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Highlights from the April 2010 edition of our newsletter (Issue 172)
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
METRO VANCOUVER SCENEby Neil England
The Olympics and Paralympics have come and gone and with them the four cruise ships that served as accommodation for some of the personnel involved with those events. The CARNIVAL ELATION and OOSTERDAM both departed on March 2nd and the STATENDAM on March 4th. The MONA LISA, docked in Squamish, stayed around for the Paralympics and departed on March 23rd. I managed to get up to Squamish to see this aging beauty close up. It was especially interesting to see the funnel. As of this writing the 1966-built ship was on her way back to Europe and will do her final tour of duty cruising the Mediterranean this summer. According to the website Maritime Matters.com, efforts are in progress to return her to her homeport of Gothenburg, Sweden to be used as a floating hotel.
MONA LISA, at Squamish, B.C., March 15, 2010. Ref: WS10-0044.
MONA LISA funnel. Ref: WS10-0045.
At the pier next to the MONA LISA were two familiar looking tugs, but in the colours of Pacific Western Navigation. The 9 gt, 13-metre STORM FURY is the ex-JESSIE HODDER, built in 1992 by Hodder Tugboats of Richmond, B.C. The 98 GT, 18m STORM WAVE is the ex-ISLAND WAVE, built in 1977 by Allied Shipyards in North Vancouver.
STORM VAVE, tug, photo taken at Squamish, B.C. March 6, 2010. Ref: WS10-0050.
STORM FURY, at Squamish, March 6, 3010. Ref: WS10-0049.
Back on the home front, as of March 25th there were 177 ship visits to the Port Metro Vancouver, on track to finish at about 220 by month’s end. This would be about the same as last year. The last week of February was busier than usual and the month finished with 202 visits, eight more than February 2009.The 177 vessels in so far comprised 85 bulkers, 44 container ships, 17 vehicle carriers, 15 general cargo ships, 14 tankers and two specialized woodchip carriers. There were 10 ships that were launched in 2010 including the PACIFIC IRMA, a 58,000 dwt Handymax bulker which was anchored in English Bay for two weeks before moving into the Pacific Elevators to load grain. Perhaps the paint was still drying in the holds.
Other newly launched vessels visiting Vancouver this month were the SALTA, MARIANNA, RUBY ACE, LEO FELICITY, IMPERIAL EAGLE, ZIM SAN DIEGO, MOL EMPIRE, KEN SEI and HANDY BAY. There were 21 different flags represented so far this month. Among the more interesting were the Bermuda on the MILAN EXPRESS, unloading containers at Fraser Surrey Docks, the Croatia on the TROGIR, loading grain at United Grain Growers, the Vanuatu on the RUBIN PEARL, loading grain at Cascadia and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, and the US on the GREEN DALE, unloading vehicles at Annacis Auto Terminal and Fraser Wharves. You may not think the American flag is rare on ships here, but it is for ocean-going cargo vessels. Last year only five ships of the 2000 visiting were flying the Stars and Stripes. The flag is seen frequently on the coastal oil barges and tugs which come here regularly from the refineries in Anacortes, Washington. The oldest ship in this month was the regular visitor SKAUGRAN, a Norwegian owned and flagged roll-on roll-off (RoRo) cargo vessel built in 1979. The 38,000 dwt Vanuatu flagged bulker PIONEER was a close second, built in 1982. To put this in perspective, the average age of the nearly 450 different ships in this year is just seven years, having been built in 2003.The 300 metre, 204,000 dwt Panamanian flagged bulker SHIN KENRYU topped all challengers in the mammoth-ship category. There were five other Capesize vessels between 150,000 and 175,000 dwt, all loading coal at Roberts Bank. The largest containers ships to visit were the sisters ZIM SAN DIEGO and ZIM LOS ANGELES, at 334 metres in length and 8200 TEU capacity. Both were at Deltaport terminals. On the small end of the scale the 125 metre, 13,000 dwt general cargo vessel AQUA BLUE was bringing in steel and general cargo to the Fraser Surrey Docks.While down at Prospect Point in Stanley Park this month I was talking to fellow photographer and WSS member Don Brown about analyzing data on Vancouver shipping and he commented that it would be interesting to know the destinations of all these ships leaving the port. Indeed it would. Unfortunately this information is not easily obtainable and would require more time than I can spare. However it did get me thinking about what cargos are going out (or coming in) and what terminals are being used. So here’s what I found this month:Four ships were here just to refuel. Bunkering or taking on bunkers, as they say in the biz. One of them was the Norwegian bulker FERMITA, for which Don and I were waiting at Prospect Point. She was inbound from Prince Rupert fully laden with grain. And interesting she was, if only for her unusual minty-green superstructure. For those who are unable to get down to Prospect Point and the Lions Gate Bridge to view ships at close quarters, I’ve included a photo of the wheelhouse of the FERMITA, so that you can see the wonderful detail that’s visible from these venues.
FERMITA, taken March 15, 2010 from Prospect Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0042.
Funnel & Bridge of FERMITA. Ref: WS10-0043.
Emblazoned on her hull was the shipping line ‘Ugland’, which Don pointed out was the partner in the HUAL name seen on many vehicle carriers on the Fraser River in years past. HUAL, as I now learned, was Hoegh-Ugland Auto Liners. The most common cargo was containers – 44 ships, and I would venture to say most of it was inbound with a few going out with the empties being regurgitated into the system. Deltaport, with it’s three terminals handled 17 ships and seems to get all the larger ones of 6000 TEU and larger. The new Terminal-3, opened in January 2010, had four ships visiting so far this month, and 17 in total this year. CenTerm had 13 ships and VanTerm had nine. VanTerm also has a chemical handling facility which entertained an additional four tankers.There were 34 ships in for grain. There are five main grain terminals and a smaller specialty grains facility, all in the inner harbour of Vancouver. The busiest this month was Cascadia (also known as Viterra) west of the Second Narrows Bridge on the south shore . It had 12 ship visits. United Grain Growers (UGG, also known as Alliance) in east Vancouver, had nine. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP, also known as Cargill) on the North Shore, also had nine. James Richardson International (JRI) nearby to SWP, had four visits, as did the Pacific Elevators in east Vancouver.Vancouver Wharves, which loads specialty grains among their many cargoes, had two ships in for grain. There were also, as of this writing, four ships at anchor still awaiting a grain berth. If the numbers don’t quite add up, it’s because several ships typically visit more than one grain terminal while in port. Ten of the 34 ships visited two terminals, and one visited three terminals. Normally it would only take two or three days to fully load a ship with grain. However, as often happens when a ship needs to load at more than one terminal, the stay can be greatly extended.
The 54,000 dwt , Greek-flagged Handymax bulker PANOCEANIS arrived this month to load grain. She at first went into anchorage in English Bay, moved to the Cascadia terminal and after loading moved into an inner harbour anchorage for several days. Subsequently she moved into the SWP terminal to finish loading and then moved back into an inner harbour anchorage for bunkering. Total stay in port: nine days. Such is the life of many grain ships here. Another typical scenario for grain ships is to visit the same terminal several times during one stay. I can only speculate as to what is happening in this case. The 225m, 77,000 dwt Panamanian flagged bulker RED ROSE spent a total of 23 days in port while loading grain at Cascadia terminal. Arriving in Vancouver and anchoring, she subsequently moved into the terminal three different times while anchoring again in between – a total of five moves. No wonder the tugboat companies are kept busy.
As for other cargoes, coal was the next most popular, with 21 ships carrying that away. Coal is loaded at two terminals: Westshore at Roberts Bank, by far the bigger; and Neptune Terminals in North Vancouver. Westshore had 15 ships while Neptune had five ships visit for coal. Neptune, which has three berths, also deals in several other cargoes, primarily potash and chemicals, and had a total of 22 visits for all cargoes.Chemicals, both petrochemicals and vegetable oils and the like comprise a significant trade in the port. A total of 14 tankers had that cargo, inbound and outbound. Another major cargo is forest products. This consists mostly of pulp, logs, lumber and woodchips. These were outbound on 20 ships so far this month. Two of ships were in for woodchips, loaded at the Fibreco terminal in North Vancouver. Other terminals that ship forest products are Fraser-Surrey Docks, and LynnTerm and Vancouver Wharves on the North Shore. Some forest products are shipped out in containers and therefore loaded at one of the three container terminals in the port.Cars and other vehicles are a major cargo with 17 ships bringing in these. They are off-loaded at either Fraser Wharves in Richmond or Annacis Auto Terminal in Delta, both on the Fraser River.Other cargoes traded this month were potash, with eight ships carrying out that and sulphur going out on four. Potash is loaded at Neptune and sulphur is loaded at Vancouver Wharves or Pacific Coast Terminals in Port Moody. General cargo, inbound and outbound accounted for eight ships. This would include such things as heavy equipment, excavators, project cargo such as large transformers or the wind turbine on Grouse Mountain. Almost anything not classified as one of the other cargoes is general cargo. The Bombardier streetcar used at the Olympics, as an example, came over from Belgium on a general cargo vessel. The two main terminals for general cargo are LynnTerm in North Vancouver and Fraser-Surrey Docks.And lastly, two ships came in with ore concentrate and unloaded at Vancouver Wharves, and one ship, the venerable ISLA DE CEDROS, brought in salt to the Canexus Terminal in North Vancouver, just east of the Second Narrows Bridge. All told, it’s a busy, bountiful port, full of a great variety of ships for your (and my) viewing pleasure.
