A notice in the Halifax Chronicle Herald newspaper on September 12 announced that the mult-purpose workboat Tidal Pioneer is offered for sale by tender. Its owners, Sustainable Marine Energy (Canada) Ltd entered into voluntary bankruptcy earlier this year, citing government permitting issues. After operating a pilot project in Grand Passage, Digby Neck, the company wanted to install floating tidal generators in Minas Passage, further up the Bay of Fundy where there is an extremely large tidal range and fast flowing currents.
The Tidal Pioneer was used to tow the generators and install them on location, and service them once they were anchored and operational. The company suspended operations in April-May and the generators were to be scrapped according to press reports.
[There were controversial issues with this tidal power project which will not be dealt with here. An internet seach will reveal more information from news sites.]
The Tidal Pioneer was built in 2019 by Neptune Shipyards BV in Aalst, Netherlands. It is a standard design EuroCarrier 2611 type, a twin screw flat deck vessel with two Caterpillar main engines delivering 1940 kW with 35 tonne Bollard Pull. It carries two deck cranes and a variety of towing and anchor handling gear. The hull measures 24.5m x 11.04m x 3.45m depth (about 2m draft). The offset superstructure allows for large deck loads. [Details from Neptune's web site for typical craft of the type.]
This type of vessel is popular in Europe, and has been exported world wide, but is still rare in North America. Remarkably it made an unassisted Atlantic crossing via the Azores, arriving in Halifax August 24, 2021. (Dominion Diving's Dominion Warrior is the only other vessel of the type in Canada and although only slightly smaller, it arrived in Halifax on a heavy lift ship in 2018.)
The sale ad notes that any claims against the vessel must be registered in the Federal Court of Canada by October 7, 2023.
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