Category Archives: Uncategorized

Ocean Explorer aground in Greenland

The Expedition Cruise ship Ocean Explorer grounded Monday in Alpefjord, within the boundaries of the North East Greenland National Park. the ship tried to free itself twice with out luck, and a third attempt with the Fisheries research vessel Tarajoq pulling also failed Wednesday.

The HDMS Kund Rasmussen, a Danish Offshore Patrol vessel is due late Friday. the Sirius Sled Dog Patrol, a unit of the Danish Navy, is on scene with 2 small boats, and is providing updates and imagery.

From the latest photos below, she looks to be well up on a ledge, that seems to drop off just below the lifeboats.

Updates to Follow.

Hudson Towed for Scrap

The CCGS Hudson, will be towed from Pier 9 this evening, bound for sheet harbour where she will be recycled. The pilot order is tentatively for 1700.

The ship suffered a motor winding failure, and sailed into Halifax in January 2022 for the Last time. The ship was sold for scrap, with the recycling contract going to RJ MacIsaac Construction. Prep work has been done at pier 9 over the last number of months, while waiting for the Holiday Island recycling to finish.

(Above) Hudson, and Atlantic Fir just prior to departure.

Melford Terminal seeks National Trade Corridor Funding from Trudeau Government

The Proponents behind the Melford Container terminal in the Straight of Canso have applied for Federal National Trade Corridor fund the Minister confirmed yesterday. The application is in the late stages of being evaluated. The terminal First proposed in 2008, has an approved environmental assessment, and an approval from the province of Nova Scotia to begin construction by October 2024.

SSA Marine, Melford International Terminal and Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P. have formed a joint venture to build the terminal, with SSA Marine to be the operator.

The 4.7 billion dollar national trade corridors fund has been contributing to projects across the country. The ports on Vancouver ($348.8million), Prince Rupert ($117.4million)received substantial funding for projects. however the three main ports on the east coast have received comparatively little.The Port of Montreal received $43.9million for three projects. the The following are Port related projects on the East Coast funded by the NTCF at Port of Saint John NB ($45million):

  • CBSA Container Examination Facility – 2.8million
  • West side terminal RO/RO expansion – 21million
  • NB Southern railway Upgrades – 21.2million

And in Halifax ($48million):

  • CBSA Container examination facility – 7million
  • Container terminal optimization – 18million
  • Windsor street exchange upgrades – 23million

The three main east coast Ports received only 136.9 million in funding, which is 25% of what BC ports received, and is less then the $150 million ask by the Melford terminal backers who only have projections and a business plan at this point.

The terminal website, http://www.melford-terminal.com/ currently goes to a webhost parking page. You can find the list of NTCF projects that received funding at https://tc.canada.ca/en/programs/funding-programs/national-trade-corridors-fund/projects-funded-national-trade-corridors-fund#wb-auto-4

Titanic Submersible Missing

The Titan Submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions has gone missing on a trip to the titanic wreck site. The Polar Prince was serving as mothership for the Expedition.

we know know that the submersible went missing 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive. It takes around 2 hours to reach the titanic from the surface. dive preparations began around 4am Sunday morning, with the dive beginning at 6am, suggesting the submersible has been missing since 8am Sunday. the USCG indicated they were informed the submersible was missing Sunday afternoon. Word of the missing vessel got out around 10am AST Monday. The Titan submersible can support life for 96hours.

The Response is being co-ordinated by USCG NorthEast sector, based out of Boston. the USCG sent 2 c-130 aircraft to search the surface incase the submersible had surfaced. the 106th US Air national Guard also has c-130’s searching. the RCAF sent a C-130 to search, and a CP-140 Aurora was dispatched to deploy sonobouys to listen to for possible signs of the submersible. Polar Prince is equipped with sonar.

