Océan Taiga joins the fleet

On October 28 Groupe Océan took delivery of the Océan Taiga the second of a pair of 8,000 bhp tugs built by Industrie Océan at Ile-aux-Coudres, QC.

It and sister Océan Tundra completed in  2013, are by far the most powerful conventional tugs in eastern Canada. Exceeding 110 tonnes bollard pull, and with a free running speed of 14 knots, it is also capable of exerting 86 tonnes steering force at 10 knots for tethered escort work. Built with firefighting equipment and an icebreaking bow, the tug will most likely be used for tanker escort work on the St.Lawrence, but could work anywhere in the world.


The TundRA 3600 design by Robert Allen Ltd was conceived for year round high latitude (arctic) work, but the contract evaporated and construction of the Océan Taiga was put on a slow bell, and the tug was only completed this year. The ship's hull was built undercover in the shipyard's building hall then moved to the slipway for completion.

 

The great size of the tug is only apparent when seen next to one of the smaller members of the fleet.

As late as May the shipyard was hard at work with hull painting. After a July re-launch from the slipway, the tug was moved to Océan's Quebec City facility. It underwent trials there in August and final fitting out.

Both sisters are available for charter work.

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Maersk Chancellor arrived in Aliaga

The Maersk Canada tug/supplier Maersk Chancellor arrived in Aliaga, Turkey November 16 to be scrapped. Its Canadian registry was closed November 15, as Maersk pares down its supplier fleet world wide.

Maersk Chancellor was built in 1986 by Orskov Christensens Staalskibs Verft A/S in Frederikshaven, Denmark for O.I.L. (Ocean Inchape Ltd) as O.I.L. Chancellor, a 14,161 bhp anchor handling tug supplier. Maersk acquired the ship in 1991 and renamed it under Isle of Man flag.
It was flagged in Canada November 20, 2001, registered in Halifax, and arrived here December 20 for work with the West Navion oil rig. 
Later in began to work out of Halifax supporting the drilling rig Eirik Raude for Encana but spent most of its nearly 15 year Canadian run working from St.John's, NL.

A sister vessel from the same yard, built as Challenger III in1986, but soon renamed  O.I.L. Challenger became Maersk Challenger in 1991 and was registered in Halifax October 8, 2002 and began work with Eirik Raude in November. It eventually moved on to Newfoundland too.

Its Canadian registry was closed in 2014 when it was sold the Danish Blue Star Line and renamed  Blue Aries. It is still working out of Denmark.


A third sister vessel, built in 1985 as Kongsgaard, and renamed  O.I.L. Champion in 1987 became Maersk Champion in 1992. Although never registered in Canada, it did work out of Halifax and Sheet Harbour but under Danish flag, from June to October 1999 for the Sable gas project rig Rowan Gorilla III. 

Flying the Danish flag from the mast head and the Canadian flag forward, Maersk Champion turns off pier 9 to tie up at the EnCana dock.

Maersk Champion is currently at work in Brazilian waters, out of the port of Macae (no relation).

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Tugs for sale - surprise listing

Thanks to Towingline * I have learned that two Canadian-built tugs have been put up for sale in Denmark. It is explained that they are coming off a five year charter and have apparently been replaced by newer tugs.
This comes as a bit of a surprise, since I assumed that Canadian owners would have snapped them up, or at least been in line to acquire them.

The tugs in question were the last two tugs of seven built by Eastisle Shipyard in Georgetown PEI for Danish owners Nordane Shipping. They were part of a series of  more than 30 of similar design, and were, at least from my impression, among the best. At 5,000 bhp, 70 plus tonnes bollard pull and ice class**  firefighting ASD tugs, they should be in demand. Four of the earlier Nordane tugs,  have come back to Canada and two each are serving Svitzer and  RioTinto Alcan. Groupe Océan also repatriated two other Nordane tugs of a different class, built elswehere.

Christening day for Stevns Battler in Halifax.

Built as Stevns Breaker and Stevns Battler these two passed to Svitzer control in 2010 as Svitzer Nabi and Svitzer Nari. The former spent a year as Svitzer Hutton for a temporary reassignment to the UK in 2012. Svitzer Euromed currently owns the tugs as far as I know, and I am surprised that they are not being transferred to Svitzer Canada's fleet.

