Troms Sirius - first in, first to go, Plus Lundstrom Tide follows

The Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) Troms Sirius sailed this evening January 11 for Bergen, Norway. It is one of two ships brought under Canadian registry by Horizon Maritime to service a BP drilling contract off Nova Scotia. A member of the Troms Offshore fleet (a Tidewater company) it was built in 2012 by STX in the OSV Tulcea shipyard in Romania and completed at STX Soviknes in Norway.

Troms Sirius returning to Halifax for the last time, Christmas Eve.

A 4,201 gt vessel with a deadweight tonnage of 4868, it was built to the VARD PSV 09L CD class, and is fitted with numerous tanks for carrying fluids and a large cargo deck. It is also equipped with firefighting gear and DP 2, and numerous other features. Powered by four Caterpillar diesels, driving four electrical generators, it delivers 11,200 bhp to twin screws. It is also equipped with an azimuthing bow thruster and two tunnel thrusters.

It was registered in Halifax March 9, 2018 after a brief period operating under a coasting license. Followed shortly after by the similar ship Lundstrom Tide and Horizon's own Horizon Star it supported the ultra deep water semi-submersible drill rig West Aquarius. The rig was mobilized in Newfoundland and in April began to drill an exploration well, Aspy D-11, 330 km southeast of Halifax. By November the well had found no commercially viable oil or gas and demobilization began. Troms Sirius escorted the rig back to Bay Bulls, NL then returned to Halifax.

 Troms Sirius returning to Halifax Christmas Eve.

There are no exploration or development projects planned off Nova Scotia. The only work in the area is the decommissioning of the two gas fields that have both ceased production. 

Troms Sirius refueled at Irving Oil on Tuesday January 8, then tied up at the Cove with Lundstrom Tide and Horizon Enabler (ex Tidewater Enabler).  Both those vessels are also idle.

Plus

On Saturday January 12, Lundstrom Tide also left Halifax. Its destination however is Limassol, Cypress. Sailing under the Vanuatu flag, it is giving an ETA of February 2.
A similar vessel to Troms Sirius it was registered in Halifax April 4, 2018, under Horizon Maritime management. Built at the same STX OSV shipyard in Tulcea, Romania and completed in 2013 by STX Sovik, in Norway. Its gross tonnage is listed as 3943, and with 4700 deadweight tonnes, it appears to have similar characteristics. However its propulsion system is rated at 9,430bhp, and is diesel electric through Z-drives.

Lundstrom Tide arrived in Halifax for the first time April 11.


It also came to Canada to support BP's drilling program using the West Aquarius. After completing that work it moved the The Cove on about December 17.

Lundstrom Tide at The Cove (former Coast Guard base)

Troms Sirius, Lundstrom Tide and Horizon Star used Pier 9C as their base for operations. From there to the drill site was about a 20 hour trip.

  Some of the 3,000m of riser is laid out on Pier 9C ready to transport to the drill site

Both Horizon Star and Troms Sirius were certified as standby / rescue vessels. Crew changes were normally conducted by helicopter, a 1 hour 20 minute ride from the Halifax airport.

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