Winter tow for Mister Joe

Winter towing is fraught with issues, not the least of which is freezing spray. Even if temperatures moderate, weather is still the major issue, particularly with small tugs on coastal voyages.

McNally Construction's Mister Joe arrived in Halifax on Friday on the first leg of a tow from Port Hawksbury, NS to Saint John, NB. There are very few ports to put into along Nova Scotia's eastern and southern shores, and Halifax was the first port aslong the route to provide shelter from predicted high winds and seas.


Mister Joe resumed the tow today, but once outside the shelter of the harbour, they found there was too much strain on the towing gear and so they put back in this afternoon.

Mister Joe has shortened up the tow as it approaches pier 9.

The tug slacks the line and in an adept bit of ship handling.....

...makes up on the bow of the scow, allowing two deck hands to scramble aboard the icy deck, and another to work the towing winch to bring in the bridle and ...

... with the scow "on the hip" moves in to its berth.

There will be another try tomorrow, and if all goes right the next stop will be Shelburne, NS.

Mister Joe was built by the once prolific tug builders, Russel-Hipwell of Owen Sound, ON, in 1964 as Churchill River for the Hudson's Bay Company and worked in Hudson Bay for thirty years. It was sold to Newfoundland owners in the 1990s, then to Beaver Marine in 1997. When Beaver was taken over by McNally Construction the tug was renamed after company founder, Mister Joe (McNally) in 1999. It was re-engined in 2002, with a pair of GMs giving 750 bhp to twin screws. In 2013-2014 it was given a major rebuild, which included a new wheelhouse built to the same pattern as the original, but with better windows.

The tug can be seen all over eastern Canada, ranging from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Coast and Newfoundland, supporting McNally's various dredging and marine construction projects.At sea it works with a crew of five.

Mister Joe prepared for winter work with its accommodaiton ventilators wrapped and duct taped.

The dump scow is ballasted down for the trip with a couple of dredge buckets and some large concrete blocks in the pockets.

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Horizon Star makes it Halifax debut

Horizon Maritime Services Ltd (of Halifax and St. John's) has been involved in crewing and other services related to the offshore sector since it was founded in 2015. It has recently expanded into ship owning as part of a growth strategy. Owned and managed by Nova Scotians with considerable depth of experience with other operators, the company has chosen as its first vessel a highly sophisticated offshore support vessel with a range of capabilities.

Horizon Star arrived in Halifax for the first time January 10 after working off Newfoundland since the summer. Built by Kleven Ulstenivik to a Marin Teknikk MT 6015 design, the ship was originally ordered by IES Energy Marine of Malaysia and launched in 2015. When IES defaulted during the collapse of offshore activity, Kleven attempted to sell the ship, but with little success. Horizon, well financed by Nova Scotia investors, was able to wring a very good deal out of Kleven, and had the ship completed to their own specifications.

The naming ceremony in Norway August 3, 2017, coincided with is registration date in St.John's and Horizon Star sailed soon after, arriving in Newfoundland in mid-August.

At roughly 100m long and 5204 grt, it is reputed to be the largest Canadian vessel of its type. It is equipped with, among other things, a helicopter landing deck, a moon pool, ROV handling gear, and a crane that can work to depths of 3 km. Bristling with the usual array of directional thrusters, it is also fitted with the now standard fire fighting and oil skimming equipment, and can accommodate 60 persons, including its crew of 16.

After taking on some fuel today the ship returned to the IT Telecom berth at Pier 9A where a crane is standing by to load some equipment, that appears to be a large cable reel. The stern slide, fitted this week, indicates that it has been contracted to do some cable laying or cable repair work.

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Atlantic Bear - fourth tug for Halifax, (and other news) - see Update

As ships grow larger and business picks up in Halifax demand for tug services also increases. Halifax Marine Towing Ltd is the only large tug provider in the port. It is a joint venture between Atlantic Towing Limited and Svitzer Canada, with Atlantic Towing providing the tugs since 2010.

It has made do with three tugs up until recently, but in mid 2017 it brought in a fourth tug temporarily, then in December made it a full time arrangement. [see Update at bottom of page]

 Atlantic Bear

The current fourth tug is Atlantic Bear a 5,432 bhp tug built in 2008 by East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE for Atlantic Reyser Ltd. One of three terminal tugs to serve a new LNG import facility near Saint John, NB it was specially built for harsh conditions and work in exposed areas. It has additional fendering and delivers 70 tonnes bollard pull.

With the downturn in LNG imports, the sister tugs Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III are now assigned to general duties in Saint John and the third tug is not needed there.

