Off to Turkey

As planned Burin Sea sailed from Dartmouth this morning towing Trinity Sea bound for Aliga Turkey.

The Trinity Sea had been stripped of some of its valuable gear, such as rescue boat and lifeboat,  which might have been vulnerable while in tow. Storm shields have been fitted to the wheelhouse and a white draft line painted on the bow.

The harbour tug Atlantic Oak (stern just visible in the photo above) assisted in getting Trinity Sea off the dock.

Burin Sea appeared to be fully equipped for the tow, and possibly carrying the rescue boat from Trinity Sea on deck.

The ETA for Aliaga is December 27.

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End of an Era

In case I don't get to see tomorrow's departure, I took the opportunity this morning to get a photo of two tug /suppliers for the last time. As previously recounted Burin Sea and Trinity Sea were rebuilt by Secunda Marine in the late 1990s from Neftegaz 1 and Neftegaz 2. Originally built in Poland in 1983 the pair had been laid up unused for some time. When rebuilt, they were classed as new.

Sometime tomorrow Burin Sea will take Trinity Sea in tow for Turkey where the two will be broken up for scrap.

The two boats are tied up at The Cove, the former Coast Guard base in Dartmouth. In the background can be seen Leeway Odyssey and Coriolis II which are also based at The Cove.

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Trinity Sea

Secunda Marine's Trinity Sea remains laid up at The Cove in Dartmouth. It was replaced by the newly acquired Siem Commander (ex Stril Commander) this summer. 

Despite a slight resurgence in utilization rates among offshore supply vessels worldwide there are still more than 1,100 stacked according to recent reports. Older and "low end" vessels have the lowest utilization rates and even some higher end vessels are being cut up for scrap.

It seems unlikely that there be much of a future for Trinity Sea as an AHTS or PSV. Some alternative might be found for it, outside the offshore industry, but in the meantime it remains idle. The longer it is laid up, the more difficult it will be to bring it back into service.

Rebuilt as a virtually new vessel in 1999, on a Ice Class 1 A hull, it was built originally in 1983 as Neftegaz 2 . Some other former Neftegaz vessels are still running as research or seismic, but there would not be many as AHTs. Sister vessel Burin Sea (ex Neftegaz 1) may be the only one of its type still working. It is serving the Exxon Mobil Sable project off Nova Scotia.

For more see: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2016/11/trinity-sea-on-trials.html

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Burin Sea soldiers on

Burin Sea makes its way toward Bedford Basin for DP trials this morning.

It sports a little frozen spray, picked up on its way in from Sable Island.

The tug/supplier Burin Sea is still in service when many boats of its type have long since been relegated to the scrap heap. Its story, and that of sister vessel Trinity Sea has been told here before, but here is a capsule history.


The boats were originally built for the USSR by Stocznia Szczcinska im A Warskiego in Szczecin (Stettin), Poland in 1983. Burin Sea was named Neftegaz I and Trinty Sea was Neftegaz 2. With the democratic transition in Poland and dissolution of the USSR in the late 1980s there were major changes in the oil and gas industry there and the two ships were laid up. Secunda Marine Services bought both at a very good price. (They also acquired a third unit, Neftegaz 14, which arrived under its own power, and became Panuke Sea, and a fourth unit, Neftegaz 29 that was never converted.)

Secunda's own tug Magdalen Sea towed the pair from Norway, arriving in Halifax May 18,1998.

Soon after arrival in Canada, the boat's new name was painted on the bow. The hammer and sickle of the USSR was still displayed on the funnels, but was not to remain long.

After considerable demolition work, Ectug's Point Carroll towed the hull to the Verreault shipyard in Méchins, QC for hull work in July and back to Halifax in September.

The harbour tug Point Halifax assists in setting up the tow to the shipyard for hull work.

Rebuilding was completed by November of 1999. That rebuilding was extensive, and resulted in a very different looking superstructure. However the ice class 1A hull, which was apparently made of very high quality steel, and its original Sulzer engines (producing about 10,000 bhp, delivered to two controllable pitch props) were the reason that it was worth the investment.

Fresh from rebuilding the boat sets out on sea trials in November 1999.

Now, nearly twenty years later, both boats are still in service shuttling between Halifax and the Exxon-Mobil gas field off Sable Island. That installation is being decommissioned and removed, so the boats will be working on that project for some time to come.

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No oil for BP and no gas either

The off again / on again exploration for oil, starting in the 1960s, with only a brief interlude of actual oil production, will once again come to a halt. BP and Hess (50/50 partners) did not find any commercially viable quantities of oil or gas in the Aspy D-11 well that was spudded in April.

That well, drilled by the rig  West Aquarius went to 7400 meters (in 2771 meters of water) experienced some difficulties, including the need to drill a sidetrack well, and had to extend the rig's coasting license from  October 15 to December 31.  Nevertheless the results were not positive and operations came to a halt earlier this month. The rig will now be going back to Newfoundland where it will drill for Exxon Mobil in the Flemish Pass starting next year.

Troms Sirius now idled at pier 9B in Hailfax.