Highlights from the March 2010 edition of our newsletter (Issue 171)
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England
I had reported in last month’s Ship’s Log that January had been a slow month up to the time of submitting the article on the 24th. A flurry of activity in the last week, 60 arrivals in seven days, brought the January total to 210 ships – three more than January of last year and 11 more than the previous December.February, with three days to go, is shaping up to equal February of 2009 with 173 arrivals so far and another 20 expected. Bulkers have accounted for the majority with 69 visits, containers ships with 47, general cargo ships with 20 and tankers with 16. Surprisingly there were 20 vehicle carriers in so far this month. I’m still dumbfounded as to who is buying all these cars. There was one specialty vessel, the oil-bulk-ore (OBO) carrier MAGDA, loading sulphur at Vancouver Wharves and Pacific Coast Terminals.There were 25 flags represented this month and the three most common continue to be Panama (57), Liberia (25) and Hong Kong (19). There’s always a few rarer and more interesting flags such as the Vietnamese flying from the NOSCO GLORY, and the PHILIPPINE EXPRESS with the flag of Gibraltar. Repeat visitors to the port such as the WADI SUDR, flagged in Egypt, guarantee the stream of unusual registries. Flags of convenience such as the Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Vanuatu, and the Marshall Islands are becoming quite common now and were represented this month by the MARGUERITE ACE (vehicle carrier), the AQUILA COLLEAGUE (general cargo ship), the SEA ELEGANCE (bulker), and the FEDOR (tanker) respectively.The Olympics have brought visits by the Canadian navy and cruise ships not normally seen at this time of the year. In last month’s article you would have read about the arrival of the STATENDAM at CenTerm to be used by security forces and the MONA LISA up in Squamish, which is housing workers at Whistler. In late January, the CARNIVAL ELATION arrived on the 28th and the OOSTERDAM on the 31st, both docked at CenTerm to house security forces for the Olympics as well.On February 1st I made a trip to Stanley Park to photograph a ship that never arrived. I drove around to Ferguson Point and miraculously the sun appeared for a few brief moments. I photographed the 24,000 dwt Singapore flagged bulker VENUS FRONTIER. She was at Anchorage-3, the one closest to Stanley Park, awaiting a berth at the Alliance grain terminal (aka UGG). I drove over to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver for lunch and thought, while there, that I may get no better vantage point than this to photograph the cruise ships at CenTerm.
VENUS FRONTIER at Anchorage 3, English Bay, taken from Ferguson Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0040.
It was a terribly grey day by then and spitting with rain but nonetheless intriguing, and photograph-worthy, to see three cruise ships together, with the OOSTERDAM in Berth-1 and the STATENDAM and CARNIVAL ELATION stern to stern in the seldom-used berths 2 and 3.
OOSTERDAM, STATENDAM, and CARNIVAL ELATION at CenTerm. Taken February 1, 2010, from Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Ref: WS10-0039.
After leaving the quay I made my way over to Harbour View Park at the mouth of Lynn Creek in North Vancouver. This park has a viewing platform overlooking the dock at LynnTerm East, berths 4 to 7. At Berth-5 was the spanking new CS CAROLINE, one of five ships in port this month that were launched in 2010. The others are the Hong Kong flagged container ship MOL EMPIRE, the Liberian general cargo ship SANKO MARBLE, the Cayman Islands registered general cargo ship BRODIAEA, and the Panamanian bulker GLOBAL STAR. The CS CAROLINE, a Bahamas flagged bulker is part of the Campbell Shipping fleet out of Nassau. She was loading forest products at LynnTerm before moving over to Pacific Elevators for grain.
CS CAROLINE at LynnTerm 6, February 1, 2010, Ref: WS10-0034.
My next stop was across the water at New Brighton Park next to the Cascadia grain terminal where I awaited the passage of the NCS BEIJING, which was moving from her inner harbour anchorage to Pacific Coast Terminals in Port Moody to load sulphur. The park offers close-up views of ships in the Cascadia terminal and excellent views across the narrows of Burrard Inlet to LynnTerm. The 47,000 dwt Panamanian bulker ANCASH QUEEN had just finished loading her cargo of grain while I was there. In the inlet nearby the Canadian coastal defence vessel HMCS WHITEHORSE was patrolling the waters around the Second Narrows Bridge.
ANCASH QUEEN at Cascadia Terminal, taken February 1, 2010, from New Brighton Park. Ref: WS10-0031.
One of the tasks of this vessel, on assignment to Olympic security, was to operate the ‘Dorado’, an autonomous underwater vehicle that uses high-resolution side-scan sonar to survey the ocean floor. According to the Defence Department, besides surveillance, a secondary purpose is to provide up-to-date mapping of the seafloor of Burrard Inlet.A short while later it began to rain in earnest but I decided to stick around as the NCS BEIJING was coming down the channel, escorted by three tugs. She was nearly empty and a swift current was ripping through the narrows.
NCS BEIJING taken February 1, 2010, from New Brighton Park. Ref: WS10-0038.
On Saturday the 6th, my wife Beth and I did a short walk around the east side of the Stanley Park seawall. There are many good vantage points on the Burrard Inlet side to view ships at Vancouver Wharves, Fibreco and the inner harbour anchorages. The 17,000 dwt Antilles and Barbuda flagged bulker BBC EMS was unloading concentrates at Vancouver Wharves Berth-1. It was interesting to note that after she departed the port she reappeared two days later to load grain. Where did she go and why? I’ve seen several of the BBC fleet here in Vancouver, mostly the smaller 3500 to 20,000 dwt vessels. According to their website BBC Chartering specializes in these sizes of heavy-lift general cargo ships and bulkers. BBC is a division of the giant German company Briese Shipping.
BBC EMS at Vancouver Wharves, taken February 6, 2010 from the Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS10-0032.
Two weeks later on a beautiful sunny Saturday, Beth and I walked along the dyke of the North Arm of the Fraser River in Richmond, from the Arthur Laing Bridge to McDonald Beach Park. This walk not only offers wonderful country-like views on both sides of the river, but it’s one of the busiest hubs of tugboat activity. Within a 30-minute span on the route back we saw three tugboats steaming down the river. The most interesting (since I hadn’t seen it before) was the GOWLLAND CHIEF, built in 1968 and operated by Gowlland Towing in Campbell River. She’s mainly in the service of towing log booms.
GOWLLAND CHIEF on the North Arm of the Fraser River, taken February 20, 2010, near McDonald Park in Richmond. Ref: WS10-0035.
HMCS WHITEHORSE near LynnTerm, taken February 1, 2010, from New Brighton Park. Ref: WS10-0036.
I was able to get down to Stanley Park the following day for a brief visit, but it seems I missed most of the morning’s shipping activity. I arrived at Brockton Point just in time to see the 53,000 dwt Maltese bulker CAKE sail past to her destination at Anchorage-C in the inner harbour. This Turkish owned-and-operated vessel in the Geden fleet subsequently moved to Roberts Bank to load coal. The name, seemingly strange in English, comes from the owner company, Cake Shipping of Istanbul, and likely has nothing to do with baking.
CAKE, taken February 21, 2010, from Brockton Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0033.
My last outing of the month was over to Vancouver Dry Dock in North Vancouver to see the tall ship KRUZENSHTERN which had arrived there on February 10th. She’s circling the globe promoting the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The four-masted Russian barque is the second largest sailing ship presently afloat. She is 114m long, 51m high and has 34 sails. She is presently used mainly for sail training and the occasional cruise charter. Built in 1926 in Bremerhaven, Germany as the PADAU, she was originally commissioned as a cargo ship. She was given to Russia in 1946 as part of war reparations and renamed KRUZENSHTERN after the early 19th century Baltic German explorer in Russian service, Adam Johann Krusenstern. If I had seen fellow member Robert Etchell walking off the ship, I wouldn’t have known that it was free to go aboard since there was no line-up at all. To my great delight I took a self-guided tour and then joined one of the guided tours in progress.
KRUZENSHTERN taken February 21, 2010, while berthed at the old Burrard Drydock Pier in North Vancouver. Ref: WS10-0037.
Highlights from the February 2010 edition of our newsletter (Issue 170)
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England
With one week to go in January, the year is starting off a bit slower than 2009. So far 150 ships have arrived in port, an average of six per day, compared to a 6.8 average in January of last year. No shortage of interesting vessels and events however.On the 3rd of the month the new Deltaport-3 terminal at Roberts Bank welcomed it’s first visitor, Evergreen Line’s EVER URANUS. It was just last summer that the new container cranes were delivered from China aboard the ZHEN HUA23. There have been two other ships using the new terminal this month, the CMACGM FLORIDA on the 5th, and the SHANGHAIEXPRESSon the 17th. So far it would seem that the berth is only being used when the other two are occupied.On Sunday the 10th of January I was down at Brockton Point in Stanley Park to see the departure of a regular visitor to the port for many years, the Hong Kong flagged bulker ISLA DE CEDROS. This vessel, however, is more interesting than your everyday bulker. At 222m long, 35.7m wide (too wide for the Panama Canal) and 62,000 dwt, she has a specific mission up here: bringing salt from Mexico. Several times each year she brings salt from an island terminal off the west coast of Baja California. The island, not so surprisingly, is called Isla de Cedros. In Spanish, ‘the island of cedars’.
ISLA DE CEDROS, January 10, 2010, taken from Brockton Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0004.
Her destination is the Canexus terminal in North Vancouver, just east of the Second Narrows Bridge. This facility has been there for more than 50 years, and was called Hooker Chemicals in the 1960s when I was living just a stone’s throw away. At that time two vessels called the BERKSHIRE and the ARGYLE made regular visits with salt. Canexus produces three main products from the salt: chlorine gas: used in water purification, PVC production and the petrochemical industry; caustic soda: used in the pulp and paper industry; and muriatic acid: used for masonry cleaning amongst other things. The company has a caustic soda production plant in Nanaimo, which may explain why the ISLA DE CEDROS can sometimes been seen at Anchorage-C in the inner harbour offloading some of the salt onto a barge, which is then towed over to Vancouver Island.A cargo just as fascinating as salt, but exported from here, is sulphur. It’s produced mainly in Alberta from the refining of natural gas and has a myriad of uses in the chemical, pharmaceutical and fertilizer industries. Last year over 4 million tons of it was shipped out from Pacific Coast Terminals in Port Moody and Vancouver Wharves in North Vancouver. After watching the ISLA DE CEDROS depart, she was followed shortly after by the RED IRIS, fully laden with sulphur which she took on in Port Moody. She’s a Panamanian flagged Panamax bulker. By definition, ‘Panamax’ is the maximum size of a ship that will fit into the Panama Canal locks. For bulkers like the RED IRIS, she’s a standard design for vessels in the 75,000 dwt range. At 225m long, 32.2m across the beam (the maximum for the Panama Canal) and 14m draught, she can be instantly recognized as a Panamax bulker by counting the seven hatches on the deck.
