Change Out in Halifax - amended

 With the delivery of two new tugs earlier this year and several large operations in the port of Halifax and as far away as Newfoundland, Atlantic Towing Ltd has been moving its tugs around. Now, December 23, it seems things are settling back to more or less normal.

Coming into effect this year has been the requirement for two tethered escort stern tugs for the Very Large Large Container Ships and usually three tugs for berthing. With those tugs busy there is a need for at least two more tugs to attend to other ship movements. It now appears that ATL has settled on six (or maybe seven) tugs to work in Halifax.

The newest tugs, Atlantic Ash and Atlantic Maple are the "go to" tugs for large ships and tethered escort work. With 6675 bhp and 85 tonne bollard pull they are the most powerful tugs in the fleet. Built by Uzmar in Turkey, they were delivered during this past summer. They are easily identifiable thanks to the red piping for their fire fighting monitors and the extended exhaust pipes.

 

A "regular" tug in Halifax, ever since new in 2004, is the Atlantic Oak. Built as part of the large series at East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown PE it is rated 5050 bhp and 66 tonnes bollard pull. The tug was away from Halifax until recently for an extended refit at Shelburne, NS.

As with most of the Halifax-based tugs it has Fire Fighting equipment and a towing winch.

 Its sister tug, also built for Halifax in 2005, the Atlantic Fir has the same bhp but pulled 68 tonnes on its BP trials.

It recently completed some "outside" work in Newfoundland and last week towed the semi-submersible barge Boa Barge 37 to Sydney and and returned to Halifax light tug December 21.  It is fitted with a towing winch and a large staple on the after deck.

Another sister Atlantic Cedar also rated 5050bhp, 66 tonnes BP has been a regular in Halifax for some time, but was based for many years in Saint John. 

It is also equipped with a towing winch. The above photo was taken when the tug was brand new (2005-07-09) and before the towing wire was wound on the drum.

A less powerful tug, Atlantic Larch built in 2000 and rated at 4,000 bhp with 51 tonnes BP and equipped with a towing winch, has also been working in and out of Halifax recently, mostly doing barge work, such as shifting the Atlantic Swordfish from the South End Container Terminal to the Fairview Cove container terminal, repositioning Rubber Tired Gantries. It has also been in the Sydney area. Termed an "outside tug" it was fitted with advanced navigating systems and carries two "golf balls."

 Unlike the other tugs it is not fitted with firefighting equipment, but does have a towing winch.

Amendment: on December 27 the Atlantic Larch left Halifax for Saint John,

 For the last several years and until this year while the Atlantic Oak was in refit the Atlantic Beaver was brought in from Saint John. One of the three tugs built for the Natural Gas Terminal it is a 5432  bhp, 72 tonne BP tug, built to stand by ships at a monobuoy in the open roadstead. That capability is not needed in Halifax, and it sailed for Saint John December 22.

The Atlantic Beaver carries two rows of tubular fenders in the bow and fire fighting monitors on the wheelhouse deck.

The "odd man out" in this series of tugs is the Atlantic Willow. As far as I can tell it has been laid up for some time and has not seen any service for perhaps months. It is also the oldest tug in the group, built in 1998, with 4,000 bhp and 50 tonne bollard pull. 

It was built originally for service at Point Tupper and is equipped with more elaborate fire fighting gear.

.

 

Tug Exchange

 Atlantic Towing Ltd, the providers of harbour tug services in Halifax and Saint John, NB, periodically moves tugs between the two ports depending on the need. They have three tugs of 70 tonne bollard pull and 5400 bhp, the Atlantic Bear, Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III that were designed with higher bows and extra fendering to work with LNG tankers at the Canaport monobuoy in the open roadstead off Saint John. With gas imports at a very low level now, one or two of the tugs have been shifted to work in Halifax where their power is useful for large container ships.

When a gas tanker or large crude tanker is due in Saint John, the tugs may be sent back from Halifax, and one of the other Saint John harbour tugs moves over to take its place in Halifax.

The Atlantic Beaver went to Saint John in recent days, the Atlantic Bear sailed today,  and the Atlantic Cedar arrived from Saint John to supplement the three other regular Halifax tugs, Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Oak (5050 bhp 68 tonne bollard pull), and Atlantic Willow (4,000 bhp, 50 tonne bollard pull).