Horizon Maritime dedicated three support vessels to the project, their own Horizon Star and the two chartered Tidewater boats Troms Sirius and Lundstrom Tide. The latter two will presumably be returned to Tidewater unless more work can be found for them. Both were brought under Canadian registration in the spring to work on the BP well.

Lundstom Tide will also be out of work.

Related News: 
Offshore gas has also had an equally dismal history with both installations on their last legs and now working on decommissioning. Supply vessels work in and out of Halifax to support that activity. 

Secunda / Siem has Siem Hanne, Venture Sea, Trinity Sea and Burin Sea working out of Halifax, but Burin Sea departed earlier this week for St.John's.

Trinity Sea making a sunset arrival in Halifax last week.

Atlantic Towing has Atlantic Condor working at Deep Panuke with Atlantic Tern on standby, but it has been tied up in Halifax for several days.

A "near miss" when some heavy equipment broke lose has resulted in shut down of work on one of the decommissioning operations on the rig Noble Regina Allen. The rig is contracted to plug 22 wells for Exxon Mobil.

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Trinity Sea - on trials RE-UPDATED

After an idle week or two at the old Coast Guard base in Dartmouth the tug supplier Trinity Sea got underway again this morning and to the deepwater piers for trials, which appear to have included bollard pulls or DPs based on the AIS track over several hours.

Trinity Sea with Atlantic Towing's Atlantic Condor in the background, heading for trials off pier 28.

One of three similar boats in the current Secunda (Siem) fleet, it was built in Szczecin, Poland in 1983 as Neftegaz 2. Secunda purchased it and sister Neftegaz 1 from layup in Norway and they arrived together in tow of Magdelan Sea on May 18, 1998.

Magdelan Sea tows up the harbour with Point Chebucto assisting. 

In the left background the tug Plainsville; it landed deck hands to assist in pairing up the tows.

Neftegaz 2 was gutted down to almost the bare hull and totally rebuilt in Halifax as a DNV class 1A1 ICE-1C tug / supplier with FF1 firefighting equipment and renamed Trinity Sea.

After removing most of the superstructure, the Trinity Sea's hull was hauled out at the Dartmouth Slip for rebuilding.

Totally transformed as a virtual new ship, Trinity Sea.

The aft facing bridge is the most prominent addition to the ship's profile.

Based from time to time in Halifax and overseas, Trinity Sea has mostly worked in Newfoundland so has been only an infrequent caller here over the years.

Point Chebucto shepherds the pair toward pier 9.

Sister vessel Neftegaz 1 was also completely rebuilt to the same standard, with much of the work accomplished at Verreault Shipyard in Méchins, QC.

Hastily renamed Burin Sea the former Neftegaz 1 sits at the IEL dock in Woodside in preparation for gutting out.

Point Halifax readies the stripped out hull to be towed to Verreault by Point Carroll.

The rebuilt vessel was towed back to Halifax by the Point Carroll and fitted out.

I understand that the appeal of the two hulls was their high quality Polish steel, heavy ice class and reliable Sulzer engines (built under license). They are now rated at 10,000 bhp on their two main engines and equipped with one 600 bhp and one 900 bhp bow and one 900 bhp stern thruster.

Secunda's Panuke Sea ex Neftegaz 14 will be the subject of another post at another time.

Update: Shortly after this post was initially published, the tug Trinity Sea appeared on the shipbroker Offshore Solutions Unlimited 's website. Several of the particulars listed above are now different, including a bollard pull of 80 tonnes, and engines of 3,600 bhp each. There is also additional information including the vessel is DP1, that it has accommodation for 28 persons and has standby / rescue capability.
THE UPDATE WAS AN ERROR.
New Update: The shipbroker Offshore Solutions Unlimited is offering fleetmate Panuke Sea ex Neftegaz 14 for sale - see subsequent post.

Silk purse from sow's ear

1. Trinity Sea approaches pier 9 this morning.

2. Upper: arriving in Halifax with sister tug./ Lower on the cradle at Dartmouth Marine Slip.

Trinity Sea moved to pier 9 today for a Christmas time refit. The ship was rebuilt from the hull up in 1998-99 and has put in some heavy work as an offshore supplier. On December 7 she arrived in port on one engine, but that seems to have been patched up.

Built in Poland in 1983 as Neftegaz 2 it was part of a huge fleet built up by the USSR Ministry of Gas Industry. With the collapse of the USSR most were laid up, many unused, and eventually sold off. Secunda Marine Services acquired four over the years, but Neftegaz 1 and Neftegaz 2 were bought in 1998. They arrived in Halifax in tow of Magdalen Sea and were rebuilt over a period of a year or so. Work included all new accommodation, and internals, except the main engines, which were retained. The bow was built up, the exhaust uptakes re-routed and a new bridge and wheelhouse installed to improve visibility aft.

Neftegaz 1 became Burin Sea and Neftegaz 2 became Trinity Sea.

The pair have worked off Newfoundland and overseas, with Trinity Sea active off Nova Scotia for the last couple of years. Burin Sea is still in Newfoundland.

A third boat, Neftegaz 14 was rebuilt as Panuke Sea in 2003. The fourth is laid up at pier 9B with the name Neftegaz 29 still displayed, although it has been officially renamed Intrepid Sea. Secunda Marine Services is now J.Ray McDermott Canada.

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