RED IRIS, January 10, 2010, taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS10-0005.
On Tuesday the 12th of January, Holland America’s STATENDAM arrived at CenTerm-1 to be the first of the Olympic cruise ships in the city. According to WSS member Frank Bolla, she will house the RCMP. The vessel is surrounded by a great floating rubber barrier extending far out past the ship itself. It’s purpose is unclear; either to keep leaking oil in, perhaps, or to keep intruders (ie. the taxpaying public) out. Or both.On Saturday the 16th, a lovely sunny day, I squeezed in a quick trip to Prospect Point between chores and obligations. To my delight, the three ships scheduled to arrive in the harbour within an hour of each other were all on time. As a bonus, a beautiful American tug followed them in. The first arrival was the CHERRY GALAXY, a 20,000 dwt chemical products tanker in the Tokyo Marine fleet. This 150m vessel is a regular visitor to the port and loaded product at the Pacific Coast Terminals and LynnTerm.
CHERRY GALAXY, January 16, 2010 taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS10-0006.
Next in line was the Handymax bulker FRIENDLY SEAS. The name ‘Handymax’ denotes a class of bulkers typically around 52,000 to 59,000 dwt and about 190m in length. They are recognizable with their five hatches and four cranes if geared. The FRIENDLY SEAS was built in 2008, so a fairly current design but at 190m in length and 59,000 dwt, is typical of her class. What was unusual however was her very blunt bow and lack of the obvious protruding bulbous bow. I would describe it as a slightly pregnant bow. She was in port to load potash at Neptune Terminals in North Vancouver. She is operated by Allseas Marine of Athens, who have a fleet of 13 bulkers, all called ‘something SEAS’.
ANNA, January 16, 2010, taken from Prospect Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0007.
FRIENDLY SEAS, January 16, 2010, taken from Prospect Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0008.
Last in during that one-hour parade was the American tug PACIFIC PRIDE, towing the tank barge SCT280. The barge appeared to be loaded so I assume she was bringing in product to one of the tank farms in Burnaby. The tug sported the K-Sea logo on her funnel, a company familiar to some of our members. K-Sea is headquartered in New Jersey but operates several of their 78 tugs and 77 barges out of Seattle. The PACIFIC PRIDE was built in 1976. She is 26m in length, 148 gross tons and 2500 hp.
PACIFIC PRIDE, Jnuary 16, 2010, taken from Prospect Point, Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0009.
Later that same afternoon my wife and I were walking in Deas Island Park on the Fraser River near the tunnel. By a stroke of luck we arrived at the tip of the island just in time to see the Panamanian flagged car carrier ASIAN GRACE steaming up the river toward the Annacis Auto Terminal. She’s a 200m, 21,000 dwt vessel built in 1996 and operated by Glovis, a division of the Hyundai-Kia auto group. Vessels of her size could typically carry 5000-6000 cars.
ASIAN GRACE, January 16, 2010, taken from Deas Island Park on the Fraser River. Ref: WS10-0010.
My next trip to the harbour was on Friday the 22nd when I took the Seabus to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. I’ve always rued the fact that Seabus was built without an outside deck for site-seeing and photographing. The route from near Canada Place to the terminal near the Quay often passes by ships anchored in the inner harbour, and sometimes dramatically close to them. Anyone who has ever tried to take pictures from that glorified cattle carrier will have cursed the inevitable reflections on the windows coupled with the fact that the windows are almost always filthy. That being said, I always take pictures anyway and the quality seems to exceed my low expectations. On this voyage we passed very near the CMB SAKURA, at Anchorage-A. The Panamanian flagged Panamax bulker has been anchored there for a week waiting for a coal berth at Roberts Bank.As we approached the Quay I saw what looked like an old B.C. ferry tied up on the outside of the Mosquito Creek Marina, just east
of ferry terminal. There was no name to be seen anywhere and it wasn’t painted in the ferry colours. After disembarking and walking over to the park near the marina I was able to see through a good pair of binoculars, the original name painted over: the QUEEN OF THE ISLANDS. This is a ferry built in 1963 for the Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands route. It was sold to St. John’s Fishing Lodge in 1991 and used on the mid coast of B.C. until 2008 when the company went bankrupt. It was bought by the Mosquito Creek Marina in June of 2009 and laid up at Mitchell Island on the north arm of the Fraser River. It seems it is now up for sale again.
Former QUEEN OF THE ISLANDS at Mosquito Creek Marina, January 22, 2010, taken from the Seabus. Ref: WS10-0011.
Sailing back to Vancouver I attempted one more shot through the dirty windows of the Seabus, pointing my camera at the beautiful blue-hulled ship with the bright yellow stripe down the side of the bow, the FRIEDA SELMER. The Marshall Islands registered Handymax geared bulker has been stationed at Anchorage-X since Jan. 17 awaiting a grain berth. She is part of the fleet of Oskar Wehr Shipping in Hamburg.
FRIEDA SELMER, January 23, 2010, taken from the Seabus crossing the Vancouver Harbour. Ref: WS10-0012.
My last outing to the harbour this month was the following day when I returned to Prospect Point in Stanley Park where, lo and behold, four of my fellow WSS photographers had already arrived. We were awaiting the departure of the AFRICAN SANDERLING, a 59,000 dwt Panamanian flagged bulker in the MUR fleet. MUR is part of a humungous global conglomerate of Macsteel and South Africa’s Mittal Steel, but operates out of Dubai. I wasn’t able to determine if MUR is an acronym or the name of the company, but they have a very large fleet of ships. Shortly after her departure I left the Point and went down to the seawall below, just east of the Lions Gate Bridge to photograph another Marshall Islands flagged vessel, the 48,000 dwt geared bulker SPARROW. She had been anchored in the inner harbour since Jan. 16th and was moving out to English Bay to await a berth to load grain. Some ships have interesting funnels and some are beautiful – the one on the SPARROW is beautiful, so I snapped a picture of it, albeit while it zipped by me at 10 knots. The emblem is that of Eagle Shipping based in New York.
AFRICAN SANDERLING, January 23, 2010, taken from the Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS10-0013.
SPARROW, January 23, 2010, taken from the Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS10-0014.
The final stop on the way home was at a small park on Point Grey road where I could view the cruise ship MONA LISA anchored in English Bay. As far as funnels go, this is one of the most beautiful I have seen. It’s a masterpiece, literally. Painted on the sides of its maroon coloured stack is a likeness of the famous da Vinci painting of Mona Lisa. I was too far away to get a close-up of it but according to Frank Bolla, the vessel is going to Squamish to house Olympic workers. It would be worth a trip up there to see it. It’s a smaller cruise ship, 29,000 gross tonnes, 201m in length and carrying about 750 passengers. According to member Robert Etchell,it’s going to accommodate 1100 workers! They must be laying a few mats out on the back decks and maybe a few in the swimming pool. It’s owned by, wait for this, Leonardo Shipping of Athens. Built in 1966 in Clydesbank, Scotland, the vessel was originally launched as the KUNGSHOLM for Swedish-American Line’s route from Gotheburg to New York. It has sailed under several names and companies since and is now chartered to Lord Nelson Seereisen of Germany. God bless the 2010 Olympics (can I use those words?) for the few treats allotted to shipspotters in Vancouver!
MONA LISA, January 23, 2010, taken from the foot of Dunbar Street off Point Grey Road. Ref: WS10-0016.
Highlights from the January 2010 edition of our newsletter (Issue 169)
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England
December is closing the year with another month of interesting ship activity and a surprising year overall. One would hardly know there was a recession going on. Port Metro Vancouver reports tonnage is down about 15 to 20% overall, but grain and petroleum products are up and ship visit numbers remain about the same.With three days to go in the year December is on target to see about 200 ship visits, slightly under the monthly average. By the time the horns and fireworks go off for the New Year there will have been close to 2800 deep-sea vessels that have sailed into metro Vancouver terminals this year. This makes it a veritable shipspotter’s paradise, with seven or eight new arrivals, on average, every day of the year.I wasn’t able to spend much time on the waterfront this month but nevertheless during the few times I got out the weather was co-operative. I was down at Jericho Beach early in the month to see a rare site in this port, a Russian ice-breaker cargo ship. The AMDERMA was anchored in English Bay for several days before loading concentrates at Vancouver Wharves. Not only did she have the distinctive ice-breaking bow but it was obvious that she was a veteran of the high seas. Built in 1983 in Finland, she’s 177m in length and 23,000 deadweight tons (dwt). She is owned and operated by FESCO (Far Eastern Shipping Company) based in Vladivostok. According to fellow WSS member Robert Etchell, a fleet of Russian ice-breakers were seen regularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, loading grain. This is the first one that Robert has seen since then. The AMDERMA is a ship that gets around: in January and February of this year she was down in the Antarctic delivering supplies and personnel to three research stations.
AMDERMA. Taken December 7, 2009 from Jericho Beach. Ref: WS09-0592.
While down at the beach it was hard not to notice how busy the bay was. Of the 12 anchorage positions on the Vancouver side, 10 were occupied. It seems, just like last month, ships are queuing up for grain, coal and petroleum products – the three hot commodities of the year. One of the ships waiting for a coal berth was the gargantuan CHINASTEEL ENTREPRENEUR. At 300m in length and 203,000 dwt, she’s one of the largest ships to visit the port this year.At the other end of the scale, the diminutive Turkish-flagged bulker ULUSOY-9, at 135m and 12,000 dwt was at Vancouver Wharves unloading concentrates. She was built in China in 2008.
ULUSOY 9. At Vancouver Wharves, December 14, 2009. Taken from the Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS09-0599.
