G.Peddle S.C., fifth launch for the CCG

 1. G.Peddle S.C. on the launch way this morning.

Halifax Shipyard launched the fifth Hero class coastal patrol boat today. With four more to go, they are now better than half way through the program for the Canadian Coast Guard. Of the boats built so far three are based on the Great Lakes and one in Quebec City.
CCGS G.Peddle S.C. and the sixth boat in the series Corporal McLaren M.M.V. will be based in Halifax.

The seventh boat will go to Quebec City and the last two will patrol the waters of British Columbia.

2. At noon, the boat started to move down the ways.

3. Once the boat got its feet wet, there was a pause while a diver attended to the cradle and the tug Atlantic Larch gets into position to take a line.

4. With boats from Connors Diving on each side,G. Peddle floated free.

5. Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Larch took the boat in hand for the short trip to pier 9B.

6. G.Peddle S.C. off pier 9B where it will be fitted out and conduct builder's trials.

6. Coming alongside, without the tugs touching the hull.

.

Atlantic Cartier - I was wrong

1. Atlantic Cartier passes the flare and steam stacks of the Esso refinery in 2009. But it did have a real fire in Hamburg and will not returning to service as fast as I had predicted.

My June 6 post citing the miraculous recovery of Atlantic Cartier was apparently wrong. Usually reliable sources were not reliable this time. The ship is still sitting in Hamburg and ACL has arranged for substitutes from the Grimaldi fleet.
So far these appear to be Grande Angola and Grande Togo, two nice bright yellow ConRos, both will be here during June.

Alsterstern for bunkers [corrected]

Corrected version (I had the ship's name wrong as Havelstern on first posting):

The Woodward Group, Coastal Shipping Ltd tanker Alsterstern arrived for bunkers and anchored in Bedford Basin this morning, June 13. The ship is one of three sisters acquired by Woodward to transport fuel in Newfoundland, Labrador and the far north. All three were acquired form Rigel Tankers in Germany, first to arrive was Alsterstern in July 2001, then Havelstern in September 2011 and Travestern in March of this year. At 11,423 gross tons and 17,080 deadweight, they are able to reach many of the smaller ports.
They generally work seasonally and layup for the winter, and are reactivated in spring for northern work. Last year Alsterstern arrived in Halifax on June 14, docking at Ultramar in Eastern Passage. It is likely to load there again this year before sailing.

Alsterstern anchored off Rockingham, 2013-06-14 waiting for a berth.

.

Port Expansion continues

1. Connors Diving with a core drilling scow off Fairview Cove, June1.

A tender ad published on June 12 announced another major construction project for the Port of Halifax. With completion of the extension to the Halterm container terminal in the south end of the port, it is now time for an extension to the Fairview Cove container terminal in Bedford Basin. The tender is for  dredging and concrete crib- the same kind of construction used in the ongoing Pier 9 C extension.

2. When Fairview Cove opened there were no fixed cranes, only one mobile- and lots of empty space.

The Fairview Cove terminal, the port of Halifax's second container pier, was first opened for business in 1981 and has been extended twice since. With the introduction of larger cranes in 2007 the pier is capable of handling the current crop of post-Panamax ships. However as the size and number of larger ships is expected to increase, the need to accommodate two post-Panamax ships at the same time has become necessary. The extension to the Fairview Cove terminal will allow this. It also likely that more large cranes will be needed too. The recent arrival of larger ships, which could just barely berth under the current smaller cranes points to that need, but no announcement has been made yet.

3. Parts for the first crane were brought in by J.A.Z. Desgagnés in December 1981.

For the past many months fill has been accumulating at Fairview, most of it from the excavation for the new World Trade Centre. Last week Connors Diving had a core drill working at Fairview a sure indication that something was going to happen.

4. Big cranes for big ships at the west end of the pier, but smaller cranes for smaller ships at the east end. (April 6 , 2013 photo)

5. Fill operations continue today.

Coast to Coast

1. Coast spent the night anchored in Bedford Basin, and this morning moved to Halterm. All those tank containers are probably for rum , an important Cuban export.

 
Melfi Lines are the current users of a well traveled and oft renamed ship that has called in Halifax under three different names.
Now running as Coast, the ship first started visiting Halifax in 2003, but since it was built in 1997 it has changed names no less than eight times.
Built in 1997 as Nordcoast for Klaus E. Oldendorff of Germany, it has been chartered out to various shipping lines, becoming CSAV Buenos Aires almost immediately. In 1999 it reverted to Nordcoast then in 2000 it became Alianca Parana returning to Nordcoast in 2000. It then became DAL East London in 2001, Safmarine Nahoon in 2002 and Nordcoast again later in 2002. 
It was under that name that is first appeared in Halifax in 2003 sailing for Costa Container Line. It continued with them being renamed Cala Puebla in 2005.
Costa eventually failed and the ship went back to its orginal name Nordcoast in 2009. In 2010 its name was shortened to Coast then in 2012 it was renamed again to Vento Di Grecale. Earlier this year it became Coast (again)
In April it started calling in Halifax again for Melfi Lines, which serves Cuba.
The same owners, Klaus E. Oldendorff have owned the ship throughout all these changes.It was built by Stocznia Szczecinska in Poland and measures 16,264 gross tons, and carries 1684 TEU, including 120 reefers.It has three 45 tonne cranes.

.

Carnival Glory - back again

1. A sleek looking Carnival Glory sails well north of George's Island under glowering skies in advance of the first named tropical storm of the season.

Carnival Glory made its first call for 2013 today The ship is a regular and has become familiar in Halifax. Noted for its clean lines and absence of "graffiti" style hull paint, it presents a quiet clean look. At 110, 239 gross tons it is a big ship for Halifax. It was built in 2003 and is registered in Panama (most cruise ships seem to be registered in the Bahamas these days).
All the cruise lines are suffering from bad publicity these days, but judging by the numbers of people enjoying the sights in Halifax today, cruises are still selling.
On departure the ship headed well north of George's Island, and went much further up into the harbour than most ships do before turning to head outbound east of George's Island.

Atlantic Cartier - miraculous recovery

 1. File photo of Atlantic Cartier from 2009.

The "fire ravaged" container ship Atlantic Cartier is due to sail from Hamburg on Saturday June 8 for Gothenburg, then resume its Atlantic Container Line spot, with a due date in Halifax of June 13 or thereabouts.
Damage from the May 2 fire was serious, but apparently not fatal, and a massive cleanup and repair effort has been carried out in a month. Therefore the previously announced replacement Grande Angola which had been due June 10 will not be coming after all.