Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Pearl Mist - another chapter in the saga

1. Eileen McAllister arriving in Halifax last year to tow out the old floating dock.

Reports have reached me that the US flag tug Eileen McAllister has arrived in Shelburne, NS, and is tied up at the same pier as the cruise ship Pearl Mist.
In August 2012 the same tug towed the old Scotiadock II from Halifax Shipyard to the scrappers. Same tug, same shipyard owners - it's too much of a coincidence for me.
Pearl Mist was built by Halifax Shipyard, and following trials in March and April 2009, Pearl Seas Cruises of Connecticut refused delivery of the ship and it was moved to Shelburne in May 2009. Some work was carried out on the ship at Shelburne Shipyard (also owned by Irving Shipbuilding Inc), but it has remained idle at the pier for almost four years.
The matter of the ship's fate has been working its way through various courts and arbitration processes, and perhaps a final settlement has been reached.
Interestingly, reliable sources show that Pearl Seas Cruises gained effective ownership on or about March 1, 2013 and the ship has been placed under the management of Pearl Seas Management Inc, both of Guilford, CT. Originally the ship was intended to be registered in the Marshal Islands. However these sources show it registered in Canada. That would probably be provisional shipyard registry only, and would not indicate final flag state.  
2. Pearl Mist as she appeared in Shelburne in 2011, awaiting her fate.

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