Refits - all sizes

As spring moves into summer and warm weather arrives, it is not surprising that Halifax tug owners are joining home owners in getting out the scrapers and paint brushes.

Acquired in July 2018 from Tidewater, Horizon Enabler, the former Tidewater Enabler, continued to carry the colours of previous owners. The ship tied up at Pier 9B May 27 after returning from a large cable laying project in Greenland waters. After unloading the cable laying gear at IT International Telecom crews got busy on the starboard (sunny) side of the ship.

Starboard side new colours / Port Side old colours.

The ship's transom has been re-instated after the cable work, and will be readied for repainting.This afternoon the ship will move to The Cove in Dartmouth where it will berth to allow the workers to move to the port side.

Cable slides have been removed and the "tail gate" reinstalled.

Further along at Pier 9C the well known Gulf Spray is celebrating its sixtieth birthday with a serious shave and haircut. Built by Ferguson Industries Ltd in Pictou to its own account in 1959, the tug had
a major rebuild in about 2007. After severe damage in a storm in 2014, repairs were made, but they did not restore the tug to its previous yacht like appearance.

The tug's hull has acquired a large crop of marine growth over the winter.

Now up on the dock, the tug is being readied for another season of barge handling. The barges are used to remove waste and recyclables from cruise ships. The international garbage it is not allowed to enter the domestic "waste stream" and it thus landed ashore and transferred to a special incinerator at the international airport. 

Even at 60 years of age this tug still performs useful work, and certainly raises an admiring glance from tug aficionados when it is seen hard at work.

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Taking a break

Tugfax and Shipfax will be taking a summer break. There will be no regular posts until September, and then there may be a format change.

Gulf Spray prepares to take some scows in tow  this morning and head from pier 9 to pier 22 to relieve the cruise ship Queen Mary 2 of some of its accumulated waste.

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Gulf Spray back at work

The opening of the cruise season in Halifax (see Shipfax) also means the start of the busy season for the tug Gulf Spray. The small tug handles scows that remove waste from cruise ships and will be kept occupied until the end of October.

Gulf Spray trots along light at hull speed, bound for the cruise ship Veendam at Pier 22.

 

Full out, the tug wrangles a pair of scows with assistance from its companion motorboat (a small tank scow is barely visible on the offside of the larger scow). Working in a stiff breeze, the tow is going more sideways than in the direction of Pier 9A where the various waste products will be landed for disposal.

Gulf Spray was built in 1959 by Ferguson's Industries Ltd in Pictou for shipyard work. Brought to Halifax and rebuilt in 2007, it was badly damaged in a storm in 2014 and partially rebuilt.

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Gulf Spray - somebody has to do it

The tug Gulf Spray earns its keep towing a scow with garbage  from cruise ships. It may not be glamorous work, but the process is well organized, with a lot of separation on board the ship itself.

Once loaded the scow returns to the pier 9A in tow where it is unloaded by forklift with the "cargo" distributed into bins for recycling or incineration at a special international waste incinerator.

Assistance to Gulf Spray and its scow is provided by the outboard motor boat which has a square bow for pushing and a towing bit.  

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Gulf Spray restored to service

After last March's disastrous encounter with the stern of the RoRo ship Cavallo the small tug Gulf Spray was badly banged up.See three posts:
http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2014_03_01_archive.html

However it was restored and went back to work for the cruise ship season. The unglamorous job of tending refuse and waste scows goes on largely unnoticed, but is an essential service for ships calling in Halifax. International waste must be treated differently from ordinary domestic waste, and cruise ships generate a lot. They also yield mountains of recyclabes, such as drink bottles and cans and cardboard.

 An early morning start across the harbour with a liquid waste barge, to work alongside a cruise ship.

Built to a similar pattern to navy pup tugs and Department of Public Works  tugs, the stovepipe from the forward cabin was a prominent feature.

Built in 1959 by Ferguson Industries in Pictou to their own account, the tug assisted ships on and off the marine cradles in Pictou for years until the yard was closed. In 2007 new owners in Halifax rebuilt the tug, with its cabin fitted out in yacht like style.

Alongside pier 24 with a sold waste scow, and various sorting bins, Gulf Spray shows off its large single wheelhouse window.

The port side of that house was badly damaged and the funnel dislodged in last winter's incident, but it has all been put right now.With the end of the cruise season, the boat may find other work, but it has earned a well deserved rest.

Running free at hull speed yesterday, Gulf Spray still looks first class.

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Gulf Spray - update #2

Today was lift out day for the damaged Gulf Spray.

After a large crane was set up on the brow of pier 24, crews rigged slings under the hull and the crane lifted the tug out, placing it on a specially built cradle.

Once airborne several details came to light. The hull plating is doubled forward, indicating that it was expected to work in ice, also the prop has a large guard around it to protect it from fouling by ropes and debris in the water.

Extent of damage also became clearer once the tug was out of the water. It appears to me that most of the external damage was above the waterline, giving some hope that the tug can be rebuilt. There is also considerable internal damage, which is not obvious from the outside.

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Gulf Spray update

As reported the tug Gulf Spray was damaged and moved to pier 24 for repairs. I have since learned that apparently the ship was sheltering from last week's storm at pier 9B when it was blown under the stern of the laid up Cabot It aft bulwark was crushed down piercing the fantail and breaching the deck, allowing water into the below deck areas.
This morning with the Owner's boom truck holding it up, the stern was pumped out.

