Tugs that pass in the night - Updated (AGAIN)

Ships do it, and so do tugs. Tonight May 4-5 two tugs passed each other northeast of Halifax.

The Beverly M 1 initially arrived in Halifax April 30 towing the deck scow MM10 from Sydney.

Built in 1993 by Inamura Shipbuilding Co in Kure, it is a 2 screw CPP tug of 4,000 bhp. It was named Shek O. until 2004, then became: Hunter; 2006: Shek O.; 2008: Pacific Typhoon. When McKeil acquired the tug in 2013 it was working in Dubai with a sister tug which was also acquired by McKeil. Interestingly the tug still carries the inscription "Salvage + Towage" from its orginal owners, Swire Offshore of Hong Kong, however the letters MM (for McKeil Marine) have been added. It is also equipped with a large anchor handling and towing winch.

 

The Beverly M 1 sailed from Halifax May 3 en route for Sydney.

The second tug is the Fjord Saguenay, built in 2006 by East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE as one of the improved ice class series of 5,000 bhp tugs. Built as Stevns Iceflower it worked in Europe, also under the name Svitzer Njord from 2007 to 2009. It returned to Canada on its own hull in February 2009, arriving in Halifax on one engine. It was given the name Fjord Saguenay and went to work in La Baie (Port Alfred) for Rio Tinto Alcanunder the management of Groupe Océan [see update]. This spring it moved to Quebec City where Océan's repair facility replaced an engine with a more efficient one [see Update]. Its place at La Baie has been taken by Ocean Raynald T (a sister tug built as Stevns Icequeen in 2009).

As an ASD tug, it works over the bow with a large winch on the foredeck. It also has a towing winch, and quick rlease tow hook aft.

The tug sailed from Quebec City April 29, sailed down the St.Lawrence and across the Gulf of St.Lawrence, through the Northumberland Strait, and Canso Canal, anchoring in Inhabitant's Bay May 2. Today May 4 it departed southbound, not giving a destination on AIS.

The two tugs likely passed within sight of each other off Nova Scotia's eastern shor.

Update:

Thanks to an alert reader, I have learned the tug is heading for Shelburne, NS for its class renewal survey.

New Update (June 20).

Thanks to information provided directly by RioTinto Alcan, I can correct misinformation published in the orginal post.

1. Rio Tinto Alcan independantly manages and operates the tugs in Port Alfred / La Baie.

2. The engine was removed, repaired and re-installed by Caterpillar-Toromont. The same block was used, and the engine is not a more efficient model. Groupe Océan did provide labour for the remove / re-install.

As always corrections are welcome.

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Double Escort

 Tugs from Atlantic Towing Ltd, performed a double tethered escort exercise in Halifax harbour on April 23.

Halifax harbour pilots, the Atlantic Pilotage Authority and the container ship MOL Courage (90,634 deadweight / 9060 TEU) conducted the exercise as the container ship entered Halifax harbour without the use of the ship's rudder. Both tugs, Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Oak, were tethered to the ship with stern lines and in effect steered the ship following directions from the harbour pilot, via VHF radio.

The exercise was repeated on departure of the ship the next day, April 24. This time however the ship used the western channel, which required a coiuple of sharp turns.

The exercise was a trial to prepare for an emergency. If a large ship has a rudder failure, a single 5,000 bhp tug might not be sufficient to turn the ship, so a second tug would be needed. 

Large container ships are now frequent visitors to Halifax, with 150,000 dwt and 15,000 TEU not uncommon. Generally such ships use one tug as tethered escort and one or two additional tugs for  berthing, depending on conditions. 

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Mirjana K loses power -updated

 A tug / standby vessel, once a regular in Halifax was recently reported with engine trouble in Turkey. Renamed Mirjana K when it was sold in 2021, it was better known in Halifax as the Atlantic Tern.

Atlantic Tern was built in 1975 as the anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS)  Canmar Supplier II by Vito Steel Boat and Barge Construction Ltd of Delta, BC. First owners, Dome Petroleum, through their offshore subsidiary Canmar Drilling, used the boat in the Beaufort Sea. 

