CARDIFF - Mon May 14th 2012

Still very quiet, just two arrivals since the last post until today:
On 11th the Royal Netherlands Navy submarine Zeeleeuw arrived from sea, she berthed in the Queen Alexandra Dock so guess it's not an official visit.
On the 13th the tanker Bro Distributor arrived from Milford Haven with oil products.
Today, the two ships above sailed and there were two arrivals - the Antiguan flagged coaster See-Stern arrived from Brake (Germany) and..................

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
WAPPEN VON FLENSBURG   UK               2005        8154dwt      117          18

Wappen von Flensburg

German owned, British flagged chemical tanker seen arriving from Rotterdam.  She is due to sail on 15th - to sea for orders.  If the ships name was any longer, they'd have had to lengthen the forecastle!

Cardiff - Mon May 7th 2012

There are few shipping movements at the present time.  On May 2nd Union Diamond arrived from Halmstad with a cargo of timber products.  She part unloaded, then sailed on 3rd for Newport to complete discharge.
Container ship Sara Borchard arrived from Leixoes on 3rd and sailed on 4th bound for Liverpool.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
CELTIC MARINER            Bahamas            1986         2886dwt       88           12

Celtic Mariner

 Seen here approaching Cardiff (rounding Lavernock Point) at the end of her voyage from Eregli (Turkey).  She will be berthing at D Shed in the Queen Alexandra Dock, so guess the cargo is steel products.  She sailed on 11th bound for Plymouth - photo below of her departing.

Celtic Mariner departing Cardiff on May 11th 2012

BARRY - Fri May 4th 2012

A few chemical tanker arrivals since the last post for Barry -
Eships Quest arrived from Tjelbergodden on April 10th and again on 21st on each occasion she returned to Norway on the following day.
Stolt Kittiwake was back again on April 19th, arriving from Gijon and again on May 1st arriving from Port Jerome both times she sailing the following day to Antwerp.

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
MTS VICTORY                      UK                  1976        190gt           23           8

MTS Victory

MTS Victory had arrived this morning from Ellesmere Port along with the heavy lift barge Terra Marique.  More info below


TERRA MARIQUE                UK                     ?            2211dwt           80           17

Terra Marique

A unique locally registered (Newport, Gwent) shallow draft Ro Ro/semi submersible heavy lift barge.  She's equipped with two caterpillar engines powering 4 pump jets for self propelled manoeuvring in harbours and rivers.  She had brought a heavy load on an Ale Heavy Lift road trailer, a tractor unit was hitched to the trailer and driven off the barge ready for local delivery.  She is seen here manoeuvring towards the locks in the No 1 dock prior to departing for Southampton.  The picture below shows her with wheelhouse lowered, tow attached to MTS Victory and ready for sea.

Terra Marique departing for Southampton

CARDIFF - Tues, May 1st 2012

On 29th the tanker Bro Deliverer brought oil products from Milford Haven, she returned there the same day.
On 30th regular visitor, container ship Judith Borchard arrived from Liverpool and sailed the following day for Leixoes.  Another delivery of oil products from Milford Haven came in on board Bro Garland, and as soon as she had sailed on May 1st, Bro Distributor came in with more oil products - she had a short lay over, sailing back to Milford on May 3rd.

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
PASCAL                            Antigua               2001        4263dwt       90          15

Pascal

Another of Gerhard Wessels ships to visit Cardiff. She had arrived from Bermeo with a cargo of steel.  She sailed in ballast on May 4th, bound for Antwerp.

CARDIFF -Weds 25th April 2012

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
RMS TWISTEDEN             Antigua              2002         2530dwt      88           11

RMS Twisteden

She had arrived from Bremen and is seen here loading a cargo of steel products.  She sailed for Randers on April 30th.  UPDATE:  Another/better picture added below:-

Pictured loading scrap metals at Briton Ferry - 9th Feb 2017

CARDIFF - Tues 24th April 2012

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
NARCEA                             Portugal             2006       4750dwt       98          15

Narcea rounding Lavernock Point

Chemical tanker Narcea arriving from Fos today.  Will tie up at the No 1 Oil berth in the Queen Alexandra Dock. She sailed for Runcorn on the next tide when I was able to take the photo below in much better light.

Narcea departing Cardiff on 24 April 2012

CARDIFF - Sat 21st April 2012

On April 20th, the regular visitor, tanker Bro Deliverer arrived from Milford Haven with oil products for the Chevron terminal.  Also arrived ..............

