A massive Blue Jay meets an Icelandic hotspot in Halifax Harbour this week—sort of
Sports fandom is a funny thing: Utterly miserable, and yet—for the afflicted—impossible to live without. Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays were reminded of that this past week. If you were near a sports radio station on Friday, or refreshing your Twitter feed, you’ll have stumbled across the half-million half-baked theories and threads of misinformation that prompted many Jays faithful—this writer included—to track a private plane from Santa Ana to Mississauga in hopes that it was transporting free agent baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani. (It wasn’t.) Even Halifax became part of The Discourse when one sports personality joked that if Ohtani were to sign with Toronto for a record amount, he should get “100% ownership of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.”
Okay new offer
– 10Y/$600 million
– Provincial rebrand to Ohtario
– Municipal rebrand to Shoronto
– Canadian cover of MLB The Sho for the rest of his career
– 100% ownership of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
– He picks the uniforms
– Eglinton Crosstown finished by 2117 in his honour— “Jeff” Veillette (@JeffVeillette) December 5, 2023
Ohtani didn’t sign with Toronto. He chose, as star talents are wont to do, to ply his trade in Los Angeles, where he’ll earn $700 million over the next ten years. (God, I wish I could throw a fastball.)
If we didn’t get our chosen Blue Jay in Toronto, well, we still have our Blue Jay at home: The ONE Blue Jay container ship is due to arrive at Halifax’s South End Container Terminal just before 5:30am on Wednesday morning. It’s not the generational pitching and hitting prospect that Ohtani is, but it’s capable of carrying quite the weight on its shoulders—139,335 tonnes, in fact.
Here’s a look at what else is coming in and out of Halifax Harbour this week:
Monday, December 11
The Jean Goodwill icebreaker returned to Halifax Harbour after its latest seaward venture. The Canadian Coast Guard ship berthed at Halifax’s Richmond Terminal just after 12:30pm. It’s scheduled to leave Thursday at noon.
Elsewhere in the harbour, the Tropic Hope container ship left port after its weekend visit. The ship is en route to West Palm Beach, Florida.
Tuesday, December 12
The Oceanex Sanderling ro-ro/container carrier left Halifax Tuesday morning for St. John’s, NL.
Wednesday, December 13
As mentioned, the ONE Blue Jay container ship arrives nine days behind schedule from Colombo, Sri Lanka. It leaves later Wednesday for New York.
The ZIM Asia container ship arrives Wednesday around noon from Valencia, Spain. The 260-metre-long ship is expected at the Fairview Cove Terminal, from which it will depart late Wednesday night for Savannah, Georgia.
Kees Torn / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The GPO Grace heavy load carrier, seen in Rotterdam in 2017, returns to Halifax on Dec. 13, 2023.
The GPO Grace heavy load carrier arrives in Halifax from Rostock, Germany. The ship wraps its two-and-a-half-week voyage around noon.
Finally, the Volga Maersk container ship was scheduled to arrive Wednesday, per the Port of Halifax’s Vessel Forecast Summary, but that outcome—like Ohtani’s rumoured arrival at Toronto’s Pearson Airport—seems to be in doubt: The ship’s latest itinerary on MarineTraffic has it landing in Antwerp, Belgium on the same day, and VesselFinder’s forecast has it turning back to Montreal.
Thursday, December 14
By far the busiest day in Halifax Harbour this week, Thursday will see the arrival of six container ships, plus an oil tanker and two ro-ro/cargo carriers. The MSC Alma VII, Skogafoss (named after an Icelandic waterfall), BF Ayita, MSC Mexico V, NYK Nebula and Atlantic Sea container ships are all due to arrive between 5am and 10pm. Of those ships, the 146-metre-long Ayita finishes the longest voyage: It left Gothenburg, Sweden on Nov. 25.
R~P~M (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The NYK Nebula, seen in Southampton in 2017, returns to Halifax on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.
Both the Nolhan Ava and Oceanex Sanderling ro-ro/cargo carriers are expected to berth at Halifax’s Fairview Cove Terminal. The former is currently in St. Pierre and Miquelon, while the latter returns from St. John’s.
Last, but not least, the Algonova oil tanker arrives around noon from Port Colborne, Ont.
Friday, December 15
The ancient Greeks saw Zephyrus as the god of the westerly winds, thought to be the gentlest of all winds. The son of Eos and Astraeus, he was also known as the god of spring. On Friday, his namesake—the CMA CGM Zephyr container ship—arrives in Halifax Harbour. If it has any bearing over winds of its own, it will want to calm the westerly winds, as it arrives from the east—more specifically, Morocco. The ship left Tanger Med on Dec. 9 and will berth at the South End Container Terminal.
Earlier in the morning, the Atlantic Sun container ship arrives four days behind schedule from Liverpool, UK. It’s set to dock at the Fairview Cove Terminal.
Watts / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The Atlantic Sun ro-ro/container ship, seen in 2017, returns to Halifax on Dec. 15, 2023.
Later Friday, the Taipan vehicle carrier arrives around 6pm. It’s currently five days behind schedule from Southampton, UK.
Saturday, December 16
Things quiet down in Halifax Harbour this weekend. Just two ships are expected to arrive Saturday: The Em Kea container ship and the Algocanada oil tanker. The former is due at the South End Container Terminal from Montreal around 2am, while the latter arrives from Sarnia, Ont. around 7pm.
Sunday, December 17
Per the Port of Halifax’s Vessel Forecast summary, no ships are scheduled to arrive in Halifax Harbour. Nor, alas, is Shohei Ohtani.
