Zhen Hua 23 arrives with new cranes for south end container terminal

 As covered elsewhere, the heavy lift vessel Zhen Hua 23 arrived on November 6th from China carrying four new container cranes, two of them destined for the South End terminal in Halifax, and the remaining two will continue on to be delivered to a customer in Portugal. The cranes could be seen over the horizon while Zhen Hua 23 was still below the horizon out at sea, behind the inbound cruise ship Insignia. 

Inbound cruise ship Insignia to the left with the container cranes jutting above the horizon to the right.

The remaining photos I captured were through the very dirty windows of my company's office, and shooting through the glass at an angle didn't help the image quality and sharpness of these images any, but they are still worthwhile sharing.

Inbound Zhen Hua 23 appearing behind the headland.

Zhen Hua 23 with her cargo of four container cranes.

Zhen Hua 23 behind the grain elevator, with the existing south end container cranes to the right.

A distorted photo of Zhen Hua 23 and her cargo amidst the glare of the sun on the harbour approaches. 

The ship is currently alongside in the container terminal to begin offloading the two cranes.

Vole au Vent

Vole au Vent is a jackup heavy lift ship built in 2013, and currently flagged in Luxembourg. It was in Halifax this past week to collect components for an offshore wind farm being installed of the coast of the US. More detailed information is available on Shipfax and Halifax Shipping News. 

Vole au Vent jacked up at Woodside on her four spuds. The ship carrying the windmill components, Bigroll Beaufort, can be seen to the left. 

Support columns and windmill blades are still onboard Bigroll Beaufort in this image.

Bigroll Beaufort to the left and Vole au Vent to the right at Woodside.

When not jacked up on her spuds, Vole au Vent is a self propelled ship, and has multiple thrusters for station keeping.

A close-up showing Vole au Vent's helicopter landing pad, bridge superstructure, and three large box thrusters.

One detail in particular that I found interesting is that her large Liebherr crane appears to be built _around_ the aft starboard spud, suggesting to me it might be a custom design for this ship.

The Liebherr crane is built around one of the spuds used to raise the ship.

Vole au Vent left port a few days ago, with only a portion of the windmill components onboard - suggesting she will be back to pick up the rest.