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.

.

 

Atlantic Willow - back in port

 The tug Atlantic Willow has returned to its normal ship berthing duties in Halifax.

The Atlantic Willow (forward) assists fleetmate Atlantic Beaver guiding the bulker Ocean Pearl as it arrives in Halifax to load gypsum, April 15.

The Atlantic Willow left Halifax April 6 and headed for Trinity Bay, NF. It was joined there by the Atlantic Larch, Atlantic Spruce and Atlantic Elm from Saint John. They were called in to dock the Terra Nova FPSO at Bull Arm. The huge ship returned from a refit in Spain, and was anchored in Conception Bay. It was escorted round to Trinity Bay by suppliers and the four tugs docked the FPSO at the Bull Arm facility. There is still a lot of work to do on the ship before it can return to its position at the Terra Nova offshore oil field some time this summer.

With the misson completed the Atlantic Willow arrived back in Halifax April 14. 

The tug was built in 1998 and equipped with firefighting gear. It was stationed in Point Tupper, NS when Atlantic Towing Ltd provided tug services at the Nustar oil storage facility. It was transferred to Halifax when Atlantic Towing Ltd and Svitzer Canada agreed to exchange services in 2010. It is rated at 4,000 bhp and is the least powerful of the five tugs normally based in Halifax. It is the only ATL tug registered in Port Hawksbury.

 March 15, 2023 photo.

.

Atlantic Willow - correction and clarification

A regular Halifax based tug for several years is the Atlantic Willow. One of the large series of ASD tugs built by Irving Shipbuilding's Eastisle Shipyard , it was based on the original Robert Allen Ltd design, but with some modifications. It entered service in 1998.

Atlantic Willow moves between assignments in Halifax harbour.

It is still using the winter shelter over its ship handling winch on the foredeck.

It was the first tug in the series to be built with the full firefighting package, because it was intended for use at the NuStar oil terminal at Point Tupper, on the Strait of Canso. Presumably that is why it is the only tug in the ATL fleet registered in Port Hawksbury, NS instead of the company's home port of Saint John, NB. It was also equipped with a towing winch aft. 

The tug is rated at 4,000 bhp / 50 tonne bollard pull - somewhat less than the 5,000 bhp / 66 tonne, 5,500 bhp / 70 tonne ratings of the other Halifax tugs. Nevertheless it is still a hard working member of the fleet and it is often designated to work at the bow of a ship and with the smaller ships. 

In case the above photo is a bit placid looking, it should go on record that the tug can "step out". 

Irving tugs have traditionally been named after trees, because the company got is start in the tug business by towing timber on the Saint John River. Originally the river tugs were named for coniferous (softwood) trees (used for lumber and paper making), whereas coastal and ocean tugs were named for deciduous (hardwood) trees. No distinction is made now since some harbour tugs work coastal, and there is no longer any river work.

However, due to the limited number of local tree species, the names do get re-used. Such is the case of the willow, a name used in the fleet from 1980 to 1996. Irving Willow was built in 1958 by J.I.Thornycroft in Woolston, UK for Red Funnel Tugs of Southampton, UK as Dunnose. It was one of a series of first generation twin screw diesel tugs, built to serve the large ships, including the "supertankers"  of the 1950s. Its two 6 cylinder Crossley's giving 1340 bhp became obsolete for that purpose as ships continued to grow, and it was replaced with a new generation. Irving acquired four tugs from the Red Funnel fleet, three of which went into regular service.

Irving Willow ex Dunnose was assigned to the Harbour Development Ltd division of Atlantic Towing Ltd and tended barges and dredges all around the Atlantic region. In 1995 Atlantic Towing Ltd and Harbour Development Ltd,  were given a separate corporate identity under the J.D.Irving branch of the family companies, as distinct from Irving Oil. Most Irving tugs were given the "Atlantic" prefix, however those attached to Harbour Development  Ltd were given a "master" suffix, and Irving Willow was renamed Wavemaster in 1996. It carried that name until it was broken up in Dartmouth, NS in 1995.

Irving Willow with dump scows at a dredging site in Yarmouth, NS in 1985.

CORRECTION: The Atlantic Willow does not carry a towing winch. The most photo I have that shows the tug from the stern, has a picnic table where a towing winch could be installed if needed.

CLARIFICATION: In addition to Atlantic Willow, 4,000 bhp, Atlantic Towing Ltd normally posts two 5,000 bhp tugs and one 5,500 bhp tug in Halifax. The one larger tug is drawn from the three tugs built for working with LNG tankers at the Canaport buoy off Saint John, NB. If needed for an LNG tanker it will return to Saint John, but this is now a rare event. Currently that tug is Atlantic Beaver. The two 5,000 bhp tugs based in Halifax are Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Fir.

Thanks to readers for pointed out the error and inaccuracy in the last post.

 .