Stevns Battler on the way to Bedford Basin for trials.

Both Groupe Océan and Atlantic Towing Ltd (who started the Eastisle sereis at their parent company's yard) have several similar class tugs in their fleets now, so these would seem to be a natural fit for them too.

I could speculate on why none of these operators are grabbing these tugs, but that's all it would be:
Speculation 1: Atlantic Towing has enough tugs to do the work they have - I actually think they could find work for one more if they got it for the right price, and maybe two. The ice class would be an appealing feature I would think.
Speculation 2: Groupe Océan has too many tugs, particularly with delivery of Océan Taiga, and as they near the end of their work in Newfoundland. - but they also have many older tugs that could stand replacement.

Speculation 3: Then there is Arcellor Mittal which needs to replace its two tugs at Port-Cartier - but they really need Voith-Schneiders for their constricted port.
Speculation 4: McKeil has just upgraded to some big tugs with more ocean going capability - I agree with that, andl also they have a raft of older idle tugs, but are apparently in no hurry to scrap or replace them, since thet can meet the need with their newer tugs.
Speculation 5: Svitzer has an odd lot of tugs and could consider replacing at least two of them to have a consistent fleet of similar, even interchangeable, tugs, with a bit more power and capability - apparently that is not the case, and maybe, just maybe, they don't want these two to fall into a competitor's hands, so maybe are offering them for sale on a restericted basis.
All speculation.   

* If you don't know about Towingline it is a relliable source of worldwide tug, towing and workboat info. To reach the site, use the link in the left hand column.

** Update: thanks to alert readers for pointing out that these are not ice class tugs.

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ETV on the horizon

In simultaneous announcements across the country, the Prime Minister (in Vancouver), the Minister of Fisheries (in St.John's), the Minister of the Environment (in Halifax) and the Minister of Transport (in Ottawa) unveiled Canada's new $1.5 bn Oceans Protection Plan.

Among the many features in the 5 year plan, the Canadian Coast Guard will lease two "large vessels capable of towing commercial vessels and large container ships" [who writes this stuff?] and the Coast Guard will equip (four) of its major vessels with towing capability by installing "towing kits".

So what will this mean?
The British Columbia government requested three large rescue / towing vessels - they will get one.
These blogs suggested three to five on the east coast - we will get one.
The arctic will get none - unless you count the "towing kits  " - sounds like something you rent from U-Haul for the weekend!

With 500 offshore support vessels laid up world wide and 100 in the North Sea alone, they shouldn't have any trouble finding a suitable vessel to lease. In fact they might look no farther than Maersk Canada which has the 150 tonne bollard pull under employed Maerk Cutter and it sister Maersk Clipper.These 15,000 bhp state of the art vessels may even exceed what is available on the world market. One on each coast would be a vast improvement on the present situation where have only vessels of opportunity, with no mission specific training. They would be wonderful for deep sea work but will be stretched very thin over a wide geographic area.

Last year the Maersk Cutter was used for a cable repair job - way under utlilized for its capabilities.

By leasing of course the government will get civilian tug crews, who may know something about towing. Canada's offshore vessels have towed oil rigs, FPSOs, icebergs and are used to close quarters work with oil rigs and fixed platforms.

The Canadian Coast Guard on the other hand has always been averse to towing and in fact refuse to do it except in case of direst emergency. So let us hope that these "tow kits" include a user handbook. Incidentally, CCGS Terry Fox should need no "tow kit" - it was equipped for anchor handling and towing when purchased by the CCG. Why it wasn't mentioned in the announcement is a mystery.

The leases may start as soon as the 2017 fiscal year (i.e. after April 1, 2017) and can't come soon enough.

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Westport Ferry - new home, new colour

A workboat that has received mention in these posts before has a new home. Westport Ferry, long a fixture in Dominion Diving's fleet was sold this summer to a private owner in Purcell's Cove, and now calls that inlet its home. To signify its new ownership, its hull is now painted red.

