Shuttle changes in Newfoundland

A new deal between Teekay Offshore Partners and the operators of the Newfoundland offshore oil complex will see the replacement of Canada's four largest tankers.
The new deal, effective June 1, 2015 sees three of the present shuttle tankers remaining in service for a time, and three new tankers to be built to serve a 15 year contract.

The offshore owners have banded together to arrange for the shuttle tankers to serve the Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron oil fields. These owners are Exxon Mobil Canada, Chevron Canada, Statoil ASA, Husky Energy, Suncor Energy and Murphy Oil.
Teekay is a world wide tanker operator, but for tax reasons, its headquarters is in Vancouver. To serve the Newfoundland offshore, they are establishing an office in St.John's.They have announced that they will order three new Suezmax DP2 tankers from Samsung Shipbuilding in South Korea for delivery Q4 2017 to Q2 2018.

Of the existing four tankers, Kometik is apparently not involved in the deal. Even though it is currently owned by a consortium of the oil field owners (Chevron 21 shares, Exxon Mobil 27 shares, Mobil Canada Hibernia Co Ltd 5, Chevron Hibernia Holding Co Ltd 5, and Murphy Atlantic Offshore Oil Co Ltd 6 shares) and managed by Canship Ugland.
It was built by Samsung in 1996 and measures 76,216 grt, 126,646 deadweight.

Kometik was built for offshore loading over the bow, and winter navigation.

It was also built with twin screws to help manouevering around the Hibernia gravity structure.

Rumours published on Halifax Shipping News last week are apparently true that the ship will be sold.


Sister ship Mattea will remain in service but only until September when it will be replaced by Teekay's Navion Hispania, built in 1999 by Astileleros Espanol SA, in Puerto Real, SpAin, measuring 72,753 grt, 126,183 dwt.

Mattea was built in 1997 by Samsung and measures 76,216 grt, 126,360 dwt.  It is owned by Penny  Ugland, a joint venture between Pennecon of Newfoundland and JJ Ugland of Norway.

Two never ships, which were built for a 15 year charter to Husky for the White Rose offshore project, will remain with Teekay until the new ships arrive. Both came from Samsung in 2005 and measure 80,918 grt, 148,706 dwt. They initially operated under Norwegian flag, but were transferred to Canadian in 2009.

Jasmine Knutsen and Heather Knutsen are owned by entities in the Knutsen company of Haugesund, Norway and managed by Canship Ugland.
Teekay however will be taking over direct operation and management of the ships, which will continue to sail under the Canadian flag with Canadian crews, with perhaps a change of name.

All these ships have called in Halifax from time to time for repairs, bunkers and maintenance.

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Heather Knusten - big tanker going

The big Canadian tanker Heather Knutsen sailed this morning from anchorage in the harbour.

The Port Authority work boat Maintainer I  goes about its business as the Heather Knutsen weighs anchor, and fog sets in.

After laying off Halifax for a day until weather improved, the ship made a first attempt to enter port yesterday afternoon. It was till too rough to board the pilot safely, and it put back to sea until last evening, when it was finally able to enter. As a (partially) loaded tanker, it required a tethered escort tug.
After taking on bunkers, stores and making some crew changes, the ship sailed this morning, timing its departure to pass the inbound Australian Spirit under tow.

Escort tug Atlantic Fir swings the ship's stern around.

The ship has oil aboard, but is nonetheless heading to Hibernia to load more. I suspect that loading operations there were suspended due to weather and the ship made for Halifax as a nearby convenient port that could handle a ship of its size.
Built in 2005, the 80,918 grt, 148,644 dwt ship is one of Canada's two largest tankers. It shares the distinction with sister ship Jasmine Knusten. They are products of Samsung, Koje, South Korea.

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Big tankers on the move

Two big tankers moved out of Halifax this morning. First off was the Euronav tanker Cap Guillaume bound for West Africa. It measures 81, 324 gross tons and 158,889 tonnes deadweight. It discharged a partial cargo of crude oil at Imperial Oil, having previously unloaded at Portland, Maine for the Montreal pipeline. It is a sister to the Cap Theodora previously reported for two pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea. The Euronav tankers are more common callers on the St.Lawrence River.

1. Heather Knutsen stern in at pier 27-28.

Following after was Heather Knutsen, a Canadian shuttle tanker that had been in Halifax since April 24 for repairs. When it arrived, in dense fog, it anchored for a time before going alongside pier 27-28. There is a rumour (unconfirmed) that the ship may have found the bottom near George's Island on the way in.
Divers were active on the ship while it was alongside, working under the stern doing routine maintenance to the shaft seal . Heather Knutsen was built in 2005 by Samsung, Koje (Geoje) for Husky Energy to serve the White Rose project  on a ten year charter. It is a ship of 80,918 gross tons and 148,644 deadweight tonnes. It will anchor off Halifax for an indeterminate time.

Meanwhile another comparably sized tnaker, AST Sunsdhine remains at anchor off Halifax. Also built by Samsung, Geoje and delivered earlier this year, it measures 81,187 gross tons, 159,039 deadweight. It is expected to move in to Imperial Oil.

Heather Knutsen-what you doin'

After days of discharging apparently clean water through side scuppers and hawsepipes, the question is, will they be pumping the entire harbour through this ship?
Normally ships do some washdown of the anchor hawsepipe to prevent friction sparks, wash away rust scale and remove muck from the anchor chain and anchor itself. They also wash out the chain lockers to remove accumulated muck too. This is usually done from deck hydrants, which pump water directly from the sea (or harbour).
Ships also exchange ballast water at sea- to remove invasive species (a requirement of many coastal states including Canada and the US). They aslo discharge ballast water as they load. Ships have tanks exclusively for ballast, which is needed to mainain the ship's stability and trim.
Some modern tankers can also use seawater displacement ballasting to maintain ship stability as oil cargo is pumped out (oil floats on water-well most of it).That water is then purified or pumped ashore for cleaning and is not discharged directly back into the sea.

Also as Heather Knutsen is doing, they flush their ballast tanks with (relatively) clean harbour water to ensure that whatever residues may be left in them are removed. Since this can take a long time so as to insure large dilution ratios, it is done only during times of maintenance or when the ship is idle. Also because the ship's stability is maintained by ballast tanks, it can usually only be done while the ship is in harbour.

Sea water is used as a coolant for ships engines. Massive amounts of water may be needed in warm climates to keep the engines within safe operating temperatures. Very cold water may have the opposite effect, and some engine heat is diverted to prevent freezing of intake water in arctic regions.
And finally water is used as a coolant in warm weather to keep the hull from distorting. Distortion or hogging can occur with loaded ships or light ships, and is usually not a structural issue. It is of particular concern in draft restricted areas such as the St.Lawrence Seaway where even a few inches of overdraft can prevent a ship from transiting the locks. This not an issue with Heather Knusten, which is far too big for the Seaway. Lakers are fitted with special deck hydrants that look for all the world like lawn sprinklers, which cool the ships deck and hatches, keeping the ends of the ship from sagging.
Tankers could equally well be called "pipers" because they are full of piping systems to heat, cool, load, unload, wash and stabilize. Liquid is continually moving around the ship in miles of pipe.

Heather Knutsen at Imperial Oil

Heather Knutsen, Canadian flag, 148,644 deadweight tonnes has nearly completed unloading a cargo of Newfoundland crude oil at Imperial Oil. The ships is tied with sister Jasmine Knustsen for the largest Canadian tanker.

Seen at the dock this morning, her gigantic bridge wings and bow loading gear stand out against a leaden sky.

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