Mariner Sea - out, Atlantic Kestrel - in, Maersk Beater-in,

The latest changes in the offshore tug/supplier business have seen a couple of additions and one deletion from the roster of the three main players in the Atlantic region.
Secunda Marine have sold Mariner Sea to as yet undisclosed Nigerian buyers:

Built in Norway in 1979 as a supplier/dive support ship, it carried the names Sulair-89, TNT Puma-90, Toisa Puma-95, Coastal Connector -02 until acquired from Tyco by Secunda late in 2002. It had been been partially converted to a cable ship, with a large deck house:

Soon after arrival in Halifax in January 2003 it was dispatched to the Verreault Navigation shipyard in Les Méchins, QC, and converted back to a supplier, with tankage for fuel, drill water, mud and for deck cargo. It went into service in May 2003 on charter to Encana as a supplier. Its tonnage was then listed at 2,904.:

Since then it has been in and out of Canadian and Barbados registries, and was most recently idle at pier 9.

Meanwhile Maersk Canada, which seems to have become Maersk Eastern Canada (have they got west coast plan?) brought Maersk Beater under Canadian flag in October, and based it in St.John's. It is a very big vessel at 4,363 gross tons, built in 1997 in Norway and is rated at 14,800 kW (approx. 20,000 bhp).I haven't seen the vessel in person, but for photos go to : http://wwwshipshots.blogspot.ca/2012/11/maersk-beater.html

Atlantic Towing has also registered its newest tug/supplier as Atlantic Kestrel on November 27. Built as Jaya Supreme in Singapore, it is also very big, at 6,206 gross tons, and highly sophisticated. It has numerous new and up to date features, including DP2 (dynamic positioning) and ice rated as DNV Ice-1a, meaning it can travel through ice already broken by an ice breaker, and can work near the arctic circle. It has 12,000 kW (about 16,000 bhp) at its disposal and is fitted with a very big anchor handling winch. It also has numerous environmental and crew comfort features, making it "state of the art"- to use a worn out phrase.
To see its launch, and a swarm of tiny little tugs go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McyjCv42u8k
There are lots of other articles and photos on the web as Jaya Supreme, e.g.: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/logistic/jaya-holdings-delivers-jaya-supreme-a-tug-supply-vessel-to-atlantic-towing-limited/