Mariner Sea - out, Atlantic Kestrel - in, Maersk Beater-in,

The latest changes in the offshore tug/supplier business have seen a couple of additions and one deletion from the roster of the three main players in the Atlantic region.
Secunda Marine have sold Mariner Sea to as yet undisclosed Nigerian buyers:

Built in Norway in 1979 as a supplier/dive support ship, it carried the names Sulair-89, TNT Puma-90, Toisa Puma-95, Coastal Connector -02 until acquired from Tyco by Secunda late in 2002. It had been been partially converted to a cable ship, with a large deck house:

Soon after arrival in Halifax in January 2003 it was dispatched to the Verreault Navigation shipyard in Les Méchins, QC, and converted back to a supplier, with tankage for fuel, drill water, mud and for deck cargo. It went into service in May 2003 on charter to Encana as a supplier. Its tonnage was then listed at 2,904.:

Since then it has been in and out of Canadian and Barbados registries, and was most recently idle at pier 9.

Meanwhile Maersk Canada, which seems to have become Maersk Eastern Canada (have they got west coast plan?) brought Maersk Beater under Canadian flag in October, and based it in St.John's. It is a very big vessel at 4,363 gross tons, built in 1997 in Norway and is rated at 14,800 kW (approx. 20,000 bhp).I haven't seen the vessel in person, but for photos go to : http://wwwshipshots.blogspot.ca/2012/11/maersk-beater.html

Atlantic Towing has also registered its newest tug/supplier as Atlantic Kestrel on November 27. Built as Jaya Supreme in Singapore, it is also very big, at 6,206 gross tons, and highly sophisticated. It has numerous new and up to date features, including DP2 (dynamic positioning) and ice rated as DNV Ice-1a, meaning it can travel through ice already broken by an ice breaker, and can work near the arctic circle. It has 12,000 kW (about 16,000 bhp) at its disposal and is fitted with a very big anchor handling winch. It also has numerous environmental and crew comfort features, making it "state of the art"- to use a worn out phrase.
To see its launch, and a swarm of tiny little tugs go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McyjCv42u8k
There are lots of other articles and photos on the web as Jaya Supreme, e.g.: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/logistic/jaya-holdings-delivers-jaya-supreme-a-tug-supply-vessel-to-atlantic-towing-limited/

Back Under Canadian Flag

1. Mariner Sea arriving at dusk December 12.

2. Deck lights are on, but shielded from a forward view.

Mariner Sea arrived on Sunday, with the port of Bridgetown (Barbados) on her stern. Bright and early Monday morning she hoisted the Canadian flag again, with her port of registry as Quebec City. And yes, as you might have guessed, there is a story behind that.

She was built back in 1979 by Georg Eides Sonner A/S of Hoylunsbygd, Norway, as a deck cargo/ dive support vessel, with moon pool. Named Sulair, she was owned by BP Development Ltd before being sold and renamed TNT Puma in 1989. In 1990 she became Toisa Puma.

In 1995, with the wordwide craze for fibreoptic cable networks, she was sold to Tyco who converted her to a full scale cable ship named Coastal Connector. The work involved a complete packaged cable operation on her cargo deck, and increased her gross tonnage from 1939 (as built) to 4480. Tyco's timing was off and with the dot com bubble bursting and Tyco in trouble the ship was put up for sale.

Secunda Marine [since 2007 McDermott] purchased the ship late in 2002 while it was lying at Caracas, Venezuela, and it arrived in Halifax January 17, 2003 flying the Marshal Islands flag as Mariner Sea. They sent the ship to Verreault shipyard in Méchins for conversion back to a supplier. It was fitted with tanks for 1200 cu.m rig fuel 1200 cu.m drill water, 800 cu.m drilling mud, while retaining 860 sq.m of deck cargo space. Dynamic positioning was also fitted, using three thrusters forward and one aft. The newly refitted ship returned to Halifax May 15, 2003, with the new port of registry of Quebec City (assigned May 14.) Tonnage was now 2904 gross, 4450 deadweight.

Mariner Sea was fixed on charter to Encana, and until earlier this year had been supporting the Deep Panuke project, but was chartered out this fall and adopted the Barbados flag.

On Sunday the ship tied up at pier 9 to be fitted with cable laying gear. This will not be as comprehensive as in her previous incarnation, but will be a relatively small portable package, with a demountable stern sheave for passing the cable.

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