CMA CGM Mexico

Between 2009 and 2022 CMA CGM had a major building program to add twenty-two ships of the same design to the fleet. Called the Argentina class, the first five were built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan. They had conventional diesel engines and were equipped with exhaust gas scrubbers. The remaining ships have dual fuel capability, with LNG as the alternate, and all seventeen were built by Hyundai's Samho shipyard. 

The first ship in the series, not surprisingly, was named CMA CGM Argentina, and was delivered July 1, 2009. The second ship, called CMA CGM Mexico was delivered July 19, 2009. It arrived in Halifax today, February 25, on CMA CGM's Columbus loop. This is not its first call in Halifax, however. That was on April 19, 2021 and it has called here regularly since.

In 2021 the Argentina class sister ships were the largest ships to call at any Canadian port, with a nominal container capacity of 15,000 TEU. However they have since been eclipsed by another series of CMA CGM ships, the Explorer class of 16,000 TEU capacity. The current record holder for Halifax is the Explorer class CMA CGM Marco Polo (although one of its sister ships may edge it out slightly). Even those ships are now considered relatively puny on a world scale with scores of ships that boast capacity of more than 24,000 TEU. 

Nevertheless CMA CGM Mexico is an impressive sight as it enters port, dwarfing its three escort tugs. At 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt its capacity is usually quoted at 15,072 TEU.

One of the stern escort tugs has scooted around to the starboard quarter to assist in turning to dock at PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub.

The CMA CGM Mexico's last port in Asia was Colombo, Sri Lanka, sailing January 26. It then deviated from its usual route to avoid the Red Sea and sailed via the Cape of Good Hope to Tanger Med, Morocco, arriving there February 17, then clearing the next day for Halifax.

CMA CGM has since sent a ship through the Suez Canal and Red Sea en route from Europe to Asia. CMA CGM Jules Verne passed southbound from Suez, February 12, and transited the Red Sea with a French warship as escort. The CMA Jules Verne is a member of the Explorer class and is also on the Columbus Loop. Its current ETA for Halifax is July 31.

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CMA CGM Mexico

 Another one of CMA CGM's Argentina class ships arrived today at PSA Halifax. CMA CGM Mexico with a capacity of 15,000 TEU + or - (some sources say 15,072), is one of twenty-two ships (built and on order) in the class, which are the largest container ships calling in any Canadian port.

The ship sailed from Colombo, Sri Lanka March 27 on its regular turn in the Columbus JAX service, but it stopped in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia April 5-6, which was not a regular stop. It is likely the stop was to allow traffic on the Suez Canal to clear after the blockage caused by the Ever Given grounding March 23-29. CMA CGM Mexico transited the Suez Canal April 7-8.

The ship was built in 2009 by Hyundai Samho with tonnages of 149,314 gt and 157,076 dwt, the second ship of the Argentina class. The first five ships in the class (Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Chile and Brazil) have conventional engines equipped with exhaust gas scrubbers. All but Argentina have now called in Halifax. The remaining ships to be built over the next several years, are to be LNG-dual fuel. 

The ship is owned by Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte Ltd of Singapore and on charter to CMA CGM. EPS has a fleet totaling more than 17 million tonnes deadweight, with ships of all types.

Judging from it appearance today CMA CGM Mexico appears to be close to full of its 15,000+ TEU.

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CMA CGM Cochin

 An unusual ship arrived today (September 22) on the CMA CGM led Columbus JAX service. The CMA CGM Cochin is much smaller than the usual ships on the service and it did not call at all of the usual ports. Other than its name it does not carry any of the usual CMA CGM identifiers.

Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding in Jingjiang built the 113,509 gt, 119,180 dwt ship in 2018. Rated at 10,000 TEU, it has about 75% of the rated capacity of the usual ships on the route, which are the largest ships to call in Halifax. (CMA CGM Mexico which was here on Monday - a few days late due to weather - is rated at 15,000 TEU).

The joint service, operated by the Ocean Alliance of CMA CGM, China Ocean Shipping Co (COSCO), Evergreen and OOCL, usually calls in 18 ports and requires 21 ships to maintain its weekly service, with a 147 day rotation of ships. The route is from the North American west coast, via China, Vietnam, Malaysia  (Singapore eastbound) and Colombo via Suez to the North American east coast. This ship however sailed directly from Port Klang to Halifax, with no stop in Colombo but with a one day layover in the Suez anchorages. This suggests to me that it may be on the route to pick up extra cargo due to seasonal demand.

Also unusual is the lack of CMA CGM markings. The funnel (which is concealed from view by the scrubber housing) has no CMA CGM insignia and the usual "CMA CGM" banner is missing from the hull. The ship, which has been on charter to CMA CGM since new, is owned and managed by Seaspan Ship Management. These charters are usually ten years or so, which would justify painting CMA CGM identifiers. I note that the ship was drydocked in May / June of this year, and on line photos show the CMA CGM banner and red arrows in May 2023, so these were apparently painted over in June.

