Newest Stevns tug

Stevns Breaker arrived early this morning fresh from East Isle Shipyard in Prince Edward Island. The tugs is the latest in a series built for Nordane Shipping of Denmark. After trials over the next few days, the tug will head off across the Atlantic.

The tug is a near sister to several tugs built by Irving Shipbuilding for the same owner. After a period of charter work all of the tugs have been sold on to other owners.

Her name is a little different from her predecessors, that had names like Iceflower, Icequeen and Icecap. This time the "ice" is dropped, because strictly speaking she is not an icebreaker. She is however ice capable.

She went right into trials with a run to Bedford Basin in the morning, then returning to pier 23 in the afternoon for bollard pull trials.

Update: Following Friday's trials, the tug was due to enter the Scotiadock II floating drydock in Halifax Shipyard for survey on Saturday morning. As the tug entered the dock, the dock continued to sink uncontrollably, and came to rest on the bottom. Fortunately the tug was not secured in the dock, and it was able to exit without damage.

A major salvage operation will be needed to raise the drydock, so Stevns Breaker may be in port a bit longer than planned.

Events surrounding the salavage of the drydock will covered in Shipfax.