First glimpse of snow greets last days of cruise season
A snow-blanketed Wednesday afternoon at Halifax’s South End Container Terminal made it harder to see a rather unusual sight: Not a single container ship was in the frequently busy port. And this was on the busiest day of the week in Halifax Harbour, to boot.
If it feels like ship traffic is slowing in November, there’s at least some truth to it: Thursday, Nov. 9 marks the final day of the 2023 cruise season. Only five more cruise vessels will visit Halifax before the year’s end, beginning Thursday, Nov. 2.
Here’s a look at what else is coming in and out of port this week:
Monday, October 30
The Morning Claire vehicle carrier came into Halifax nearly nine days behind schedule from Zeebrugge, Belgium. It left late Monday afternoon for New York City.
Also bound for the Big Apple? Both the Atlantic Sea and MSC Maureen container ships. The former came into Halifax Harbour from Liverpool, UK around 5:40am and left Monday evening, while the latter came five days late from Sines, Portugal and departed early Tuesday morning.
The Maryam D bulk carrier arrived from Boston just after 7am. It’s currently berthed at the South End Container Terminal.
The “sexiest port call of the week” award, however, goes to the Tropic Hope container ship—which arrived around 6:40am from Philipsburg, Sint Maarten and is now headed to Palm Beach, Florida. (Wednesday’s high: 27 degrees Celsius.) If only there was a way to… no, never mind. Snow and bitter cold wind it is. Carrying on.
Tuesday, October 31
Hello and farewell to the Marella Discovery cruise ship, which made its one and only stop in Halifax on Tuesday. The 1,830-passenger ship is wrapping a 14-day round-trip voyage from Port Canaveral, Florida through Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It arrived in Halifax around 8:15am and left just after 8pm.
Wednesday, November 1
Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto might well be the most famous opera to be named after a court jester. Debuted in 1851, the three-act performance follows a lecherous duke and his jester, who are beset with a curse for conniving to seduce a woman into falling in love. Rigoletto loses his daughter as punishment. (The patriarchy being what it is, he survives. So does the duke.)
The CMA CGM Rigoletto arrives in Halifax on Wednesday, bringing along the curse of the season’s first snowfall. It’s inbound from New York and expected to dock at the South End Container Terminal.
Piet Sinke (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The CMA CGM Rigoletto, seen in 2019 in Singapore, arrives in Halifax on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
The Oceanex Sanderling ro-ro/container ship berthed at the Fairview Cove Terminal just after 5:15am. It arrived on its weekly milk-and-eggs run* from St. John’s, NL.
The NYK Delphinus container ship reached the Fairview Cove Terminal just before 5:40am. It arrived four days behind schedule from Saint John, NB and leaves around 11:30pm for Southampton, UK.
The PAG oil tanker arrives Wednesday around 12:30pm from Gloucester, Massachusetts. The 183-metre-long ship departs at 9pm for Goose Bay, NL.
The Atlantic Sky container ship is expected at the Fairview Cove Terminal around 3pm. It arrives from Norfolk, Virginia, and will set off Thursday morning for Liverpool.
Finally, the award for “ship name most likely to appear in a 1998 World Cup roster” goes to the Franbo Lohas cargo ship. It wraps an 11-day Atlantic voyage from Gibraltar. That Franbo Lohas, let me tell you—it wasn’t the biggest ship on the soccer pitch, but it could dribble and bend it with the best of them.
*There are almost assuredly other things on board, but it’s more fun to imagine this way.
Thursday, November 2
The 3,080-passenger Emerald Princess cruise ship makes its eighth and final Halifax stop of 2023. The ship will berth at Pier 22 around 9am and leave again by 6pm. It’s on the last leg of a seven-day round-trip cruise from New York through Atlantic Canada and the US eastern seaboard.
Franz Neumeier (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The 3,080-passenger Emerald Princess, seen in 2009, arrives in Halifax on Nov. 2, 2023.
Le Dumont d’Urville joins it in the Halifax Seaport. The 184-passenger cruise ship is on a two-week voyage from Toronto to Boston.
Earlier in the morning, the 148-metre-long Contship Leo container ship comes in from New York. It will depart the Fairview Cove Terminal around 11pm for Kingston, Jamaica.
The “farthest traveller of the week” award goes to the ONE Stork container ship, which wraps a 14-day voyage from Suez, Egypt—albeit four days behind schedule. The 364-metre-long container ship will berth at the South End Container Terminal and leave for New York on Friday morning.
Last, but not least, the Nolhan Ava ro-ro/container carrier is slated to arrive around 8am as it makes its weekly rounds from Argentia, NL and St. Pierre and Miquelon.
Friday, November 3
Two container ships, both named for cities. (Fine, one is a city-state.) The ZIM Monaco is nearly six days behind schedule from Valencia, Spain. It’s expected to reach the Fairview Cove Terminal around 5:30am. The MSC Freeport, meanwhile, is five days behind schedule from Montreal and slated for a 1pm arrival.
Saturday, November 4
The East Coast oil tanker returns to Halifax on Saturday. It arrives from Saint John, NB and leaves for Portland, Maine.
The day’s earliest arrival projects to be the 366-metre-long CMA CGM Adonis, due around 4am from Tanger Med, Morocco. The ship can carry a staggering 15,000 20-foot steel containers—enough that if they were all laid end-to-end on the 103 highway, they’d span from Halifax to Bridgewater.
The Skogafoss container ship arrives two days behind schedule from Portland, Maine. It left Reykjavik, Iceland for Portland last Wednesday.
Sunday, November 5
A busier start to the week ends quietly, with just two ship arrivals. The Algonova oil tanker is expected to reach Halifax around 9am, while the NYK Daedalus container ship is due for 4pm. The former is en route from Port Colborne, Ont., while the latter is inbound from Antwerp, Belgium.
