(Above) MSC Pratti at Pier 42. The ship has called in Halifax before as ZIM Pusan. Pier 41 was just vacated by the outbound CMA-CGM J. Adams, to be replaced with the Inbound Navarino (Below)
Fairview Cove saw Humen Bridge move from the pier to anchor in the basin and MSC Alyssa move from the anchorage in the basin to the Pier. Humen Bridge is due to sail overnight.
Due tomorrow are Vistula Maersk, currently waiting in the outer anchorage for Pier 42, and NYK Deneb Bound for Fairview Cove.
Montreal airport has a plane spotting park. its fantastic.
back in 2012, the airport authority took a piece of land next to runway 6r, added a mound of earth so you can see over the fence, some bleachers and benches and garbage cans, and created a great spot for kids of all ages.
there were the scanner toting hard core Av geeks (myself included) but also lots of family’s and couples. YUL sees the standard mix of Canadian Domestic Flights
Normal Operations at YUL have arrivals on one runway, and departures on the other, however the other runway was closed, so all operations were happening on 6r
This past weekend was the Mortreal Grand Prix, so there was a fair number of Biz Jets arriving and departing. Bombardier also has a facility at YUL, so several test flights were also underway, including this jet with its ram air turbine deployed. (Below)
The Full 850+ photo Gallery can be found on Flickr
Back in July 2008, before this blog was a thing, the Tug Jerry Newbery towed the retired sub HMCS Onadonga to Rimouski Quebec where it would become a museum piece at the Pointe -aux Pere Sit Historique maritime. That site includes the Point aux Pere light station, and the Empress of Ireland museum.
The first attempt to get under way didnt even make the Macdonald bridge before the tow line parted, and the pair gingerly made its way back to the Dockyard Jetty NL in Dartmouth. The tow was successfully got under way a few days later.
Saturday, I went to see her.
Onadonga served for 22 June 1967 to 28 July 2000, at which point she was laid up at the Dockyard Annex in Dartmouth, the last of the Oberons to be retired.
When Visiting, you enter at the stern and work your way forward. Though the sub consisted of 2 decks, only the main deck is available to tour. (Above) the 2 16 cylinder diesel engines that power the generators. (Below) the steering position in the Ops room.
(Above) 3 bunks. the hallway is cozy enough that children have trouble passing each other. Note the top bunk, which has a wall at 45 degrees, and a valve sticking out. (Below) the forward torpedo room feels huge by comparison.
The Full gallery of photos can be found on Flickr.
While Checking out LCS-21 yesterday evening, a small detail caught my eye. One of the Kingston Class MCDV’s has the Nato Emblem attached to its bridge wing. Frigates get the emblem attached when they join one of the Standing Nato Maritime Groups – SNMG1 or SNMG2.
Nato also operated two Standing Nato Mine Counter Measures groups, or SNMCMG. Its likely that this ship will be joining them. This deployment has not yet been publicly announced to my knowledge.
With the War in Ukrane, Canada has two frigates deployed with NATO. The Ukranian Ports in the Black Sea have been heavily mined, and mines have drifted into open waters, potentially impacting commercial shipping. there is also a move to re-open Ukrainian ports to allow wheat exports. the ports would need to be de-mined first.
the Kingston class MCDV’s were built in the 90’s as Minesweepers. They have since been assigned other patrol duties, and are often used for survey and diving missions.
USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, LCS-21 arrived Sunday for a port visit. The ship is Due to sail tomorrow morning. Like most LCS built at Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine in Wisconsin, the ship stopped in Halifax on her way to her home port.
Previous ships of the class to stop ave included:
USS Freedom – Nov 2008
USS Fort Worth – Aug 2012
USS Milwaukee – Dec 2015
USS Detroit – Nov 2016
USS Little Rock – April 2018
USS Billings – July 2019
USS Sioux City – Nov 2019 (missed this one)
USS Witchita – Nov 2019
USS Indianapolis – Nov 2019 (Missed this one too)
USS St Louis Bypassed Halifax during Covid in 2020. Early ships faced issues with the Combining Gear – the Gear box that transfers power to the shafts form either the diesel engines or the turbines. Because of these issues, Completed ships were not accepted by the navy untill alterations could be made, which led to 3 visits in November 2019.
Due to the location of the combining gear, it was determined to not be cost effective to repair early ships. USS Freedom was Decommissioned in Sept 2021, and Fort Worth, Detroit and Little Rock are set to be decommissioned this year. 5 Additional ships are currently under construction.
the PCTC Don Carlos moved to pier 9 this evening after spending the day at Autoport. Heavy Equipment will be unloaded, and the ship is due to sail in the early afternoon tomorrow.
The Concrete pipes sitting on the rail cars have an interesting story. These are tunnel segments, and will be used to tunnel the TransMountain Pipeline in the Jocko Lake area. Via a process known as Microtunneling, These segments are pushed through the ground hydraulically to create the tunnel. A boring machine gets pushed though the ground ahead of the tunnel segments.
The tunnel segments were manufactured in Germany. My understanding is the actual pipeline will be laid inside the tunnel.
The center mega block for AOPS #4 the future HMCS William Hall, was rolled out for the First time this evening. When i drove past at 7pm, they were just finishing, and removing the transporters.
Typically the Stern Mega Block follows the next day, and looks to be waiting in the right bay of the assembly hall.
William Hall’s bow section looks to be under construction in the left bay, behind where the first mega block was located prior to its roll out.
UPDATE 06/11: the stern Mega Block has now been rolled out.