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
WITTENBERGEN               Cyprus              1992        3700dwt         88           13

Wittenbergen

Gerhard Wessels Cypriot flagged Wittenbergen came in from nearby Usk-Bird Port.  She's loading steels for Galway and is due to sail on 24th. UPDATE: better pictures below, shows her departing Cardiff on 25th March 2014 bound for Newport.

Departing Cardiff bound for Newport on 25th March 2014

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CARDIFF - Thurs 19th April 2012

The small feeder container ship Coronel arrived back again from Warrenpoint on 17th.  It now looks like she has replaced Soul Sound on this service.  Soul Sound was anchored off Warrenpoint for a few days 'waiting for orders' - she's now on her way to Ghent.
James Fishers tanker Mersey Fisher arrived today from Belfast, she is due to sail tomorrow bound for Plymouth.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
HELAS                              Cyprus                2001         3850dwt       89         13

Helas

Seen arriving from Las Palmas.  She will berth at the Seawood Shed in the Queen Alexandra Dock, guess the cargo is timber?  She sailed for Rotterdam on 22nd when I took the photo below, in better light.

Helas departing for Rotterdam on 22 April 

CARDIFF - Mon 16th April 2012

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
SORMOVSKIY 3056          Russia               1986        3134dwt        88           13

Sormovskiy-3056

Arrived from Riga with a cargo of packaged timber, seen here discharging on Ryans Wharf in the Roath Dock. She is due to sail on 17th bound for Thisted (Denmark).  Another photo below, taken as she was rounding Lavernock Point.

Sormovskiy-3056 off Lavernock Point

CARDIFF - Sat 14th April 2012

Tanker Bro Garland arrived again from Milford Haven on 12th and sailed back there on 13th.
Also on 13th, there were 3 arrivals - container ship Rachel Borchard from Leixoes, she sailed the same day for  Dublin.  The feeder container ship Coronel came in from Kinsale and sailed for Warrenpoint on 14th (she appears to have taken over from Soul Sound, the Cardiff/Warrenpoint service - temporarily(?).  The dredger UKD Bluefin arrived from Southampton to carry out dredging of the Wrach Channel (main entrance channel to Cardiff Docks).  Dredging completed, she sailed for the Tees on 19th.

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
MAIMITI                            Netherlands         2001      3155dwt         88           13

Maimiti

Maimiti, under the management of Wagonborg Shipping, arrived from Eregli (Turkey) with a cargo of steels. Once discharged, she is due to sail on 18th bound for Amsterdam. - 2 more pictures below, taken on 14th August 2014

Departing Cardiff on 14th August 2014, bound for Belfast.

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STAVROS S NIARCHOS       UK              2000        493gt             59             10

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Arrived from Southampton on a 5 day visit to Cardiff, seen berthed on Britannia Quay in the Roath Basin.  This brig is owned and operated by The Tall Ships Youth Trust, primarily to undertake voyages for youth character building exercises.  She also does adult and holiday voyages to subsidise the youth training work.
The ship is currently offered for sail as being too big and costly to run.  Due to sail on 17th bound for Liverpool.

CARDIFF - Tues 10th April 2012

Two arrivals today - the recently built, German owned, Cypriot flagged RMS Bremen came in from Spain and unloaded part of her cargo on Bells Wharf in the Queen Alexandra Dock before sailing for Warrenpoint on 11th.  I missed her arrival and departure, so no photograph.  UPDATE - Picture & details now entered below.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
M Y ANTARCTIC               Panama              2009      12948dwt     120          20

M Y Antarctic

This Oil/chemical tanker arrived from Rotterdam and sailed on the following day, bound for Falmouth.  I missed her arrival and departure but took these 2 distant photos of her at her berth in the Queen Alexandra Dock. (2 poor photos don't make 1 decent one)


RMS BREMEN                   Cyprus               2012         3812dwt          89        12

Photograped arriving from Sharpness 10th August 2013

CARDIFF - Sun 8th April 2012

The tanker Bro Developer arrived today from Milford Haven with a cargo of oil products destined for the Chevron terminal in the Roath Dock.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
SEE-STERN                      Antigua                2005       1863dwt       82           11

See-Stern

This well maintained German owned/Antigua flagged coaster also arrived today at the H Shed in the Roath Dock.  On Charles Willies fairly regular (monthly(ish) service between Portugal/Spain and the Bristol Channel.  She sailed on 11th bound for Dundee.    She came back into Cardiff a month later - a photo below of her arriving from Brake.

