Tall ship Caladonia on the move

The tall ship caledonia has departed Lunenburg and is currently stopped in Prescott Ontario. She was owned by Canadian Sailing Expeditions but that ownership reverted to Caterpillar Financial Services when CSE went bankrupt. The ship had been laid up in Lunenburg since then.

HMCS Windsor On Trials – Camber Dive Test

HMCS Windsor coming off the dock for trials. This is her first time away from the dock, since she was  taken off the synchro lift on April 11.  She was Secured to both Sides, for a Camber Dive Test.
The completion of the camber diveis a a critical milestone in the submarine’s work period. A multitude of trials and confidence checks are conducted during the dive to verify the submarine’s watertight integrity and correct functioning of key escape systems. 
Below – Blowing Ballast

(Below) Decks awash (Above) Stern Going Down

 The crew will presumably be looking for leaks, as well as testing the boats ability to come back up.
HMCS Windsor will be the Second Submarine to become operational. HMCS Victoria is currently Operational, and recently participated in RimPAC 2012 and Joint US/Canada Task Group Exercise (TGEX). HMCS Cornerbrook was operational, but was damaged when she went aground. She is up next for refit. HMCS Chicoutimi is In Victoria, Heavily damaged by the fire on her delivery cruise. Work is underway to make her operational.
UPDATE 08/11: She returned to the dock this morning around 0800

First Trip To Halifax Bussan Express

Bussan Express is a Hapag Lloyd vessel that is now in the Hapag Lloyd AEX (Asia-Med.-N. America EC Expr.) Service. She is A Post Panamax vessel comparable to the OOCL vessels that operate In Halifax, But is the next size up for typical Hapag Lloyd Vessels (Bellow Dallas Express Left, Bussan Express Right)

Also Serving on the AEX Service Are Italy Express, Canada Express and OOCL Oakland. Its a 35 Day Trip from VUNG TAU to NORFOLK, VA.

Dallas Express is On the PAX (Pacific Atlantic Expr.) Service with Kobe Express, Duseldorf Express, Rotterdam Express,  London Express, Oakland Express, Kiel Express, Paris Express, Tokyo Express, Pusan, Halifax Express, Boston Express.

Davie Yard Has a New Buyer

Via The Montreal Gazette:

The Court appointed Bankruptcy monitor, since last August, has been weighing a bid from Zafiro Marine, a British operator of a fleet of offshore supply vessels of the same genre as the three now sitting uncompleted in the Lévis shipyard. The three partially completed offshore oil and gas service and pipe-laying vessels have lain dormant at Davie since Norway’s Cecon ASA placed the original order worth almost $500 million and then ran into financial problems.

The once vociferous Davie union says 900 workers could be recalled in January, but the Quebec City region recently has had one of Canada’s lowest jobless rates.

Industry sources say it will cost about $250 million to finish the three vessels sitting in the Davie yard — they are 60 per cent complete. Davie has two ferry orders worth $120 million for La Société des traversiers du Québec … when the gates reopen.

Denise Verreault, CEO of Les Méchins shipbuilder-repairer Groupe Maritime Verreault Inc., estimates almost $1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money has been spent on Davie since 1985.

Traffic Tieups Due to NY Port Closure.

A rare Sight, a very lightly loaded OOCL Antwerp is at anchor in the basin for a few Hours this Morning. Halifax is suffering from a traffic jam, as a result of the Sandy induced Port Closure in New York.

Italy Express (right) is Tied up, Scheduled to depart later today bound for NY. Duseldorf Express (left) was likely also affected, and is taking bunkers. Zim Panama is also waiting for Halterm in the outer anchorage.

Photos to Come.

Below OOCL Antwerp Boarding her Pilot to move to Fairview cove in place of Italy Express


New Ships For Ocenex and Fednav.

Announced a few weeks ago, Oceanex is cutting of first steel of what will become the largest Canadian flag container/roll on roll off (Con/Ro) ship. This twenty knot, ice-class vessel, to be named the Oceanex Connaigra, is custom designed for world-wide trade and will be 210 meters in length with a deadweight carrying capacity of 19,500 metric tonnes.

 Oceanex Connaigra is being built by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG of Germany. The roro weather deck of the Oceanex Connaigra is designed for a conventional lift-on/lift-off container ship operation and is able to accommodate all relevant sizes of containers, including the Oceanex high cube 53’ units – with a weather-deck load capacity of 11,000 metric tonnes of containers. Liftable ramps provide access to all five roro decks which allow for the transportation of up to 95 tractor trailers and 500 automobiles. Notably, the ship is uniquely designed with a 40’ wide stern ramp to accommodate over dimensional loads that can weigh several hundred tonnes.

Fednav announced the signing of a long-term contract which provides for the transportation of nickel and copper concentrates from Canadian Royalties’ Nunavik Nickel Project in northern Quebec to customers in Europe as well as the import from Europe of mine supplies and equipment. 

As a result, Fednav will be placing of an order with Sumitomo Corporation and Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, Japan, for the design and construction of an ice-breaking bulk carrier with a design deadweight of 25,000 tonnes to service the transportation contract referred to above. The Polar Class 4 vessel will be built at Universal’s Tsu shipyard, and will be classed by Det Norske Veritas. The scheduled delivery date is December 2013. 

Fednav already owns and operates two of the world’s most powerful ice-breaking commercial vessels, the MV Arctic and the MV Umiak I. Based in Montreal, the Fednav Group is the leading Canadian operator in the deep-sea bulk market, operates year-round in ice-covered waters, and has the world’s largest fleet of ice-class vessels