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CMA CGM Francoise Sagan - another ad hoc

 The container ship CMA CGM Françoise Sagan made an "ad hoc" call in Halifax today - the second for a CMA CGM ship in the last month or so. By ad hoc, I mean that the ship's call was not a regular one on the Premier Alliance schedule, but appears to be a trial run - or demonstration - to see if calling in Halifax is a good fit for the Premier Alliance AT3 service from North Europe to US and Mexico.

 The first ad hoc caller on the AT3 was the CMA CGM Molière on May 3 (I missed that one due to fog). Although ONE is nominally running the service, their Ocean Alliance partner, CMA CGM, is providing the ships. (Oddly, the CMA CGM Françoise Sagan is a former NYK ship.) The AT3 port rotation is Southampton, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Antwerp, (Halifax), Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, New Orleans, Southampton.

 The tug Atlantic Maple is preparing to make up on the ship's starboard side, and will soon be hidden from my view. The Atlantic Ash is trying to make up on the port bow, and is steaming full astern. Due to the ship's extreme bow flare, the tug neeeds to take care to avoid contact with its superstructure when working in close.  

 

It then appeared that the Atlantic Ash would instead take a heaving line from the ship's bow, but the heaving line may have fouled the anchor. The ship was moving quite fast and was soon hidden from view, but it was eventually turned and brought alongside Pier 41.

The CMA CGM Françoise Sagan was built as NYK Themis by Hyundai Ulsan in 2008. The 76,826 gt, 80,227 dwt ship has a nominal capacity of 6661 TEU including 460 reefer points. Ships of the Triton class are notable for their twin funnels - a considerable expense, one assumes, for an unknown reason.

 

CMA CGM is naming ships after notableFrench historical figures, including explorers and authors. Mlle Françoise Sagan (1935-2004) [pen name of Françoise Delphine Quoirez] was a novelist, playwright, lyricist and screen writer, achieving fame (and notoriety) for her work from the young age of 18.

Fallout from Hapag-Lloyd's exit from the forner THE Alliance, and re-forming of the Premier Alliance with ONE, HMM and Yang Ming is still settling in, with MSC playing an odd card too.

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CMA CGM Chile arrives

 The third 15,000 plus TEU ship to call at PSA Halifax made its arrival at midday today. CMA CGM Chile follows two ships of the same class that called in September: CMA CGM Brazil on September 10 and CMA CGM Panama on September 21.

It was a gloomy arrival for the ship, which appears to be loaded to near capacity in terms of number of boxes. There is currently a dire shortage of containers in Asia, so ships are trying to pick up as many boxes as they can at way points, however this ship is westbound and has made no port calls since Sri Lanka. Container traffic is apparently booming right now, so perhaps it is mostly payload.

As expected the three ships of this Argentina class are all showing the same or similar numbers: 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt, and 15,072 TEU. Built by Hyundai Samho, CMA CGM Chile entered service in December 2019, so is barely a year old. There are eleven ships in the class, with the first five already delivered ( CMA Argentina and CMA CGM Mexico have not called in Halifax yet). Six more ships, of which one has been delivered are revolutionary dual fuel vessels with the capability of using LNG - if and where available. It is expected that they will use the conventional fuel and exhaust gas scrubbers much of the time.

The Port of Halifax is noting that these ships are the largest container ships to call at any Canadian port, and that Halifax has the infrastructure to handle them, particularly with the newly extended berth at PSA Halifax, and its long reach, super post panamax cranes.

I have often noted that the size of ships is deceptive, particularly with these Ultra class vessels. Yes they are big a 360m long and 51m wide, but they are still smaller than the largest ship to dock at any Canadian terminal. As far as I know, that record is still held by Point Tupper, NS on the Strait of Canso. 

On August 9, 1998 the Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC*) Hellespont Capitol docked at the Nustar Energy terminal there. A tanker of 173,086 gt, 388,118 dwt, it measured 373.5m long overall, by 64 meters breadth with a draft of 22.92m, it was built in 1976 and scrapped in 2002. Originally the Esso Madrid it was built by Nippon Kokan, Tsu, Japan, in response the "energy crisis" of the early 70s. In 1986 it was renamed Capitol and in 1990 Hellespont Capitol when it was acquired by the Greek / Canadian Papachristidis company Hellespont Steamships.

Ships of its colossal size could only be handled at Point Tupper which has the deepest, ice free terminal in North America.

 * The ULCC is the largest class of tanker, starting at 320,000 dwt and ranging up to 549,999 dwt. The next smaller class, the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC),  is sized is from 160,000 to 319,999 dwt. 

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Big Arrival, Not so big Departure

 Today's (September 9) big arrival, despite rain and fog, was CMA CGM Mexico another of 15,000 TEU class ships making regular calls in Halifax.

With Atlantic Fir forward and Atlantic Beaver aft, the ship makes ready to turn off PSA Halifax and back into the berth. (It is amazing what a camera can see with a little computer magic).

Built in 2019 by Hyundai, Samho, CMA CGM Mexico is a 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt vessel. It appears to be almost fully loaded to its 15,000+TEU capacity. The ship is only slightly smaller than the 16,000+ TEU Explorer class, such as CMA CGM Marco Polo, the largest ship to call in Halifax.

