Maersk Challenger - gets the hot potato

The Lyubov Orlova tow off Newfoundland is like a hot potato game now, as the Port of St. John's in company with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has refused entry to the ship should it reach the coast.
According to press reports it is the Minister of Transport that is paying tugs to tow the ship around endlessly on the North Atlantic until they can determine what to do with it.

1. Maersk Challenger in Halifax in 2004.

At some point this evening the AHTS Atlantic Hawk is going to pass the tow over to another AHTS, the Maersk Challenger. Operated by The Maersk Company of Canada Ltd, it was built in 1986 at Orskov shipyard in Frederikshavn, Denmark, as Challenger III, becoming OIL Challenger in 1986, until acquired and re-named by Maersk in 1991. It came under Canadian flag in 2002, and has worked out of Halifax and St.John's.It is also a well equipped anchor handling/supply tug of 14,348 bhp. It is powered by four V-12 MAN engines through twin controllable pitch screws.

Atlantic Hawk - to the rescue

1. Atlantic Hawk as built.

Reports have reached me that the anchor handling tug/supplier Atlantic Hawk has taken the drifting Lyubov Orlova in tow. The tug secured the wayward ex cruise ship last night (January 30).
Destination for the tow has not yet been made known to me, although I suspect it will be St. John's. I doubt that there will be much of a welcome mat extended there, since the ship languished in that port for two years after being abandoned by its owners. The resident rodent population may be happy to have its hotel back, although I am told it was fumigated at some point before sailing on its ill-fated tow behind Charlene Hunt.
There is some question now if the Charlene Hunt was bareboat chartered to Lyuobov Orlova's owners or actually purchased by them.The US Coast Guard's web site still shows that tug owned by Hunt Marine I LLC of Narragansett, RI..
Atlantic Hawk was built by Halifax Shipyards in 2000, and was the second of a pair of UT 722 AHTSs constructed for Atlantic Towing Ltd. It is powered by a pair of monster V-12 Ulstein Bergen engines developing a total of 14,400 bhp, driving CPPs in nozzles for a Bollard Pull rating of 157 tonnes. It is also bristling with thrusters.
Since the photo above it has added a 20 tonne Iron Fist crane and FiFi II fire fighting gear.

Craig Trans - lights on, no one home

After the repatriation of the tug's crew. through the generosity of the public, there was a little activity on the tug last week. A welding machine was parked on the pier and there was a watchman also. Since then the tug has taken a bit of a list to starboard. Now the gates to pier 24 are closed at both ends and there is no sign of any activity on board.
There are still lights on, indicating that a generator must be running, but there is no sign of other life. I hear that the owner is arranging for another crew, and hopes to resume his trip to Beauharnois, QC as soon as the Seaway opens in March.
With the ongoing Lyubov Orlova / Charlene Hunt situation in Newfoundland, I wonder if that will be allowed to happen? The ship is still adrift and the tug remains tied up in port, but there doesn't seem to be any resolution in the offing.
 http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/empty-cruise-ship-drifting-off-newfoundland-raises-alarms-1.1132103

Charlene Hunt - more on the story

According to latest reports the tug Charlene Hunt has been ordered back into St.John's over concerns for the safety of the crew. As you will see from comments attached to previous postings. the tug sailed from St.John's towing the former cruise ship Lyubov Orlova, but the tow line parted off Cape Race. The tug ahas not been able to reconnect, and the ship is still drifting, but in a seaward direction.
CCGS Cape Roger was standing by to warn off approaching ships, but there does not seem to be any particular concern or effort to seek alternative means of securing the ship.
As we know the Canadian Coast Guard will not take a ship in tow. Commercial salvors will unlikely be interested in the ship, particularly if it is not insured, as scrap-bound ships frequently are not. Salvage awards are based on the value of the salved ship under traditional law.
There are certainly questions about the capability of the tug Charlene Hunt itself to under take such a tow in winter time, so a return to port may well be the end of the story for her.
The fate of the ship is open to question. The Department of Transport is taking a 'hands off" approach, as long as it not polluting or impeding navigation. Does that mean they would allow it to sink, with whatever ensuing pollution may result?
I have been promoting rescue / salvage tugs for Canada for several years, and this would seem to be another example to make the case, even though there is no immediate threat to human life. There are certainly potential environmental risks which should be of paramount concern now.
There is still a great deal of controversy in the salvage industry over how to compensate salvors for preventing pollution and environmental damage. Recent ship sinkings around the world, the Rena off New Zealand being a prime example pose huge risks to shipping.
I favour a pool of funds taken from harbour, pilotage or a new port fee from which to draw for compensation to salvors who step in to prevent pollution, groundings or loss. I also favour standby rescue tugs, on hire or owned by the government, that can step in and tow ships to safety.
Britain has recently cancelled or cut back such a plan through their Coast Guard, but France, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, among others, do have such tugs. In Canada's case they would rarely be used, and so would have other duties, but they should be in place for situations just as this. 