It was also notable that this month alone, three giant container ships visited the Deltaport terminal. Hapag-Lloyd’s SAVANNAH EXPRESS, Zim Shipping’s ZIM LOS ANGELES and Orient Overseas Container Line’s OOCL QIUNGDAO are all over 320m long with capacities exceeding 8000 TEU.I was down on the Fraser River on the 6th of the month, a beautiful day for a picnic, which is what I was doing while awaiting the arrival of the newly-launched vehicle carrier MONZA EXPRESS. This vessel is operated by a Dutch company called Vroon, and the ship has a large white ‘V’ emblazoned on the side of the ship near her bow. Painted a bright red with white superstructure, she looked beautiful sailing up the river in the winter sun. Interestingly she is registered in Gibraltar. At 170m in length and 11,000 dwt she is capable of carrying 3500 cars and would be considered a mid-sized vehicle carrier. Given that I had finished my picnic lunch by the time she arrived at Deas Island Park, I decided to chase her up the river to photograph her in several different locations. My last stop was near the Alex Fraser bridge, under which she sailed enroute to the Annacis Auto Terminal.
MONZA EXPRESS on the Fraser River, taken December 6, 2009 on the River Road, Delta. Ref: WS09-0597.
From this spot I noticed a familiar ship docked at the Vito Shipyards nearby. She’s the FRASER TITAN, a very distinctive looking vessel with a very specific assignment. For the last 10 years she has been dredging the Fraser River shipping channel to a depth of just over 11 metres, enough for Panamax-size freighters to navigate up to the Fraser-Surrey Docks. This venerable old vessel was built in Birkenhead (near Liverpool) in 1969. Operated by Fraser River Pile and Dredge, she’s 95m long and 5000 dwt. She has one very interesting feature: three engines and three propellers, generating 3150 HP. According to their website, she dredges 1.2 million cubic feet of sand from the river every year. That sounds like a big number and I’m sure it would fill a lot of sandboxes.
FRASER TITAN at the Vito Shipyards in Delta, taken December 4, 2009. Ref: WS09-0594.
Some interesting flags have visited the city this month including the Egyptian WADI ALARISH loading sulphur at Pacific Coast Terminals in Port Moody; the St. Vincent & Grenadines flagged DD VIGOR (owned by a Russian company) was loading grain at the Alliance terminal; two Manx-flagged crude oil tankers from the Greek company Golden Energy: the ENERGY COMMANDER and the ENERGY CHANCELLOR at the Westridge terminal in Burnaby; and the Vanuatu-flagged general cargo vessel YOUNG SPIRIT, unloading at the Fraser-Surrey Docks.My paucity of photographs for the month was rescued in the eleventh hour when my wife and I went to Bellingham over Christmas. We had five days of spectacular sunny weather. Although Bellingham doesn’t have a lot of shipping activity there is always something interesting going on at the waterfront. From our room at the Village Inn in Fairhaven, we looked directly out at the Alaska Ferries terminal, the dry dock, and the Coast Guard Station. These are all grouped together just three blocks from the hotel, so naturally I walked down there every day to see what was shaking. The Alaska ferry KENNICOTT was in the drydock for maintenance. This ship was on the Ketchikan-Juneau route. She was built in Gulfport, Mississippi in 1998 and her namesake is a glacier in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska. She’s 382 ft long and can carry 748 passengers, 80 vehicles and travels at 16 knots.
KENNICOTT in the Fairhaven Drydock, taken December 26, 2009 in Bellingham, WA. Ref: WS09-0595.
On Christmas morning we watched from our room as another Alaska ferry, the MALASPINA, arrived in berth at 7:30. She makes a weekly run to Skagway, Alaska, arriving at Bellingham every Friday morning and leaving the same day at about 6 pm. This vessel is 408 ft in length and carries 500 passengers plus 88 vehicles. She was built in Seattle in 1963 and cruises at 17 knots.
MALASPINA at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal, taken December 25, 2009. Ref: WS09-0596.
The two 87-ft coast guard cutters stationed in Bellingham are called the TERRAPIN and the SEA LION. They are basically patrol vessels that cover the Georgia Strait-San Juan Islands area, but according to one of the crew I spoke with they’ve gone as far afield as California. He told me an interesting piece of trivia about buoys since he used to work on a buoy tender in Alaska and we had been talking about the large buoy just offshore of the ferry terminal. Apparently such buoys are typically anchored to the seabed with an 11-ton block of concrete and secured by another 3 tons of chain. No wonder the buoy tenders have such large cranes. It seems they sometimes have to pull the whole lot up to service it..
USCGC TERRAPIN and SEA LION—taken December 24, 2009 at the Coast Guard Station, Bellingham. Ref: WS09-0598.
On the 26th of December we made a side trip to Anacortes, less than an hour away. There were three tankers in the oil refinery docks: the US-flagged SEABULK ARCTIC was at the Shell Refinery and the Liberian-flagged JOEL MARE was at the Tesoro Refinery along with the US-flagged ITB (integrated tug and barge) CHEMBULKPRODUCER. At the Dakota Creek Shipyards in downtown Anacortes construction was in progress on the third offshore support vessel being built for Otto Candies Marine of New Orleans. The shell of the bow section of the CADE CANDIES was just about complete. The second OSV, ROSSCANDIES, which was launched in August 2009 can be seen in the photo (in the background) as she has yet to be delivered.
CADE CANDIES—taken December 26, 2009 in Anacortes, WA. Ref: WS09-0593.
I’m going to close this article with a few tidbits of statistics for the year. It was a very good year – as are all years, for shipspotters. As I mentioned earlier, there were approximately 2800 ship visits. Bulkers made the bulk of them: - 1009. Container ships accounted for 736; general cargo ships – 270; cruise ships – 257; tankers – 253; vehicle carriers – 193; woodchip carriers – 9; OBOs (Oil-Bulk-Ore) – 8, and the rest were miscellaneous types. The 2800 visits were made by 1410 different ships. They flew under 46 different flags. The most common was Panama, accounting for 460 ships. 142 flew the Hong Kong flag and another 126, the Liberian flag. Many flags were rare. ‡The following were flying from just a single ship: Belgium, France, Qatar, Russia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Belize. Some ships were old, some were new. The 1964 OCEANPHOENIX, a fish processor was the grand-daddy of them all. There were 90 ships visiting that were launched in 2009. The longest ship was the METTE MAERSK at a whopping 371 metres. The most massive at 208,000 dwt and 300m in length, the BAOGANGGLORY. The smallest at 99m and 4300 dwt, the general cargo vessel BBCSWEDEN. For container capacity, three giants: The MAERSK ALFIRK, MAERSK ANTARES and MAERSK ALTAIR, all named after stars, can carry more than 9000 TEU. It was a very good year indeed.I wish you all a very happy New Year, and an exciting year of shipspotting.
Highlights from the December 2009 edition of our newsletter (Issue 168)
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England The grey days of November descended on us like a damp shroud thrown over a dead summer. This is anathema to shipspotting photographers but nevertheless some of the foolhardy among us were out shooting in the pouring rain on several occasions anyway.The month started with a flourish of sun on the first weekend and while I was down at Jericho Beach I noticed that English Bay was full of ships at anchorage, swinging in the breeze. As I walked out to the pier the 29,000 dwt Panamanian bulker ANGEL ISLAND dropped anchor in what was the next but last spot available. There were 11 vessels resting on the Vancouver side of the bay and three more in West Vancouver. It remained busy for the rest of the month. The vast majority of ships were queuing for coal and grain, two hot commodities in a sagging market. The ANGEL ISLAND was awaiting a berth at the Cascadia Terminal.
ANGEL ISLAND, taken Nov. 1, 2009, from Jericho Pier. Ref: WS09-0570.
During my three walks around the Stanley Park Seawall this month (mostly in the rain, with brief respites) I did see a couple of interesting ships come in while near the Lions Gate Bridge. The first was a Gearbulk vessel, familiar to shipspotters in the city, as they have a whole fleet called ‘something’ Arrow, with the ‘something’ being the name of a bird. The one I saw, sailing through the harbour entrance was the COTINGA ARROW, a typical member of the fleet with her moving gantry cranes on the deck, 200m in length and flying the Bahamian flag. Vintage 1987, like several of her cousins. Not being an ornithologist, I doubted that a cotinga was a bird, but after googling the name I stood corrected. It seems that it’s a family of very ornate and colourful birds found in Central and South America. Ironically it’s namesake freighter is black and white.
COTINGA ARROW. Taken Nov. 13, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall, Prospect Point. Ref: WS09-0571.
Bearing down hard on her stern was the 28,000 dwt YOSEMITE, with her bright red hull shining through the mist. She looked rather odd, riding so high out of the water that I could see the top of her propeller just breaking the surface. She cruised into Anchorage-X, which is the one closest to Brockton Point.
GORA, taken Nov. 11, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0572.
One of the more interesting flags flying on a stern this month was that of the United Arab Emirates, spotted on the 54,000 dwt, 190m MATUMBA, whose home port is Abu Dhabi. If this rings a bell, that’s because our FastCat ferries have been sold to a company there, Abu Dhabi MAR. My speculation is that they didn’t want the FastCats for the asking price so the BC government threw in 50,000 tonnes of grain to cinch the deal and get rid of them once and for all. While in North Van last weekend I dropped into the JRI Terminal to photograph her.
MATUMBA Ref: WS09-0574.taken Nov. 21, 2009, at James Richardson International Terminal. .
There have been two ships in this month at Vancouver Wharves whose cargo has been listed as concentrates. The first was the 18,000 dwt Liberian registered GORA, on the 9th, followed by the 38,000 dwt Liberian registered MARIA OLDENDORFF on the 17th. For some reason I assumed we shipped concentrates out of here, but not necessarily so. While watching from my perch in Stanley Park, across from the terminal, I could distinctly see that the cargo was being clam-shovelled out of the holds of the MARIA OLDENDORFF and into a hopper on the wharf. The GORA, which I had seen arrive fully-loaded, was seen a week later riding high at Anchorage-C in the inner harbour, where she had been for several days before departing the day I saw her. There’s a good ‘coals-to-Newcastle’ story here and perhaps one of our members can enlighten us.