The camera also helped to improve visibility of another ship, which I was lucky to see at all as it sailed into the fog and rain.

Isabelita is a 32,297 gt, 58,470 dwt bulker, built in 2010 by Tsuneishi Daishan, and equipped with four cranes. It is owned by the Ugland company and is carried on the Norwegian International register. (Ugland is well known name in Canada as a partner in managing several tugs, tankers and bulkers through Canship Ugland. Since 1997 the joint venture between the J.J.Ugland Companies and Knutsen OAS shipping, both from Norway, has been based in Newfoundland.)

The Isabelita was in port for only a few hours, perhaps for a Canadian Food Inspection Agency certification. Its last port, Nemrut, Turkey, is noted for its fertilizer exports. The ship also made a brief stop in Greece, but only at an offshore anchorage. It is bound for Quebec.

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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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Parade of Shipping

 There was quite a parade of ships in Halifax today, February 25, and most of them had never been here before. In no particular order:

MSC England arrived for MSC's Gulf Canada service en route from Montreal via Corner Brook, heading for Mexico.

The ship was built in 2001 by Hyundai Ulsan as the CMA CGM Vega. The 39,812 gt, 51,020 dwt ship has a capacity of 4132 TEU, and took its present name in 2007. Ships on the Gulf Canada service do not normally call in Halifax, but this ship did call here late last year during the Montreal port workers strike, and left containers here to be forwarded by rail or truck. 

There is no apparent reason for today's call unless it had something to do with the grounding of the MSC Baltic III February 15 near Corner Brook. That ship is in perilous condition. Salvage operations have not been possible due to weather and sea conditions. 

At PSA Fairview Cove the Vela was due to depart early this evening for New York. The ship arrived yesterday on ZIM's ZCA Transatlantic service from the Mediterranean.

 

Built by Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co Ltd in 2009 it was delivered as JPO Vela but renamed Bunga Raya Sambilan in the same year. It reverted to JPO Vela in 2010 and became the Vela in 2019. A 41,225 gt, 50,420 dwt ship, it has a capacity of 4254 TEU. Oddly it does not appear to be carrying many reefers - usually a major part of cargo at this time of the year.

There was considerable activity in the Pier 9B and Pier 9C areas known as Richmond Terminals. The Canadian flag tanker Algotitan made an overnight stopover at Pier 9B and sailed late morning for Montreal, apparently in ballast.  

The twin screw ship made a neat turn, right off the berth in the Narrows, and headed directly for sea. (Not so neat is its appearance due to St.Lawrence Seaway "lock rash".)

 

Inbound from sea for Pier 9C the Industrial Charger has aircraft components loaded in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

 The ship has had several names since built in 2000 by Estaleiros Navais, Lda de Viano do Castelo in Spain. It was launched as Virgo J but renamed on delivery as Industrial Charger, but became Virgo J again in the same year. In 2009 it was renamed Ocean Charger, then in 2015 Zea Charger and in 2020 Charger. It finally ended up as Industrial Charger in 2022. The 7252 gt, 7428 (or 8024) dwt ship is a flexible tween deck type, with box shaped holds and a container capacity of 516 TEU with 80 reefer plugs. It also carries a pair of 200 tonne SWL cranes, which can operate in combinaiton for a 400 tonne lift. It also carries some large blue coloured spreaders on deck.

 A second ship is due after dark, also from Belfast, the Onego Deusto is more familiair here with cargoes of rail from Poland. Interestingly it was here February 26, 2024 with just such a cargo.

PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub had MSC England at Pier 42 using a variety of cranes, including two of the large cranes after they had completed work on the ship at Pier 41. The smallest cranes remained unused and the third large crane (which is rarely raised) remained at Pier 41.

 

 The ship at Pier 41 was a first time caller the APL Esplanade in from Colombo via the Cape of Good Hope on the Ocean Alliance PSW3 and AWE3 service from Asia.

A ten year old ship, it appears by the condition of its paint to have recently been drydocked for its ten year survey. It was completed in 2014 by Hyundai Samho and is rated at 152,350 gt, 154,103 dwt with a capacity of 13,900 TEU. It was built originally as APL Ascend but was renamed MOL Quintet on delivery and took its present name in 2017.

American President Lines LLC (APL) is the American subsidiary of CMA CGM and was acquired in 2016 when CMA CGM bought Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) of Singapore which in turn had purchased APL in 1997. 

CMA CGM, thankfully, uses the initials of two predecessor companies, Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) and Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM). The Company, based in Marseille, France, is the third largest container shipping company after MSC (based in Switzerland) and Maersk (from Denmark.)

 More shipping for the day arrived after dark and may be visible tomorrow.

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CMA CGM Victory Bridge

 

 Not the name of a ship, but the name of a North Europe / North America Service, the CMA CGM Victory Bridge is an "on demand" caller in Halifax, so does not always include our port in its rotation. That route starts with the usual European hubs of Southampton, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Bremerhaven then crosses the Atlantic. When the route was established in 2022 Halifax was not mentioned and the US east coast ports were Charleston and Miami. Those last two have now been dropped and ships bypass the US for Veracruz / Altamira, Mexico then Houston and New Orleans. Ships then return on the eastbound leg via the same ports (in the reverse order) with Halifax as the optional first /last North American port. 

