Canadian tug and barge maybe waiting for spring

The articulated tug/ tanker barge combo Victorious / John J. Carrick are tied up at the McAsphalt dock in Eastern Passage with extra mooring lines out to shore.

The Chinese built pair joined the McAsphalt Marine fleet in 2009 and have seen service on the Great Lakes and this coast, including some US ports carrying asphalt for the most part.

McAsphalt Marine is a joint operation between McAsphalt and Upper Lakes Group.

Victorious is a 6000 bhp tug, equipped with the articulation gear required to stay connected to the barge in most conditions.

The McAsphalt dock, formerly known as Dook's dock is adjacent to Autoport, and its mooring buoy can be seen at the stern of the tug.

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US tug and barge wait for a nicer day

The US flag tug/ tanker barge Scott Turecamo/ New Hampshire are anchored in the harbour waiting for a low pressure system to pass before heading south. This is the second trip to Halifax this month for the pair which are used to shuttle petroleum products.

Although the tug and barge are connected with an articulating pin system which can withstand most weather conditions, the barge's low freeboard forward must be a concern in bad weather. The pair are owned by Moran Towing, and are based in New York. The tug is 5,100bhp vessel and the barge has a capacity of 118,000 bbl.

See http://www.morantug.com/ for more on this well known tug operator.

Halifax Tugs at Work

1. The pilot boat returns to base, as tugs make up to OOCL Hong Kong. HMCS Fredericton is anchored on the Static Sound Range, just inside Meagher's Beach.

2. Atlantic Larch is made up forward, just aft of the flare, where there is good flat hull to push against if needed.

2. Atlantic Fir is now in full view at the stern.

3. Atlantic Fir is keeping up with the ship, leaving slack in the stern line until needed for braking or turning.

A typical post-Panamax arrival, this time OOCL Hong Kong, came along west of George's Island late this afternoon, heading for Fairview Cove in Bedford Basin. To prepare for passage through the Narrows and under the two harbour bridges, tugs met the ship just inside Meagher's Beach.

Atlantic Larch (4000 bhp) came alongside near the flare forward and Atlantic Fir (5000 bhp) took the escort position astern.

Icecap on the way back - updated

1. Stevns Icecap at Halifax Shipyard 2008-05-28, dressed for its handover to Nordane. It completed its trials in Halifax under the supervision of Irving Shipbuilding.

2. Alexis-Simard and Grande Baie berthed at Port Alfred (now La Baie) in 1983. Alexis-Simard was rebuilt following an explosion in 1990.

As expected, it has now been announced that Rio Tinto-Alcan Inc has purchased Stevns Icecap from Nordane Shipping of Denmark for service at La Baie, QC.

Built at East Isle Shipyard in 2006, the tug was delivered on its own bottom from Halifax after trials. Nordane had the tug out on charter to Svitzer as Svitzer Nanna from 2007, but it was returned and laid up last summer. A 5,000 bhp ice class, azimuthing stern drive tug, it is an exact sister to Fjord Saguenay (built as Stevns Iceflower , ex Svitzer Njord -07-09) purchased by Rio Tinto-Alcan in 2009 to replace Grande Baie, which sank at its berth earlier that year.

Stevns Icecap will be returned to Canada by heavy lift ship in February, and will no doubt be renamed.

It will replace Alexis-Simard, a Voith-Schneider tug, built by East Isle's predecessor, Georgetown Shipyards, in 1980. A fine tug of 3290 bhp it is slightly underpowered for the size of ships now using La Baie. An unusual feature of the tug is the aluminum deckhouse, used to promote the material manufactured by its owners. Most of the tug's work is berthing bulk carriers bringing in raw materials for the nearby aluminum smelter. Much larger ship are now used in this work and larger tugs are required, particularly in winter ice conditions.

There is an excellent photo of it, out of the water, on shipspotting at:
www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=121505

Update Groupe Ocean has reportedly purchased Alexis-Simard for use in their Ocean Ontario Towing operation, based in Hamilton. It will replace Escorte.

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Rub a Dub Dub

Rub a dub dub,

Three men in a tub,

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker,

The candlestick maker.

Turn them out, knaves all three.

The three man crew of Waterworks I towed a small float across the harbour today. I don't mean to suggest that they are knaves, nor any of the other three occupations listed above. They are more likely preparing to work on the damaged piles under the Svitzer tug dock.

See : www.waterworksconstructionltd.com

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Mystery Solved-Oak returns

Thanks to an intrepid squad of observers, I have been able to piece together the whereabouts of Atlantic Oak for the last several days.

After leaving Halifax, Atlantic Oak remained with the Triumph as it continued "around the corner" to St.Margaret's Bay - just west of Halifax. There is shelter and room in the Bay, which is also free from conflicting ship traffic. (Triumph's position at anchor in Halifax was creating issues for other shipping.) Bad weather closed in soon after the rig left Halifax, with high winds being the predominant factor, and it was a better place to anchor than in Halifax.

Although St.Margaret's Bay is some distance from Halifax by sea, it is not far by land, and so it was that workers could shuttle from Halifax to the Hubbards by road for additional securement work on the rig. Dominion Diving's Halmar provided boatmen service for the workers out to the ship.

Atlantic Towing's Atlantic Elm was also called in to assist. It has been scheduled to bring the tidal turbine from Saint John for the last several weeks, but weather has also interfered with that move.

Atlantic Oak and Halmar returned to Halifax today when weather permitted Triumph (with is deck cargo of Rowan Gorilla III) to sail for Corpus Christi TX.

[photo: October 4, 2010]

Where is the Mighty Oak

1. Atlantic Oak with stern line up, escorting Triumph, January 11.

2. Tug Atlanic Oak, January 6, with the heavy load ship Triumph in the background.

The tug Atlantic Oak sailed on January 11, as stern escort tug with the heavy lift ship Triumph carrying the jack-up rig Rowan Gorilla III. Since the tug has not returned to port, the question is where is she now?

Update: The question has been answered! I have received several intelligence reports, on the (no longer) mysterious whereabouts of the Atlantic Oak.

Thanks to Armchair Captain for coining the right headline - and the others who e-mailed or commented.

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