Monthly Archives: January 2018

Sambro Light

The need for a landfall lighthouse for Halifax was apparent early on, and in 1752 a lottery was formed to fund the construction. It failed to raise the necessary funds, and the first act passed by the first legislature in 1758 was a tax on ships to fund the light. The Nova Scotia Archives recently released a number of documents and photos related to the Light, including the Tax Records for the lighthouse funding.

Landfall lighthouses are tall structures, designed so that the light can be seen at a great distance, to point ships to a harbour. The light is octagonal in shape, and constructed of masonry, covered with wooden shingles due to early moisture issues.the Sambro Island Light is visible for 24 Nautical miles (44km)

(Above) Sambro Island Light as built, An additional 22′ of height was added in 1906 to increase the lights Range.

(above) the Heightening of the Sambro Light. Photos from the Department of Transportation Albums at the Nova Scotia Archives. (below) the completed tower. the Red White the stripes were added in 1908.

The Sambro Light is the oldest Lighthouse in North America and the Caribbean. Louisburg’s lighthouse was originally built in 1733, but was destroyed by the British during the Siege of Louisburg. Boston Light location dates to 1716, but the original was destroyed in 1776 by the British, during the revolutionary war. The current light was rebuilt on the foundations of the original light in 1783.

3.5 million to repair HMCS Sackville

The federal government today announced a contribution of up to $3.5 million to the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust for extensive repairs to HMCS Sackville.

As Canada’s oldest warship and the sole remaining Flower-class corvette, HMCS Sackville is an important part of Royal Canadian Navy history.

HMCS Sackville has been owned by the non-profit Canadian Naval Memorial Trust since the 1980s, operating seasonally on the Halifax waterfront as Canada’s Naval Memorial and a museum ship.

Most of the repair work is expected to be completed at the Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Scott located within Her Majesty’s Canadian (HMC) Dockyard Halifax.

Tours and visits to HMCS Sackville will be discontinued until the repairs are completed, which, pending an assessment, is expected to be in summer 2018.

Skogafoss for Eimskip

Yesterday say the general cargo vessel Skogafoss tie up at pier 42. Eimskip, Based in Iceland, recently increased their service to Halifax. Thanks to CETA, they are able to move containers between Halifax and Newfoundland. Eimskip Stops in Argentia, so this service re-instates a service cut by Oceanex a few years ago.

New GRIMALDI Group PCTC Named Grande Halifax

During a short ceremony held January 10 at the Chinese shipyards of Jinling in Nanjing (China), the Pure Car & Truck Carrier Grande Halifax was delivered to the Grimaldi Group. It is the last of a series of three sister units, ordered by the Neapolitan group to the Jinling shipyards.

The Grande Halifax has a length of 199,90 meters, a width of 32,26 meters, a gross tonnage of 63.000 and a cruising speed of 19 knots. Italian-flagged, the vessel can carry 6.700 CEU (Car Equivalent Units) or alternatively 4.000 linear meters of rolling freight and 2.500 CEU. The Grande Halifax is equipped with four hoistable decks which make her an extremely flexible vessel, able to transport any type of rolling cargo (cars, vans, trucks, tractors, buses, excavators, etc.) up to 5.2 meters high.

In addition, for the access of freight into the vessel, the Grande Halifax has a side ramp and a quarter stern ramp, the latter allowing the loading of freight with a weight up to 150 tons. The configuration of the various decks and the system for the internal ramps reduce to the minimum the risk of damage during the loading / unloading operations.

The Grande Halifax will be deployed on the Mediterranean-North America weekly service operated by the Group, joining her sister vessels Grande Baltimora and Grande New York., and should be seen in Halifax in the Coming weeks.

Cruise Halifax on an ACL Con-ro.

A new cargo-passenger service between Europe and North America is available with the five new ACL vessels  G4 vessels. The five newly-built vessels operating on this Line are the Atlantic Sail, Atlantic Sea, Atlantic Sky,  Atlantic Star and Atlantic Sun. Each Capable of carrying 12 passengers, Facilities on each vessel include a gym, TV, movies (DVD), laundry, books, karaoke machine, and PlayStation. There is also a sauna on each vessel but not a swimming pool.

Bookings are now open for departures from  from beginning of March to end of December 2018 via The Cruise People

There will be three fare codes for booking this service: CU1, CU2, CUR
CU1: departures from Hamburg/Antwerp/Liverpool to Halifax and return
Outside Cabins: €750 per passenger, double occupancy, €1.050,00 single occupancy
Owners Cabin: €1,300 per passenger, double occupancy, €1.800,00 single occupancy

CU2: departures from Hamburg/Antwerp/Liverpool to New York and Baltimore only and return
Outside Cabins: €980 per passenger, double occupancy, €1.300 single occupancy
Owners Cabin: €1,500 per passenger, double occupancy, €2,100 single occupancy
CUR: round voyages, Hamburg/Hamburg, Antwerp/Antwerp, Liverpool/Liverpool only

Outside Cabins: €2,100 per passenger, double occupancy, €2,450 single occupancy
Owners Cabin: €3,100 per passenger, double occupancy, €3,800 single occupancy