While thinking about this conundrum as I walked along the seawall toward the Lions Gate Bridge, I was surprised by the sudden appearance of the Greek-flagged Panamax bulker SAMJOHN AMITY, rounding Prospect Point. I had to scramble to get my camera out of my pack and get a photo while she was still at a good angle and nicely framed by the bridge. She moved into an inner harbour anchorage, awaiting a coal berth.
MARIA OLDENDORFF,, taken Nov. 21, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0573.
SAMJOHN AMITY taken Nov. 21, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0575.
Through serendipitous circumstances I was invited, along with my friend Rod Thorimbert, to take a tour of Fraser-Surrey Docks on Friday Nov. 20th. The terminals sit on the south bank of the Fraser River between the Alex Fraser and Patullo bridges. It was a foul-weather morning when we left Kerrisdale but by the time our host Brady Erno had picked us up at the gate, we could see a few breaks in the sky.We started the tour in the meeting room where Brady gave us a good overview of the facility with the aid of a great large map mounted on the wall. This is no small dock. Covering over 140 acres, it’s the largest multi-purpose terminal on the west coast of North America. There are seven deep-sea berths: three for break-bulk and project cargoes, three for containers and one for logs. They have three Panamax-size container cranes, and equipment for handling breakbulk and project cargo of all types. There’s five storage sheds, a large railyard serviced by all the major railways here, and they have two of their own locomotives for moving cargo-laden cars into place. As Brady drove us around the yard it was impressive to see the amount of dockside equipment for moving cargo. Reachstackers, lift trucks, bombcarts, tractor trailers and gantry cranes were everywhere. The most obvious inbound cargo sitting in the yard was steel in the form of coils, pipe, rod and rails.
It was a quiet day at dockside with just a single ship in Berth-7. The 29,000 dwt, Panamanian-flagged bulker SANTA FRANCISCA was loading logs. This is interesting to watch. Just offshore of the dock was a long string of pylons to which were tied as many log booms as would fit. A dismantled boom was at the side of the ship with a boom-boat bobbing and weaving to manoeuvre the logs into position for loading.
SANTA FRANCISCA taken Nov. 20, 2009, at Fraser surrey Docks. Ref: WS09-0576.
Directly across from Fraser-Surrey Docks is the Annacis Auto Terminal, with its two berths. The aging but venerable Norwegian-flagged SKAUGRAN, was in that day unloading vehicles. Being of 1979 vintage, she is a general cargo roll-on-roll-off style of vessel, not commonly seen today as the newer vessels are specially constructed for carrying vehicles. The SKAUGRAN is a regular visitor to Vancouver and on many of her runs can be seen to unload vehicles at either AAT or Fraser Wharves (in Richmond) and then pick up forest products at LynnTerm and other coast ports for the return voyage.
SKAUGRAN taken Nov. 20, 2009, from Fraser Surrey Docks. Ref: WS09-0577.
My last adventure of the month before this writing was a trip down to Stanley Park to see off the last of the infamous FastCat ferries. On a dark and stormy day the PACIFICAT EXPLORER, aboard the heavy-lift Dutch vessel SWIFT, sailed dramatically through the pillars of the Lions Gate Bridge at high noon. Perhaps not in a blaze of glory, and certainly not into a sunset. Sadly, or perhaps fittingly, few were there to watch. With the wind gusting and the rain lashing, I stood on the seawall at Prospect Point with another photographer and a handful of walkers and joggers. I struggled to hold my umbrella in one hand and take pictures with the other. We all stopped and stared for a moment, like a brief paying of respects, and then carried on with life.taken Nov. 13, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0578.
YOSEMITE taken Nov. 13, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0578.
SWIFT ‡transporting PACIFIC EXPLORER to Dubai. Taken Nov. 23, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0579.
Highlights from the November 2009 edition of our newsletter (Issue 167)
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE, by Neil England. The departure of the CELEBRITY MERCURY on October 13th marked the end of the cruise season in Vancouver. She had been making a number of repositioning cruises on the west coast for the previous two weeks or so. The only other cruise ship to visit in October was the ZAANDAM and she departed for the last time on Oct. 4th. The number of ships visiting in October was 201, about average for the year in a month without cruise ships. Containers ship visits were noticeably down, indicative of a year-long trend. There were 54 this month compared to an average of 70 for the first five months of 2009. However, this was predictable with the downturn in the economy. The only other significant difference in ship traffic was tankers, down 50% from the peak in May-June. This, I would speculate, is due to the closing of the cruise season, during which large amounts of extra bunkers are needed.Among the giants in port this month was the largest container ship to visit Vancouver. The 349m long, 114,000 dwt, 9000 TEU ZIM DJIBOUTI was at Deltaport from the 5th to the 7th of October. She was launched in July of this year. Five Capesize bulkers over 150,000 dwt made visits, the largest being the LONDON SPIRIT, a 300m, 208,000 dwt vessel which loaded coal at Roberts Bank. She was making a return visit to the port. Making her maiden voyage was the 289m, 180,000 dwt CAPE VIOLET, another 2009-launch, also loading coal at Roberts Bank. Among the 13 new vessels launched in 2009 which visited the port this month, I was able to photograph two of them. The Norwegian flagged STAR KILIMANJARO, the latest of Star Shipping’s fleet of moving-gantry-crane bulkers designed for handling forest products, was at Vancouver Wharves on Oct. 2nd.
ARGENT BLOOM, taken October 26, 2009 from Prospect Point. Ref: WS09-0412.
As usual, there is always something interesting going on in the port, and the region, regardless of the number of ship visits. On the 3rd of October the 42,000 dwt bulker PETERSFIELD arrived at LynnTerm-1 with a gaping hole in her bulbous bow. Many readers will have heard that she ran aground on the 25th of September about two hours south of Kitimat. I viewed her from a park opposite LynnTerm on the south shore, from which I could see her bow high out of the water and the bulbous part covered in shrouds. She finally sailed out of Vancouver on Sept. 28th after repairs.
PETERSFIELD, at LynnTerm-1, taken October 26, 2009 from Wall Street, east Vancouver. Ref: WS09-0413.
On the 11th of October I drove down to Anacortes, Washington to take in the open-house for the ROSS CANDIES, an inspection-maintenance-repair vessel for the offshore oil industry, launched there in August. The event attracted thousands of people but fortunately I was there at the opening before it got too crowded. It was amazing to see an engine room so clean, and all you could smell was fresh paint. While this ship was due to go through her sea trials the following week, a third sister, an as-yet-unnamed CANDIES, was well on the way in the Dakota Creek Shipyards. Shortly after I left the shipyard the Liberian flagged tanker KARA SEA was escorted by two Crowley tugs through the narrow Guemes Channel to the oil refineries just east of downtown.
On the way down to Anacortes I stopped in Bellingham for a coffee and as usual, couldn’t resist poking around a bit. Berthed at the downtown terminal were two very old container ships, the HORIZON CONSUMER and the HORIZON FAIRBANKS. They were both built in 1973 and still see occasional service on Horizon’s lines between, the West Coast and Hawaii. The CONSUMER is 720 feet long (219m) with a capacity of 1664 TEU and the FAIRBANKS is 669 feet long (204m) with a capacity of 1420 TEU.I was down at Canada Place on the 16th and 17th of October to see the USCG MELLON berthedon the west pier, visiting the port for reasons possibly connected with the 2010 Olympics security. At the east pier were five Canadian naval ships: two maritime coastal defense vessels, the HMCS BRANDON (710) and the HMCS EDMONTON (703); and three patrol craft training vessels: the ORCA (55), the RAVEN (56), and the CARIBOU (57). These vessels, along with the RCMP and harbour police were involved in exercises for Olympics security.
USCG MELLON, taken October 16, 2009, at Canada Place. Ref: WS09-0417.
KARA SEA, in Guemes Channel, taken October 11, 2009 at Anacortes, WA. Ref: WS09-0415.
The 2nd fastcat ferry PACIFICAT DISCOVERY sailed out of Vancouver aboard the Netherlands Antilles flagged heavy-lift vessel TEAL on October 21st. It was a miserable, windy morning and I wasn’t down at Prospect Point to see her leave, and I doubt whether the media were either, given their non-existent coverage of the event beforehand. I did make my way up to Belcarra village on Oct.19th to photograph her, already loaded with the ferry, in Deep Cove. On the way back home I stopped at Barnett Marine Park in east Burnaby, a wonderful vantage point for viewing ships anchored in Indian Arm and for ships sailing in and out of Port Moody. The park also has about a mile of shoreline to walk along. While I was there I saw the 105,000 dwt Cypriot-flagged tanker ZALIV AMURSKIY anchored offshore. A short time later she moved into the Westridge Terminal, and to my delight the very end of the shoreline trail gives one a fairly nice view of it.
HMCS EDMONTON, HMCS BRANDON, and ORCA, RAVEN and CARIBOU, taken October 17, 2009, at Canada Place. Ref: WS09-0418.
PACIFICAT DISCOVERY aboard the TEAL, taken October 19, 2009 from Belcarra village. Ref: WS09-0419.
ZALIV AMURSKIY, at Westridge Terminal, taken October 19, 2009 from Barnet Marine Park. Ref: WS09-0420.
My last adventure of the month was again to Burnaby. I was looking for any good vantage points of Burrard Inlet between the Second Narrows Bridge and Barnett Marine Park. A road called Penzance skirts the north side of Capitol Hill, moving quickly into forest and suddenly diving down to the waterfront, where one is greeted by a gate and ‘No Trespassing’ sign. Knowing that God forgives us our trespasses (especially for shipspotters), I parked the car at the turnaround and walked in. Before me was a half-mile of accessible waterfront and the Island Tug and Barge terminal. I soon met a woman walking her dog who said that the gate is left open on weekends and is ‘quasi-public’ (her word). I think that means ‘you can go in but just behave yourself, you’re on private property’. It’s a wonderful viewpoint. At the ITB terminal were a half-dozen fuel barges and as many tugs. Just offshore is the Port of Vancouver’s Anchorage-N, and in this position was the ATB (articulated tug and barge) COMMITMENT with barge 650-6. She is Crowley’s latest ATB launch (April 2009) and was waiting to offload at Westridge Terminal.