See-Stern on May 14th 2012

CARDIFF - Sat 7th April 2012

Container ship Sara Borchard arrived from Leixoes on 6th and sailed to Liverpool on 7th.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
VITA                                    Antigua             1990        4161dwt       88           13

Vita

Arrived in ballast from Briton Ferry and is seen on the West End berth behind 4000 tons of wood pulp which will be loaded for her to take to Vasteras (Sweden).  She sailed on 8th April.  Another picture below of her return to Cardiff on May 26th 2012 (picture not much better - sun on the wrong side)

Vita approaching Cardiff - May 26 2012

CARDIFF - Weds 4th April 2012

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
BRO GARLAND                 Netherlands       2009        7559dwt       115          15

Bro Garland

Bro Garland off Sully on April 20 2012

When she was here last week, she sailed to Milford Haven , loaded and came straight back, this time discharging at the Chevron berth in the Roath Dock where I was able to get a photograph.  She returned to Milford Haven on the next tide.


SEA BAILO                           Panama          1998         26611dwt        172          26

Sea Bailo

This obviously Chinese owned/Panamanian flagged vessel came in from Gibraltar and can be seen (behind the clouds of rust dust) loading a cargo of scrap metals at the EMR berth in the Roath Dock.  She is due to sail for Nemrut Bay (Turkey) on 7th.


GEJA C                                    Isle of Mann   2009         4161dwt          143         18

Geja C

Carisbrooke Shippings Geja C arrived from Dublin and is loading steel/wire products in the Queen Alexandra dock.  She sailed on 8th, bound for Bilbao via Falmouth (for bunkers).

CARDIFF - Tues 3rd April 2012

30th March saw the arrival of Aasvik from Belfast with another cargo of stone, she sailed for Port Talbot on 31st when her fleetmate Aasli from Flushing - she's currently still in port loading(?)


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
WILHELMINE STEFFENS   Germany         1981          1092dwt       74          10

Wilhelmine Steffens

She arrived from Swinoujscie (Poland)  and is seen discharging her cargo of scrap metals at Ryans Wharf in the Roath Dock.  She is due to sail for France on 5th.

BARRY - Monday 2nd April 2012

A couple of arrivals since the last posting for Barry - all chemical tankers:-  On 20th March Stolt Kestrel arrived from Birkenhead, and loaded for Le Havre.  On 29th March, Stolt Puffin arrived from Stanlow and loaded for Rotterdam.  The following day (30th) Eships Quest came in from Tjelbergodden and discharged before returning to Norway on 31st.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
STOLT KITTIWAKE              UK                  1993       4710dwt        96          15

Stolt Kittiwake photographed 19 April 2012

Photographed on River Scheldt, November 2017

CARDIFF - Thurs 29th March 2012

Three arrivals on 29th - container ship Judith Borchard arrived from Leixoes and sailed on 30th for Dublin.
Tanker Bro Distributor came in from Milford Haven with a cargo of oil products, she returned to Milford on 30th.  And arriving from sea...........


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
FNS PEGASE                     France                ?            605disp         52            9

Pegase (M644)

This French Tripartite/Eridan class minehunter (M644) was built sometime between 1981 and 1989.  She is on a 5 day courtesy visit to Cardiff and is seen berthed on Britannia Quay in the Roath Basin.  Picture below shows her as she sailed on 2nd April.

Pegase (M644) 2 April 2012

CARDIFF - Weds 28th March 2012

Two arrivals on 26th - Union Diamond from Halmstad, she discharged and sailed for Chatham on 27th and Stadum with a cargo of scrap metals, she sailed, bound for Flushing on 29th.
Three arrivals on 28th - The tanker Bro Garland came in (at night) from Rotterdam, discharged in the Queen Alexandra dock and sailed on 29th - at night, so no photograph. Coaster Mittelplate (Briese Schiffahrts) came in from Rotterdam (at night) is loading in the Q.A, dock and is due to sail for Porto Vesme on 30th. UPDATE- a picture has been added here >Mittelplate.  The 3rd arrival.............


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
OSLO                               ANTIGUA            1996        4245dwt       90            13

Oslo

Arrived from Cork with a cargo of scrap metal, she is due to sail back to Cork on 30th March.

CARDIFF - Sun 25th March 2012

Three arrivals on 16th March - sand dredger City Of Cardiff from Milford Haven, dredger UKD Orca from Portbury - both sailed the same day for Avonmouth and Hull respectively.  The bunkering tanker Henty Pioneer arrived from Liverpool and after bunkering HMS Dragon, sailed back to Liverpool (missed this one, so no picture)  UPDATE - June 2012, Henty Pioneer has been sold and is on her way to Nigeria.
On 21st chemical tanker Stolt Shearwater arrived from Stade, she sailed for Le Havre on 22nd - missed this one also, so no picture.  UPDATE - June 2012, picture now added, below
The 23rd saw the arrival of containership Charlotte Borchard on her regular run from Leixoes, she sailed for Liverpool the same day.

