Alfred Needler and other old government ships

 The Canadian Coast Guard announced February 9 that it will not be repairing the CCGS Alfred Needler after the most recent incidents (See previous posts of December 22 and January 19) when the ship had equipment failures and was damaged while alongside at the BIO dock. They have cancelled a planned $5 million refit which was intended to squeeze a few more years of service out of the forty year old research trawler. They have determined that the ship is beyond repair and that further expenditure would not return it to safe operation.

Instead the ship will be prepared for what they politely refer to as "deconstruction" and "environmentally sound disposal." That means scrapping (in Canada) following safe regulations.

The announcement follows the retirement of CCGS Hudson late last year. A contract to demolish that research veteran (at sixty years of age) was awarded to R.J.MacIsaac Construction Ltd (RJMI). They took over "care and custody" of the ship, and in the spring of 2023 will tow it to Sheet Harbour for final disposal. In the meantime RJMI has moved the ship to Pier 9C in Halifax where it awaits the tow.

According to the CCGS press release in December, once the ship arrives in Sheet Harbour there will be a process of hazardous material remediation and disposal.

Then by Fall 2023, the vessel will be removed from the water and the hull and superstructure will be disassembled. The overall project is expected to be completed by the end of Fall 2023.

As per the press release "RJMI will ensure that any steel, stainless steel, aluminum, or other recyclable materials onboard the vessel are recycled while non-recyclable materials are disposed of in an environmentally-responsible manner, in compliance with federal, provincial, and municipal regulations. As well, the contractor will salvage and return the CCGS Hudson's hull transducers and propellers to the CCG."

There has been no visible activity on the Hudson at Pier 9C, and as of this morning, February 10, it still remains intact. RJMI's facility in Sheet Harbour is currently dismantling the fire damaged ferry Holiday Island.

That work is expected to have advanced enough by spring that room can be found for the Hudson.

As for the Alfred Needler there are other contractors that could also bid on the work, and since it is a much smaller ship there could be several locations to do it.

It was also recently announced that the Coast Guard itself has begin to demolish in place the former CCGS Tupper at Marie Joseph, NS. The ship was sold by the Coast Guard in 2000 for conversion to a yacht and renamed Caruso but work never took place and after a fire in 2008 it was sold to a scrapper and towed to Marie Joseph in 2011. Scrapping was never completed and the Coast Guard undertook to remove the remains as a pollution threat. They will likely also demolish the tug Craig Trans at the same location and attempt to recover costs from the same owner. See previous post of June 21, 2011 and April 4, 2021.

There was been a long list of "dreamers" buying former government ships with schemes to reuse or convert them, but the ships usually ended up abandonned when funds ran out, or were involved in smuggling operations. None of this did any credit to the government or to Canada. In recent years, whether intentionally or not, surplus government craft have been few and as per the first three ships mentoned above, were in no state to be reused and so have been sold to be dismantled appropriately.

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