Atlantic Star

Although luckily already positioned by chance on an ideal portion of the Halifax Waterfront to take photos of outgoing ships, Atlantic Star managed to sneak up on me on Thursday morning - I was just about to head up the hill to work when I found an excuse to stick around for a few more minutes. In the foreground, employees of McNally continue the demolition and removal of the old Foundation Maritime/Pilot wharf.

Winds were light enough that the pilot obviously felt comfortable cutting the escort tug free after the narrows, and Atlantic Star proceeded to take the western passage past George's Island to avoid the incoming Elka Nicholas.

The rows of containers in the forward cells appear to be cut down as they approach the bow, presumably to improve forward visibility from the bridge.

Elka Nicholas headed east of George's Island to avoid the outgoing vessel.

In the above image, one of McNally's work barges supports a crane involved in the demolition of the Foundation Maritime / Pilot wharf.

Unlike many (the majority of?) container ships, the design of both the 3rd (now sold for scrap) and 4th (pictured) generations of Atlantic Container Line (ACL) vessels incorporated cell guides to help stabilize the racks of containers, and to hold the containers in place. With some of the world's larger container ships recently experiencing large-scale collapses of container stacks (with the resulting loss of, and damage to, cargo), these seem to be a good idea. Containers lost at sea, when still afloat, are also a cause of damage and loss for smaller vessels at sea. The cell guide system can be seen to good effect above, and ACL boasts that it has not lost a container at sea for the last 30 years.

In addition to the deck cargo of containers, the ACL ships incorporate a large ramp and several decks dedicated to RO/RO (roll-on/roll-off) cargo - these are currently the largest multi-purpose RORO / Container vessels in the world, and they are regular callers at the Fairview Container Terminal in Halifax.

The ship is about to eclipse the McNab's Island lighthouse in the image above. In addition to cargo, these ships are set up with passenger berths, although the passenger service has been put on hold in 2020 due to COVID-19. 

Both ships that day would also have needed to give way to the tanker Largo Desert, which was at anchor in the inner harbour.

While my commute some mornings can be devoid of interesting shipping in the harbour, I was lucky to catch three ships that morning. With COVID-19 forcing me to work from home since March, with only a limited return to the office since late-September, catching shipping in the harbour on my occasional trip to the office is much welcomed.

Container Ship CMA CGM Orfeo

Container ships are getting larger and larger, and CMA CGM Orfeo is one of the larger vessels to call in Halifax these days (though there are much larger ships out there). Seeing her alongside at Halterm  last Sunday with several cranes working her cargo of containers puts her into some perspective.

Loading is almost complete in this photo.

Tugs are present, and the ship is preparing to depart.

Orfeo left the pier and headed out as we were heading back to the jetty in VILLE DE QUEBEC.

Ships in the Harbour in May/June

I haven't had a chance to do much writing here recently, and still don't have the time, but I have been posting photos over on my Smugmug website over the last few days. Here they are:

NYK Rumina arrived in the fog yesterday (June 7, 2016).

Atlantic Fir provided a tethered escort through the narrows.

Taking the time machine back to May, I took a number of photos that I only got around to processing in the last few days:

Ijsselbord

Havelstern (left) and Adelina.

CSCL Oceania at Halterm.

Alise P entering port on Battle of the Atlantic Sunday.

Hapag-Lloyd's Ningbo Express back at the end of April.

I also caught several Canadian Coast Guard vessels back in May:

CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell was in port for a SAR exercise.

CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell

CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell with Ningbo Express in the background.

CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell

CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell

CCGS Earl Grey

CCGS Earl Grey

CCGS Earl Grey

CCGS Earl Grey

CCGS Caporal Kaeble.

CCGS Hudson in late April.

HMCS ST. JOHN'S departing on May 24.

HMCS PRESERVER: Jungle Deck and Cargo Handling

Replenishment vessels (AORs in RCN parlance, which stands for Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment) are the quasi-cargo vessels that keep the fleet at sea for extended periods, by providing the necessary fuel, munitions, supplies, and other consumables that Navy vessels require to remain combat capable. In some better funded navies, the fuel and munitions are delegated to different classes of ships, but the RCN can only afford to maintain and man a single small class of such vessels that must combine these functions. 