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
BRO GOLIATH                 Netherlands        2004       7108dwt        119          17

Bro Goliath

Photographed departing Cardiff on a misty Sunday morning, she had arrived from Milford Haven on 24th and is now bound for Grangemouth.


STOLT SHEARWATER    Cayman Is       1994         5300dwt           96              16

Stolt Shearwater departing Barry  June 4  2012

CARDIFF - Thurs 15th March 2012

On 9th March container ship Sara Borchard arrived from Leixoes, sailing for Liverpool on 10th.
Tanker Bro Developer arrived from Milford Haven on 13th, returning there on the following day.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
HMS DRAGON                     UK                   2009      7350disp       152          21


HMS Dragon

Arriving on a misty morning for an official 5 day visit to her adopted home city of Cardiff.  She is the latest Type 45 destroyer - the 4th of 6 to be built by BAE Systems at their Govan shipyard.  Launched in November 2009, she completed her builders sea trails in December 2010 and was handed over to the Royal Navy in August 2011.  Currently undergoing Royal Navy sea trials of her weaponry and defensive systems, she is due to start active service in the next few months.

Another picture below - taken on 19th March, as she was departing for Liverpool.

HMS Dragon 19th March 2012

CARDIFF - Sun 11th March 2012

Two arrivals on 6th March - tanker Bro Galaxy from Milford Haven with oil products for the Chevron Terminal and the cargo ship Sofia arriving from Sagunto (Spain) she had a quick turnaround, sailing for Warrenpoint the same day - missed this one (arrival and departure at night)

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
WU CHANG HAI                  China               1998       27635dwt    169         26

Wu Chang Hai

Arrived on 9th from Corcubian (Spain)  and is seen here at the EMR berth loading scrap metals for Mermet Bay (Turkey)  She is due to sail on 13th.

BARRY - Sat 10th March 2012

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
NOBLEMAN                         UK                  1976          256gt           32           9

Nobleman

Also photographed off Penarth on 28th February - Nobleman went to Barry on 10th to assist with the departure of Bergstraum.  UPDATE: another picture below, showing the new colour scheme.

Pictured in Cardiffs Roath Dock on 14th May 2014

BARRY - Thurs 8th March 2012

The chemical tanker Bergstraum arrived today from Tjelbergodden.  She was assisted by one of the new tugs that seem to have taken over towage duties at Cardiff, Newport and Barry..................


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
ROMAN                                UK                  1983         230gt          26           9

Roman

 Roman (ex  Midgard III -04,  Brake -12) Photographed off Penarth on 28th Feb as she made a trial run to Barry.  Another photograph below:

Photographed on 6th Aug 2014

CARDIFF - Mon 5th March 2012

The container ship Judith Borchard arrived from Liverpool today and sailed for Leixoes on 6th.


Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
SOSPAN DAU                 Netherlands         1978        2134           71            14

Sospan Dau

She arrived from Harwich on 5th March and spent a few days alongside before moving out to carry out the annual dredging of the Cardiff Bay entrance in conjunction with the small tug Tioga B.
I've included another picture of Sospan Dau because she has undergone something of a rebuild since her last visit.  Starting at the bow, she has had a framework fitted to allow the anchors to clear the new bulbous bow. The jack up (?) leg appears to have been removed from the foredeck. Moving to the superstructure, another deck has been added, increasing the height of the bridge and a new taller funnel has been fitted - a further aft than the old one.
She's not a pretty ship but I think the changes are a great improvement and guess the skipper can see where he's going now.

CARDIFF - Sun 4th March 2012

Tanker Bro Distributor arrived from Milford Haven on 29th February and returned there on the following day.
Aasvik arrived from Belfast on 2nd March with a cargo of stone (aggregate), she sailed 'light' for Port Talbot the same day. Also arrived on 2nd - Sirocco back from Ijmuiden with a cargo of steel slabs, she also sailed the same day, back to Ijmuiden.

Name                                   Flag                 Year      Tonnage       LOA       Beam
COIMBRA                          Cyprus               1995       2489dwt        92           11

Coimbra

Arrived from Bermeo on Charles Willies (fairly) regular liner service between Spain and UK. Having discharged what is usually a general cargo, she sailed on 6th, bound for Rouen.