Built in 1965 by St. Marys Bay Industries Ltd in Meteghan, NS, it was the last wooden hull and the longest standing member of Dominion Diving's fleet, having been acquired by Dominion's original owners in 1978.
I featured the boat here in 2014: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2014/05/westport-ferry-harbour-stalwart.html

Little has changed in the interim, except that when I saw it in early September, it was obviously on a pleasure run - something it never did for Dominion Diving! So my assumption is that it was sold in August.

In the intervening month it has acquired its red hull paint and is now moored in Purcell's Cove, at the mouht of the Northwest Arm.

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Maersk big blue pull

Maersk Supply Service Canada Ltd , the Canadian branch of the huge Danish shipping firm has a major contract coming up in the spring and summer of 2017. Kvaerner Kiewit, the contractor for the Gravity Base Structure (GBS) for the Hebron oil field, has awarded the tow out contract to Maersk Canada.
The gravity base, with various topsides to be attached, is being assembled in Bull Arm, Trinity Bay, NL. When it is ready to be positioned it will be towed 340 km out to sea to the Jeanne d'Arc Basin and settled on the sea bed.
This major operation, including pre-positioning and post-positioning will require nine tugs with a combined bollard pull of 1720 tonnes. The work must be done in a narrow weather window of 20 to 30 days, between April 1 and September 30.
To ensure smooth and seamless operation, several more than nine tugs must be available in case of breakdowns or other reasons. There will also be escort and similar duties during the tow.
 
Although Maersk has a Canadian fleet of nine, most of those vessels are under-powered for this job and contracted for other work, so would not be available in any event. Therefore Maersk has called on its international fleet and applied for 13 coasting licenses to allow foreign tugs to work in Canadian waters temporarily. Maersk will have two of its Canadian tugs ready for the project and some number of the 13 also to ensure nine operational tugs at any given moment during the contract.

The array of tugs will consist of  6 tow out vessels with a combined bollard pull of 1,020 tonnes - two of which must be 170 tonnes and the others 150 tonnes. It also requires 3 trailing tugs of 170 tonne bollard pull each. If any tug has a BP in excess of 245 tonnes it must be equipped with a load limiter.

Maersk has considerable experience in this type of work, including the Hibernia Gravity Base tow out in 1997 when it provided  10 large anchor handling tugs. They also list a dozen or more tow outs requiring 3 to 8 tugs, but this one is surely the largest they have tackled in terms of shear horsepower / bollard pull. One of Maersk's selling points was that all their tugs are under common management.

The Canadian flag anchor handling tugs designated for the project are Maersk Cutter and Maersk Clipper. Interestingly one of the proposed foreign vessels, Maersk Beater is still listed as Canadian registered. It has apparently been chartered back to the parent and is "non-duty paid".

Maersk Cutter is one of the Canadian tugs that may be used on the tow out project.

The foreign tugs listed in the applications are:
Maersk Advancer, Maersk Assister, Maersk Battler, Maersk Beater, Maersk Laser, Maersk Lifter, Maersk Tackler, Maersk Tracer, Maersk Starfish #1, Maersk Starfish #2, Maersk Starfish #3 and Maersk Starfish #4.
The last four named are in fact not the actual names of  vessels, but members of the "Starfish" class - a new class of six tugs currently under construction for Maersk. The first was launched in June 2016. See http://www.maersk.com/en/hardware/2016/06/the-next-generation-of-offshore-support-vessels
It is expected that at least four of these will be available by next spring, but at the time of the coasting license application, Maersk had not yet announced all their names.

Maersk won the job against ten other bidders. Those bidders were: Atlantic Towing Ltd,  Oceanex Bourbon LP, DOF Subsea Canada Corp, Fairmount Marine BV, Farstad Shipping SA, POSH Terasea Offshore PE, Solstad Shipping AS, UOS United Offshore Support, Viking Supply Ships AS, and Secunda Canada LP (owned by Siem Offshore).

The work certainly comes at an opportune time for Maersk, as it would to almost any of the offshore tug supply companies. All are hurting in various degrees due to low oil prices and deep cuts in exploration. Maersk Canada's Danish parent has introduced major cuts and re-organized its offshore fleet. Several of the bidders are experiencing major hardships and a number of far-east and some Norwegian companies have failed outright. The North Sea and Brazil are among the areas hardest hit, but the problem is world-wide.
Tidewater is teetering on the edge of Chapter 11 in the US, and others can't be far behind. Even those with long term contracts have experienced early terminations and hundreds of tugs, suppliers and support vessels are laid up around the world.

