CCGS Cadboro Bay (above) is loaded aboard the Atlantic Condor while CCGS Florencia Bay (below) waits her turn. Both vessels were delivered to Halifax from their builders, for delivery by ship to the West Coast.
Atlantic Towing won the job using its recently unemployed Platform supply vessel Atlantic Condor. Atlantic towing also has a contract for 2 emergency towing vessels on the west coast, so its unclear if thier western expansion has found work for the PSV, or if its simply a freight trip.
Imedghassen has been laid up for several weeks at pier 36. The ship arrived in Halifax January 9th, on its maiden call for Melfi lines, and was reporting a deficiency, which i am told is engine troubles.
Its unclear why the ship is still here, however there have been reports of engine damaged caused by new low sulpher heavy fuel oils which seem to have quality issues.
The bulk carrier Giulia 1 remains tied up at Pier 9 after an encounter with a large wave that resulted in injuries too 2 crew members, and the death of a third. it put into Halifax afterwards. The ITF were working to repatriate the crew, and get replacements in place to take over the ship.
Arriving early this afternoon, MSC Eleni arrived from Portugal. The ship is rated for 5000TEU, and will be headed for Montreal, before stopping back in Halifax on her way back to Europe.
MSC Recently announced that Halifax would be added as an inbound and outbound port on the Canada Express 2 service. MSC had been making 1 call per week on a trial basis since last years strike at the port of Montreal, and recently began the double call prior to the official announcement.
The Federal Government announced restrictions on Cruise Vessels in Canadian waters for the upcoming year.
Cruise vessels with greater then 100 passengers are not permitted to operate in Canadian Waters until February 28th 2022. This mirrors the restrictions that were in place last year. The Ban on Pleasure craft in arctic waters is also in place once again.
From the Release:
Those who do not comply with the pleasure craft prohibition could be subject to penalties: $5,000 per day for individuals and $25,000 per day for groups or corporations.
Those who do not comply with the passenger vessel prohibition could be liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to $1 million or to imprisonment for a term of up to 18 months, or to both.
There is no national ban for smaller cruise ships certified to carry 100 or fewer people. They must follow provincial, territorial, local and regional health authority protocols for timelines and processes around their operations.
The Coast guard has attended the vessel Hydra Mariner, which broke free of its mooring and ran aground on Navy Island, in Wrights Cove of the Bedford Basin.
Built in 1963 by Davie as Cape Mira, The Ex Fishing vessel was purchased for conversion as a chase boat for seismic survey operations, however that never happened, and the vessel has been tied up in wrights cove for a while. It is currently registered as a pleasure craft to Daniel MacNeil of Canso.
Currently the Coast Guard has CGE310 on site – one of their trailerable pollution control craft, which deploy boom. With heavy weather forecast Tuesday into Wendsday, this could be a mess.
The CCGS Hudson is underwraps undergoing more refit work. The work looks to be an amendment issued in September 2020 to the Dry dock/refit contract that was awarded to Newdock in St John’s Newfoundland.
Hudson has been wrapped for a while, i believe the work actually started in December.
Buried in HHB’s submission to the UARB for a toll increase, is the options study for rehabbing the Mackay Bridge. The Study comes to the conclusion that a new bridge is probably the best way forward, to be in service for 2040.
when it was built, the MacKay was built more lightly then a modern bridge would be. this means it flexes more, and is prone to more wear. it also means rehabbing the bridge is going to me more difficult then doing the MacDonald bridge.
The preferred alignment for the new bridge is the blue line, which leads to a 500m suspended span between the towers. there is more land and space available to the north of the bridge, and alignment 3 (in green) would require demolition of houses in Halifax. the red option is for a 800m cable stay bridge that goes clear across bio.
The new bridge is would feature 2 traffic lanes in each direction, with a third transit priority lane, and Active transportation lanes on both sides of the bridge. The new bridge deck would be 10m (~30′) higher then the current deck for ship clearance and to accommodate 100 year sea level change.
above is the 500m centre span cable stay bridge. It is considered to be the most economical option, and features concrete H towers. it would be similar to the current bridge footprint, just to the north.
below is the 800m centre span bridge. the towers for this bridge are both located on land and the bridge clears BIO by 65m.
below is the tower comparison for the 800m centre span bridge compared to the current towers.
This bridge also looks the best. Please build this one.
the study also covered replacement suspension bridges, and options for rehabilitating and twining the current bridge. You can read the full report here (7mb .pdf)
