Atlantic Birch II

Atlantic Towing Ltd's new tug/supplier put in an appearance in Halifax today. It tied up at the Mobil dock in Dartmouth which is used by supply boats to take on stores and materials.
The tug has been contracted to stand by a seismic exploration vessel off Greenland.

[see previous post]
http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2012/04/irving-birch-2-new-for-atlantic-towing.html

Coming or Going

It's always a good question when I see tugs in these positions. Are they pushing or pulling?

Since I will be travelling for the next month, and probably not posting very much to this site, you will have time to ponder this deep question! Hint: you can't push on a string.

See Shipfax for May 12 to see what they were doing.

El Jaguar back again

The impressive US tug El Jaguar made a return visit to Halifax this weekend. As on her previous visit, she was towing the barge Marmac 400 with components for the nickel smelter in Long Harbour, NL. This time however, the load consisted on building structures, instead of pipe racks.
It was also a shorter stay this time. The tug arrived in the middle of the night and sailed late this afternoon.



1. El Jaguar lies alongside the tow while the crew reconnects the towing gear.

2. With towline connected the tug backs away.

3. Once turned the tow line is adjusted (the shackle is is just at the rail forward of the strongback.) The tug is being conned from the aft control/winch station on the boat deck.

4. While Atlantic Willow pulls the stern off the dock, El Jaguar pulls around to head out.

Big tug, little tugs at pier 9

More tug activity in the northend on Friday involved moving the old supplier Intrepid Sea a.k.a N-29, along pier 9B to pier 9A. The long dead Neftegaz 29 could not move on its own, and so Dominion Diving provided the motive power, and deck crew, using Halmar and Roseway - also two veterans.
Neftegaz 29 was built in Poland in 1983 as a pipe carrier/supplier for the USSR and acquired by Secunda Marine Services in 1998. Secunda rebuilt three sister vessels, with this one providing a lot of spares, but never reaching the conversion stage.

1. Its current name Intrepid Sea appears nowhere on the ship, so it is referred to as N-29. 

2. Neftegaz 29 was registered in the port of Kholmsk, which is on Sakhalin Island, just north of Japan in the eastern part of the Russia. Lloyd's Register never listed a registry port for the ship.

Friday's move was carried out by two classic boats, that have spent many years in Halifax. The more travelled of the two is Roseway, the former Department of Public Works tug, built in 1960 and acquired by Dominion Diving in 1989. It has performed numerous coastal tows but is most commonly seen these days as the line handling boat for Autoport.

3. Roseway reports for duty.

4. After moving a containment boom, Roseway takes a bow line and gets the ship moving using her 300 bhp on two screws. 

 Also built in 1960 is Halmar, one of the former Shipyards workboats. Its name is an amalgamation of HALifax Shipyards and Dartmouth MARine Slips,and it worked in both yards and all around the harbour until 1992. It was completely rebuilt and repowered in 2008-2009, with new superstructure and even a bow thruster. It can often be seen ferrying pilots to ships at anchor in the harbour when the pilot boat is out, but also does numerous other chores.

5. Halmar takes a stern line to keep the ship in line.

 

6. Her bow thruster was put to use several times during the move.

7. Roseway is often seen handling the head lines of ships at Autoport, where they are tethered to large buoys. 

8. On December 23, 1991 Roseway sank in 60 feet of water (and muck) while approaching the IEL dock. She was lifted off the bottom by slings and barge and moved to the pier where she was raised on December 28. Her electronics were replaced and and after cleanup was back in service within two months. [The tug in the background is Canmar Tugger, which became Atlantic Oak(i) and is now working on the west coast as Island Tugger. Coincidentally, it sank at its dock in Sydney in March 1993 and was raised by Dominion Diving.]

9. Halmar as she looked shortly after Dominion Diving acquired her from the Shipyards. [That is a lifeboat from CSS Hudson, and the retired icebreaker John A. Macdonald in the background]

10. In her Shipyard days Halmar worked around the harbour to assist in repairs, often with divers aboard. 



Changing of the Guard at pier 9 C

As work at pier 9c shifts from dredging to pier construction, there was a change of contractors and tugs were at work.
Harbour Development Ltd completed the dredging April 30 and their Atlantic Tamarack shifted all the scows and dredge from pier 9c to pier 7. (See also Shipfax) In order to get all the craft sorted out in the right order, Tamarack moved Swellmaster out of the way them back into place. Atlantic Tamarack has been handling most of the dredging scow work, although Swellmaster did some of the early work.Now that their part of the contract has been completed, the tugs and plant will be doing maintenance until the next jobs come along. Most dredging is done in the late summer and fall because spring run off (freshet) is continuing to deposit silt in places such as Saint John.

1. Atlantic Tamarack goes about its business while Atlantic Willow stands by for the ferry Highlanders to leave drydock.

2. Tamarack had to move Swellmaster twice to get all the plant arranged at pier 7.

On May 1 McNally Construction Inc took over the site and Mister Joe arrived with the tug Whitby and pile driving scow Derrick No.3 Ever on the move, Mister Joe returned almost immediately to Port Hawksbury, leaving Whitby here. McNallly's Carl M. has been here all winter and idle at pier 9 with other plant that was working on the pier c contract.



3. Mister Joe arrives on May 1 with Derrick No.3 on the hip. Whitby is hidden behind the scow.

4. Mister Joe departs light tug for Port Hawksbury.