Last week, the International Maritime Organization—the UN’s authority over the global shipping industry—introduced what it described as a “revised” target of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions “close to” 2050. Emissions have been a thorny issue for shipping regulators: In 2020 alone, bulk carriers, container ships and oil tankers combined to emit 790 million tonnes of carbon dioxide worldwide—or roughly the equivalent of 171,739,000 cars. It’s estimated the industry could account for 10-13% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions within decades. That’s a problem for cities, provinces and countries—and the millions of people within them—that bear the environmental brunt of global heating. (And in this, Nova Scotia isn’t immune.)
Conservationists, unsurprisingly, aren’t happy about this: Clean Shipping Coalition president John Maggs called the IMO announcement a “wish-and-a-prayer agreement” with “no excuse.”
What does it mean for Halifax? Eventually, the ships coming in and out of port will need to operate with greener power (a concern for the shipping companies, but not as much for the ports themselves). But today, it seems, very little changes.
On to the ships coming into Halifax this week:
Monday, July 10
Welcome back to the Zaandam cruise ship, which arrived around 8:30am Monday from Boston. It left for Sydney, NS late Monday evening and is now bound for Quebec City. The 1,430-passenger ship is Halifax’s lone cruise ship arrival this week.
Three container ships and an oil tanker rounded out Monday’s arrivals: The Warnow Master, Atlantic Sky and Bakkafoss container ships came into port around 6:30am, 4:30pm and 5pm, respectively, from New York City, Liverpool and Reykjavik; while the TRF Mongstad oil tanker arrived just after 9pm from Albany, NY. The longest crossing of the bunch belongs to the Sky, which wrapped an eight-day Atlantic voyage and left Halifax on Tuesday morning for New York. The Warnow Master, meanwhile, is set to arrive in sunny Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday.
Tuesday, July 11
What’s the farthest-flung Tuesday arrival? That’d be the 364-metre ONE Falcon container ship, which came into Halifax Harbour just after 9:30am. It finished a three-week crossing from Colombo, Sri Lanka, and left Halifax early Wednesday morning for New York.
The 138-metre BBC Virginia cargo ship came earlier Tuesday, docking around 7am after an eight-day crossing from Pembroke, Wales—birthplace of king Henry VII and former siege site during the first English civil war. (A side note: If you’re ever in the UK, forget England next time and go to Wales—not just for the charmingly-long town names, or the fact that Ryan Reynolds owns a soccer team there. Go for the mountains and beaches. Spend a couple days on the Gower Peninsula and in Brecon Beacons National Park. You won’t regret it.) The Virginia, in any case, left Halifax Tuesday evening for Philadelphia. It’s expected to arrive Friday morning.
The last two ships of the day, the NYK Nebula container ship and Algoscotia oil tanker, arrived around 8:30am and 4:30pm, respectively. The former finished a nearly nine-day crossing from Antwerp, Belgium, while the latter arrived from Corner Brook, NL. The Nebula is headed next to Port Everglades, FL, while the Algoscotia is bound for Sydney.
Wednesday, July 12
The 294-metre MSC Cornelia container ship came into Halifax early Wednesday morning. It berthed in the harbour just after 5:30am after an eight-day crossing from Sines, Portugal. The ship left Halifax late Wednesday and is en route to Boston.
How’s this for a ship name? The Grande Halifax vehicle carrier arrived in Eastern Passage around 6am Wednesday. Built in 2018, the 18,353-tonne (summer deadweight) ship can carry up to 6,700 cars on board. It’s currently docked at the Autoport after an eight-day crossing from Valencia, Spain. The ship leaves next for New York.
The 177-metre X-Press Irazu container ship came into port about 40 minutes later from Lisbon, Portugal. It left Halifax on Wednesday evening for Mariel, Cuba.
Finally, the Oceanex Sanderling ro-ro/cargo ship arrived at the South End Container Terminal for its weekly Halifax-St. John’s, NL voyage. It’s expected to leave early Friday evening.
Thursday, July 13
Two Halifax Harbour regulars return Thursday: The Nolhan Ava ro-ro/cargo ship and Atlantic Star container ship are both expected in port later today. The former is en route from St. Pierre and Miquelon, while the latter is currently sailing up the coast from New York. Neither is staying for long: The Atlantic Star is scheduled to set sail for Liverpool around 1am on Friday morning, while the Nolhan Ava leaves for Argentia, NL, around 3am Saturday.
Friday, July 14
The 260-metre ZIM Monaco container ship is expected to reach the South End Container Terminal around 6am Friday. It left Valencia on July 8 after earlier stops in Barcelona, Genova and Athens. The ship is scheduled to carry onward to New York later Friday evening.
On its heels—or rather, stern—the Nor’easter oil tanker is due to reach Halifax shortly before 1pm Friday. It’s en route from Saint John, NB and scheduled for the Irving Oil Terminal. Next, the ship will sail onward to Charlottetown, PEI.
Finally, the NYK Rigel container ship is on its way from Cartagena, Colombia. The 294-metre-long ship had wrapped up a Pacific coastal swing through Oakland and Los Angeles, CA, before traversing the Panama Canal. It’s set to arrive at the Fairview Cove Terminal around 3:30pm and leave for Southampton, UK, on Saturday.
Saturday, July 15
The biggest ship slated to arrive in Halifax Harbour this week is the 366-metre-long CMA CGM J. Madison. The ship has a summer deadweight—shipping lingo for overall carrying capacity—of 147,966 tonnes, which falls short of the biggest container ship to arrive in Halifax in 2023, but outranks Saturday’s other arrival, the 293-metre MOL Experience (62,953 tonnes) by a country mile. Or maybe that’s a nautical mile.
The J. Madison is on its way from Tanger Med, Morocco, and expected to arrive around 4am, while the MOL Experience is en route from Antwerp and slated to berth around 5am.
Sunday, July 16
Two more container ships round out the weekend’s arrivals, and they’re both from the family-owned shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Company: The MSC Sandra and MSC Amalfi are both due in Halifax Harbour, inbound from Sines, Portugal, and Bremerhaven, Germany, respectively.
The former is expected at the Fairview Cove Terminal around 5am, while the latter is due at the South End Container Terminal closer to 10am. Both ships are headed to Boston after their Halifax stop.
