NEAS news

The yearly northern sealift conducted by NEAS (Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping) will indeed have two new ships sailing for it this year according to a press release issued May 30. The new names and schedules have also been published. By process of elimination I have determined which ships they are. It remains yet to determine which ship will get which name.

If this all seems a little arcane, please refer the previous post of April 10:   http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2019/04/more-changes.html

As reported two of the older members of the NEAS fleet were built in 1988, Avataq and Umiavut, and I was fairly certain that these would be retired this year. However the newly published shipping schedule shows Umiavit continuing to sail this year, along with the newer Mitiq and  Qamutik (built 1994) and Nunalik (built 2009). Typically NEAS may charter in one or two other ships for the summer. Erasmusgracht and Dolfijngracht  are shown on their fleet list page: https://neas.ca/fleet/

The new ships to the fleet are shown as Aujaq (meaning "summer") and Sinaa (meaning "ice floe edge"). The press release states that the ships are sisters of Mitiq and Qamutik, former Spliethoff E-type vessels, that are ice class 1, carrying 720 TEU, and equipped with three 60 tonne cranes.

The two Spliethoff ships are almost certainly:

•  Egmondgracht which was anchored off Montreal a few days ago and is now upbound through the St.Lawrence Seaway to Port Colborne, still under Dutch flag.
• Egelantiersgracht en route from Antwerp to Montreal and due to take a pilot at Escoumins June 9.

The NEAS schedule shows Aujaq sailing from Valleyfield, QC June 22 and Sinaa June 30. This leaves the ships a couple of weeks to be "Canadianised" and sign on a Canadian crew.

The two ships will, like the rest of the fleet, be Inuit owned, with certain aspects of operation and management coordinated by Logistec.

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