Maiden Call for Ocean Explorer

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Ocean Explorer made its maiden call to Halifax yesterday. Operated by Vantage Cruises, the ship was built in 2021, and features a distinct Ulstine X-bow design. the ship features 77 cabins with a capacity of 162 guests. the ship was built to sail expedition type cruises, and will sail the arctic and southern oceans.

Also in today, is Ocean Navigator returned for another Call, having been the first arrival this cruise season. Despite the similar names, and paint schemes, Ocean Navigator and Ocean Voyager (which also called last week) are operated by American Queen Voyages. the ships are slightly larger, carrying upto 202 passengers, and take their styling form the American Riverboat.

NYK Rumina gets inspected

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The April 25th Call of NYK Rumina seems to have drawn the attention of the CBSA, which appeared to have a dive boat alongside. A Crewman can be seen on the deck, and a line is running from the Rumina to the CBSA’s Vessel.

NYK Rumina sailed on Schedule, so its unclear if the inspection revealed anything, nor is it known if the vessel was specifically targeted, or if this was part of normal customs operations.

The CBSA uses divers and ROV’s to search the underside of ships for Contraband. In a 2018 case, smugglers used divers to pack the sea chest of a Maersk vessel. Divers attempted to recover the drugs in Montreal, but abandoned the attempt, and were eventually caught in Halifax.

Cruise Ships Return to Halifax

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Cruise Season kicked off for the first time since 2019 with the arrival of 2 ships. Ocean Navigator was first, arriving at 6am. Norwegian Getaway followed at 8am.

Ocean Navigator has previously called in Halifax as Victory II. This is Norwegian Getaway’s first call.

Saint John has seven seas Navigator tieing up tonight for an overnight stay. Charlottetown saw its first ship last week, after its first Canadian call off louisbourg was cancelled.

Norwegian Ferry at Pier 9

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A Norwegian Ferry showed up at Pier 9 yesterday. the SVANØY was brought over from Ålesund Norway by Logistec, and will be chartered to Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) to cover for STQ ferries crossing the St. Lawrence river. STQ has an option to retain the ferry for 2023 as well. The ferry will be used on the Isle-aux-Coudres Crossing.

The value of the charter is $15.1million Cdn.

Logistec Moves to Pier 9

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The PCTC Thalatta tied up at pier 9, and looks to be unloading Heavy Equipment from JCB. Equipment can be seen parked on the pier, and some rail cars are in the terminal to take some of it onward.

Logistec looks to have made the move to pier 9. Much of their orange coloured equipment can be seen parked on the permitted of Pier 9. Logistec traditionally was based on Pier A1, and frequently handled these types of deliveries there.

The transit shed on pier A1 is scheduled for demolition as part of the the infiling of basin between Pier A1 and B for the expansion of the PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub, which is due to begin in May.

PSA Buys Fairview Cove

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PSA Halifax has purchased Ceres Halifax Inc from NYK. Ceres has been the terminal operator at Fairview cove since the terminal opened in 1982, with 2 twenty year leases on the terminal. As a result of the purchase, Fairview Cove will retain its name, and the south end terminal will now be known as the Atlantic Hub.

The planned acquisition was previously revealed in a December 2021 competition bureau filing.

Historically there was some competition for carriers between Ceres and Halterm. When Ceres began operating Fairview Cove in 1982, the company’s founder Chris Kritikos was successful in bringing ACL and Hapag-Lloyd to the new Ceres terminal by offering better rates then Halterm. Ceres first year in operation at the Port of Halifax saw the terminal handle 55% of the Ports total volume. To this day, almost 40 years later, both ACL and Hapag Lloyd both still call at Ceres Fairview Cove, though ACL did switch back to Halterm for a period. 

Ceres Terminals  was acquired by Japanese shipping company NYK in 2002. That year Ceres renewed it lease on the terminal for another 20 years, ending in 2022.

The release indicates that PSA will be rationalizing terminal use with a goal of reducing truck traffic – likely smaller ships and RO-RO will begin to call at Fairview cove – I expect to see Oceanex make the move.

CSL’s Newest Ship

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Nukumi arrived in Halifax and tied up at pier 25. the ship is owned and operated by CSL for Windsor salt and was specifically designed to service Windsor’s Magdalen Islands salt mines. It is the first Diesel Electric Laker, and the first bulk carrier in Canada to have single point loading. The single loading point means the ship will not have to shift along its berth to line up with the ship loading equipment to fill all the holds.

Construction of the ship began in August 2020, and the ship departed Jiangyin, China for Halifax at the end of January.

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