Monthly Archives: February 2021

The Age of Sail Returns

This week in the Herald I talk about NeoLine, the French firm that is proposing a new transatlantic service by sail powered RO-RO vessel. The Firm has a shipping commitment from Michelin, which would see this service call in Halifax starting in 2023.

Not to be out done, Wallenius Wilhelmsen plans a sail powered PCTC in 2025. The Orcelle Wind will carry 7000 cars at 11 knots under sail.

Cargo under sail happened in Halifax in 2019 in a very traditional manner with the arrival of the Cargo Schooner Avontuur with a load of coffee bound for Just Us.

Lifeboats BC Bound

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.

Ships Laid up with issues

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.

MSC Eleni at Pier 42

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.

Cruise Season Cancelled by Feds.

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.

Hydra Mariner Aground on Navy Island.

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.

More Work on the Hudson

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.

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