Big Tug heads north

The big Russian tug Vladimir Ignatyuk sailed from Halifax yesterday, headed for Greenland.

Built at Burrard Yarrows Corp in Victoria, BC in 1983 as Kalvik, it operated in the western Canadian Arctic Beaudril, a subsidiary of Gulf Canada Resources. It was renamed Arctic Kalvik in 1997 when acquired by Fednav Ltd.

Sister ship Terry Fox, built by the same company, but in North Vancouver, was sold to the Canadian Coast Guard, but they let Kalvik get away.

In 2003 it was sold to the Murmansk Shipping Co and has worked world wide in towing and arctic support. On her last visit to Halifax, in May of 2007, she was en route back to the Beaufort Sea to support drilling work as Vladimir Ignatyuk. With a helicopter landing deck mounted forward, she is distinctively different from her sister vessel.

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