COMMITMENT and barge 650-6, at Anchorage-N, Vancouver Harbour East, taken October 24, 2009, from ITB Terminal, Burnaby. Ref: WS09-0421.
And you might have wondered whatever happened to the old McBarge, the floating McDonald’s restaurant, from Expo 86? Well, from this shore you’re staring right at her. Many of our readers will have seen her anchored there for the past 22 years or more, looking a little worse for wear but still seaworthy. I’ll bet not many know she has a name, after all, she is a ship. She’s called the SEABORNE II. No IMO number, and I don’t think she’ll be going abroad anytime soon.‡
SEABORNE II, (former McDonald’s floating restaurant during Expo ‘86), taken October 24 from ITB Terminal, Burnaby. Ref: WS09-0422.
Highlights from the October 2009 edition of our newsletter (Issue 166)
Please respect the copyright notice at the foot of the page. All material on this website, including photographs, is copyrighted by The World Ship Society of British Columbia, and/or the individual writers/photographers
METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England
In the last week of August just after the deadline of last month’s Ship’s Log a couple of events took place of interest to ship enthusiasts and citizens alike. The first of the fastcat ferries, the PACIFICAT VOYAGER, was transported out of Vancouver aboard the Netherlands Antilles-flagged heavy-lift cargo vessel SWIFT. A photo of her being loaded in Deep Cove appeared in last month’s Log.
I was one of several WSS member/photographers standing on the Lions Gate Bridge, with only a few other interested parties, when she departed. There was one helicopter buzzing around it briefly, and this was rumoured to be hired by the ship’s agent. There was no sign of the media, or wistful NDP supporters nor gloating Liberals. It was however a beautiful day for photographs as the SWIFT sailed for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
SWIFT with the PACIFICAT VOYAGER; taken August 26, 2009 from the Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS09-0410.
I was at a course in September put on by the Chamber of Shipping when one of my table mates mentioned the fastcats and said that he’d heard that the other two were being sunk in Deep Cove to be used for diving reefs. Sounded plausible to me. Perhaps there had been a change of plans. Later in the day I chatted briefly with a gentleman whose company, CTL Westrans, had arranged the sale and transportation of the fastcats. He assured me that all 3 cats would be shipped to Abu Dhabi MAR, the purchaser, to be converted to luxury yachts. The PACIFICAT EXPLORER will go out in October aboard the TEAL, and the SWIFT will be back in November to take the PACIFICAT DISCOVERY.
ZHEN HUA 23 approaching Lions Gate Bridge; taken August 26, 2009 from seawall at Prospect Point. Ref: WS09-0411.
The other August event of interest was the arrival of the ZHEN HUA 23, a heavy-lift vessel which brought in 3 huge container cranes for the new Deltaport Terminal 3. Although this event was well publicized it was an unexpected surprise to see her sailing toward the Inner Harbour while we were waiting for the SWIFT to come out. She was delivering 3 rubber-tired gantry cranes to VanTerm.
The month of September was busy but down slightly from June when I last compiled stats. With a total of 249 ship visits by 220 different vessels, the trend in ship types remained steady. Cruise ships accounted for 46 visits (18%) while bulkers were most common with 85 (34%). Twenty-four flags were represented, which is about average, but some notable ones included the French-flagged tanker BRO CECILE, a first this year for that registry. Other notables were Antigua and Barbuda with 5 ships, Vanuatu with 2, Malaysia with 2 and 1 from the Philippines. Also of interest is the steady increase of Turkish-flagged vessels in port. The arrival of 4 ships in September may coincide with the country’s emerging global trading presence and it’s bid to join the European Union. New launches this year included the ZIM LOS ANGELES, an 8200 TEU giant, 334m in length and 101,000 dwt. She was in Deltaport on the 20th of the month, and had made her maiden voyage there in August. Ten other 2009 launches arrived here this month, 8 of them making their first visit. One was the HANJIN CAPE LAMBERT, a Panamanian flagged bulker, 294m in length and 158,000 dwt. She could be seen on the week of September, 14 anchored in English Bay before berthing at Roberts Bank to load coal. A few vintage ships were seen this month, all regular visitors to the port. The 1977-built, Norwegian flagged STAR DIEPPE continues to ply between Pacific Northwest ports and the Orient. Another veteran in the Norwegian registry, the SKAUGRAN, a ro-ro general cargo vessel launched in 1979, brought in a load of vehicles and departed with forest products.
September was an especially interesting shipspotting month for me as I had two diversions from my usual weekly jaunts down to Vancouver harbour or the Fraser River. The first was the annual Inner Harbour tour put on by the Port of Vancouver, which provides a free 45-minute cruise with numerous opportunities for photographing ships. This year it was held on Sept. 20 and the weather was superb. The lighting makes it difficult to get good photos on the Vancouver side, but it’s ideal for the North Shore. Among the ships I saw were the Liberian-flagged Panamax bulker, GIUSEPPE RIZZO, loading grain at JRI (James Richardson International), and the Marshall Islands-flagged container ship SANTIAGO, offloading at LynnTerm.
GIUSEPPE RIZZO at JRI Terminal; taken September 20 from cruise boat MAGIC CHARM. Ref: WS09-0401.
SANTIAGO at LynnTerm; taken September 20,2009 from cruise boat MAGIC CHARM. Ref: WS09-0407.
My second diversion was a little 5-day adventure with two of my long-time friends, Robert Hartridge and Tony Kirby. Now, Robert and Tony are not shipspotters per se, but they are knowledgeable and curious, and had no trouble accommodating me on my many ship-photo stops. We started the vacation in Vancouver aboard the VOLENDAM on the 23rd of September. She would take us on an overnight cruise to Seattle, departing at 5 pm.
We boarded the ship at 11 am to take full advantage of the great food, entertainment and luxury-hotel atmosphere. Sailing out under brilliant blue skies we were able to see the SAPPHIRE PRINCESS leaving Canada Place just ahead of us. We passed close to the HMCS EDMONTON (703) a Canadian Navy mine-warfare vessel which had been performing some inner harbour work connected with the 2010 Olympics. Shortly before sailing under the Lions Gate Bridge we were able to look down on the Turkish bulker, ISMAIL K, at Vancouver Wharves. It was also quirky to see, anchored in the inner harbour, the FORTUNE OCEAN, because the last time I went out on a cruise ship from Vancouver in May of 2006, this same ship was in Vancouver Wharves.
SAPPHIRE PRINCESS in Vancouver Harbour; taken September 23, 2009 from the VOLENDAM at Canada Place. Ref: WS09-0408
ISMAIL K Ref: WS09-0402at Vancouver Wharves; taken September 23, 2009 from the VOLENDAM.
HMCS EDMONTON (#703) in Vancouver Harbour; taken September. 23, 2009 from the VOLENDAM. Ref: WS09-0400
OCEAN PHOENIX at Pier 90 in Seattle; taken September 24, 2009 from VOLENDAM at Pier 91. Ref: WS09-0404
We arrived at Seattle about 6 o’clock on a very grey morning. I was up early and went out on deck. To my surprise we were not downtown at the cruise ship terminal, but at Pier 91 at the north end of the city, amongst all the large fishing boats and across from a sprawling marina. Looking toward downtown, the Space Needle loomed above the Pier 86 Grain Terminal, in which was berthed the 70,000 dwt Panamax bulker, JOYOUS WORLD.
OCEAN ROVER at Pier 90 in Seattle; taken September 24,2009 from north end of Elliot Bay Park. Ref: WS09-0405
JOYOUS WORLD at Pier 86 in Seattle; taken September 24, 2009 from VOLENDAM at Pier 91. Space Needle at left. Ref: WS09-0403
We were surrounded by interesting fishing boats of all sizes, including very large processing/packing vessels such as the OCEAN ROVER. Even more interesting, berthed beside us was the OCEAN PHOENIX, which had spent 3 weeks in Burrard Dry Dock in April/May of this year. She was converted to a fish processor in 1989 but was originally launched as the general cargo vessel, OREGON MAIL in 1964.
Seattle, looking west at Pier 86 out to Pier 91; taken September 24, 2009 from the Space Needle. Ref: WS09-0409
We spent the night in Seattle at a downtown hotel, so had the entire day to explore. The clouds burned off in the morning as we were taking in the Seattle Art Museum. After lunching in a Pike’s Place Market pub, we walked along the beautiful seafront greenbelt that stretches from downtown to the fishing boat piers where our ship was docked. Along the way we passed Pier 86, providing a close-up view of the JOYOUS WORLD at the grain terminal.
When we arrived back at the start of the greenbelt, we saw that we were within short walking distance to the Space Needle, so that was our next stop. From the top of this tower the view on such a clear day was spectacular. Looking west we could easily see the JOYOUS WORLD, berthed at Pier 86, the fishing docks and the marina. The VOLENDAM had departed Pier 91 about an hour earlier but we could still see her 20 miles up the coast and I was able to identify her thanks to having my binoculars as a constant companion. After leaving the Space Needle we took the monorail back to our hotel in time for a late dinner and early nightcap.
CELEBRITY MERCURYand RYNDAM at Ogden Point, Victoria, B.C.; taken September 26, 2009 from Esquimalt.
We had to be down at the dock by 7:15 am the next morning to catch the VICTORIA CLIPPER IV to Victoria.