Home for the Holidays

A pair of tugs not seen in Halifax for some time are tied up at Atlantic Towing Ltd's dock in Woodside.

Atlantic Larch arrived yesterday from Saint John and Atlantic Willow arrived recently too.

The Spitfire III remains in Halifax but sister tug Atlantic Bear sailed for Saint John today. Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Fir (background) are still here, so the port of Halifax is well covered with five ASD tugs.

Addendum: The Spitfire III also sailed for Saint John this afternoon.

.

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.

.

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.

.

Big Ship, high wind, two tugs, no sweat

Despite gale force winds out of the north, the big boxship CMA CGM Almaviva berthed at the Halterm container terminal in Halifax without incident today. It was a smooth operation thanks to the an expereinced pilot and the crews of two Atlantic Towing Ltd tugs.

Atlantic Willow awaits the ship just inside Meagher's Beach.

It then takes up its position at the bow, making fast to a sunken bit, helping to slow the ship down.

It then moves in position to push the ship's bow around, assisted by the ship's own bow thruster.

Atlantic Oak has been pushing at the stern of the ship, pivoting it about its centre.

High above the action, the harbour pilot on the bridge wing directs the tugs by VHF radio.

Atlantic Oak is not made fast, so when the ship has turned sufficiently and begins to make sternway, it can back off quickly.

Moving rapidly in reverse, the tug begins its move to the ship's port side.

 Staying clear of the backing ship, Atlantic Oak makes a tight arc around its stern.

It takes skill and nerve to swing steadily around the moving ship to take up the new position. The deck hand is already forward to make the line fast when the time comes. It would be cold and wet work today.

Once clear, the tug straightens out to move alongside and push the ship into its berth.

The pilots and tugs make this similar manoeuver several times a week, but every time the wind and weather conditions are different. Even so they make it look easy.

.

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.

.

Atlantic Larch and Atlantic Willow on a Double Date

Large ships transiting the Narrows of Halifax Harbour are required to have a tethered escort tug. The designated tug is Atlantic Oak, which has more than 5,000 bhp is set up for the work with some special strain gauges and an escort skeg.
 

The other two harbour tugs Atlantic Larch and Atlantic Willow  at 4,000 bhppull are considerably less powerful and do not have the hull escort skeg.
This afternoon when Halifax Express was due to sail from the Fairview Cove container terminal, Atlantic Oak was on standby for another job (see below) and was not available and so the other tugs did the job in tandem.

Each with a line to the ship's quarters, I am sure they were able to assist the ship in making its turn past the Pier 9 knuckle, however Atlantic Willow gave her line an awful lot of scope for such a narrow channel. Also with the two tugs as close as they were, I am not sure they would have been very good at braking if they had to stop the ship. They would clearly have been in each other's way.

It was not an ideal arrangement, but I guess it had to be done on time, since the next section of the Macdonald Bridge was coming out, and it was probably desirable to have the big ship well past when that was happening.

The bridge deck is undergoing replacement in sections, starting from the Dartmouth side (left in this picture), and although the work is so far not over the main harbour channel, it is just as well to keep shipping away to avoid wake. The old bridge sections are landed on a barge and the new sections lifted from the same barge, and great precision is needed. The barge is handled by the tugs Belle D and Halifax Tugger with assistance from Captain Jim. For more on these see:

http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2015/10/big-lift-small-tugs.html 
http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2015/10/halifax-tugger-update.html 

Atlantic Oak was standing by to assist sister tug Atlantic Fir and the barge Oceanus arriving from Newfoundland. More on that tomorrow.

.

Showing Off

Atlantic Towing Ltd's three Halifax based harbour tugs usually go about their business without much fanfare or notice Occasionally they do get to show off.

Atlantic Larch looks very business like as it returns to its base after undocking a ship on Saturday. The 4000bhp tug was built in 2000, and is fitted with a towing winch. Despite pushing a lot of water it leaves very little wake.

On Saturday afternoon Atlantic Willow did a couple of high speed 360 degree turns to the delight of harbour watchers. Also of 4,000 bhp, it was built in 1998 and is fitted with a towing winch and firefighting monitors.

On Friday evening Atlantic Oak escorted Queen Mary 2 on its ceremonial departure from Halifax commemorating the 175th anniversary of Cunard's first transatlantic steamship crossing. A 5,050 bhp tug built in 2004, it does not have a towing winch, but is equipped with an array of firefighting equipment.

.

Snowy tugs

Despite a record snow fall in the city of Halifax, to a depth of nearly a meter, with streets impassable and many services suspended, work in the harbour continues. But even the tugs are covered with snow.

Atlantic Larch has snow, but also frozen spray left over from a recent trip to Sheet Harbour to undock a ship there.

Atlantic Willow features a snow moustache.

Atlantic Oak has a complete ring of snow around its rail. 

(The car carrier Tosca can be seen in the background at Autoport.)

.