The first of the RCN's dedicated AOR fleet was HMCS PROVIDER, built in the early 1960s as a one-off design. She was built with three "goal posts" (the single one forward of the bridge was later removed) for transferring fuel and supplies to ships at sea, and also incorporated a helicopter landing deck and hangar for three Sea Kings, which could also be used for transferring supplies at sea through a process known as VERTREP (Vertical Replenishment). PROVIDER served the RCN well for over 30 years (she was my father-in-law's favourite ship), but she did have her shortcomings, notably her open "jungle deck" which made service on the North Atlantic rather unpleasant (hence her transfer to the West Coast for most of her career).

At the end of the 1960's, two more ships were built along the same basic lines of PROVIDER, but with various improvements based on the lessons learned with PROVIDER. A larger bridge superstructure up front, and an enclosed jungle deck were two of the more obvious visual cues. PROTECTEUR and PRESERVER both ended up serving for more than 40 years. 

Which brings me to the subject of this blog post: having covered some of the other internal spaces, I should probably spend some time reviewing their raison d'être, the cargo handling areas within the ship (I will cover the goal posts and other above-deck hardware in a separate post). 

The first area to cover is the "jungle deck" on No. 1 Deck. The largest tenant of the internal volume of the ship is the vast tankage below the jungle deck, used for storing the various bunker and aviation fuels required to keep the fleet underway at sea. The "jungle deck" sits above these tanks, one level below the main deck, and its footprint covers the majority of this tankage. The number of non-tankage internal spaces that go deeper than the jungle deck within the ship are limited to the engine and boiler rooms, a pump room, the various spaces ahead of the jungle deck, and the dry stores hold (aft) and ammunition hold (forward) that are situated in the middle of the tankage area. 

The forward end of the jungle deck, looking to starboard. This space is located under the forward end of the bridge superstructure.

The photo above shows one of the few areas of the jungle deck that runs uninterrupted from the port to starboard sides. This particular space apparently was used as a temporary morgue during the Swissair 111 disaster recovery in 1998. The circular hatch near the centre of the photo is the top of a blackwater tank, with the hatch for JP5 Tank #1 towards the back right of the photo. The hatches are about the only visible indicator in any of my photos of the vast tankage below this area. Fuel tanks and electronics do not mix, so I wasn't offered the change of taking photos down into any of the tanks. 

Whereas PROVIDER's jungle deck was completely open, PRESERVER's access to the open air is limited to these openings which have covers that can be closed when not required to be open:

One of PRESERVER's starboard side jungle deck hatches.

Looking aft in PRESERVER's starboard jungle deck.

A multitude of piping can be seen in the photo above, all necessary to transfer the various fuels up to the hoses of the goal posts, and then on to a receiving ship. Some more tank top hatches can be seen, such as the one on the right of this photo for FFO Tank #3. 

Situated along the centreline of the jungle deck, between the bridge superstructure and hangar, is the dry cargo handling stores, and one deck above that (Main Deck level) is the Holding & Dispersing Area.

Looking aft in the Holding & Dispersing area. Behind the firefighting gear is the ammunition hoist, one of two hoists in the ship. The Stores lift is to the left in the background of the photo. 

The Stores lift on No. 1 Deck, one deck below the photo above. The hatch for No.4 tank (on the starboard jungle deck) can be seen through the hatch to the right of the photo.

Dry stores lift winch on No. 1 Deck. 

Dry stores (looking down the Stores lift).

Dry stores. The green netting presumably keeps everything in the racks when at sea.

I should probably show a photo of PRESERVER's exterior to help people visualize where some of these spaces are.

PRESERVER at anchor. One of her two cranes is deployed over the helo deck, and several jungle deck ports are open below the main deck. At main deck level, one deck above those open ports, the Holding & Dispersing area can be seen along the centreline between the bridge and hangar superstructures.