Good morning from Halifax Shipyard. The centre and aft mega blocks of the future HMCS William Hall (AOPS #4) have been moved from our module hall to land level, where they will soon be joined together for further outfitting. #ShipsForCanada pic.twitter.com/kQSPXAbvSH
— Irving Shipbuilding (@IrvingShipbuild) June 11, 2022
Atlantic Star Spent the day at Fairview Cove, on ACL’s eastbound call. the ships next stop is Hamburg, having last called in Baltimore. ACL’s ship were notably built under the British Flag, but since Brexit, they have been moved to Malta.
Since the PSA Takeover, the stacks of containers at Fairview cove are noticeably higher, and an additional stack has been placed along Africville road, blocking the outer most set of rail access. This location has been used for containers before, but only under exceptional circumstances – such as the port of Montreal strike, or when the Yantain express discharged all of her boxes post fire.
So news broke today of a proposed 300million dollar Titanic Experience. The proposal is by Halifax business consultants Clarke Squires & Associates. Saltwire reported on it, based on the Linkedin Post Below.
Both the Saltwire article and the linkedin post were edited after they were posted. The original Saltwire article this morning indicated that the Titanic Experience would be located at the Port of Halifax, and included details about an aquarium, and that it would feature escape hatches. I assume both have been toned down since they were initially posted.
My Initial Reaction was oh god, that’s horrible. The building looks tacky, like an lightweight industrial building with ship bits attached – think a smaller version of the Assembly hall at Halifax Shipyards. because its not clear its the Titanic, the name needs to be plastered on the Awning over the front door.
Even the concept is ugh. 150 cabins. and escape hatches? Look the titanic was luxurious by ocean transport standards of the day, but compared to a modern cruise ship its tiny – smaller then the modern day Holland America lines callers to Halifax. I get the appeal of a reproduction of the Titanic’s banquet hall, but then just do that and run a banquet facility.
I reached out to the Port Authority – they know nothing about this proposal, and are not providing land. Comments in the Linked in post say location is under NDA, but in an email, Clark Squires indicated “it will be hopefully close to water at or close to Halifax Harbor” that says to me next to a lake in a business park,which is backed up by the architecture. The linkedin post suggests this is part of a larger development, likely ruling out a central location.
Halifax has many Titanic stories. they are currently well told, in a respectful and dignified manner. Halifax is the final resting place for victims of the disaster who were recovered. You can visit there graves at Fairview lawn cemetery. the Cable ships that were sent out to recover them tied up at the Cable Wharf. what is now the 5 fisherman, was the J.A Snow Mortuary, where the bodies were taken. Barnstead lane is named for the corner who pioneered techniques for forensic identification of victims of mass casualty incidents, as he worked to identify the recovered bodies. The Titanic Disaster established the International Ice Patrol. It led to what is now the SOLAS Convention. It directly made shipping safer.
Lots of folks try to make money off the Titanic. A Chinese company is building a sailing replica of the ship you will be able to book a cruise on. RMS Titanic Inc is a thing, and has recovered artifacts from the ship and operates an experience in Orlando Florida of all places.
This proposal just throws kitsch at it, and is all over the place – Hotel, distillery holographic theatre, banquet hall. The aquarium, is kinda garish if you stop and think about it. The proposal looks like an attempt to throw a bunch of cool sounding stuff at a wall and see what sticks. its perhaps surprising that the bow isn’t rigged up for the movie shot. they could probably sell alot of $20 photos.
The proposal is all over the place, and its hard to take seriously. Clark Squires bio on the website is full of buzzwords, and is not particularly readable or understandable also, if your going to pitch a 300million development project, how about not having a gmail address as your primary email contact. How can anyone trust you with details on a 300million dollar project, when you cant even properly brand your email, or pay someone to do it for you.
If we want to celebrate our maritime history, and we should, then this is not the project. This is tourist tackiness that belongs at Niagara Falls, or in Orlando. Battle of the Atlantic place would actually be a benefit to the city, and is 100million less to build.
Today brought the arrival of the Oasis of the Seas. Currently the 4th largest Cruise ship in the world, she is the largest cruise ship to call in Halifax. In terms of largest ships in service by GRT, she ranks 49th, though when class mates of the same GRT are combined, she is 13th
Oasis of the Seas comes in at 226,838GRT. CMA CGM Marco Polo is the largest container ship to call on eastern North America. It comes in at only 175,343GRT. Gross registered tons is a measure of Internal Volume, so even a large car carrier comes in around 75,000GRT.
Oasis of the Seas is 360 m (1,181 ft) long overall, and has a beam of 60.5 m (198 ft). CMA CGM Marco Polo is 396.0 m (1,299 ft) long, with a beam of 53.6 m (175 ft 10 in). The Marco Polo’s max draft is 52′ vs OotS draft of 30′.
The Queen Mary 2, is 345m long, and comes in at 148,527GRT
Oasis of the Seas did not look to be connected to shore power, based on the steady stream of exhaust coming from one of its stacks. The Ship has massive Power requirements.
The ship’s power comes from six medium-speed, marine-diesel generating sets: three 16-cylinder Wärtsilä engines producing 18,860 kilowatts each and three similar 12-cylinder Wärtsilä engines producing 13,860 kilowatts each. The fuel consumption of the 6 engines at full power is 7,230 us gal/hour. The total output of the engines, 97,020 kilowatts, is converted to electricity, used in hotel power for operation of the lights, elevators, electronics, galleys, water treatment plant, and the other systems onboard, as well as propulsion.
Propulsion is provided by three 20,000-kilowatt (26,800 hp) Azipods Docking is assisted by four 5,500-kilowatt bow thrusters.