The tug was also turned so that its stern became visible from the pier, revealing the extent of damage.

It is still to early to tell if the tug can or will be rebuilt.

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Gulf Spray - badly damaged

The classic small tug Gulf Spray and a companion workboat have been badly damaged. Both boats were tied up in the lower Burnside / Wright's Cove area of Dartmouth when they were apparently smashed against a barge or dock. Whether this occurred in last night's storm or a previous one, I am unsure, but from the look of the boats it seems to have been some time ago.

 

I last saw the boats working on February 1 with some company barges at pier 9.

 

This afternoon the tug Belle D moved Gulf Spray to pier 24 where it will likely be lifted out of the water. It was a sorry sight.

 

 

 

 

The starboard side of the house was stove in and there was obvious water and ice damage on deck and below.

The outboard-powered work boat (which I believe is called Harbour Diver) was sitting a bit askew on its trailer on pier 9, with damage to the house, rub rails and hull, and water damage within.

 

 

Larinda Ltd, the registered owners, and their company Edge Marine and Disposal Services Ltd provide waste removal for cruise ships visiting Halifax harbor. The tugs handle barges that carry solid and liquid wastes. In 2012 Edge was forced to move from its base at LeGrow's wharf, under the foot of the Macdonald bridge in Dartmouth, due to complaints from neighbours about odours. In winter of 2012-2013 Gulf Spray was hauled out on the IEL pier for a refit, but this year she was apparently to remain afloat.

 

Gulf Spray was built in 1959 by Ferguson Industries in Pictou, NS  to their own account and was used as a yard tug. When acquired by Larinda in 2007, the tug was rebuilt to yacht-like appearance, and has kept busy, in season, with the waste barge business. I have featured the tug several times on this blog before.

 

This post will be updated when new information becomes available.

 

 

 

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No holiday for Gulf Spray

It was the Thanksgiving holiday weekend for some, but not Gulf Spray and its crew. The hard working little tug handles waste disposal work for cruise ships and is on the go nearly every day during the height of the cruise season.

1. Gulf Spray approaches pier 9B with the tanker scow O/B Gavin David.

Gulf Spray can be seen towing a tanker scow or a flat deck scow, that carries a variety of waste containers, and a forklift.

2. Gulf Spray and a solid waste scow in the Narrows on October 9.

Gulf Spray qualifies as a classic, since it was built in 1959 by Ferguson Industries in Pictou, NS for use in the shipyard. It was built to a similar pattern to tugs built for the Minister of Public Works.It received an extensive rebuild in 2007.

3. After a particularly neat bit of boat handling, Gulf Spray is finished for the day and returns to her berth.

The tug is usually operated by one man only, with another one or two the scow. A third man uses the outboard powered Harbour Runner to say ahead of the tug and assist with tying up the scow once it reaches the pier 9B base or bringing it alongside the cruise ships.

 

4. The outboard powered Harbour Runner plays catch up.

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Gulf Spray - sign of spring

The hardworking tug Gulf Spray was hauled out on the IEL dock this week for a refit. After being "evicted" by public pressure from its long time home near the old CN Pier last year, the tug was laid up for the winter somewhere in the lower Burnside area.
Used for transferring garbage barges from cruise ships, the tug does useful work in the harbour. Built in Pictou in 1959 it was extensively rebuilt in 2007. It is a single screw tug with a fixed nozzle.

Little Tugs: dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

1. Following up on the Armchair Captain's photo of Gulf Spray with the garbage barge on Monday and my own of the same tug with barge alongside Le Boreal last week, here is even smaller fleet mate Carly J also with a garbage barge. September 18.
All refuse coming off cruise ships is considered international garbage, and must be incinerated. Local garbage (in Halifax at least) is composted, recycled or land filled. During cruise season, when there are several large ships in port, there is a veritable mountain of garbage coming ashore, which does not enter the domestic "waste stream."

2. Gulf Spray works alongside Silver Whisper at pier 20, also September 18.

LeGrow's Marine handles most of the debris, and mobilizes itssmall fleet to do the job. The garbage is removed on the offside of the ship (to avoid the possibility that passengers will be be offended by their own garbage!) and barged to shore, usually at pier 29, where it is then trucked to the incinerator.

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Gulf Spray and company (revised September 17)

1. Gulf Spray on September 6, resecuring barges after Hurricane Earl. The barges had been moved to pier 9 before the storm, then returned to anchorage off LeGrow's base. In the background CFAV Quest at HMC Dockyard, behind the force protection boom.

2. September 16. The veteran tug Gulf Spray proceeds down the harbour early this morning to the cruise ship Maasdam. It is towing the barge O/D Gavin David and is assisted by the outboard powered tug Harbour Diver. Once alongside the ship the barge will pump off waste.

Gulf Spray also handles garbage removal from cruise ships. International garbage is incinerated and does not enter the normal municipal garbage waste stream in Halifax.

Gulf Spray was built in 1959 in Pictou, Nova Scotia, by the now long defunct Ferguson Industries Ltd shipyard. The tug was used by the yard, but was built to a similar design to several other tugs built there for the Canadian Department of Public Works. These in turn were an enlarged version of the navy's Ville class tugs built during World War II.

Gulf Spray was laid up when the shipyard closed. It was rebuilt a few years ago, and now works for LeGrows Marine in Halifax.