Yearly Archives: 2022

The Fishing Fleet Returns

Leave a reply

The Fleet of Herring Seiners is back this year, after a 2 year absence. The Fishing fleet traditionally put in in May and June, but this year is later and consists of only 3 vessels – Morning Star, Lady Melissa, and Fundy Monarch.

On June 21, the Minister of DFO announced a reduction of the catch of 33%. in May it was reported the reduction could be as high as 63%, due to risk to the species. Given the number of people employed by the fishery, there is considerable pressure to keep the quota up. The Quota was 42,500tons in 2018, 35,000tons 2019-2021, and was set to 23,450tons.

See coverage in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019

Retired Buffalo

Leave a reply
DCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0531.JPG

I first visited the Airforce Heritage Park in Summerside PEI back in 2013. In the Fall of 2021, a Buffalo was flown to the park from Comox, and installed. The Buffalo as a type was retired earlier this year, to be replaced by the Airbus C-295 Kingfisher.

The Buffalo was designed and built by de Havilland Aircraft Canada and was given the type designation of DHC-5. The RCAF ordered 15, and in RCAF service it was known as the CC-115. the Type was in operation from 1967 until earlier this year, and were based in Summerside, Saint-Hubert, Trenton, Edmonton and Comox.

The Buffalo severed as a medium transport until it was transitioned exclusively for SAR use in the 1975. by the 2000’s the type was flown solely out of Comox. After retirement, the 6 final aircraft went to the National Air and Space museum, Summerside, Winipeg, The Airforce Museum in Trenton, Comox Air Force Museum, and the 6th to be used for firefighter training at Borden.

CFB Summerside closed in 1991, and units moved to Greenwood.

Acadia Desgagnes at Pier 9

Leave a reply

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 Adds Trains to Port of Halifax

Leave a reply

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.

I previously posted an overview of Halifax area rail operations

Vistula Maersk at PSA Atlantic Hub

Leave a reply

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.

Stacking Container ships

Leave a reply

(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.

Parc Jaques De Lesseps

Leave a reply

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

HMCS Onadonga

Leave a reply

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.

Kingston Class to Deploy with Nato?

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...