Pyxis turns out to be M/S Pyxis of Toyofuji Shipping Co., Japan, which is a car carrier from Japan to the U.S. She has two major sailing routes: one from Toyohashi, Japan to Portland, Oakland, and Long Beach, and the other to U.S. East Coast ports via the Panama Canal.

The vessel is serving or has served as a "volunteer observation ship" in a program called "Monitoring of the Atmosphere - Ocean CO2 Exchange by Ships-of-Opportunity.

See the following Web page which contains a small photo from a different angle. Clearly it is the same vessel. http://www-cger2.nies.go.jp/moni-e/warm/canada/jc01.html

Looks more like an "odd" RO/RO. The spray shield, in front(upper deck),suggests that this is a cargo deck,It also looks like it´s equipped for container transport like on conventional Ro/Ro´s.
Tore