D.D. Kaufman - new tug in town

 Although it has been in Halifax since August 16, today, December 21, was the first time I was able to get a close up look at the tug D.D. Kaufman. As I reported here on August 24, the tug arrived in Halifax from New Jersey, the long way round, via the New York state canals, the Great Lakes and the St.Lawrence Seaway. It is here working on the new Jetty L at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) where it is nearly impossible to see, let alone photograph. 

 

The tug's owners, McNally Construction Ltd of Hamilton, ON also have bases in Sorel, QC and Point Tupper, NS and carry out marine construction work throughout eastern Canada. They have a large fleet of scows, barges, and several tugs and workboats. Many of these are older units were acquired in the 1990s when McNally purchased the fleets of the former McNamara Marine, Cartier Construction, Beaver Marine, Canadian Dredge + Dock, and Pitts Engineering companies.

In 2017 Weeks Marine Inc of Cranford, NJ purchased the McNally Group, which also included McNally International, a tunneling specialist based in West Lake, OH. Then in turn as of January 1, 2023 the large construction company Kiewit Corporation acquired Weeks, including its Hawaiian subsidiary and North American Aggregates of Perth Amboy, NJ.

 All this is by way of explaining the history of the  D.D. Kaufman and its sister tug W.A. Reid. The two tugs were built for Weeks in 2016 by A+B Industries of Morgan City in Amelia, LA. Hull number 371 was built as Jody P and was renamed D.D. Kaufman when acquired by McNally and was registered in Halifax November 22, 2022. Hull 372 started out as Belinda B and was named W.A. Reid when registered in Hamilton, ON, also on November 22, 2022. They were transferred from Weeks ownership to McNally to replace or supplement some of those older tugs from the 1960s and 1970s.

Today, following a large storm surge in Halifax harbour, the D.D. Kaufman was dispatched from BIO to Pier 25 to check on the semi-submersible barge Beaver Neptune. The barge was used to build concrete caissons for the BIO Jetty, and on completion of that work was moved out of the way to Pier 25. 

 

It appeared to have weathered the storm with all its mooring lines intact, so the D.D. Kaufman returned to BIO. There was still quite a swell running in the harbour, so the tug's windscreen wipers got a good workout coming and going.

 

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