Atlantic Cedar in Halifax

 There has been a temporary re-assignment of tugs to Halifax, with Atlantic Towing Ltd transferring Atlantic Cedar from Saint John, NB.

Built in 2005 by East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE, it is a second generation  type, with 5,050 bhp, FiFi1 fire fighting and 66 tonne bollard pull.

It joins Atlantic Oak (2004) and Atlantic Fir (2005) also second gen types with the same horsepower and bollard pull.

Atlantic Fir, alongside and Atlantic Oak (astern) bring in the container ship ONE Hangzhou Bay (96,980 dwt). Atlantic Cedar had been on the starboard side, but once clear of the Narrows, moved on to assist MOL Experience with Atlantic Willow ((1998, 4000 bhp, 50 tonne BP).

Atlantic Willow is a first generation type, and the the first to be fitted with firefighting gear.

Irving Cedar is in Halifax to replace the  Atlantic Beaver (2008, 5432 bhp, 70 tonne BP) which has gone to Saint John to assist with the LNG tanker Hispania Spirit.

Atlantic Beaver and sister tugs Atlantic Bear and Spitfire III were built especially to handle LNG tankers at the mono-buoy unloading facility at Canaport, off Saint John, NB. Those ships are fairly rare now, so one of the three can usually be found in Halifax to assist with the large container ships.

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Oak back, Bedford away

Svitzer Bedford (file photo)

Atlantic Oak with Atlantic Larch in background (file photo)

Atlantic Oak returned to port after a month or so away in Point Tupper filling in for Atlantic Fir, which came to Halifax.. This brings Atlantic towing back up to two tugs in port. Atlantic Larch has remained here all along.
Svitzer Bedford has gone to Lunenburg for her five year survey. This is her first drydocking since arriving in Halifax in the fall of 2005 from builders in Chile. Fleet mate Point Halifax remains in Lunenburg with one stern drive unit out for repairs. Point Chebucto and Point Valiant are the two working tugs in Halifax.

Svitzer Bedford at the ready.

Svitzer Bedford stands off the Svitzer pier awaiting the arrival of the container ship Atlantic Cartier early this morning. In the background Atlantic Oak returns to her pier on the Dartmouth side of the harbour after berthing OOCL Singapore. Both container ships tied up at the Fairview Cove container terminal. The OOCL ships require escort through the Narrows of the harbour and often use tow tugs. The ACL ships rarely use tugs, but this time Atlantic Cartier used 2 tugs- Svitzer Bedford and Point Chebucto.