The Atlantic Cedar is also a 5050 bhp, 68 tonne bollard pull tug and it was soon put to work doing the same jobs that its sister Halifax tugs usually do.

That work included tethered stern escort for the arriving 113,509 gt / 119,180 dwt container ship CMA CGM Cochin. With a container capacity of 10,100 TEU it is about 5,000 TEU shy of the largest container ships to call in Halifax, but still requires the good power of three tugs to berth at PSA Halifax's Pier 42 - this case with the Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Oak.

Ships must be turned 180 degrees to tie up starboard side to, and tugs are required for slow speed steering assist, braking and the usual push pull. The stern tug keeps its line up, but moves to the port quarter and the offside tug (in this case Atlantic Oak) shifts to port midships for the actual berthing.

For comparison purposes the following file photo shows the additional fendering on the Atlantic Beaver:

.

Double Escort

 Tugs from Atlantic Towing Ltd, performed a double tethered escort exercise in Halifax harbour on April 23.

Halifax harbour pilots, the Atlantic Pilotage Authority and the container ship MOL Courage (90,634 deadweight / 9060 TEU) conducted the exercise as the container ship entered Halifax harbour without the use of the ship's rudder. Both tugs, Atlantic Fir and Atlantic Oak, were tethered to the ship with stern lines and in effect steered the ship following directions from the harbour pilot, via VHF radio.

The exercise was repeated on departure of the ship the next day, April 24. This time however the ship used the western channel, which required a coiuple of sharp turns.

The exercise was a trial to prepare for an emergency. If a large ship has a rudder failure, a single 5,000 bhp tug might not be sufficient to turn the ship, so a second tug would be needed. 

Large container ships are now frequent visitors to Halifax, with 150,000 dwt and 15,000 TEU not uncommon. Generally such ships use one tug as tethered escort and one or two additional tugs for  berthing, depending on conditions. 

.

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.

.

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.

.

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.

.

Change Day at Atlantic Towing

For a short time today there were five tugs alongside Atlantic Towing Ltd's dock at Woodside. One tug was only in port briefly - Atlantic Hemlock.

Atlantic Hemlock has begun to shorten up the tow, which is trailing its buoyed insurance line.

 

 With the Hemlock on the hip, the barge makes its way stern first toward pier 6.

The veteran tug, built in 1996 is the oldest of the modern ASD tugs in the fleet. It arrived this afternoon towing the barge Atlantic Sealion. The once notorious Irving Whale, the barge is back from a summer's work in Chesterfield Inlet, running the supply shuttle to Baker Lake. Since the tugs that were working in the north returned to Belledune, I am assuming that is where Atlantic Hemlock picked up the tow. After a short spell at Woodside it set out for Saint John.

Hemlock features the tapered sides to the deck house. A feature of the original Robert Allen design, it was eliminated in later tugs in the series.

Also sailing this afternoon was Atlantic Larch.It had been in Halifax to fill in for Atlantic Willow while it was on the slip in Shelburne. Willow is now back with a nice new paint job and will be ready to work. When Larch left Halifax earlier this year, when it was replaced by the more powerful Atlantic Fir, it was fitted with a large Sat dome from the Fir, but this has now been removed, altough the tripoid mast is till in place. 

Larch and Hemlock are fitted with towing winches, but no fire fighting gear, and are considered "outside tugs" meaning that they are available for coastal work.

Atlantic Hemlock away from the dock (far right)

Atlantic Larch (far left) readying to go.

Atlantic Willow (inside the pier), Atlantic Fir (centre left) and Atlantic Oak (centre right) are the regular Halifax tugs.

There is a sixth tug at Woodside, although it is not in the water.

Irving Chestnut, after several years laid up at pier 9 in Halifax, was in the way and was lifted out at Woodside this summer. Built in 1953 as the US Army T-Boat T-497 it is assigned to Atlantic Towing's subsidiary Harbour Development Ltd, and was used a general purpose tug / workboat / crew boat. A  sister boat Irving Hazelnut (ex T-435) is still operating as a dredge tender. 

