Océan sells off older units

 Quebec City based Groupe Océan has apparenty sold its four older units to the Georgetown, Guyana company BK Marine Inc. (The company is part of the huge BK Group, a conglomerate of transportation, construction, and infrastructure operations.) The tugs have been inactive for some time, but have been maintained in  "warm layup". All four are veterans, and can be expected to see a few more years of service in the Caribbean /South America.

The tugs are:

Ocean Echo II , previously covered in this blog May

 Now renamed Brianna K the tug is tied up in Quebec City with fleet mate Océan Basques which has been renamed  Bradley G. 

The Océan Basques has also been covered here numeorus times, including my September 2014 post.

Océan Echo II and Océan Basques at the Industrie Océan shipyard in Ile-aux-Coudres in 2014. Both are twin screw tugs.
 

BK Marine has also acquired the Avantage, now renamed Kane G. I speculated on its potential sale, also in May 2022.

 The fourth and final tug is Mega - not so far renamed, and presumably its barge Motti as well -both of which remain laid up in Sorel-Tracy, QC.

The Brianna T ex Océan Echo II is fitted  with hydraulic rams for articulated tug/barge work, and Mega is also paired with its barge, Motti and it is likely that BK Marine has found work for such combinations. Bradley G ex Océan Basques is a powerful twin screw tug, and could be an asset in the right place (but won't need its ice breaking abilities in Guyana).  Kane G ex Avantage as a low powered single screw tug is a little harder to figure, but perhaps in an "en bloc" sale, it was part of the deal. 

So far no sailing dates have been posted, but the tugs in Quebec City are flying the Guyana flag, and have their new names painted on.

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Océan cleans house - 2. Océan Basques

 2. Océan Basques

Groupe Océan is disposing of its older idle tugs. One of those is Océan Basques dating from 1972 when it was delivered by Collingwood Shipyard to MIL Tug + Salvage of Halifax. The successor company to  Foundation Maritime ordered two powerful icebreaking tugs to operate at Sept-Iles, QC under contract to the Iron Ore Company of Canada. Named Pointe- aux-Basques and Pointe Marguerite, they were powered by two V-12 GM engines rated at 4200 bhp and 73 tons bollard pull. They were twin screw, with fixed pitch props in nozzles. In 1973 MILTug became ECTUG (Eastern Canada Towing Ltd) and the tugs continued in service in Sept-Iles. In November 1978 the Pointe Margeurite was rammed by a ship and sank in Sept-Iles Bay, with the loss of two lives. A replacement, built to the same specification, and named Pointe-Sept-Iles, was delivered in 1980. The tugs were "triple decker" with high wheelhouse for better visibility while working with large bulk carriers.

Pointe-aux-Basques after the salvage tow of the Macreefer from the Gulf of St.Lawrence to Halifax.
 

In 2013 Svitzer Canada Ltd, the successor to ECTUG, was not able to renew the Sept-Iles contract, which was awarded to Groupe Océan. The tugs also went to Océan and were renamed Océan Basques and Océan Sept-Iles. Replacement tugs were soon acquired and the two tugs were reassigned. Océan Basques emerged from a major refit in 2014 with its new name.

 

The tug's cut away icebreaking bow is visible in this photo.

The rudders were protected by free standing frames. 

The hull is hard chine,possibly hydroconic form.

The tug was finally laid up in Quebec City in December 2021, and its Canadian registration was closed May 17, 2022, along with Océan Echo II (see Part 1) and Mega (see Part 3). Whether they have been sold foreign or are headed for the scrappers is unknown at present, but this post will be updated when that becomes clear.

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Océan cleans house - 1. Océan Echo II

 The Quebec City based operator Groupe Océan has been growing substantially in recent years with expansion to British Columbia and Jamaica and the acquistion of new tugs. On May 21 they took delivery of the small Océan Aqua delivered by heavy lift ship to Valleyfield, QC from Malta. A Damen Stantug, the former DMS Raven, it had been operating in the Persian Gulf for Damen Marine Services. The 1460 bhp twin screw tug was built in 2003 by Stoc.Kozle Serwis in Poland and Damen Hardinxveld in the Netherlands. 

Meanwhile the company is shedding three of its older tugs which have not been operational for several years. These include:

1. Océan Echo II

This twin screw 3,000 bhp veteran tug was built in 1969 by Port Weller Drydock for Atlantic and Pacific Barge Transport Ltd. Named Atlantic it was contracted, along with two 7850 ton deadweight barges built in the same yard, for a ten year charter to Anglo-Canadian Pulp and Paper to carry pulpwood from Forestville, QC to the paper mill in Quebec City. The barges Betsiamites and Sault au Cochon each had a 3600 cord capacity. While one barge was unloading in Quebec City, the tug was towing/pushing the other barge for another load.  The tug was renamed Laval in 1975. It generally pushed the barges from a stern notch using face wires, but also towed them on a tow line depending on conditions.

At the end of the charter in 1979 Anglo's subsidiary St.Charles Transportation Co Ltd bought the tug and barges and sent the Laval to Halifax for a third barge, named Jean Raymond. Reed Paper Ltd took over Anglo in 1974 and continued to operate the tug and barges.

