feeder Express service, CFX. The route also includes New York northbound.

 Contship Leo was built in 2008 by China Commerce Group Kouan Shipbuilding as Vega Saturn. It became CFS Paceno in 2016 and took on its current name in 2020. The 9957 gt, 13,803 dwt ship has a container capacity of 1118 TEU and carries two 45 tonne cranes.

The giant container ship CMA CGM Alexander von Humboldt sailed early this morning from the southend terminal. Shipfax was not on  scene this time, but covered the ship on a previous visit on December 27, 2021.

There was one more container ship to deal with, but at the other end of the size scale at 354 TEU (including 100 reefer plugs). The 3871 gt, 3650 dwt Vantage which has been sailing for Eimskip, arrived from Reykjavik on Friday August 26. It was to have sailed that evening, but remained in port overnight and moved Saturday morning to Pier 36. Although that pier is within the PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway facility, it is not served by a container crane, so the ship cannot be working cargo. 

The ship started calling here June 11, 2022 on Eimskip's Green Line from Iceland to Argentia, NL, Halifax and Portland, ME. It is currently not showing on any future Green Line schedules, but appears to be carrying a deck load. (Those are just reflections on the bow - not damage.)

Despite the stacks of Tropical Shipping boxes on the dock, the Vantage is sailing for the Icelandic company Eimskip (and from the opposite direction).

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More Big Ships

 It is always impressive to see big ships, particularly when their arrivals and departures are carefully coordinated for safe passing and meeting. 

Early this morning June 21 the bulk carrier Berge Nimba arrived from Amsterdam and anchored in number one anchorage in the lower harbour. The ship had been in Asia recently and required clearance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, that it was free of LDA moth before proceeding to other Canadian ports. (Number one achorage is far enough from coniferous forests that the larvae would not be a threat.)

Built by Jinhai Heavy Industry Co in Daishan County, China in 2010 it was first named Zosco Huzhou, renamed  New Huzhou in 2016, and took its current name in 2019.  The 91,971 gt , 175,949 dwt ship is a fleet mate of the Berge Bulk Maritime 180,180 dwt Berge Atlas that was here May 30 for the same reason.

With the anchorage area occuppied, the outbound NYK Romulus sailed west of George's Island.

On the horizon is the Vistula Maersk on the CMA CGM / Maersk St.Lawrence service, waiting its first call at PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub. It would normally be in port today, but other ships are ahead in line, so will come in tomorrow.

Inspection of the Berge Nimba was completed by late morning and the ship was cleared to depart for Port Cartier, QC to load iron ore. The light ship, took the straighter outbound course - the eastern channel.

The next inbound took the western, deep water channel. That ship was CMA CGM J. Adams which had three tugs to assist with the dog leg course if needed.

The CMA CGM J. Adams is the second Ultra class ship (greater than 10,000 TEU) to call this week. Sister ship CMA CGM A. Lincoln was here Sunday June 19. Built in 2017 by Hyundai Ulsan the Adams is a 140,872 gt, 148,992 dwt vessel with a capacity of 14,414 TEU.

It is not often that I get three ships and three tugs in the same photo. (Atlantic Beaver is the stern tethered escort, with Atlantic Oak alongside forward and Atlantic Fir standing off ahead.)

 The tugs were needed to turn and squeeze the big ship into berth #41 at Pier C as berth #42 was already occupied by the ZIM feeder ship Contship Leo.

Contship Leo was using the smallest of the five cranes at the Southend terminal, now known as PSA Atlantic Hub. The ship has been on the Canada Feeder Express service since October 2021.

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Full out at PSA

It has been a busy few days at PSA Halifax with a steady stream of ships and a cleanup operation thanks to recent snow falls. This morning the ZIM feeder ship Contship Leo had three cranes working to get its cargo moved before the next ship arrived.

The cranes appear to be considerably oversize for a small feeder ship, but their height and long reach are needed for the next ship. That ship is another "UItra" class vessel, CMA CGM Mexico

It is a 15,000+ TEU ship that is one of five Argentina class ships. It is owned by Seaspan Corporation and operated by CMA CGM under a long term financing / charter agreement.

