1. Atlantic Fir - file photo
The Port of Montreal web site shows the tug Atlantic Fir arriving Christmas Day, then proceeding on to Beauharnois. Presumably this would be to pick up the former cargo ship Kathryn Spirit which has been tied up there for recycling. Neighbours managed to block the scrapping in that location, and the hulk reportedly has been sold to Mexican owners.
It is also the ship which the tug Craig Trans - see previous posts, was intending to fetch.
Craig Trans is still tied up in Halifax (now minus the containment boom), and directly across the harbour sits the tug Atlantic Fir. It has been in port for several days, presumably waiting out the horrible weather we have been experiencing. It will not, as a result, be arriving in Montreal on Christmas Day. Another minor complication is that the Canso Canal will be closing on Christmas Eve, so it will mean sailing through the Cabot Strait, where weather has been bad enough to force cancellation of Newfoundland ferry service.
The object apparently is to get the Kathryn Spirit out of the Seaway before closing - which will likely be December 29 at the latest - and get ti to Halifax where Craig Trans or some one else can to tow it to Mexico.
Let us hope it is the well found tug Atlantic Fir that tows it past Scarari Island, so it does not join the Miner, wrecked over a year ago by a failed tow line.
We'll wait and see.
2. Kathryn Spirit laid up in Sorel in July 2011. In August 2011 it was moved up the Seaway as far as Beauharnois where scrapping began, but was then halted.
It is to be watched! you might be right about this story.
ReplyDeleteThis Tug Craig Trans might not be suitable for ice navigation with The Katryn Spirit,even if she is secured . Likely they will have to hire another tug.