With a third unit Irving Walnut (ex T-425) which may have been scrapped by now, the trio were called

the "Nut Boats" and worked Saint John Harbour and the Canaport offshore tanker buoy before being signed over to the dredging fleet. They are the last of the Atlantic boats to still carry the "Irving" name - the rest of the fleet was renamed in 1996-1998.

How long the Chestnut will sit until she is broken up or refitted is anyone's guess.

.

Atlantic Fir joins Halifax tug fleet

As reported in previous pages the tug Altantic Fir has joined Atlantic Towing Ltd's permanent Halifax tug fleet replacing Atlantic Larch.

 Atlantic Fir heading southbound in the Narrows this afternnon.

Built in 2005 by Eastisle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE Atlantic Fir is a near sister of the Atlantic Oak, built in 2004 for service in Halifax. Both are 5,050 bhp ASD tugs rated at 68 tonnes bollard fitted with forward shiphandling and aft towing winches and with firefighting capability.


The third tug in Halifax, Atlantic Willow is also a firefighting tug, but with no towing winch. It has 4,000 bhp which delivers a 50 tonne bollard pull.

Atlantic Oak tethered to Atlantic Compass transiting the Narrows.

All tugs were busy at work this weekend, with Atlantic Oak in its usual role as tethered stern escort for large ship in the Narrows. Atlantic Fir will also be used in a similar role for large ships.

 Atlantic Willow in a close tethered position. It has only a towing hook, and is thus not fitted with a stern roller.

Even Atlantic Willow got in a rare escort job with the 69,919 deadweight tonne tanker Overseas Jademar when it was decided not to berth at Nova Scotia Power due to high winds. The ship instead proceeded through the Narrows for an anchorage in Bedford Basin.[see also Shipfax]. The 4,000 bhp tugs are normally not used for large ship escort in the Narrows.

 Atlantic Fir moves into position to make fast forward on the 65,919 deadweight tonne NYK Constellation, with Atlantic Oak in position as stern tethered escort.

Meanwhile Atlantic Larch, which will now be used for outside towing work, is in the Bahamas Islands bound for Colon, Panama to pick up the decommissioned Royal Canadian Navy ship Protecteur  That ship is in tow of the Corbin Foss off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Its most recent ETA for Balboa was March 17.

.

More tug updates

The tugs Svitzer Njal and Svitzer Nerthus are underway again and are upbound on the St.Lawrence River, giving a March 10 destination of Montreal. Stranger and stranger.






Atlantic Fir has settled in in Halifax and will be assigned here permanently, replacing Atlantic Larch. Halifax needed more horsepower, and Fir's 5,000 bhp will allow it to do escort work., This will avoid the crazy situation where two tugs were used as stern escort, when the other 5,000 bhp tug, Atlantic Oak was not available.  See: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2016/02/atlantic-larch-and-atlantic-willow-on.html
Fir escorted the loaded tanker Afra Oak outbound this morning.






Atlantic Larch will now be an outside tug, used for towing assignments around the region. It was built originally for use at Point Tupper. It will now be based nominally in Saint John, but will be on the move most of the time.
Larch is giving a March 17 ETA for Colon, Panama and Corbin Foss with the former Protecteur in tow is now off Acapulco, still giving a March 17 ETA for Balboa.


Ocean Foxtrot is still in Marystown, NL.

.

Tug Moves

Atlantic Larch has sailed from Halifax for Panama. The tug presumably will be taking over the tow of Protecteur from Corbin Foss, which is still due in Balboa March 17. The former RCN supply ship is headed for Liverpool, NS and a date with the scrappers.

 

Atlantic Larch is fitted with a towing winch and often works outside of Halfax harbour.

 

Following the tow on AIS, as of today, Corbin Foss and Protecteur were well down the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, and had been making better than 8 knots. Corbin Foss has 7200 bhp  at its disposal.

To take Atlantic Larch's place in Halifax is Atlantic Fir. It seems an odd arrangement, since Atlantic Fir is a 5,000 bhp tug and Atlantic Larch is only 4,000bhp. Also Atlantic Fir has been doing a lot of outside towing and seemed to be ATL's go to tug for that kind of work.
Interestingly when Atlantic Fir was spotted working Halifax today, it had lost the prominent SatNav dome it was porting when last seen February 7. Perhaps it was transferred to Larch. [See today's Shipfax for partial photo.]

