Princess arrives

The Smit Boskalis tug Princess arrived this morning from Mulgrave, NS where it had delivered the Heerema barge H-591.

Built in 2002 by Yantai Raffles, the anchor handling tug/supplier is powered by a pair of 16 cylinder Wartsilas giving 16,500 bhp and 178 tonnes bollard pull.

Originally named Anglian Princess for Klynne tugs of England it was an early Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV) in the UK. In 2012 it went to Union de Remorquage et Sauvetage of Belgium as Union Princess. It still flies the Belgian flag as URS became part of Smit, then Boskalis.

The barge will be used as part of Heerema's removal of the Sable Offshore Energy Project structures using the crane rig Thialf.

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Wavemaster stopover

The tug Wavemaster and its tandem tow made a stopover in Halifax last evening en route from Saint John, NB and Summerside, PE. It was towing the dredge Cranemaster and the split hull hopper barge HD-11.

This is my first opportunity to see the tug up close since it was refitted for Canadian service and renamed. I did see it in Shelburne shortly after it was acquired from the Royal Netherlands Navy in 2018. Originally named Regge it was built in 1987, and beautifully maintained.

This is the second Wavemaster in the Harbour Development fleet. See:
http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-new-wavemaster.html

Among the modifications made for Canadian service was moving accommodation above the water line and the addition of a towing winch, rescue boat, etc.,

Harbour Development Ltd is the dredging and marine construction arm of the J.D.Irving Group, and is run independently from Atlantic Towing Ltd.

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