Gordon Turner took this photo of the Laval in Reed Paper Co markings, in the Welland Canal.
 

Reed International Inc sold the operation to Daishowa Paper Manufacturing in 1988 and the tug and barges came under the ownership of Daishowa Maritime Inc.

In the early 1990s Groupe Océan acquired the tug and in 1996 gave it the named Océan Echo II. They also fitted it with Articulated Tug Barge rams in hull blisters, and modified the barge Betsiamites  accordingly. They now hauled wood chips to various paper mills. The barge also carried a crawler backhoe with a huge bucket to move the cargo.

In 2008 the tug was back in Halifax, this time to take away the former shipyard barge Timberland which had been acquired by Groupe Océan.

When tug and barge were not working on the St.Lawrence they sometimes ran wood chips to the paper mill in Point Tupper, NS, or loaded wood chips at Sheet Harbour, NS. 

In May 2014 the tug sustained severe bottom damage when it ran aground outbound from Kingston, ON. It was out of service for some time for repairs

 

In this view, the ATB rams in hull blisters are clearly visible.

 

The fully moulded hull was rare in tugs even as long ago as 1969. Note also it has no bilge keels.

In 2018 it took the barge NT811 from Quebec City to Iqaluit for a port construction project, but since then it has seen very little service. On May 17, 2022 its Canadian registration was closed, along with the tugs Océan Basquess and Mega [see separate posts for each.] Whether these boats have been sold to foreign owners, or for scrap is not known at this time. Further details will be posted here when known.

Ocean Echo II and Ocean Basques are tied up together in Quebec City and Mega is in Sorel, awaiting the next move.

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Ocean Basques sea trials [update]

Ocean Basques will not be with us in Halifax for very much longer. The former Pointe aux Basques  has been alongside the Svitzer Canada dock all winter, awaiting her turn for refit at Industrie Ocean Shipyard in Ile-aux-Coudres, QC.

The tug sailed this evening for what turned out to be a sea trial, and returned to the dock for adjustments before the long trip back to Quebec. On completion of the refit, she will likely return to her old home port of Sept-Iles, QC to rejoin Ocean Sept-Iles the ex Pointe Sept-Iles  to continue with ship berthing in the ports of Sept-Iles bay.
This will of course leave the Svitzer Canada dock once more bereft of tugs - a real loss the Halifax waterfront where little commercial shipping activity takes place any more.

Update: Ocean Basques sailed early Wednesday April 23, in dense fog.

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Pointes now Oceans

When Groupe Ocean acquired the two Sept Iles based tugs Pointe aux Basques and Pointe Sept-Iles from Switzer last year, it was apparently their intention to re-deploy them after refit. Now that Pointe Sept-Iles has been renamed Ocean Sept-Iles it has now been refitted at Ocean Industries shipyard at Ile-aux-Coudres and was reported downbound on the St.Lawrence in mid-March.

I hear that Ocean Basques, the former Pointe aux Basques, will also be refitted at Ile-aux-Coudres this spring, but as of today it is still laid up idle in Halifax.

Originally ordered by Foundation Maritime, to serve the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) in Sept-Iles, two powerful icebreaking tugs were under construction in Collingwood when Foundation sold out to MIL Tug and then to Smit-Cory.
The boats were delivered in 1972 as Pointe aux Basques and in 1973 as Pointe Marguerite. for the newly formed Eastern Canada Towing Ltd (ECTUG), a joint venture of the Dutch Smit and the English Cory tug companies.

Pointe aux Basques in Halifax in 1987, in Smit-Cory colours. The tug office at the end of the pier was rebuilt after Hurricane Juan in 2003.

Pointe Marguerite in Halifax in 1977.

Identical 4200 bhp twin screw tugs, they proved very capable in winter ice, and were often sent out to assist shipping in trouble in the Gulf, and even made tows all the way to Halifax. They also came here for refits and drydocking at the Dartmouth slips.

Regrettably Pointe Marguerite had only a brief career with Ectug, for on November 14, 1978 while assisting Algobay in Sept-Iles Bay, it was crushed against the large bulker Cielo Bianco  (51,579 grt / 88,785 dwt) and sank, taking two crew members with it. The tug was so badly damaged that no attempt was made to raise it, and its wreckage remains in Sept-Iles Bay.

Ectug immediately ordered a near sister ship from Collingwood, which was delivered in 1980 as Pointe Sept-Iles. There are slight exterior differences, and the interior layout is also different.

Pointe Sept-Iles in Sept-Iles Bay in 2001, wearing the short lived Cory-Wijsmuller colours.

When Smit and Cory parted ways, ECTUG assumed a new funnel mark under Cory ownership,  but retained a similar livery until the short lived merger with Bureau Wijsmuller saw a major repainting. When Svitzer took over the tugs were repainted again and carried that scheme until sold to Groupe Ocean. Although I have not seen her, Ocean Sept-Iles has now been repainted in the distinctive Groupe Ocean colours.

 

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