The latest ship to call in Halifax on this route is the CMA CGM Molière which arrived early last evening (October 9) and sailed early this afternoon. 

 The ship is owned and managed by the Piraeus based Danaos Shipping Co Ltd and is presumably on a long term charter. The little known Sungdong Shipbuilding + Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Tongyeon, South Korea (since 2020 called HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding Co Ltd) built the ship in 2009 and it is listed at 72,884 gt, 83,793 dwt with a capacity of 6758 nominal TEUs ( 4840 TEUs at 14 tonnes /6554 TEU per CMA CGM) and 500 reefer plugs.

The ship has a substantial deck cargo space aft but was oddly stowed with a large empty space inboard. The ship used PSA Halifax's largest cranes, so the midship area was within easy reach. The reason for this odd arrangement may remain a mystery.

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Arsos for CMA/CGM

The container carrier CMA/CGM runs a weekly service from Halifax to Kingston, Jamaica. Kingston is a hub port for CMA/CGM, and allows connections to other routes. After calling in Kingston the ship will do a circuit of Gulf of Mexico and US east coast ports, as part of CMA/CGM's Gulf Bridge Service.

Today's caller was Arsos, a Cypriot registered ship, built in 2007 in Zhoushan China. It is rated for 1296 TEU. Typical of feeder container ships, it is fitted with cranes, which allows it to work the boxes at smaller ports.

Late, late show; Stacked Up; RoRo

 Late, late show

The cruise season for Halifax usually winds up in the last week of October or the fist week of November - and for good reason! The weather is usually cold and windy - not what cruise passengers are looking for - and the hurricane season is usually over in the south where it is still nice and warm. Today, November 19 marks the latest scheduled cruise ship visit in my recollection.  It was the German ship AIDAdiva setting the record.

It tied up at Pier 22 (with the grain leg tower in the background) and lucked into a fine day with a high of 7 ºC [44.6 ºF]. Passengers had the entire day ashore with the ship sailing at 1630 hrs. [Sunset is 1643 hrs AST]
 

The 69,203 gt ship was built in 2007 by Meyer Werft in Papenburg and has a capacity of 2,050 passengers and 646 crew. 

The ship sailed from Rostock Germany November 1 and stopped at most Scandinavian ports before calling in Portland, UK, sailing from there November 12.

It will now go on the Boston and New York then US east coast, Gulf of Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Hawaii, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Sti Lanka, the Maldives, Seychelles, Réunion, Cape Town, Cape Verde, Azores, Portugal and ending up in Hamburg March 23, 2026. If you had the starting price of €17,500 ($27,500 CAN) per person (double occupancy) to drop you could have joined the 133 day cruise. Top end price might be in the range of €24,000 ($38,887.68 at current rate of exchange).
 

Stacked Up Outside

Despite the fact that the PSA Atlantic Hub (southend container terminal) can handle two 10,000 TEU ships at the same time, it cannot, in its present configuration, work three such ships and A smaller ship at the same time. Today there were two ships alongside (one big, one small) and two more big ships waiting in the outer anchorages outside the port limits.

The alongside ships were the 14,414 TEU CMA CGM J. Adams at berth 41 and the 3108 TEU EM Kea at Pier 42.

 The CMA CGM J. Adams came from the Hyundai Ulsan shipyard in 2017 and is shown as 141,950 gt, 148,992 dwt. It arrived yesterday from Colombo on the Ocean Alliance Asia-North America service.

The EM Kea dates from 2007 when it was built  by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland. The 35,824 gt, 42,165 fwt ship is on the regular CMA CGM /Maersk joint North Atlantic service from Montreal and bound for Bremerhaven. It also has 500 reefer plugs.

Stacked Up Outside

Unlike aircraft that circle seemingly endlessly when terminals are busy, ships sometimes have the option to anchor. Conditions were good for that off Halifax in recent days allowing for the unusual sight of two ships waiting outside thus avoiding port charges.

 The two are sister ships, both built by Japan Marine United, Kure. The ONE Wren was built in 2018 and the ONE Hawk in 2017. They were built for NYK Line and carried company names NYK Wren until 2021 and NYK Hawk until 2020. Both have similar tonnages of 145,251 gt, 139,995 dwt and 145,407 gt and 138,907 dwt respectively. They are both rated sat 14.026    TEU.

ONE Wren may have priority for berthing, but it is unlikely that both ships will be  docked at the same time since the smaller cranes may not be able to clear deck load.

RoRo 

The continuous parade of auto carriers continues with today's arrival of the Morning Lisa with both import automobiles and other RoRo cargo.

 

 On arrival the ship went north directly to Bedford Basin, turned then proceeded southbound again to tie up at Pier 9C in order to orient its stern ramp correctly.

 The Morning Lisa dates from 2008 when it was delivered by Hyundai, Samho. A 68,701 gt, 28,084 dwt vessel, it has a capacity of 8,011 Car Equivalent Units.