My first trip on the ‘CLIPPER’ was a surprising experience. Firstly, it holds 325 passengers and it was full. It always looked like a small boat to me. Secondly, although it cruises at over 30 knots the ride was incredibly smooth even though the water wasn’t always flat. We saw several freighters in Puget Sound, all southbound, including the APL MIAMI which passed close by. We arrived in Victoria two hours and 45 minutes later to more warm sunny weather. The trek through customs was almost as long as the ferry trip, so we were glad to be able to get some fresh air and walk to our downtown hotel, where we spent 2 nights. I visit Victoria often enough but there’s always something new to discover. Whenever I’ve walked along the seafront on the north side of the inner harbour, I’ve never made it past the Spinnaker Pub. This time we walked on and the seawall ended at a marina in Esquimalt’s east side. After stopping for a coffee in the café, further exploration took us to Fleming Park on the southeast coast, surrounded by the Department of National Defence subdivisions where many of the naval personnel live. From this vantage point we looked directly across to Ogden Point in Victoria where two cruise ships, the RYNDAM and CELEBRITY MERCURY were docked. There are extensive trails in the park so we spent some time walking and came upon a hilltop lookout from which we could see two old gun emplacements and a fabulous panoramic view of the surrounding area. Our trip ended with a farewell drink in our favourite pub, Bartholomew’s, and a bus trip and ferry ride back to Vancouver the following morning.
Highlights from the September 2009 edition of our newsletter (Issue 165)
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METRO VANCOUVER SCENE by Neil England
As much of my summer was spent away from the city, this column will be a temporary departure from the metro scene usually reported here. Instead I will recount my vacation trip with my wife Beth to San Juan Island in Washington State and the ship activity I saw there and along the way. Our first stop was Anacortes, Washington where we spent the afternoon and night before catching the morning ferry to San Juan Island, our eventual destination for two weeks of camping. We have made this annual trip for the last 10 years, each time stopping in Anacortes to visit our friends. This small city of approximately 17,000 people, located about 30 km south of Bellingham on the shores of Rosario Strait, has a surprising amount of ship activity. There are two refineries sitting side by side on March Point, the eastern outskirts of the city. Both the Shell Refinery and the Tesoro Refinery have docks capable of berthing two large tankers.
During my stay there on August 2nd, there were two American flagged tankers in the Tesoro dock: the 142,000 dwt POLAR DISCOVERY and the 47,000 dwt SEABULK ARCTIC. One more tanker, the 106,000 dwt Panamanian flagged STAVANGER BLOSSOM was anchored in the bay just offshore from the refinery. She had been in Vancouver the previous day discharging cargo at the Westridge Terminal. Also anchored was the tug LINDSEY FOSS, which I assumed may have been waiting to escort one of the tankers out of Anacortes, or perhaps to assist in berthing the STAVANGER BLOSSOM. About 10 km north of March Point, where Padilla Bay meets Bellingham Bay, yet another tanker was anchored. Ships anchored here can be seen from many of the viewpoints on the Chuckanut Drive, the coastal route from Bellingham to Anacortes. I was unable to ascertain the name of this vessel, as it was just a little too far away.
STAVANGER BLOSSOM, tanker, anchored off March Point, WA. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0289.
The ships docked in the refineries or anchored nearby can be viewed from a wonderful spot called Cap Sante, a twenty minute walk from downtown, and situated between the downtown and March Point. This rocky bluff provides a more than 270 degree view of the city and surroundings. Looking to the south from this vantage point, you can see the marinas and the long row of boat-building yards. For decades Anacortes has had a thriving shipbuilding industry, churning out all kinds of boats from small fiberglass powerboats to large steel-hulled luxury yachts, and even the next U.S. entry for the Americas Cup Race. It has also been building ocean-going commercial vessels of many types at it’s downtown shipyard owned by Dakota Creek Industries.
LINDSEY FOSS, anchored off March Point, taken from Cape Sante, August 2nd, 2009. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0292.
Downtown Anacortes, on the north side of the city, provides yet more surprising ship activity. It has 3 wharves, one of which is used for deep-sea vessels up to a draft of about 13m. During my visit the 30,000 dwt, Panamanian flagged SOUTHERN SPIRIT was at Pier II loading coke, but not of the cola kind. This cargo is basically residue from the oil refineries. As I wandered the waterfront, a steady stream of trucks were hauling this material to the dock and dumping it into a hopper, from which it went via conveyor belt straight into the holds of the ship.
SOUTHERN SPIRIT Ref: WS09-0290, tanker, at Pier II, Anacortes, WA, Aug 2, 2009.Photo by Neil England.
Next to Pier II, at the Dakota Creek Industries shipyard, a strange-looking ship could be seen gleaming in the sunlight, towering above everything else. I could read the name ROSS CANDIES, and recognized her as the sister ship to one that had just been completed in July of last year when I had visited. She was as I later found out, an OSV, (Offshore Supply Vessel) a workboat of the offshore oil industry. OSV is a generic term that refers to many different types of vessels, and this particular vessel is sometimes referred to more specifically as an IMR (Inspection, Maintenance and Repair). With her huge heliport looming over her bow, she paints a dramatic picture looking from the ground. As I approached the yard, which was gated, I saw a security guard and asked him a few questions about the ROSS CANDIES. He told me that the ship was going to be launched in a week’s time on August 8th so I planned to make a daytrip back to Anacortes from San Juan Island for the occasion.
ROSS CANDIES, photo taken August 2nd at the Dakota Creek Shipyard, Anacortes, WA..Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0278.
ROSS CANDIES, offshore support vessel at Anacortes. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0276.
The Saturday I arrived back in Anacortes happened to be the weekend of the Anacortes Arts Fair. During this annual event about 12 blocks of the main street from the waterfront are blocked off and crammed with marquees and kiosks from which are flogged every sort of craft, trinket and food item that one can imagine. Adding to the festive air are street musicians, buskers and a wild assortment of galleries and collections. I checked back with the security guard about mid morning and he conveyed to me that the christening ceremony for the ROSS CANDIES would start about 2 pm, but that was contingent on the owner of the company arriving on time from New Orleans.
Having got caught up in the fair in the meantime, I lost track of the hour and at 2:15 rushed down to the shipyard for the ceremony. There was a crowd of about 500 people near the bow of the ship, listening to one of the half-dozen people on the podium making a speech. I was just in time to watch Linda Nelson, wife of the shipyard owner, swing the champagne bottle and smash it against the bow to great cheering and applause. Afterward the group on the podium stepped down and mingled amongst the crowd, often shaking hands with everyone around. I thought I’d try to collar one of these folks and get some facts and figures. Seeing one of the gentlemen free, I introduced myself to him as a member of the World Ship Society. I asked him what his connection was to this ship and he replied in a slow southern drawl, “I own it”. Taken aback slightly, I noticed his name was on his shirt: Otto Candies. ‘Pleased to meet you, sir’ I said. He chatted for a couple of minutes and told me the ship was going to be in service in the Gulf of Mexico where most of the Candies fleet is working.
I spoke to two other very interesting people while there. One was the vice-president of the shipyard who told me the ship was state-of-the-art in the oil industry. She has three bow thrusters and dual T-propellers. The ship, he told me, can be positioned via her computer-controlled GPS system to within 1 meter, even in 10-ft seas. Another chap I spoke with was the president of the Portland, Oregon company that supplied all the steel for the ship. The steel is cut, fabricated and marked in the Portland factory and shipped up to be welded together like a jigsaw puzzle in the Anacortes shipyard. This 309-ft vessel was built in about 1 year at a cost of US$50 to 60 million dollars. A second sister to this vessel is already under construction in the same yard. The as yet unnamed ship goes by the moniker Hull 52.
I was hoping to stay around for the launching but was told that the shipyard would be closed to the public for safety reasons. However, I was assured I wouldn’t be missing anything as there would be no rolling down the skids with a great splash into the water for this ship. It would be slowly lowered into the water at about 7 or 8 pm, too late for me to stay anyway.
I had about an hour to pass before catching my bus back to the ferry. I wandered further down the waterfront, and to my joy there was yet more to see. In a floating drydock next to the shipyard was a naval vessel called DISCOVERY BAY, a torpedo trials craft. The name on the bow was TTY 11, which I later found out was the hull number.
BELUGA FASCINATION, in Guemes Channel, taken from Pier I. Photo by Neil England Ref: WS09-0293.
I looked at my watch and thought I should be leaving soon. But I could see looking westward toward Rosario Strait, a freighter turning toward Anacortes. I decided to wait. Not disappointed, within 15 minutes the general cargo vessel BELUGA FASCINATION sailed past me in the narrow channel separating downtown Anacortes from Guemes Island. I took a few quick pics and ran for the bus. I had five minutes to spare so all was well and I returned on time to catch the ferry.
Beth and I spent 14 nights on San Juan Island, as has been the custom for the past 10 years. For Beth, it’s relaxation and a family reunion, as we meet up each year with her sister and family from Boise, Idaho. For me, it’s relaxation and a continuous parade of shipspotting. The county campground is situated on the west side of the island overlooking Haro Strait, and directly across from Cordova Bay near Victoria. All day and night a steady stream of marine traffic plies the waters. Some of the northbound vessels come close enough to shore to be easily photographed. The HANJINBERLIN was one of them. Rarely do I spend an entire day at the campground, but nevertheless on a typical day I’ll see six or seven freighters during daylight hours, in addition to many tugs and barges, Coast Guard and naval vessels and a few large yachts and miscellaneous ships. On the one day that I actually hung around the camp all day, I spotted 14 freighters – tankers, container ships, bulkers and vehicle carriers. Twice during my stay I saw the CELEBRITYINFINITY heading north out of Seattle. In the twilight hours around the campfire I saw many other unidentified vessels, although I could usually identify the type. In the dead quiet of the night, if I should happen to be awake, I could hear the humming of the engines of a fully loaded vessel or the dog-spooking rumblings of a large empty bulker. Such eerie sounds used to awaken me, but not anymore
DISCOVERY BAY, torpedo trials vessel, in the floating drydock, taken from Pier I, Anacortes, WA.. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0294.