The CCGS Kolpit Hopson 1752 is on scene, the Horizon Arctic was initially dispatched, but has since turned back for St. John’s, replaced with the Skandi Vinland, equipped with an ROV.

the Titan Submersible is rated to 4000m (13123′) of depth. Its constructed of carbon fiber and titanium, and propelled by 4 innerspace 1002 electric thrusters. Titan is 23′ long, 9.2’wide, and 8.3’tall. it carries a pilot and crew of 4.

there are several possibilities as to what happened. the first possibility is an electrical issue, and the sub is unable to propel itself or surface. its possible the submersible is snagged on the wreck itself, and unable to move as a result. the last possibility is that the Titan suffered a structural failure, and was crushed.

Retired RN Rear Admiral Chris Parry indicated he has been contacted by a reliable informant who claims to have warned about structural issues in the Titan 5 weeks ago. Reporter David Pouge took a trip on Titan last year. That saw Titan go missing for several hours, though in that instance it was in communication with the mother ship. his stories are interesting, the sub is controlled by an xbox controller. Pouge indicates that Titan has several redundant systems to enable the submersible to surface, including air bladders and ballast. (Pouge’s report was for CBS, and it is available on Youtube, but not to Canada.

I have been maintaining a twitter thread on this story, continuously updated. This post will get updated, likely at the end of the day.

UPDATES:
on Tuesday it was reported that knocking was heard by the CP-140 aircraft. ROV searches were adjusted to focus on the area where the knocking was detected.

The USAF flew three c-17’s of equipment to St Johns, and it was loaded aboard the Horizon Arctic. the Equipment includes a Pelagic ROV system, and the USN’s Fly Away Salvage system. Horizon Arctic Sailed for the site at 5 am Wednesday, its a 20 hour sail.

Also due tonight is the french research vessel L’Atalante. It’s operated by French research institute Ifremer, and was requested by the USN. The Victor 6000 is an autonomous robot, good to 6000m.

More stories about Ocean Gate Expeditions have been coming out. First were the details of lawsuits with a former employee who was fired after raising safety concerns, including that the porthole manufacturer would only certify it to 1300m and not 4000. Additional Stories are coming out about previous passengers who took a trip on the submersible.

the 96hours of life support runs out Thursday morning. that is likely not a hard deadline, but time is running out for a rescue.

Making the Burn Map

I recently tweeted this map of the Tantalon fire burn scar, and offered up a post on how its made, if there was interest. There was, so here we go.

Sentinel-2 is an earth observation satellite (there are actually 2 in orbit) operated by the ESA. It offers 10m resolution (meaning each pixel is 10m on the ground), and passes over any given location every 5 days. 10m resolution is not super clear, but it is useful for looking at changes to the earth – like deforestation, Infilling of waterways, or tracking large fires.

The June 12th pass was the first over the Tantalon area with clear skies.
From the Sentinel Hub site, you can download imagery that is georeferenced. (Free Trial Account required)

(Above) Satellite Photo from Sentinel Hub.

Once we have the photo, we can add other data to it in QGIS. I’m not going to go into adding and styling layers in QGIS, But you can see the layers getting added in the video below. (For more GIS How to, see How to produce a Nautical Chart and making the map)

These are the Open Data data sets I used, clicking the link takes you to the download.

UPDATE: I have posted a full process video from scratch on YouTube.

Also – New Version, draped over the HRM 1m DEM, transformed into a Multi direction Hillshade with a 2x vertical exaggeration, giving a good sense of the Terrain.

First of 2022

The first arrival of 2023 was the Fednav Bulker Federal Dee, Which arrived at 0436 on January 2nd, and took to the Anchorage in the inner harbour. AlgoScotia sailed just after 9pm on January 1st, for the sole movement into or out of the harbour on the first day of the year. (Plus the Pilot Boat)

2022 in Review

Its time for the Annual year in review post, a tradition now in its 11th year.

Previous Years: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

We added an Air Arm. I drove to Montreal and stopped to visit HMCS Onadonga in Rimouski, and spent time at the plane spotting park at YUL and there was the titanic experience that wasen’t.

Port and Terminal

With the COVID situation as it is, some things returned to normal. Cruise ships returned, Including Oasis OTS, and Ocean Explorer.The Herring fishing Fleet was back on the waterfront, as were the mega yachts also returned to the waterfront.

