Océan Stevns back to Canadian flag

The Groupe Océan tug Océan Stevns may be headed back to Canada. The tug was registered in Quebec City May 21 after a period of bareboat charter to an Océan subsidiary, Ocean J Towing Ltd, in Jamaica. At time of writing the tug is still in Kingston, Jamaica and there is no ETA for Canada.

The tug was reflagged in early 2018 to St. Vincent and the the Grenadines and in July 2018 it stopped in Halifax for a few days, then sailed July15 for Kingston, Jamaica. Océan had a ten year contract for tug services in Kingston and both Océan Stevns and Océan Taiga were sent south for the contract. They were later joined by Océan Kingston Pride ex Bogaçay IX, acquired for the contract from its Turkish builder/owners. It is a RAmparts 2400 SX design with 6,298 bhp and 80 tonne bollard pull.

Business was not as brisk in Kingston as expected, and apparently three tugs were not needed. Earlier this year Oceran J faced criticism from port users when it raised its rates, less than a year into the contract.

Océan in Canada may also be a bit stretched as the summer comes on and two tugs are needed for the Baffinland work. When the Océan Stevns left Halifax I also speculated that it was underpowered for today's large ships and predicted that it would be back in Canada in less than five years. See: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2018/07/groupe-ocean-goes-north-and-south.html


Océan Stevns was built in 2003 as Stevns Ocean by Industries Océan in Ile-aux-Coudres for Stevns Multi Ships of Denmark. It is powered by two MaK main engines totaling 5,000 bhp, driving two Aquamaster stern drives.

In 2013 it came back to Canada on charter with option to buy, along with sister tug Stevns Arctic. Those options were exercised and the tugs were renamed Océan Stevns and Océan Arctique. Initially used at Sept-Iles, QC, the tugs have also worked in Quebec City.

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