Julius Caesar meets Van Halen in Halifax Harbour this week—sort of
Van Halen was a little before my time. David Lee Roth had already left the metal band for the first of his three stints before I emerged from the womb, not a hair on my head to compete with their mop-tops. Sammy Hagar was just in the middle of his first run as lead vocalist—a post he would go on to leave before I entered kindergarten. But damn if they didn’t leave a mark anyway—never mind if, as a child of the ’90s, I hadn’t exactly gone looking for them. You hear a song like “Panama,” and it sticks with you. You can’t not hear “Diamond Dave” belting the word whenever you read it or hear it spoken. (You’re humming it right now, aren’t you?) So it goes that when the CMA CGM Panama is on the list of ships to arrive in Halifax, there’s a part of my brain that makes a beeline to 1984. Now that is the mark of timelessness.
Here’s a look at what’s coming in and out of port this week:
Monday, Sept. 4
All was (mostly) quiet in Halifax Harbour on the Labour Day Monday—save for the 7:30am arrival of the Caribbean Princess. The 3,100-passenger cruise ship came in from New York City and embarked that evening for Sydney, NS.
Tuesday, Sept. 5
Two-thousand-and-seventy-seven years ago, Julius Caesar called England’s muddy river the Tamesis—a name that derived from the ancient Celts’ word for “dark.” Fittingly, it was under the cover of darkness that the Tamesis vehicle carrier arrived in Halifax on Tuesday, just after 5:30am. The ship reached Eastern Passage’s Autoport after a nine-day crossing from Southampton, UK. It leaves next for New York City.
dingler1109 / Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The Tamesis vehicle carrier, seen in New Orleans in 2003, arrived in Halifax on Sept. 5, 2023 (with a new coat of green and black paint).
The Oceanex Sanderling ro-ro/cargo ship arrived by daylight. It docked at the Fairview Cove Terminal just after 11am, inbound from St. John’s, NL. The ship returns to St. John’s on Friday.
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Two cruise ships headlined Wednesday’s arrivals: The 2,000-passenger Norwegian Sky and 2,050-passenger Vision of the Seas berthed at the Halifax Seaport around 8am and 9am, respectively. The former arrived in Halifax after stops in Boston, Baltimore and Miami, while the latter came after visiting Saint John, NB, Boston and Baltimore.
As those ships arrived, two others left: Both the 364-metre-long ONE Hawk container ship and 66-metre-long Layla general cargo ship departed from Halifax around 7:20am and 9:40am, respectively—the former of the two is en route to Suez, Egypt.
The NYK Delphinus container ship made its return to Halifax on Wednesday afternoon after a European expedition that included stops in Le Havre, France; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Hamburg, Germany; and Antwerp, Belgium. (Not too shabby of an itinerary.) It left Thursday morning for Port Everglades, Florida.
Two more ships rounded out a busy Wednesday of arrivals: The Gotland general cargo ship and Algoma Integrity self-discharging bulk carrier both came into port late in the afternoon. Of the two, the Gotland has the far more enviable itinerary—it finished a six-day crossing from Moa, Cuba, and will leave next for Villagarcía de Arousa, Spain. The Algoma Integrity, meanwhile, arrived from Jacksonville—which is hot like Cuba, but with the misfortune of being in northern Florida. It carries onward to Baltimore, Maryland—which, like Villagarcía, sits sheltered away from the Atlantic Ocean, but unlike its Spanish counterpart (which boasts terracotta-tiled roofs and stone castles) is populated by Baltimore Ravens fans.
Thursday, Sept. 7
Halifax’s cruise season continues in earnest with the arrival of two more ships on Thursday: The 1,960-passenger Zuiderdam and the 3,800-passenger Norwegian Joy. The former arrived from Sydney, NS, while the latter arrived from New York. After stopping in Halifax, the Zuiderdam will sail onward to Bar Harbor, Maine, and Boston. The Norwegian Joy will head to Cape Breton, PEI, Newfoundland and Quebec.
Roger W. (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Zuiderdam is one of two cruise ship arrivals in Halifax on Sept. 7, 2023.
The Nolhan Ava ro-ro/cargo ship arrived early Thursday morning from St. Pierre and Miquelon. It’s docked at the South End Container Terminal and will leave next for Argentia, NL.
Finally, the Acadian oil tanker is slated to dock at the Irving Oil Terminal around 8pm on Thursday evening. It’s inbound from Saint John, NB—which is not to be confused with St. John’s, NL, where it’s headed afterward. The ship made news a decade ago for getting stuck in ice in the Northumberland Strait while on its way from Halifax to Charlottetown—which sounds worthy of earning a verse in “Barrett’s Privateers”:
“God damn them all! I was told
We’d cruise the seas and never get cold.”
I’m not sure of the third stanza, but the punchline is absolutely “frozen man on a Halifax pier.”
Friday, Sept. 8
The MSC Sandra container ship is expected to arrive either in the wee hours of Friday morning or late Thursday night. The ship is inbound from Sines, Portugal, and will dock at the Fairview Cove Terminal. From there, it will head onward to Boston.
Martin Bauman / The Coast
The Lagarfoss container ship, seen in Halifax Harbour in July, returns to Halifax on Sept. 8, 2023.
The 4,260-passenger Norwegian Escape cruise ship is due in port later Friday morning. As of Wednesday, it was docked in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Three more container ships round out the day’s arrivals: The ZIM Monaco, Lagarfoss and—get your Van Halen drop ready—the CMA CGM Panama. Of those three, the Panama is the largest; at 366 metres long and with a summer deadweight of 157,076 tonnes, it can carry up to 15,128 20-foot steel containers. Laid end-to-end, that’s roughly the equivalent of the distance from Halifax to Truro. The ship is currently en route from Tanger Med, Morocco.
Saturday, Sept. 9
Leo season ended Aug. 22—we’re now firmly in the realm of pumpkin spice lattes, which is to say Virgo season—but the Contship Leo is making a brief comeback. The 148-metre-long container ship is due at the Fairview Cove Terminal around 6am, inbound from New York City. It will then carry on to Kingston, Jamaica.
Elsewhere in Halifax Harbour, a trio of cruise ships is scheduled to arrive: The 930-passenger Viking Star, 210-passenger Pearl Mist and 830-passenger Amera are all expected in port between Saturday morning and early afternoon. As of Thursday morning, the Viking Star was in Boston and will sail onward to Gaspé, Saguenay, Quebec City and Montreal. The Pearl Mist, meanwhile, was in Charlottetown as of Thursday morning. The Amera wins the prize for the farthest journey; the ship left Bremerhaven, Germany, on Aug. 14 and has sailed through Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Quebec en route to Cape Breton and Halifax.
Sunday, Sept. 10
You know how DJ Khaled made a whole career of saying, “anotha one”? Get ready for anotha September weekend day of cruise arrivals—three more are scheduled for Sunday. The 2,140-passenger Jewel of the Seas, 380-passenger Silver Shadow and 450-passenger Seabourn Quest are all expected at the Halifax Seaport.
EandJsFilmCrew / Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
The Jewel of the Seas cruise ship, seen in Puerto Rico in 2009, arrives in Halifax on Sept. 10, 2023.
The Volga Maersk container ship is due in Halifax sometime between 5 and 8am, inbound from Montreal. It will carry onward to Bremerhaven.
Finally, the Orion crane ship is expected to make its way back into Halifax Harbour from its latest trip to the offshore wind farm at Martha’s Vineyard—at least, according to the Port of Halifax’s Port Control website. After its Halifax stop, it will return to Boston.