 

Amoco took over the debt-ridden Dome and Canmar, and eventually closed down the arctic operations. By that time the boat had been renamed Supplier II but became Canmar Supplier II again (twice) until finally sold in 1998 to the Norwegian company Remoy. They renamed it REM Supporter until selling it to the Faroe Islands operator Thor p/f in 2005. It then became  Thor Supplier. During this time it was extensively modified with the addition of an aft facing bridge structure and raised forecastle.

In 2012 Atlantic Towing Ltd acquired the boat and renamed it Atlantic Birch II *. Initially it worked as a support vessel for seismic work off Greenland, but by 2013 it was back under Canadian flag and registered as Atlantic Tern. Paired with Atlantic Condor the boats shuttled to and from the Deep Panuke site, about 250 km southeast of Halifax. Atlantic Tern spent more time in the standby role, leaving Condor for the heavier loads.

 

When the offshore gas installations were decommissioned the Atlantic Tern was laid up in Stephenville, NL in August 2020. It was sold in early 2021 and renamed Mirjana K under Panama flag and sailed in May 2021 for Rotterdam. The new owners, imaginatively named Project Canada IC Ltd, were rumoured to be Croatian. Recent listings show owners as Boyut Endustriyel of Gebze, Turkey. 

It is now reported that the vessel suffered engine failure in Greek waters on March 1, 2023. The Bas Viking took the vessel in tow for the Yalova Shipyard for repairs on April 12. Assistance was provided by the Turkeli for the passage through the narrow Canakkale Strait (aka  Dardanelles) for an arrival of April 16.

* The naming tradition for Atlantic Towing Ltd goes back to the early towing operaiotns of the J.D.Irving companies. They had a number of tugs working the Saint John River and tributary lakes, with timber booms and later chip barges. The tugs were named after soft wood (coniferous) trees - the preferred wood for use in making paper. Alder, Cedar, Fir, Juniper. Pine and Spruce, were among the native species that were selected as names. 

The Irving interests also had harbour and deep sea tugs that operated in saltwater predominantly, and they were named for hardwood (deciduous) trees. Names such as Birch, Beech, Elm, Hickory, Maple, Oak and Walnut were used for those tugs. One interesting tree selection was the Teak, used for a tug built in Singapore.

When Atlantic Towing Ltd became more formalized as a division of J.D.Irving Ltd, and water transport of wood products came to an end, the naming lines became blurred and both softwood and hardwood tree names were applied to the harbour and seagoing tugs. For example sister tugs Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Oak both work out of Halifax.

Atlantic Towing Ltd also entered the offshore supply business and chose to name its tug/suppliers after sea and shore birds. Most of the species selected were commonly found in the Atlantic Canada region, but there were exceptions, such as the inexplicable Condor. The Atlantic Tern as reported above was initially given the (in my opinion) inappropriate name of Atlantic Birch II. In fact it was the third tug to carry the Birch name, but the second "Atlsantic Birch" . As an offshore vessel it was soon renamed for the family of seabirds - the Tern. 

Tugs owned by the Irving interests were named with the prefix "Irving" until the late 1990s when they were renamed with the prefix "Atlantic". The first tug using the Birch name was the Irving Birch, built in 1941 as the Assurance class HMS Charon later HMS Alligator. It served the Irving fleet from 1959 to 1969, by which time it had been replaced by a second Irving Birch built in 1967. That tug became the Atlantic Birch in 1997 and was broken up in 2013.

Update #1 The original report of the engine breakdown seems to have been revised to state that the breakdown owned on April 12 off Lesvos Island, and that the tug was in fact the Cengiz Han - not the same vessel at all.

Update#2 It appears that the initial report was correct. The Cengiz Han is not the vessel in question.

I await some clarification.

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Atlantic Willow - back in port

 The tug Atlantic Willow has returned to its normal ship berthing duties in Halifax.

The Atlantic Willow (forward) assists fleetmate Atlantic Beaver guiding the bulker Ocean Pearl as it arrives in Halifax to load gypsum, April 15.

The Atlantic Willow left Halifax April 6 and headed for Trinity Bay, NF. It was joined there by the Atlantic Larch, Atlantic Spruce and Atlantic Elm from Saint John. They were called in to dock the Terra Nova FPSO at Bull Arm. The huge ship returned from a refit in Spain, and was anchored in Conception Bay. It was escorted round to Trinity Bay by suppliers and the four tugs docked the FPSO at the Bull Arm facility. There is still a lot of work to do on the ship before it can return to its position at the Terra Nova offshore oil field some time this summer.

