Atlantic Cedar in Halifax

 There has been a temporary re-assignment of tugs to Halifax, with Atlantic Towing Ltd transferring Atlantic Cedar from Saint John, NB.

Built in 2005 by East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE, it is a second generation  type, with 5,050 bhp, FiFi1 fire fighting and 66 tonne bollard pull.

It joins Atlantic Oak (2004) and Atlantic Fir (2005) also second gen types with the same horsepower and bollard pull.

Atlantic Fir, alongside and Atlantic Oak (astern) bring in the container ship ONE Hangzhou Bay (96,980 dwt). Atlantic Cedar had been on the starboard side, but once clear of the Narrows, moved on to assist MOL Experience with Atlantic Willow ((1998, 4000 bhp, 50 tonne BP).

Atlantic Willow is a first generation type, and the the first to be fitted with firefighting gear.

Irving Cedar is in Halifax to replace the  Atlantic Beaver (2008, 5432 bhp, 70 tonne BP) which has gone to Saint John to assist with the LNG tanker Hispania Spirit.

Atlantic Beaver and sister tugs Atlantic Bear and Spitfire III were built especially to handle LNG tankers at the mono-buoy unloading facility at Canaport, off Saint John, NB. Those ships are fairly rare now, so one of the three can usually be found in Halifax to assist with the large container ships.

.

Siem Commander - gone to Rotterdam

 The last offshore tug/supply vessel based in Halifax sailed for Rotterdam today (June 16) [in dense fog]. Siem Commander first arrived in Halifax July 31, 2019 and participated in the removal of the last offshore gas platforms off Sable Island. Aside from contract towing, the boat has been idle at the C.O.V.E. in Dartmouth ever since the work was completed. In recent days it conducted trials in Bedford Basin and refueled at Irving Oil.

Parent company Siem Offshore, owners of Secunda Marine , still have Avalon Sea and Siem Pilot in Newfoundland, but with no planned activity offshore Nova Scotia it may be a long time before we see any similar vessels in Halifax.

Built in 2009 by Havyard Liervik as Stril Commander for Simon Mokster Shipping AS it is a 2807 gt, 3000dwt vessel of 16,000 bhp, fully equipped for DP2 with a swing up bow thruster and tunnel stern thrusters. Siem acquired and renamed the vessel in 2017 but it has seen very little service since then, either in Norway or in Canada.

See more images: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/07/new-for-secunda.html

.