Although the ship displays CMA CGM on its side, it is actually sailing for the Ocean Alliance a slot sharing / vessel sharing agreement between three major shipping lines and their subsidiaries. CMA CGM (and its subsidiary APL), COSCO (and its subsidiary OOCL) and Evergreen Marine Corp (EMC) use the ship as part of their independant shipping services.

The large shipping Alliances are under fire from customers with charges of price fixing. Many major US retailers have banded together to charge the lines with pricing collusion in contravention of US competition laws. The three main alliances control a very high degree (some say 90%) of the main east-west trade lanes.

Halifax is also served by THE Alliance which is made up of Hapag-Lloyd, HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine), ONE (Ocean Network Express) and Yang Ming. The third group is called 2M and consists of Maersk and MSC. 

There are still inepedants such as ZIM and ACL, but even they have slot charter agreements with other lines. In fact there are too many of these agreements to list here. However the Federal Maritime Commission has kindly published: FMC List

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Contship Leo - new ZIM feeder

Ever since ZIM started its East Coast North America feeder service, called Canada Feeder Express (CFX), in April 2018 it has been using short term charter ships. All have been about the same size and configuration, and today's first time arrival is no exception.

Contship Leo was built in 2008 by China Commerce Group Kouan Shipbuilding as Vega Saturn. It became CFS Paceno in 2016 and took on its current name in 2020. The 9957 gt, 13,803 dwt ship has a container capacity of 1118 TEU had carries two 45 tonne cranes.

The CFX runs between Halifax, New York and Kingston, Jamaica, using two ships, but the schedule has been disrupted in recent weeks and was reduced to one ship. Published schedules now indicate that Contship Leo will become a regular and the second ship will be the Taipei Trader, which was a regular, resuming in November. It was recently reported en route to Brazil.

 

Saturday Round UP, PSA, Irving Oil and Autoport

 Several things were happening in the port today, so I am rounding them up into one post.

At PSA Halifax, ZIM had a different feeder ship in today. Contship Leo is a 9957 gt, 13,803 dwt ship with a capacity of 1118 TEU and carries a pair of 45 tonne cranes.

On the left, at Pier 42 EF Ava for Eimskip and on the right at Pier 41, Contship Leo for ZIM.

Contship Leo was built in 2008 by Kouan Shipbuilding Co in Taizhou, China as Vega Saturn. In 2016 it became CFS Paceno and took its present name in 2020. It appears to be owned by Syracuse Marine Ltd and operated by Contships Management Inc.

Since starting the Canada Feeder Express (CFX) service to Florida and Kingston, Jamaica in 2018, ZIM has used a variety of charters, most recently Tampa Trader and Taipei Trader.  Today's arrival, similar to Fouma on February 25 is replacing Tampa Trader, but it shows on ZIM's schedule for at least three more trips, into May. Tampa Trader is operating between Port Everglades and the Dominican Republic.

East Coast (left) at number one anchorage, and Acadian (right) at number 7?.

It was very windy in the harbour today and thus tankers were not docking at Imperial Oil and Irving Oil where the jetties are not considered secure. It was unusual however to see two Irving Oil tankers in port at the same time. One was due for Irving's Woodside facility and one was due for Imperial Oil.

An indication of the high wind is the bar taught anchor line. The ship offloaded part of its cargo at Irving Oil and has more for Imperial Oil.

Acadian arrived Thursday night at Irving's Woodside terminal and moved out to anchor last night (Friday) as an electrical storm passed through. It is due to move to Imperial Oil when today's winds die down.

East Coast arrived this morning and was due to tie up at Woodside, but anchored instead. It will also move when conditions improve.

Although not visible from the shore the auto carrier Manon kept two tugs alongside pushing while it unloaded at Autoport. That facility also relies on a jetty and mooring lines to a buoy and is not safe during periods of high winds. 

Tugs pinned the ship to the jetty while unloading. 

Manon in its new Wallenius Wilhelmsen paint scheme was built as far back as 1999, but was lengthened in 2005 increasing its size to 67,264 gt, 28,360 dwt and a capacity of 7,194 RT43 cars. It was a regular caller here in its original Wallenius green and white scheme, and this is the first time I have had a chance to photograph it in the new colours.

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