This year I logged in my San Juan journal, 80 vessels identified. This was a typical year, as I’ve been keeping records for 7 years now. It’s a wonderful place to relax and a wonderful place to shipspot. If I choose, I never have to leave the comfort of my camp chair, with binoculars in one hand, a glass of cold beer in the other and a good book in my lap.‡ Neil England
PHOTO OF THE MONTH This month we present another of Robert's excellent photographs — Holland America Line cruise ship AMSTERDAM outbound in Vancouver Harbour, toward Lion's Gate Bridge, April 26, 2009. Robert Etchell photo. Ref: WS09-0258.
HANSEATIC entering Vancouver Harbour while undergoing a world cruise. Photo by Glenn Smith. Ref: WS09-0310
OCEANIC entering Vancouver Harbour after passing under the Lion's Gate Bridge for a 3-day stay in Vancouver. Photo by Glenn Smith. Ref: WS09-0311
FROM THE WHEELHOUSE by Glenn Smith. Top Photo is the HANSEATIC arriving early morning of July 28, 2009. Photo taken from Brockton Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS09-0310. Second photo is the Peace Boat’s OCEANIC, which arrived early morning on July 27, 2009. Ref: WS09-0311. Both photos by Glenn Smith. For a most interesting blog of Peter Knego’s recent trip to Vancouver and his trip on the HANSEATIC go to http://maritimematters.com/ or directly to the blog at http://maritimematters.blogspot.com/2009/07/northbound-hanseatic-ten-nights-on.html, then look for “Vancouver Manoeuvres” in the Blog Archive.
MONA LISA, at Squamish, B.C., March 15, 2010. Ref: WS10-0044.
MONA LISA funnel. Ref: WS10-0045.
STORM VAVE, tug, photo taken at Squamish, B.C. March 6, 2010. Ref: WS10-0050.
STORM FURY, at Squamish, March 6, 3010. Ref: WS10-0049.
FERMITA, taken March 15, 2010 from Prospect Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0042.
Funnel & Bridge of FERMITA. Ref: WS10-0043.
VENUS FRONTIER at Anchorage 3, English Bay, taken from Ferguson Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0040.
OOSTERDAM, STATENDAM, and CARNIVAL ELATION at CenTerm. Taken February 1, 2010, from Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Ref: WS10-0039.
CS CAROLINE at LynnTerm 6, February 1, 2010, Ref: WS10-0034.
ANCASH QUEEN at Cascadia Terminal, taken February 1, 2010, from New Brighton Park. Ref: WS10-0031.
NCS BEIJING taken February 1, 2010, from New Brighton Park. Ref: WS10-0038.
BBC EMS at Vancouver Wharves, taken February 6, 2010 from the Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS10-0032.
GOWLLAND CHIEF on the North Arm of the Fraser River, taken February 20, 2010, near McDonald Park in Richmond. Ref: WS10-0035.
HMCS WHITEHORSE near LynnTerm, taken February 1, 2010, from New Brighton Park. Ref: WS10-0036.
CAKE, taken February 21, 2010, from Brockton Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0033.
KRUZENSHTERN taken February 21, 2010, while berthed at the old Burrard Drydock Pier in North Vancouver. Ref: WS10-0037.
ISLA DE CEDROS, January 10, 2010, taken from Brockton Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0004.
RED IRIS, January 10, 2010, taken from Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS10-0005.
CHERRY GALAXY, January 16, 2010 taken from Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS10-0006.
ANNA, January 16, 2010, taken from Prospect Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0007.
FRIENDLY SEAS, January 16, 2010, taken from Prospect Point in Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0008.
PACIFIC PRIDE, Jnuary 16, 2010, taken from Prospect Point, Stanley Park. Ref: WS10-0009.
ASIAN GRACE, January 16, 2010, taken from Deas Island Park on the Fraser River. Ref: WS10-0010.
Former QUEEN OF THE ISLANDS at Mosquito Creek Marina, January 22, 2010, taken from the Seabus. Ref: WS10-0011.
FRIEDA SELMER, January 23, 2010, taken from the Seabus crossing the Vancouver Harbour. Ref: WS10-0012.
AFRICAN SANDERLING, January 23, 2010, taken from the Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS10-0013.
SPARROW, January 23, 2010, taken from the Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS10-0014.
MONA LISA, January 23, 2010, taken from the foot of Dunbar Street off Point Grey Road. Ref: WS10-0016.
AMDERMA. Taken December 7, 2009 from Jericho Beach. Ref: WS09-0592.
ULUSOY 9. At Vancouver Wharves, December 14, 2009. Taken from the Stanley Park seawall. Ref: WS09-0599.
MONZA EXPRESS on the Fraser River, taken December 6, 2009 on the River Road, Delta. Ref: WS09-0597.
FRASER TITAN at the Vito Shipyards in Delta, taken December 4, 2009. Ref: WS09-0594.
KENNICOTT in the Fairhaven Drydock, taken December 26, 2009 in Bellingham, WA. Ref: WS09-0595.
MALASPINA at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal, taken December 25, 2009. Ref: WS09-0596.
USCGC TERRAPIN and SEA LION—taken December 24, 2009 at the Coast Guard Station, Bellingham. Ref: WS09-0598.
CADE CANDIES—taken December 26, 2009 in Anacortes, WA. Ref: WS09-0593.
ANGEL ISLAND, taken Nov. 1, 2009, from Jericho Pier. Ref: WS09-0570.
COTINGA ARROW. Taken Nov. 13, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall, Prospect Point. Ref: WS09-0571.
GORA, taken Nov. 11, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0572.
MATUMBA Ref: WS09-0574.taken Nov. 21, 2009, at James Richardson International Terminal. . 
MARIA OLDENDORFF,, taken Nov. 21, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0573. 
SAMJOHN AMITY taken Nov. 21, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0575.
SANTA FRANCISCA taken Nov. 20, 2009, at Fraser surrey Docks. Ref: WS09-0576.
SKAUGRAN taken Nov. 20, 2009, from Fraser Surrey Docks. Ref: WS09-0577.
YOSEMITE taken Nov. 13, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0578.
SWIFT ‡transporting PACIFIC EXPLORER to Dubai. Taken Nov. 23, 2009, from Stanley Park Seawall. Ref: WS09-0579. 
ARGENT BLOOM, taken October 26, 2009 from Prospect Point. Ref: WS09-0412.
PETERSFIELD, at LynnTerm-1, taken October 26, 2009 from Wall Street, east Vancouver. Ref: WS09-0413.
USCG MELLON, taken October 16, 2009, at Canada Place. Ref: WS09-0417.
KARA SEA, in Guemes Channel, taken October 11, 2009 at Anacortes, WA. Ref: WS09-0415.
HMCS EDMONTON, HMCS BRANDON, and ORCA, RAVEN and CARIBOU, taken October 17, 2009, at Canada Place. Ref: WS09-0418.
PACIFICAT DISCOVERY aboard the TEAL, taken October 19, 2009 from Belcarra village. Ref: WS09-0419.
ZALIV AMURSKIY, at Westridge Terminal, taken October 19, 2009 from Barnet Marine Park. Ref: WS09-0420.
COMMITMENT and barge 650-6, at Anchorage-N, Vancouver Harbour East, taken October 24, 2009, from ITB Terminal, Burnaby. Ref: WS09-0421.
SEABORNE II, (former McDonald’s floating restaurant during Expo ‘86), taken October 24 from ITB Terminal, Burnaby. Ref: WS09-0422.
SWIFT with the PACIFICAT VOYAGER; taken August 26, 2009 from the Lions Gate Bridge. Ref: WS09-0410.
ZHEN HUA 23 approaching Lions Gate Bridge; taken August 26, 2009 from seawall at Prospect Point. Ref: WS09-0411.
GIUSEPPE RIZZO at JRI Terminal; taken September 20 from cruise boat MAGIC CHARM. Ref: WS09-0401.
SANTIAGO at LynnTerm; taken September 20,2009 from cruise boat MAGIC CHARM. Ref: WS09-0407.
SAPPHIRE PRINCESS in Vancouver Harbour; taken September 23, 2009 from the VOLENDAM at Canada Place. Ref: WS09-0408
ISMAIL K Ref: WS09-0402at Vancouver Wharves; taken September 23, 2009 from the VOLENDAM.
HMCS EDMONTON (#703) in Vancouver Harbour; taken September. 23, 2009 from the VOLENDAM. Ref: WS09-0400
OCEAN PHOENIX at Pier 90 in Seattle; taken September 24, 2009 from VOLENDAM at Pier 91. Ref: WS09-0404
OCEAN ROVER at Pier 90 in Seattle; taken September 24,2009 from north end of Elliot Bay Park. Ref: WS09-0405
JOYOUS WORLD at Pier 86 in Seattle; taken September 24, 2009 from VOLENDAM at Pier 91. Space Needle at left. Ref: WS09-0403
Seattle, looking west at Pier 86 out to Pier 91; taken September 24, 2009 from the Space Needle. Ref: WS09-0409
CELEBRITY MERCURYand RYNDAM at Ogden Point, Victoria, B.C.; taken September 26, 2009 from Esquimalt. 
STAVANGER BLOSSOM, tanker, anchored off March Point, WA. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0289.
LINDSEY FOSS, anchored off March Point, taken from Cape Sante, August 2nd, 2009. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0292.
SOUTHERN SPIRIT Ref: WS09-0290, tanker, at Pier II, Anacortes, WA, Aug 2, 2009. Photo by Neil England. 
ROSS CANDIES, photo taken August 2nd at the Dakota Creek Shipyard, Anacortes, WA.. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0278. 
ROSS CANDIES, offshore support vessel at Anacortes. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0276.
BELUGA FASCINATION, in Guemes Channel, taken from Pier I. Photo by Neil England Ref: WS09-0293.
DISCOVERY BAY, torpedo trials vessel, in the floating drydock, taken from Pier I, Anacortes, WA.. Photo by Neil England. Ref: WS09-0294.
WS09-0258
HANSEATIC entering Vancouver Harbour while undergoing a world cruise. Photo by Glenn Smith. Ref: WS09-0310
OCEANIC entering Vancouver Harbour after passing under the Lion's Gate Bridge for a 3-day stay in Vancouver. Photo by Glenn Smith. Ref: WS09-0311