Noordam refuses to dock in St.John's Antigua

Today, just over a year since the Mein Schiff 2 refused to dock in St.John's (Antigua), another vessel, Holland America's cruise ship, the Noordam also made a similar about-turn. Arriving at the entrance to St.John's harbour around 7am, the ship made several loops off shore before finally departing at approximately 9am. The remainder of the day was spent meandering in the north Caribbean Sea enroute to its next scheduled stop, St.Thomas, where it is due to dock tomorrow.

Noordam en-route to St.Thomas after abadoning scheduled stop at St.John's, Antigua (from marinetraffic.com)

Noordam circling outside St.John's Harbour (from marinetraffic.com)

 While I have no information on the reasons for the ship not docking, there have been talks of sweeping the harbour to remove silt which has accumulated over the years and it is my understanding that the ship which has been contracted to perform this task is already enroute to Antigua. Based on a search of  marinetraffic.com I have been able to determine that the Cyprus registered hopper dredger, Shoreway (IMO 9420344) is scheduled to arrive in Antigua from Rotterdam on February 17th.

More Cars for Antigua's already busy roads

Another shipment of cars, to add to Antigua's already crowed streets, arrived in St. John's on 29-Aug-2013 on board the vehicle carrier Patara.

Patara (capacity of 5000 cars) left Yokohama, Japan on 31-Jul-2013 stopping at Balboa, Panama then transited the Panama Canal for scheduled stops at Jamaica, Santo Domingo and St.Kitts before arriving in Antigua. Within 6 hours of berthing, the ship left Antigua for its remaining ports of call namely, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St.Lucia, Barbados, St.Vincent, Trinidad, Venezuela (Puerto Cabello), Charleston (North Carolina USA), Brunswick (Georgia USA) before exiting the Panama Canal on 21-Sep-2013 on its way back to Japan. 

This was Patara's second visit for the year having previously stopped here on 28-May-2013.

While I'm unable to say exactly how many cars were offloaded, previous inquiries revealed that typically up to 150 vehicles are received per shipment. More than likely the majority of the vehicles are reconditioned and from my distant vantage point I was able to confirm that the ever popular Noah van and Toyota Vista models featured prominently in the procession off the ship.

Maiden voyage of the World's largest ship mapped

Over the past 45 days, shipping enthusiasts around the world have been following with keen interest the passage of the Maersk McKinney Moller, the world's largest ship, on its maiden voyage from Asia to Europe. For those unable to make it to one of the ports of call, services such as marinetraffic.com and Maersk's excellent use of its social media channels kept us up to date on the ship's progress. The interactive map at the bottom of this post seeks to capture some of those moments.

Named after the now deceased former CEO of Maersk shipping line, the Maersk McKinney Moller has a capacity of 18000TEU (ie 18000 twenty foot containers). To put the sheer size of the vessel into context, this capacity is equivalent to:

• 111 million pairs of shoes or 
• 36000 cars or 
• 182 million iPads

The previous record of 16000TEU was held by CMA CGM's Marco Polo.

The Maersk McKinney Moller is the first of 20 ships in the new Triple-E class which Maersk will be bringing on online within the next 2 years. The Triple-E class of vessels are so named because of the Economy of scale, Energy efficiency and Environmental improvements they are designed to achieve.

For example, these ships will reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 50% per container moved. According to Maersk the main innovations which contribute to this reduction are:

• Two ‘ultra-long stroke’ engines, an innovative efficient shape and advanced waste heat recovery system saving up to 10% of main engine power.

• Two four-blade propellers instead of the 6-blade larger propeller found on Maersk E-type class vessels.

The second Triple-E vessel, Majestic Maersk has being deployed and is currently enroute to Europe on its maiden journey. The third vessel, Mary Maersk, is undergoing sea trials.

The ships are being built Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) of South Korea at a cost of US $190 million each.
Following is an interactive map of Maersk McKinney Moller's maiden journey. Click on the icons to view pictures and video of the ship.

View Larger Map

Arrival of Gates for Panama Canal Expansion Project

The Heavy Lift vessel Sun Rise (formerly named STX Rose 2), arrived in Cristobal, Panama on Aug 19 with the first four of the sixteen new lock gates for the Panama Canal expansion programme. With its name change executed just prior to departure, the vessel left the Italian port of Trieste on 22-July. 

On the way it passed just 15 miles south of the historic Nelson's Dockyard in  Antigua as it entered the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean ea for the last leg of the journey. 

According to a Panama Canal Authority press release dated 25-July-2013, the gates, weighing an average of 3,300 tons each, were constructed in Italy by subcontractor Cimolai S.P.A. and unlike the mitre gates currently in use, are designed to roll into place.

As shown in the following MarineTraffic.com screen shot, the site where the gates are being offloaded is at the entrance of the new lock currently under construction. 

Video showing arrival of Gates aboard Sun Rise

Video showing the process used to load/unload and transport Gates

Gates being manufactured

 

The Panama Canal Expansion project will facilitate the passage of much larger ships (refered to as Post Panamax class) and  is scheduled to be completed in 2015. The following Panama Canal Authority video gives an insight on the progress being made on the project.