After discharging the usual mix of machinery at Pier 9C the ship moved to Autoport to unload cars.

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Suez Dilema

 On March 23 the ultra large container ship Ever Given drove its bow into one bank of the Suez Canal. Its stern then swung outward, effectively blocking one of the world's busiest waterways. Initial efforts by tugs could not dislodge the ship, and traffic began to build up in both directions.

So much for the facts. Media coverage of this event has ranged (sadly) from the bizarre to perceptive, with even my beloved CBC national radio news dropping the ball in initial reports. I won't dwell too much on the CBC's clangers, but the error filled report included having the ship "tip over". The account must have been written by a summer intern from the prairies left alone on the graveyard shift.

I have been guilty of many errors in this blog (see previous post about the mv Arctic), but I am not a professional journalist, nor am I a shipping industry insider. I am merely an informed enthusiast expressing my opinions and relaying such information as I have been able to gather, and (usually) to confirm. News organizations should be able to do better than rip it off the wire service, even in the middle of the night. Bottom line: don't rely on one source (like me) for news.

The Ever Given has a capacity of more than 20,000 TEU. The largest container ships to call in Halifax are in the 15,000 TEU range, so the ship is an immense one. In fact it is 400 meters in length. Surely the average adult human can relate to that many meters in some way. Nevertheless some journalists insist on converting meters to new units of measurement such as the Football Pitch (presumably European, but maybe American or even Canadian?).  I haven't heard of the Hockey Rink unit yet, but I am waiting. My favourite unit of all is the "Eiffel" as if the innumerate listener can cope with the concept of the Eiffel Tower (324 meters) fallen on its side and blocking the Seine. (It would if it did.)

Yes it's a big ship, but the point is its a big ship in a narrow waterway. The implication of a big ship stuck in a narrow waterway was not lost on the early reporters of the incident. But those that passed the news on, like a game of multi-lingual telephone, missed the point about this particular waterway. It carries a high proportion of the world's goods and fuel, and blockage of even a few days will disrupt world trade, right down to the price of gasoline at the pump and availability of certain goods.

Refloating the ship is a monumental headache since there is no realistic way of lightening it by offloading in any kind of a hurry. Dredging around and under may be the only practical way, but even that is fraught with danger as an over stressed hull could fracture.

Alternative trade routes present onerous barriers, and are generally out of the question unless there is a prolonged closure. Britain and much of the western world was put on a war footing when President Nasser of Egypt nationalized the Canal in 1956. Called the Suez Crisis, it came close to involving the major super powers in open conflict. As it was Britain and France invaded Egypt to secure the canal for international trade. Egypt won however and the United Nations created a peacekeeping force (including Canada) to safeguard the Canal while clean up efforts to remove wrecks took months. 

Then again the Arab-Israeli Six Day war in 1967 closed the Suez Canal for eight years and spawned a whole new concept in shipbuilding. Super tankers were built to make the much longer trip around the Cape of Good Hope to feed the western word's need for crude oil. But in those days Asian countries were not the major producers of the world's trade goods as they are today. In fact most such goods were produced in Europe and North America, and container ships were barely heard of. Even then the world economy took a major hit and a long time to recover. The trade implications for a prolonged Suez closure these days are therefore pretty severe with the quantity of goods sourced in Asia for Europe and North America.

The distance between Mumbai and London via Suez is 6,200 nautical miles. Via the Cape the distance is 10,800 miles. That approximates two weeks of steaming time for an average ship. At say $20,000 per day to operate a ship that's an extra $280,000 per trip, and perhaps much more for a larger ship.

There is no easy work around to a closure. With west coast US ports clogged due to Covid related issues, a transpacific alternative is highly unlikely, but shippers must be weighing all the options at this point, including transpacific /Panama. Normally however it takes many months to position ships for radical schedule changes.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has been continually upgrading and expanding but has not been able to keep up with the growth in the size of ships. The current situation will not halt ship owners from building larger ships nor will the SCA catch up with the boom in shipbuilding. Incidents such as the current one with the Ever Given can be expected to recur, even with increased tug escorts and other safety measures that mat ensue.

How will Halifax be effected you may ask?

As it happens today's lone container ship arrival * was at PSA Halifax where the  APL Dublin tied up centre berth, straddling Pier 41-42. Its last port of call was Colombo, Sri Lanka, sailing directly to Halifax non-stop via the Suez Canal.

 

APL Dublin, built in 2012 by Daewoo, Okpo, 128,929 gt, 131,097 dwt has a capacity of 10,960 TEU just slightly more than half the capacity of Ever Given.

The next ship on the CMA CGM Columbus JAX service, CMA CGM Mexico is due to sail from Colombo today, and is expected at Suez April 4. Even if Ever Given is freed in a very few days, the CMA CGM ship will be caught up in the backlog of waiting ships that in itself will take additional weeks to clear.

