Changing a thing’s name comes with one simple rule: No matter the domain—ships, stadiums, stage names, sports teams—you have to make sure that whatever new name you’ve chosen is better than the one that came before it. A name change can be good (think Washington or Cleveland’s sports teams ditching their racist mascots), kinda-confusing-but-cool (Prince replacing his name with a symbol) and even utterly redundant (Jaÿ-Z changing his name to Jay-Z, then to Jay Z, then to JAY-Z)—but it must never, ever fail the first rule. Changing a good name to a bad name? That’s just bad business. Ask Netflix how it feels about Qwikster, or the Anaheim Ducks how they feel without the Mighty in the middle.
This week’s Halifax Harbour traffic report is full of good ship names, from Atlantic Sky to Tropic Hope to Sunshine Ace. It’s also full of car shipments, crude oil and one terrible name blunder. Consider yourself warned.
Monday
Heritage Day in Halifax marked the arrivals of the NYK Virgo and AS Felicia container ships, the latter of which is headed onward to Kingston, Jamaica. Good timing, considering Thursday’s forecast calls for snow and a low of -10C.
Long weekends are always good for catch-up days, and true to form, Monday also brought the long-delayed arrivals of the MSC Anahita (behind schedule nearly 11 days from Sines, Portugal) and the 15,215-tonne Tropic Hope (delayed a week from Philipsburg, Sint Maarten). The 284-metre Anahita is already shipping up to Boston, while the Tropic Hope is bound for Palm Beach, Florida.
Tuesday
If you’re feeling the holiday hangover, you’re not alone: The MSC Bhavya container ship arrives Tuesday, two days behind schedule from Montreal. Same for the 40,487-tonne ZIM China, six days delayed from Valencia, Spain.
Also en route: The Lumen N crude oil tanker is scheduled to arrive from Houston, Texas. Its journey began at Kinder Morgan’s Battleground Oil Specialty Terminal, otherwise known as BOSTCO. (Picture 185 acres along the Houston ship channel storing upwards of seven million barrels of crude oil.)
Which brings us to this week’s clear winner for “worst ship rebrand”: The Lumen N was formerly known as the Ice Blade… which, let’s be real, is an elite-level ship name—and one to be boasted about, not tossed away without regard. One name sounds like a medieval sword or a character from Slap Shot; the other sounds like something you’d find in the home electrical section at Canadian Tire. A thousand bucks says the ship’s captain felt more badass telling their relatives and former classmates that they commanded the Ice Blade instead of the Lumen.
#BringBackTheIceBlade.
Wednesday
Wednesday is all about wheels in the Halifax Harbour. The 100,430-tonne Atlantic Sky ro-ro/container carrier makes its midweek arrival from Liverpool, UK. (Ro-ro in shipping terms means wheeled cargo that’s rolled—as in driven—on and off the ship, as opposed to lifted with a crane.)
The Sky is joined by the Vayenga Maersk container ship (en route from Montreal), the 8,000-car Traviata vehicle carrier (en route from Southampton, UK), the Sunshine Ace vehicle carrier (en route from Emden, Germany) and the Oceanex Sanderling ro-ro/container carrier (on its way from St. John’s).
Thursday
The AS Emma container ship is scheduled to arrive later this week from Savannah, Georgia. Not much else to say here.
Friday
It’s a busy day to wrap the week: The 140-metre Vivienne Sheri D container ship is scheduled to reach port on Friday after sailing from Reykjavik, Iceland. (Here’s hoping for smoother sailing for the Vivienne Sheri: In October 2021, the ship crashed into a dock while in port in Halifax.)
Also on schedule: The 55,487-tonne NYK Rigel container ship arrives from Antwerp, Belgium. The Nolhan Ava ro-ro carrier is scheduled to make a stop after leaving Saint Pierre and Miquelon. The EM Kea container ship makes its arrival from Montreal, and the MSC Fiammetta container ship is slated to arrive from Sines, Portugal.
Saturday
Ringing in the weekend are the NYK Meteor container ship (en route from Caucedo, Dominican Republic), the 140,800-tonne CMA CGM T.Jefferson (en route from Tanger Med, Morocco), the cargo ship Puka (currently en route to Cuba’s port of Moa) and the ZIM Yokohama container ship (on its way from Valencia, Spain).
Sunday
Last but not least? Sunday in the Halifax Harbour brings the arrivals of the Tropic Lissette container ship (currently docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico) and the Vistula Maersk container ship (currently en route to Montreal from Antwerp).