With the misson completed the Atlantic Willow arrived back in Halifax April 14. 

The tug was built in 1998 and equipped with firefighting gear. It was stationed in Point Tupper, NS when Atlantic Towing Ltd provided tug services at the Nustar oil storage facility. It was transferred to Halifax when Atlantic Towing Ltd and Svitzer Canada agreed to exchange services in 2010. It is rated at 4,000 bhp and is the least powerful of the five tugs normally based in Halifax. It is the only ATL tug registered in Port Hawksbury.

 March 15, 2023 photo.

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Atlantic Bear puts on a show

 It is not often that the tugs of Atlantic Towing Ltd display their fire fighting capabilities, but this afternoon the Atlantic Bear put on a demonstration for several minutes.

 Despite some snow left on the ground, the temperature was several degrees above zero C, so it was an opportunity to give the decks a good wash too.

 In fact the tugs have a deluge system that washes down the deck house and provides a water curtain to prevent damage when working close-in to a fire.

Atlantic Bear is one of three tugs, with Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III, built in 2008 to work at the Canaport LNG terminal in Saint John, NB. The Aquamaster ASD tugs have 5432 bhp Cat main engines delivering a bollard pull of 70 tonnes (some sources said 79 tonnes). All three are owned by Atlantic Reyser, a joint venture between Atlantic Towing and the Spanish tug and terminal operators Reyser [REmolques Y SERvicios Maritimos S.L.] which has been owned since 2017 by P+O Maritime, a subsidiary of Dubai-based DP World.

Atlantic Towing bases two of the three tugs in Halifax, but dispatches one or both to Saint John when needed for LNG tanker berthing. 

 Two monitors rated at 1,200 cu m / hr (317k USGPM) mounted on the deck house, deck manifold and water curtain are powered by a 2,700 cu m / hr (713k USGPM) pump working off the port main engine.

Three other tugs (Atlantic Oak, Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Willow) are also based in Halifax, and they are also fitted for fire fighting, but are not as powerful.

As the pilot boat Capt. E.T.Rogers makes its way outbound, Atlantic Bear forms a water backdrop.

 

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Kamarina sails

 On February 15 the Kamarina sailed from Halifax for Lisbon - light tug. See also companion blog Shipfax of same date. [Updates Tugfax post of February 11.]

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Missed Opportunity - perhaps

 The powerful icebreaking tug Polar Circle sailed from St.John's, NL February 8 for Bergen, Norway. This week (about February 10 or 11) it was announced that GC Rieber Shipping AS had acquired full ownership of the vessel, purchasing the 50% interest previously held by Maas Capital Offshore.

The ship arrived in Halifax October 7, 2022 and aside from one brief trip to Boston December 16-22 for refueling, it remained at anchor in Halifax, with a brief move to take on stores, until January 30, 2023. It arrived in St.John's February 2 for refueling, but had to wait for MDO (Marine Diesel Oil) which was not immediately available.  

Sailing from Halifax January 30, 2023.

 There was speculation that the ship was "shopped" to the Canadian Coast Guard and private companies, but if so there were no takers. The Canadian Coast Guard may need an interim icebreaker when the CCG Terry Fox undergoes a life extension process starting later this year. However they might need more power than the Polar Circle has. It is a 12,236 bhp tug with a bollard pull rating of 150 tonnes. Construction was completed by Langsten Slip in Tomrefjord, Norway in 2006 on a hull built by Aker Tulcea. (The Terry Fox is a 23,200 bhp vessel with a 1920 nautical mile / 58 day range.)

Polar Circle was built in 2006 for a 15 year charter to Exxon Neftegaz as a tanker escort in the Sakahlin Island region of Russia. The contract was extended to September 2023, but in July 2022 Rieber opted to exit Russia and the ship sailed transpacific via the Panama Canal and New York to Halifax. Its orginal name Polar Pevek was changed to Polar Circle in 2022. (A previous Rieber vessel named Polarsirkel built in 1976, was renamed Polar Circle in 1981. It participated in the seal hunt off Newfoundland in 1978 and possibly in other years.)

The future of the ship is thus unknown, but operation in Norwegian waters or the Baltic is the most likely.

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