Many other ships that call in Halifax have cargo that originates in Asia but that has been transferred in the Mediterranean or elsewhere in Europe, so we may expect those ships to come with very much lighter loads.  As it is there is a huge demand for container ships that cannot be met with the current world supply. The Suez closure will make maters worse, and there will be all sorts of service disruptions, delays and cancelled sailings.

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* There was another container ship arrival today, but it did not actually enter port. MSC Annick anchored off Chebucto Head, outside the port limits, joining MSC Angela. Both ships are destined for Montreal, but labour uncertainty in that port may keep the ships here for some time.  MSC's Montreal schedules are in disarray as it is, and certainly the CANEX 1 (Western Mediterranean-Canada) service will not be helped by the Suez situation.

Back in business

Left over rough seas and continuing high winds from last night's storm had the Halifax pilot boat off station this morning. As the day wore on conditions improved and the boat got underway at noon. Three ships then arrived in quick succession. All would have arrived Sunday or earlier today.

The tanker Afrodite arrived first and anchored. It was originally due yesterday, but went into a holding pattern offshore over night.

The Afrodite was here at least once before (September 18, 2011) and anchored that time too. The ship is was due in Montreal today, and in Quebec City -  so it will not be  be in port long. Its first stop will likely be Quebec City to discharge, then it will go to Montreal to load at the Norcan pipeline.
A Hyundai Mipo-built handysize of 30,053 grt, 53,082 dwt, the tanker dates from 2005 when it was built as Western Antarctic, a name it carried for only a year. It is now owned by Tsakos Columbia Shipmanagement of Greece, and flies the Bahamas flag.

Next along was EM Kea one of the four ships servicing the joint Maersk / CMA CGM transatlantic St.Lawrence service. The ship represents CMA CGM on what they call the "St-Laurent 1" route. It would normally have called in Halifax on Saturday or Sunday at the latest. It is due in Bremerhaven January 18, so will not waste much time getting back on track.

Capable of 22 knots, the ship was built in 2007 by Stoc.Szczecinska Nowa in Poland and is owned by Eurobulk Ltd of Athens. It has been on this route since July 2015, and carries 3108 TEU on its 35,824 grt, 42,166 dwt.
The other four ships on the Maersk / CMA CGM run are Maersk ships, and not nearly as handsome looking if I may be pardoned for saying so.

For me, the highlight of the arrivals was the third ship. Atlantic Runner is making one of the infrequent calls by Atlantic RoRo Carriers. The line, which operates out of St.Petersburg, Russia and serves east coast North America and the Gulf of Mexico, proudly claims to be the largest operator of Astrakhan class ships.
The Astrakhans have been featured here before many times including January of last year

Built for commercial/military use by the USSR, they have proven to be highly versatile ships with their combination of RoRo and LoLo and their own cranes. Fitted for work in ice, and for carrying dangerous cargoes, they also have long endurance ability.

 

They are getting on it years now, but Atlantic Runner appears to be in good condition and dates from 1992, as part of the Type III variant, fitted with cranes only (the earlier versions also had derricks).
The ships were built by Warnowerft in Warnemunde, it what was East Germany. This one measures 16,075 grt, 18,731 dwt and has five 80 tonne cranes with two pairs that can work in combination. Its modest RoRo ramp is fited on the starboard quarter.

It started life as Krasnograd, but was soon chartered out and renamed in succession: Nordana Kitale, 98: Nordana Kigoma, 99: Nordana Surveyor, 01: Lykes Runner. It became Atlantic Runner in 2004, and is operated by Atlantic Ship Management of Odessa, Ukraine under the Maltese flag.

Speaking of dangerous cargo those tank containers on deck look like they might contain radioactive material, sent from Russia for re-processing in Canada.

Janet C is at pier 27, a member of the growing Carisbrooke Shipping fleet, based on the Isle of Wight.
An open hatch type ship, with box shaped holds and movable 'tween decks, it started life in 2009 at Yangzijiang Shipyard in China. With two 80 tonne cranes it is ideally suited for its cargo of rails from Poland for CN Rail. It was chartered out as UAL Capetown until last year.

The ship arrived at noon time yesterday, but has not been working cargo, and seems to have attracted a lot of attention from Canada Border Services.

Carisbrooke has an interesting web site that shows ships' positions: http://www.carisbrooke.co/
It is a few days out of date however, since it shows Janet C just passing the Azores on January 2.

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Lee update

 Although there was coastal flooding and shore erosion due to the storm surge, Post Tropical storm Lee did not create the widespread damage to boats and harbours that last year's Hurrucane Fiona did. That is not to belittle the impact of the storm - it was severe - but perhaps it was as much due to wise precautions as to the somewhat less powerful distrurbance.

As previously noted ships vacated Halifax harbour and went well offshore to the east as the storm tracked across mainland Nova Scotia on Septmber 16. For instance the container ship ZIM Iberia which cleared Halifax on Friday September 15 and was destined for New York, instead headed northeasterly and was spotted on AIS well offshore. Similarly the cruise ship Zaandam which sailed on the 15th got ahead of the storm and made for CornerBrook, NL after a day or more at sea.

