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.

Recent Harbour Traffic, and HMC Dockyard views

I haven't had a lot of time for blogging recently, so I have developed a bit of an image backlog of harbour traffic images. In addition, I have managed some interesting angles on the ships in HMC Dockyard.

This past week, Scotia Pilot made a close pass to my morning ferry while on her way up-harbour.

A few weeks earlier, I captured this early-morning image of Scotia Pilot returning from dropping a pilot off on an incoming ship, possibly the ship in the background here.

YM Enlightenment's arrival was well timed for my afternoon ferry crossing last week.

Atlantic Willow escorting YM Enlightenment towards the narrows.

Atlantic Bear is tethered to the stern of YM Enlightenment in case she needs to provide extra steering power in the narrows.

One foggy afternoon recently, Nolhanava was sitting at anchor with a catamaran carried as deck cargo. It was unloaded in Halifax, and reloaded onto a larger container vessel bound for Thailand. 

They say that the difference between boats and ships is that ships can carry boats, so I guess this makes Nolhanava a ship.

Catamaran Aquarius on the deck of Nolhanava.

One of the Halterm container crane operators captured the loading procedure for Aquarius.

Nolhanava has been in port a fair bit lately, in one of the anchorages. She mostly handles the run to St. Pierre et Miquelon, and was apparently reflagged Canadian recently to allow her to stop in Newfoundland ports as well.

Tanker Damia Desgagnes also carries liquid natural gas (LNG) in tanks on deck.

Containership Malleco departing Halterm a few weeks ago.

Car carrier Miraculous Ace was also well timed, this time for my morning ferry ride.

Reflections from the rising sun highlight every single crease in the hull plating.

Most of the naval traffic recently has occurred while I was stuck in the office, and unable to pop down to take photos. That said, I have managed to catch a few ships alongside from angles that I don't normally get.

On March 6th, I attended the Welcome to the Fleet ceremony for M.V. Asterix (a future blog post will document my tour of that ship). Asterix is probably the tallest ship to serve in the RCN, at least in the recent past, and the view from her bridge provides some interesting views of the ships in HMC Dockyard.

Asterix herself is fully loaded with fuel, and ready to depart for RIMPAC 2018 - this year's Rim of the Pacific exercise run by the USN.

HMCS HALIFAX taken from the bridge wing of Asterix. A few weeks later, the brand new USS LITTLE ROCK was alongside in this same location, but she unfortunately was not there during either of my two visits to Asterix.

HMCS SHAWINIGAN.

The bridge wings on Asterix overhang the water, and in this case, HMCS MONTREAL.

MONTREAL was alongside Asterix for a fuel transfer.

We also had two foreign warships in port this week, the aforementioned USS LITTLE ROCK and the Danish HDMS EJNAR MIKKELSON. LITTLE ROCK is a member of the FREEDOM class of Littoral Combat Ships, or LCS.

LITTLE ROCK arrived just before my morning ferry ride on Tuesday, and still had tugs alongside as mooring lines were made fast.

LITTLE ROCK has two doors in the transom for launching and recovering small boats.

Size comparison between Asterix and LITTLE ROCK.

HDMS EJNAR MIKKELSON is an offshore patrol vessel of the Royal Danish Navy. EJNAR MIKKELSON and her sister ships patrol the waters off Greenland

EJNAR MIKKELSON can land a helicopter, but does not have a hangar to store one.

Unlike LITTLE ROCK, EJNAR MIKKELSON has been in Halifax before, and was alongside the Cable Wharf during the Royal Canadian Navy's centennial celebrations.

RCN personnel handle the lines during EJNAR MIKKELSON's arrival in 2010.

To finish off, I captured this image a few weeks ago of HNoMS ROALD AMUNDSEN, a Norwegian Navy guided missile frigate.

I can only assume the crew felt that the skipper needed convincing that it was time to depart Halifax, and our appalling springtime weather.