Atlantic Bear puts on a show

 It is not often that the tugs of Atlantic Towing Ltd display their fire fighting capabilities, but this afternoon the Atlantic Bear put on a demonstration for several minutes.

 Despite some snow left on the ground, the temperature was several degrees above zero C, so it was an opportunity to give the decks a good wash too.

 In fact the tugs have a deluge system that washes down the deck house and provides a water curtain to prevent damage when working close-in to a fire.

Atlantic Bear is one of three tugs, with Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III, built in 2008 to work at the Canaport LNG terminal in Saint John, NB. The Aquamaster ASD tugs have 5432 bhp Cat main engines delivering a bollard pull of 70 tonnes (some sources said 79 tonnes). All three are owned by Atlantic Reyser, a joint venture between Atlantic Towing and the Spanish tug and terminal operators Reyser [REmolques Y SERvicios Maritimos S.L.] which has been owned since 2017 by P+O Maritime, a subsidiary of Dubai-based DP World.

Atlantic Towing bases two of the three tugs in Halifax, but dispatches one or both to Saint John when needed for LNG tanker berthing. 

 Two monitors rated at 1,200 cu m / hr (317k USGPM) mounted on the deck house, deck manifold and water curtain are powered by a 2,700 cu m / hr (713k USGPM) pump working off the port main engine.

Three other tugs (Atlantic Oak, Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Willow) are also based in Halifax, and they are also fitted for fire fighting, but are not as powerful.

As the pilot boat Capt. E.T.Rogers makes its way outbound, Atlantic Bear forms a water backdrop.

 

.

Big Tugs, Big Move

This morning the big tugs Siem Commander and Atlantic Osprey arrived towing the jack-up drill rig Noble Regina Allen.

The two boats were pulling pretty hard judging by the smoke, but they weren't making much speed.

Arriving at the same time was the massive Maersk Mobiliser.

It did not appear to be part of the rig move, and tied up briefly at pier 31.

Harbour tugs were not to be left out with the bigger tugs Atlantic Bear and Spitfire III working the rig arrival.

 The other harbour tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Fir  were assigned to move the autocarrier Torino from pier 31 to Autoport.

.

Atlantric Hemlock

Atlantic Towing is committed to having four tugs on station in Halifax at all times. This week when Atlantic Bear was needed in Saint John, Atlantic Hemlock traded places and is now working in Halifax.

Atlantic Hemlock in the Narrows after undocking the Radcliffe R. Latimer at National Gypsum.


Atlantic Hemlock was the third tug built at the East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE under the Irving Shipbuilding tug program that started in 1995 and ended in 2011 after building 36 tugs to a similar design. When it was delivered in 1996, Irving Hemlock was the first tug intended for long term ownership by Atlantic Towing. The first two tugs in the program, Atlantic Spruce (i) and Atlantic Fir (i) were exported. Atlantic Hemlock is a 4,000 bhp vessel with two Aquamaster ASD drives.

In order to show off the yard's ability, the tug, which was state of the art at the time, travelled across the Atlantic to various ports in England and Europe in 2000, including St.Malo, France. It was present at the International Tug and Salvage Conference.

Over the years the design was tweaked based on operational experience, and such features as fire fighting, towing winches and ice reinforcement were added or deleted as the owners required. Horsepower also increased from 4,000 bhp to 5,000 bhp.

In 2008 East Isle built three tugs for working gas tankers in Saint John. Atlantic Bear, Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III have heavier winches and more fendering for working in the open roadstead and more power for handling the larger ships. One of those 5432 bhp tugs is usually based in Halifax, but will return to Saint John for gas tanker work.

A comparison view of Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Bear.

Also in port this week is the veteran Atlantic Elm, built in 1980 as Irving Elm. It is a 3460 bhp twin screw tug now used for towing work. It spent the summer in the north working supply barges in Rankin Inlet with fleet mate Atlantic Beech. It had been in refit at Atlantic Towing's repair yard in Saint John since returning from Hudson's Bay last month.

Little changed since it was renamed Atlantic Elm in 1996, the tug is standing by in Halifax.

.

Return of the Osprey and other Atlantic Towing activity

The Province  of Nova Scotia's official bird is the osprey, a migratory fish hawk that usually puts in its first appearance of the year in late April or early May. Today's return of the big tug supplier Atlantic Osprey is certainly seasonally correct, but as to origin, it is coming from St.John's Newfoundland rather than more southern waters.

The 3453 grt, 16,000 bhp OSV is one of four similar ships in the ATL offshore fleet, two of which are UT 722 and two are UT 722L (L=long), all built at Halifax Shipyard under license from Ulstein. The boat was laid up for a time over last winter, and a large deck crane and other gear, such as an ROV davit have been removed.

While arriving it passed Atlantic Towing Ltd's Woodside tug base, where the usual four harbour tugs, Atlantic Oak, Atlantic Fir, Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Bear have been joined temporarily by Atlantic Larch. The latter tug will likely be towing out the barge Atlantic Sea Lion for northern supply work.

Atlantic Bear went to Saint John last week to assist with an LNG tanker, but returned to Halifax in time to put on a water demonstration for the inaugural call of the auto carrier Grande Halifax on Wednesday (see also Shipfax).

.

Conditions Vary

Winter in the North Atlantic is noted for high winds, frigid temperatures and notorious freezing spray.

This winter has been a bit of an exception with prolonged periods of mild air temperatures, well above the Zero degree Celsius mark. Nevertheless tugs must be prepared for whatever happens.

Today was one of those mild days. Yesterday's snow soon melted where it was exposed to the sun.
 