The heavy load ship GPO Sapphire, which had been anchored off Halifax made for the shelter of Chedabucto Bay. It likely did not anchor because with its Dynamic Positioning capability, it was able to keep station. The huge windage of its deck load of six wind turbine tower components could have put unbearable strain on conventional anchors and chain.

GPO Sapphire anchored off Halifax on September 13.

Speaking of anchors however, the stress was too much for one of those red white and blue navy trot buoys off Macnab's Cove (on the right and left of the photo above.) It and a green navigation buoy were spotted adrift in the harbour, but were later coralled by tugs.

Coastal tankers sought shelter too with Acadian off Lismore and Big Island to the eastern of the Northumberland Strait. (It was bound for Charlottetown.)

Algoscotia and Mia Desgagnés were in St.Ann's Bay (northeast coast of Cape Breton) and not far away the cruise ship Norwegian Joy (which had been due in Halifax September 17) stood by off Wreck Cove (an inauspicious name under the circumstances.)

That made today (Monday, September 18) a double header Norwegian day in Halifax with both Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Pearl in at the same time. They were joined by the Pearl Mist which must have had a rough time of it en route from Portland, ME.

 Wind gusts of 117 kph (72 miles per hour) were recorded at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (well inland) and there were power outages all over NovA Scotia and New Brunswick. Ship Centreal Eastern (- the home of Shipfax) was without electricity for 28 hours from roughly 0715 hrs ADT Saturday, September 16 to 1100 hrs Sunday, September 17.

The storm was well passed by Sunday, Septemeber 17, but the only commercial activity in the harbour was the arrival and departure of the EM Kea on the Maersk / CMA CGM St-Laurent 1 service. It would normally have been here on Saturday en route from Montreal to Bremerhavem but can quite likely make up the time on the long transatlantic leg.

By today harbour activity had returned to normal (ferry service had been suspended on Saturday for example) with comings and goings at both container terminals. 

CMA CGM Mexico (15,000 plus TEU) made its call (westbound from Tanger Med) at PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway, along with Tropic Hope...

 ... and Atlantic Sky at PSA Fairview Cove (west bound en route for New York).

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Two for MSC and one each for the rest

 It was a busy day in Halifax today, Saturday, May 28, but rain and fog obscured some of the activity and made in downright unpleasant to be out. 

An early morning arrival was another 15,000TEU class ship, CMA CGM Mexico, from Colombo on Ocean Alliance service run by CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen and OOCL. It was a pre-dawn arrival and a midnight departure, so the only view was a poor shot from the Young Avenue bridge. The ship stretches out of sight, but its bridge structure is framed by the last crane on the right.

Built by Hyundai Samho in 2019, it comes in at 149,314 gt, 157,076 dwt and most sources indicate a capacity of 15,128 TEU.

Despite its size there was still room at the southend terminal (PSA Atlantic Hub) for another ship at Pier 42, and that was the afternoon arival MSC Angela eastbound on the CANEX 2 service from Montreal to Italy and Spain.

The ship dates from 2008 when it was built by Zhejiang (Yangfan) Shipbuilding Co, Ningbo. It is a 41,225 gt, 50,568 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4254 TEU, including 550 reefers. Due to draft restrictions on the St.Lawrence River, the ship is lightly loaded, but it will top up in Halifax before resuming its voyage.

MSC was also present at the other end of the harbour at Fairview Cove where MSC Mandy arrived westbound on the Canex 1 service from Italy (via Malta and Portugal).

It was performing the reverse operation to its fleet mate, that is to say it was off-loading some containers to reduce draft before sailing on to Montreal.

MSC Mandy is a true old-timer, built in 1993 by Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack. It is a ship of 37,701 gt, 46,852 dwt with a modest container capacity of 2650 TEU, including 100 reefers. It sailed as Bremen Senator until 2003, then as SCI Vaibhav until 2004.

When it sailed late this afternoon, there were some large gaps in its deck load, which was no more than four tiers high.

There was also activity at Autoport, but short of a visit to that side of the harbour, the ship was barely visible. Treasure is another "classic" dating from 1999, when it was delivered by Hashihama Zosen, Tadotsu. A 58,684 gt, 21,199 dwt PCTC it is rated at up to 6100 CEU (some sources say 5718). Initially named HUAL Treasure until 2006, it then became Hoegh Treasure and in 2014, took its present name.

Looming through the rain and fog, the ship still betrays it previous ownership by the paint scheme. However it is now owned by Blue Arrow Navigation Ltd of Haifa and managed by ASM Maritime BV of the Netherlands. It is en route from Bremerhaven for Wallenius Wilhelmsen and will sail for US ports .

Arriving from New York and occupying an anchorage, the cement carrier NACC Providence is in port for CFIA invasive species examination. Once it has been determined to be free of LDA moth, it will likely sail for Port Daniel, QC to load for McInnes Cement.

The 12,047 gt, 20,200 swt ship dates from 2006 when construction was completed by Labroy Shipbuilding and Engineering Pte Ltd in Singapore. The ship was laid down at Nahindah Mutiara Shipbuilding at Batam, Indonesia in 2005 and launched a year later, but it is unclear how much work was done there. Labroy completed the project in less than six months.It was named Glory Atlantic until February of this year.