The three other tugs in Halifax are Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Fir, of 2004 and 2005, both 5050 bhp, 68 tonnes bollard pull and Atlantic Willow 1998, 4,000 bhp, 50 tonne bollard pull. All have firefighting equipment.

 Atlantic Willow

Other Tug News

*   Atlantic Towing Ltd and Svitzer Canada are also partners in Point Tupper Towing, with Svitzer providing tugs primarily for the NuStar Energy terminal in Point Tupper, but also serving the other port facilities in the Strait of Canso. This year PTT also added a fourth tug. Svitzer Montreal joined the other Svitzer tugs, Point Chebucto, Point Valiant and Svitzer Bedford. The move allowed Point Chebucto to go to Lunenburg for an extended refit (now completed).

*   Interestingly Groupe Océan has stationed Océan Stevns in nearby Port Hawksbury. It arrived in mid-December, shortly before the Canso Canal closed for the season. What plans they may have for a single tug there remain to be seen, but it has apparently found some docking work. The tug was built in 2002 by Industrie Océan in Ile-aux-Coudres as Stevns Ocean and exported to Denmark. It is a 5,000 bhp ocean going tug, and was brought back to Canada in 2013. Update: Océan Stevns has a barge tow for the Caribbean and is waiting out weather to continue south.

Update:
No sooner had I filed this post than Atlantic Towing Ltd sent Atlantic Bear back to Saint John on January 2 and replaced it in Halifax with Atlantic Spruce. This is certainly a step backward in terms of power. It rates at only 4,000 bhp and 50 tonnes bollard pull. Built in 1997, it is the second oldest of the ASD tugs in the Atlantic Towing fleet.

 Atlantic Spruce working in Halifax on a previous occasion. 4,000 bhp tugs no longer perfrom tethered escort service in Halifax, that is now done by the 5,000 bhp tugs.

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Tug changes in Goderich

Groupe Océan has assigned the tug Escorte to the port of Goderich, ON. Situated on Lake Huron the port sees about 250 ships a year. Most of those ships load salt at the Sifto Salt mine, located in mid-harbour. There is also a grain loading facility and a grain elevator in the port.
We are told that Groupe Océan has a contract with Algoma Marine for ship docking at the salt pier, and has provided tugs for several years. Most recently they used the former pilot boat Ocean Côte-Nord.
It was built by Industrie Océan at Ile-aux-Coudres in 2001 as Côte-Nord and was based at the Escoumins pilot station with near sister Charlevoix built in 1995.
When the Laurentian Pilotage Authority replaced the two boats, Charlevoix went to Les Services I.C.E. Inc and has been stationed in Sydney, NS transferring ice advisers to and from ships transiting the Gulf and  St.Lawrence River.

 Côte-Nord and sister Charlevoix at the Anse-aux-Basques dock at Les Escoumins, QC..

Côte-Nord was transformed into a tug and sent to Goderich, ON in 2014. With a modest bollard pull of 10.8 tons, it must have been a bit of a challenge to work lakers in the tight confines of the port. Goderich remains open well into the winter as demand for road salt continues, but the port and its approaches often become choked with ice and other boats are often needed to break and scatter the ice.

Early in December Océan Côte-Nord was reported downbound through the St. Lawrence Seaway system and arrived in Montreal December 5.

Escorte, based in Hamilton, ON for a time until 2010 and again since 2016, arrived in Goderich December 17 and began work December 18. I have recounted the history of the tug here before, September 11, 2011
Built in 1967 as USN 760 Menasha it was one of the earliest Voith-Schneider tugs in North America.

 Still in navy colours, the tug worked for the US side of the Seaway.

After several transactions and refit it has served Océan in a variety of work, most recently in Hamilton, also assisting shipping in the Welland Canal.With more powerful V-S tugs now assigned to Hamilton, it has moved on once more.

No account of tug activities in Goderich would be complete without mention of the colourful fleet of MacDonald Marine [MacTug]. Their stylish little tugs have been a fixture in the port for decades, and the family owned business traces its origins to the days of sail.

MacTug handles ships using the grain berths, and sometimes the whole fleet is called out to work a ship.

 Debbie Lyn built 1950, 240 bhp.

 Donald Bert built 1953, 318 bhp.

 Ian Mac built 1955, 318 bhp.


Since the above photos were taken Ian Mac received a new wheelhouse:

Dover built 1930, (on a salvaged iron frame dating from 1905) 280 bhp, is reported to be out of service. its engine has been a fickle one by all accounts and that may be the problem. Its riveted hull, having been in fresh water its whole career is likely to still be sound.

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