Atlantic Oak made its way through the Narrows in the late afternoon. The tug was tasked with unberthing and escort duties for the container ships YM Evolution.


On Saturday, temperatures were also relatively mild, with few tracers oof snow anywhere, but Atlantic Bear was bundled up for winter work nonetheless.

The tug's winch was tarped as were the two fire fighting monitors mounted on the bridge deck.

Earlier in the month there were frigid conditions as Atlantic Fir was stern escort on the YM Moderation. As the ship's name implied, that is just what the weather did a few days later.

February 3, 1996 was no better - in fact much worse, when Chebucto Sea arrived. It was assisting with the tow of the disabled Amphion.

Secunda Marine fleet mate Tignish Sea had towed the abandoned bulker from 450 miles SE of St.John's, Newfoundland. Chebucto Sea (former RCN tug St.Charles) assisted with the tow into Halifax in brutal conditions.


It was also a frigid day February 18, 1979. Point Vim was standing by at pier 36 (the shed in the background has long since been demolished).

Its fine coat of ice was acquired working around the harbour.

Some visiting tugs get more than they bargain for with Halifax weather. The 1968 built Eklof tug Thor took some freezing when it arrived with the oil tanker barge E57. It left the barge at anchor and moved to the Museum dock to clear ice in January 1989.

They came back for more however, and made a total of three trips to Halifax that month. The tug was used to hardship however. Built in 1958 as Marjorie McAllister, it sank with the loss of all six crew in November 1969 off North Carolina. Donjon Marine salvaged thre tug in 1972, rebuilt it and it became their Tracy Ann Witte in 1980. Eklof Marine Corp owned the tug from about 1983 until 1999 when it was reacquired by its original owners and renamed Mary L. McAllister. In 2016 it was reported sold to Haitian owners. It is a single screw tug with a 4,000 bhp GM EMD engine.

.

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.

.

Tugs at work, tug at rest

Harbour tugs get to work in all kinds of weather from hot to cold, wet to dry, calm to windy, but the worst must be the frigid winters when spray freezes to steel.

This morning, although the wind had died down, the air temperature was still minus 13C and there were still traces of sea smoke as Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Bear were called out to assist the tanker Silia T to anchor in Bedford Basin.[see also Shipfax]
Harbour regulations require that ships of this size use two tugs to transit the Narrows, one forward and one as tethered stern escort.

Atlantic Oak, usually the stern tug, got the forward position this time around. She wears a thin coating of frozen spray.

The more powerful Atlantic Bear got the aft position and did some real work to swing the ship's stern dipping her rail as she heeled into her bow line.

It took only a few minutes to adjust the ship's course and the tug was able resume an even keel. Despite its immense size, a big ship's rudder is ineffective at slow speed and when the ship is light. The tug provides far more force and can respond rapidly.

The tugs stayed with the ship as it entered the Bedford Basin and would assist it to stop and to turn into the wind at the anchorage.

Meanwhile another tug was at rest at Dominion Diving. Dominion Bearcat has been undergoing a leisurely refirt for almost two years at its owners base in Dartmouth Cove. The tug was built in 1987 as GSI No.1 by Georgetown Shipyard in Prince Edward Island for their own account. In 1992 it was sold to the Mersey Paper Co, Liverpool, NS to assist ship docking at the mill's pier in Brooklyn. It was renamed Mersey Pride.
When the paper mill was closed in 2014 (it is now the site of a shipbreaking facility) Dominion Diving bought the tug and renamed it. They have since made numerous modifications for their own needs and painted the hull in the company colours (it had always been unpainted aluminum), making a very handsome job of it.

A member of the local duck population touches down adjacent to the newly refitted boat. Fleet mates Dominion Pursuit and Big Steel wait for work in the background.

Dominion Diving carries out an extensive underwater business, but also provides pilot transport, line boat, workboat and supply barge assist in Halifax, and frequently rtravel to other parets of the region. Dominion Bearcat should serve them well in a variety of jobs.

.

Tug Change

Two of the regular Halifax tugs sailed today to be replaced by two from Saint John.
Atlantic Willow is southbound - maybe for refit in Shelburne, while Atlantic Fir is northbound in the direction of Newfoundland.

Replacements are the Atlantic Hemlock and Atlantic Bear.

Atlantic Hemlock dates from 1996 and is a 4,000 bhp ASD tug. It has the distinction of being the only tug in the current inshore fleet to have made a transatlantic voyage. When Irving Shipbuilding was promoting its successful line of tugs from the East Isle Shipyard, Atlantic Hemlock visited several European ports including Rotterdam in 2000. It was also present at the International Tug & Salvage conference event at St.Malo, France. It worked briefly off Broadstairs, UK on a cable repair project, but after an idle spell in Southampton returned to Canada. It is now based in Saint John, but frequently does "outside" work beyond the port. It was here last month towing the barge Atlantic Sealion.

Atlantic Bear was built in 2008 as a variant on the East Isle design. With its two sisters, Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III, it was designed to berth ships at the LNG terminal near Saint John. With 5,432 bhp and a bollard pull of 70 tonnes they are the most powerful tugs in the ATL inshore fleet. Due to a drop in LNG demand, the tug has been freed up to work outside. It recently assisted in the placement of the tidal turbine in the Minas Basin.
It is equipped with extra bow fendering and has water cannons mounted on the bridge deck. They are tarped in, as is the large ship berthing winch on the foredeck.
The three tugs of this tpye are owned by Atlantic Reyser Ltd, a joint venture between ATLand the LNG terminal partners, and managed by ATL.

  

.