UPDATE: Charlene Hunt - welcome to Bolivia - or here we go again

I have been informed that the US flag tug Charlene Hunt, which called in Halifax, in distress in November, has now been re-flagged to Bolivia. This welcoming flag state is "home" to the tug Craig Trans also in Halifax  in distress.
Charlene Hunt managed to get itself back into condition to sail to Newfoundland, complete with plywood over its windows and had other harrowing adventures on the way. It took more than a week to reach St.John's.
The tug has been lying there ever since, but is set to sail today towing the miniature cruise ship Lyubov Orlova .
The Yugoslavia built ship dates back to 1976, and was arrested in St.John's in September 2010 for debts to Canadian charterers. The owners walked away, leaving 49 Russian and 2 Ukranian crew unpaid. The crew had been depending on local charities for food, and were eventually repatriated with public assistance.
In January 2012 the ship was sold in Federal Court to an owner based in the British Virgin Islands.
The intention is to tow the ship to the Dominican Republic for scrap.
Update: The tug and tow left St.John's on Wednesday January 23. Their weather predicting cpabilities are being brought into question as a rare winter "super storm" is predicted fo rthe weekend.
' A historic extratropical storm is possible over the central North Atlantic on Saturday, the 26th of January based on the latest computer models. A weak 1014mb low will move off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts early Thursday moving rapidly east to northeast deepening to a 977 mb storm low by 12Z Friday, the 25th southeast of Cape race with winds to 50 knots. Thereafter, this low is forecast to “bomb out” as it moves northeast dropping 57 mb of pressure to 920 mb by 12Z Saturday, the 26th with hurricane force winds to 85 knots (nearly 100 mph) likely. ' Source Ocean Weather Services blog

Craig Trans - in the teeth of a gale (more to come)

1. As Craig Foss

The classic tug Craig Trans flying the flag of Bolivia, arrived this afternoon in the teeth of a gale. It anchored at first, but was unable to hold position, and so moved to pier 25 - where I hope to get a better picture.
Built in 1943 by Tampa Marine Corp for the US Army, it was one of the class of Large Tugs and was named LT 648.
The Army laid up the tug in 1960, and Foss Maritime of Seattle acquired in 1965. They rebuilt the tug at their own yard in 1966. They replaced the original single 1343 bhp Fairbanks-Morse with a pair of 2,000 bhp EMDs. Renaming it Craig Foss they sent it far and wide. First hauling lumber barges to Hawaii, and latterly running to Alaska, it made numerous long tows to the Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela and got as far north as New Jersey on at least one trip.
Eventually in 2011 Foss said goodbye to the tug. Its first assignment for the new owners was to tow the ferry Queen of Saanich from Anvil Island, BC to Ensenada, MX for scrap last August. I don't have any details on its more recent movements however.
At this point my bet is that it is heading for St.John's to tow the cruise ship Lyubov Orlova to the Dominican Republic, instead of the woefully under powered Charlene Hunt featured in these pages a few weeks ago. [My bet was wrong - see updates]
That tug is still sitting in St.John's with plywood on its windows after encountering severe weather on its way past Halifax. I hear it had to be evacuated by some of its crew, and was brought in full of water by only its master and engineer.
Regrettably I fear that Craig Trans, despite its power and wonderful sea keeping abilities may be well past its prime too, so there may be little good news in this story.
More later.

2. As Craig Foss.