Kometik to anchor in Bedford Basin

Kometik clearing the Narrows and making the approach to the MacKay bridge.

Having cleared the bridge, escort tug Svitzer Bedford begins to retrieve her line.

The tanker Kometik completed unloading her cargo of crude at Imperial Oil today and went to anchor in Bedford Basin.

The ship and sister Mattea were built in Korea in 1996 especially to shuttle crude oil from the Hibernia offshore field to the mainland. Both tankers measure 76,216 gross tons and 126,646 deadweight. As such they are the third and fourth largest tankers registered in Canada. (The Jasmine Knutsen and Heather Knutsen at 80,918 gross/ 148,644 deadweight are the largest.)

As a shuttle tanker she has several unusual features. These include the large bow loading structure that allows the ship to transfer oil from the Hibernia gravity base. The ship also has twin propellors and rudders, and the twin skegs over the rudders can be seen in the stern view.

The full width bridge is typical of ships that sail in northern waters, providing shelter and comfort in bad weather.