NACC Providence is operated by Nova Algoma Cement Carriers, a joint venture between Algoma Central Corp of St.Catharines, ON and Nova, from Luxembourg. The ship is registered in Panama, and as its name implies will deliver cement to McInnes customers in the US northeast.

Meanwhile, despite the gloom and rain, Halifax Shipyard was in a festive mood for a double naming ceremony. 

The future HMCS Max Bernays, the third Artctic Offshore Patrol Vessel, was dressed all over and various banners and bunting were on display at Pier 6 -7 in the Shipyard. A special marquee tent was also erected to keep dignitaries fresh and dry. A naval trials crew has been busy on the ship starting in January when its captain was named. So far it has been known as AOPS 3, but will now be known as Max Bernays. (The HMCS designation will not be used until it is handed over to the RCN  and commissioned.) I believe the ship will soon be sailing to its west coast base in Esquimalt before it is actually commissioned. Post acceptance trials will be held en route or after arrival in Esquimalt.

Margaret Brooke (AOPS 2), at its Pier in HMC Dockyard was similarly decked out  and will also be named officially. The ship has been in RCN hands since July 2021 and has conducted post-acceptance ice trials and warm weather trials. The badging / naming / trialing and finally commissioning is a long and complex process, particularly with the sophisticated systems in use on naval vessels. I understand the ship will be commissioned in October, on the anniversary of the loss of the Newfoundland ferry Caribou in 1942.

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ONE plus Onego equals zero

 Two ships with the letters O, N and E starting their names were the only scheduled arrivals in Halifax today, February 26. There is no connection between the two except for pure coincidence, and there is no numerical significance to their names, so adding them together does not result in a sum. 

Number One arrival was the multi-purpose cargo carrier Onego Deusto - a ship with an interesting history as well as an interesting name. As on its several previous visits it is carrying a cargo of rail from Szczecin, Poland for the Canadian National Railway Company. [An aglomeration agglomeration of failing railroads established by the Canadian government in 1919, Canadian National Railways as it was then called - aka the CNR - was a crown corporation until 1995. Now publicly traded, and considered a "blue ship chip" investment, it is nevertheless controlled by none other than Bill Gates with a 14.2% stake. Known as CN Rail (thanks in part to its distinctive "noodle" logo) it is now national and international in scope with several tentacles stretching into the United States. It is also multi-modal with ships, trucks and forwarding operations, symbiotic to the railroad.]

The Onego Deusto came ghosting in this morning on a flat calm sea and cloudless sky to offload at Pier 27 where the rail is stockpiled until needed by CN. It is then sent in batches to CN's rail welding plant in Winnipeg (Transcona), MB.

The ship was built by Vahali Shipyard's Belgrade yard in 2008 for the now defunct Beluga Shipping. The 6312 gt, 9832 dwt ship is of the open hatch (hatch is full width of hold) moveable tweendeck, box shaped holds, multi-purpose type, equipped with two 40 tonne SWL cranes. 

It was rigged for sail assist and named Beluga Skysails. When Beluga failed, the ship became BBC Skysails in 2011, then Onego Deusto in 2019. It still carries the davit-like jib boom on the bow, so may be able to rig a sail, but nothing in company literature suggests that it still does. 

As it appeared on arrival March 10, 2023.

Onego Shipping and Chatering B.V. is a Dutch company, based in Rhoon, near Rotterdam. Established in 2001 the company specializes in cross-Atlantic bulk cargoes and has built up a fleet of 28 ships. 

I have no idea where "Onego" comes from (there is a lake in Russia with that name, and oddly the word means "pool" in the Seneca tongue.) It also seems that it is to be pronounced "Ah-nee-go". Even so the Seneca word is pronounced "1-go" (one as in number 1), and a town in West Virginia carries that name and is pronounced that way.

Deusto (nothing to do with the number "two" [deux] ) is the name of an area in the city of Bilbao, Spain. That word appears to have come from the Basque language word Deusta.

Second arrival is the Ultra size container carrier ONE Ibis. In this case ONE represents a portmanteau for Ocean Network Express, the joint venture of Japanese container shipping companies, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K-Line), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK-Line) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). By operating "as one" the three companies hoped to compete better with the giant MSC and Maersk. Even so ONE is now ranked as sixth largest with just 2 million TEU capacity versus 4 to 5 milllion for the giants. CMA CGM, COSCO and Hapag-Lloyd are also larger than ONE. The various shipping alliances are also in flux, which complicates matters.

Built in 2016 by Japan Marine United in Kure as NYK Ibis, it is a 144,285 gt, 139,335 dwt ship with a capacity of 14,026 TEU. It was renamed ONE Ibis (and repainted) in 2019. 

As with yesterday's long haul caller for Ocean Alliance, the CMA CGM Mexico, this ship, sailing for THE Alliance's EC5 service made its last Asian call in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sailing from there on January 22 it then took the Cape of Good Hope route to avoid the Red Sea and was reported passing Cape Town February 3. It proceeded directly to Halifax.

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