Océan Foxtrot in Halifax fitted for cable repair work.

A former Canadian tug is disabled south of St-Pierre (46.30N x 55.57W) and has called for Coast Guard assistance. The Océan Foxtrot had been laid up in St.John's for four years, and is only one day out of port for an unknown destination. Its Canadian registry was closed October 3, 2014 and it was reported sold, but the buyers were not disclosed. I believe the boat was in fairly rough condition, so it is perhaps not surprising that it is having a problem. Once again the wisdom of setting out to sea at this time of year, with severe storms passing through, in a questionable vessel, makes one wonder who protects the foolhardy?

Built in 1971 by Cochrane + Sons, Selby, England as Polar Shore it worked for Offshore Marine until 1977 when it was acquired by Dome Petroleum's Canadian Marine Drilling and renamed Canmar Supplier VII. Groupe Océan of Quebec City acquired the tug in 1995 and it performed a whole variety of chores for them including pushing a barge, towing pulpwood barges, dive support and salvage tows. It was among the vessels that worked on recovering material form the Swiss Air crash in 1998.
It was rated at 72 tonnes bollard pull from two 12 cylinder KHDs totaling 5280 bhp.

The last rumour about Océan Foxtrot in 2014 was that it would be towing the former RCN diving support ship Cormorant from Bridgewater, NS to scrappers in the Dominican Republic. The current story has echoes of the previous unhappy experience of the tug Charlene Hunt which towed Lyubov Orlova out of St.John's for the DR, lost the tow and was itself eventually towed away.

As of this evening Océan Foxtrot was not showing up on AIS, nor was any Coast Guard vessel showing up nearby.

.

Atlantic Fir - with a little help from my friends

The tug Atlantic Fir made it into Halifax today with the barge Oceanus - but not without the help of all three of Atlantic towing's harbour tugs.

Atlantic Fir (left) has the tow and Atlantic Oak is providing steering from the stern of the barge. Atlantic Larch is nosing up on the barge's starboard bow and Atlantic Willow is standing off the port bow as the barge begins to make its eastward turn off Ferguson's Cove.

Originally scheduled to arrive yesterday afternoon, the tug and barge put back out to the anchorages for about 24 hours while some mechanical and electrical problems were rectified. Then in perfect conditions it entered the harbour this afternoon, keeping to the western channel, but there was no other traffic at the time so there was lots of room to maneuver into the IEL dock in Dartmouth. (The western channel is deeper, and less likely to snag a heavy tow line.)

 Atlantic Fir is leaving the western deepwater channel (the towline is just visible).

Atlantic Oak with the stern line is ready to swing the barge back into the main channel.

The barge Oceanus is registered in the United States, but is working in Canada under coasting license from September 15, 2015 until September 14, 2016. It was brought in by ATL to make multiple trips from Port aux Basques, Cow Head and Bay Bulls with components for the Hebron Topsides Project. (The topsides will be mated to the gravity base at Bull Arm once the latter is completed). The components include the 400 ft x 100 ft, 340 tonne flare boom, the 5200 tonne drilling support, helideck and lifeboat station components ranging from 30 to 213 tonnes.

Built in 2010 by Gunderson Marine LLC the 7913 grt barge measures 384 ft x 105 ft x 25 ft deep.   It is owned by Ulysses LLC of Belle Chasse, LA.

Atlantic Fir is a near sister to the Halifax based Atlantic Oak, a 5050 bhp ASD, built in 2005, with 68 tonne bollard pull and fire fighting gear. It differs visually from the Oak chiefly due to the large sat nav dome, fitted because it does ocean towing.

Earlier in the day Atlantic Towing called on Svitzer to provide the tug Svitzer Njal to assist with both container ships EM Kea and CMA CGM Titus in place of Atlantic Oak. Svitzer Njal and sister Svitzer Nerthus are wintering in Halifax until they go north again in July. Since Atlantic Towing Ltd and Svitzer operate the tugs in Halifax and Point Tupper in a joint venture, we might see this happen again from time to time. It would certainly avoid the kind of double escort we saw yesterday, which is really quite unsatisfactory for a number of reasons.

.