PSA announced new cranes for 2023. PSA Also bought the Ceres terminal at Fairview cove. The port finished the infill project at Fairview, and began filling in Basin A1 at the ocean terminals. As a result, Logistec moved thier operation to Pier 9. CN added a daily train

Coast Guard

CCGS Hudson returned to Halifax for the final time, after the decision was taken to retire her following a fire in a generator. As a result, several research vessels paid visits, including NOAA’s Atlantis and RRS James Cook.

CCGS Kolpit Hopson 1752 was moved to Halifax due to the sale of Shelburne ship repair to Mersey sefoods. Kolpit Hopson 1752 was turned back over to the Coast Guard in December.

Notable Traffic

CSL Nukumi made her first call in Canada on her delivery trip. The Norwegian Ferry SVANØY was chartered for use in Quebec. IT Infinity was added to IT Telecom’s fleet Tuffs cove took two tankers, one in January, and one in December

Oceanex Sanderling went for a work period in Europe, which saw Other Oceanex ships cover the route on rotation

Warship Visits and Navy news

Visiting Warships included Submarines USS New Hampshire and USS Delaware . The USS Gerald R Ford and its Carrier strike group also visited. SD Victoria also supported joint exercises with the UK. Op Nanook saw HDMS Triton, FS Rohne and USCGC Bear visit the dockyard, with additional visits by USCGC Morro Bay, USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, USS Cooperstown, USCGC Tybee, The Irish Naval Vessel LE James Joyce,

with the Invasion of Ukraine, HMCS Halifax Joined HMCS Montreal on Nato duties, and two MCDV’s deployed with the Nato Mine Countermeasures group. Max Bernays underwent trials, was turned over to the navy, and needed a bow thruster repair. Margaret Brooke was commissioned and AOPS#4, William Hall was launched.

Incidents

MSC Kim went Adrift. Hyundai Force also had engine issues enroute. A sailing vessel was lost, and found. The Hydra Mariner was Removed. The Ferry Holiday Island caught fire, and fleet mate Confederation ran aground. ZIM Vancouver lost both anchors in Heavy Seas

Launching Day for AOPS #4

The Lunching Barge was towed out earlier this morning, and has now begun its slow submersion. Atlantic Willow, and Divers from RMI are on scene

William Hall Floated Free just after 3pm, and was alongside at the shipyard by 4pm. Teh Boa Barge 37 remained in the basin, where it will be refloated, and returned to Halifax Shipyard tomorrow.

Aircraft Carrier Due Friday

word has been floating around of something big and interesting appearing in the harbour this month. I suspected it might be the USS Gerald R. Ford – The US Navy’s newest carrier on her maiden deployment.

The ship had been exercising with nato partners, including HMCS Fredericton. Seawaves have listed a Port visit by a German frigate FGS Hessen, which was also exercising with the Carrier group in October, and also reported a 2022 visit by the Ford to Halifax, with no date.

NSBuzz is now reporting the ship is due on Friday.

4 AIS targets “Patrol Craft 1 (ca)”, “Patrol Craft 2 (ca)”, “Patrol Craft 3 (ca)”, and “Patrol Craft 4 (ca)” have been working in the Anchorage 1 area today. The CA designation likely identifies them as RCN to foreign naval vessels.

UPDATE: two C-2 Aircraft arrived in YHZ this afternoon from Virginia. the aircraft are carrier capable, and likely will be bringing dignitaries to the ship, based on activities before the Eisenhowers arrival.

C2 Departing YHZ in Aug 2022

UPDATE:
USS Gerald R Ford Pilot order is for 0800 tomorrow. Also Arriving are:
USS NORMANDY 10am
HNLMS DE ZEVEN PROVINCIEN 10:30
FGS HESSEN 11:00
USS RAMAGE 11:30
HNLMS VAN AMSTEL 12:00
HDMS PETER WILLEMOES 12:30
ALVARO DE BAZAN 13:00
Note all times are for the Pilot Station. they should appear in the inner harbour 30-45 minutes later.

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