The Acadia Desgagnes arrived at Pier 9 this afternoon from Belfast. Its possible the ship is carrying airplane components for Bombardier. Those components usually ship via ACL, but freight costs may have made charting a chip a better option.
Desgagnes is based in Quebec, and operates a fleet of Tankers and General cargo vessels trading domestically, into the north, and internationally. Acadia Desgagnes is still flying the Barbados flag, it will likely return to the Canadian flag for the Northern Sailing Season this summer..
CN Rail has added two trains to Halifax. Q122 and Q123 begin this month, joining existing trains Q120 and Q121 (inbound and outbound respectively) . The trains offer 26-hour service to Montreal, 35 hours to Toronto, and 56 to Chicago.
CP has actively been marketing the Port of Saint John, so this improved service is seen as a way to compete.
CN also announced 15million in maintenance in Nova Scotia in the coming year, including replacing 4 miles of track, and several level crossings.
Vistula Maersk made it to pier 42 after waiting in the outer anchorage for a couple of days. Vistula Maersk is named for the longest river in Poland, and is the first of Maersk’s V-Class to enter service in 2018. Rated at 3600TEU, they are built to Ice class 1A
the V-class ships were built to serve northern europen routes, serving russia. With Ukraine sanctions in place, the ships have been reassigned.
Last nights arrival of of Navarino is still being worked at Pier 41. at Fairview Cove, NYK Deneb has the western berth, with Nolhan Ava working the East.
(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)
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.
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.
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.
Micro Tunneling setup.
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. #ShipsForCanadapic.twitter.com/kQSPXAbvSH
— Irving Shipbuilding (@IrvingShipbuild) June 11, 2022