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Northern Shakeup - NTCL

Northern Transportation Co Ltd, the huge Mackenzie River based tug and barge operator was placed in creditor protection in April. After years of losing money, the parent company could no longer support  NTCL and finally surrendered to the inevitable.
NTCL was allowed to complete many of its 2016 summer supply commitments, but when those were done the operation has been mothballed until it can be sold off in whole or in part.
The company's court appointed monitor identified some "non-core" assets that could be sold off piece meal without reducing the value of NTCLs base assets which include a slew of tugs and barges and support facilities. NTCL has been the principal, if not sole, provider of transportation services to scores of northern communities, and its loss would be a major blow to much of the Nunavut region.
The company has been a financial cripple for many years, and many of the vessels in its once mammoth fleet have been laid up and virtually abandoned. The monitor identified 158 vessels (tugs and barges) of which 77 are abandoned, out of class or scrap. Even this number may not identify all vessels, since there may be more in remote places that  have not been listed yet.
In an attempt to diversify its operations the company set up in Newfoundland and at various times had up to four tugs, a tanker and several barges working there. Sometimes they worked independently, but were also under charter to Atlantic Towing Ltd and others for extended periods. Some of those have now been sold as "non-core".

These include the two tug / suppliers Alex Gordon and Jim Kilabuk, the tug Keewatin and a dozen barges, some of which are in the eastern and western arctic.

Keewatin was last in Halifax in October 2015, but after that visit went back to Mount Carmel, NL where I believe it has been laid up ever since.

The 3375 bhp triple screw shallow draft tug was built in 1974. It was upgraded in 2011 to bring it back into compliance.

Jim Kilabuk was here in April 2015 while repositioning to Tuktoyaktuk in the western Arctic via the Panama Canal. It was reported to be operational in the summer of 2015, but was not used in 2016.

Built as Canmar Supplier IV in 1975, the 7200 bhp tug was renamed briefly Pernell J. in 1995 for its delivery trip via Panama to Halifax where is was refitted and renamed. It has worked back and forth from the east coast to the Beaufort Sea.

Alex Gordon has a similar history. Built in 1975 as Canmar Supplier III it was renamed Lamar J in 1995 for its delivery to Halifax and refit and renaming.

 

The tug was laid up in St.John's for a time, but was towed to Mount Carmel, NL in August 2015 by Keewatin. It has also been repainted red since I last saw it.

All three of these vessels have now been sold to RJG Construction of St.John's. That company is a civil, marine construction and dredging firm, and it is unclear what use it will be making of the tugs.


Also laid up in Mount Carmel is the tug Michael Amos. Built in 1984 as Arctic Nanabush for use in the Beaufort Sea it was sold in 1993 and operated as Britoil 7 until 2001, Seaways 4 until 2007 and Sea Biscuit I  until 2009. NTCL bought the 6400 bhp tug from layup in Dubai, and sailed it to Canada under Panama flag as Michael Amos. After hard years of foreign offshore work the cost to bring it up to a Canadian standard proved to be prohibitive and it is questionable if it will ever see use.

Among the many barges identified as "non-core" most have been sold to eastern Canada owners.
NT 1802, NT 1803, and NT 1804 have been sold to Les Barges de Matane Inc. An offshoot of Construction CEG Inc, the barges will be used to transport CEG's prefabricated buildings from Matane to the far north.
NT 803, NT 804, NT 1526 and NT 1801 are now owned by RJG Construction of St.John's.
NT 1511 was already on charter to Desgagnés Transarctick and has now been purchased.
NT 811,  NT 1509, NT 1524 and NT 1527 have been acquired by TMO Océan Inc. Only the first named is currently in Newfoundland - the rest are still in Nunavut.

It can be inferred from the posted documents, that a single owner may be planning to take over the re-usable assets and  resume service in 2017, but it is far from certain how that can be accomplished.

For those interested in NTCL's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act process refer to:
 http://www.pwc.com/ca/en/services/insolvency-assignments/ntcl.html

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