Slip formin' away

Work on the extension to peir 9B is carrying on apace.
Following completion of dredging by Harbour Development, McNally Construction has placed a crushed stone mat base and is busy levelling it using Derrick No.3. The process involves dragging a heavy beam back and forth the across the bottom. The crane suspends the beam at the correct depth and the barge  moves using its own winches and anchors established on shore and on the harbour bottom.  The tug Whitby sets and resets the anchors  as needed to reposition the barge.

1. Derrick No.3 suspends a heavy drag beam to level the new gravel mat 

2. Whitby repositions Derrick No.3. One of the orange anchor buoys can be seen in the background.

Meanwhile in a round-the-clock operation, dozens of workers are placing concrete for the first crib, using the slip-forming process, where the concrete form is raised continuously as the concrete is poured (the CN Tower was built this way too). The crib is being built on the deck of the semi-submersible barge Beaver Neptune. When the pouring is completed and the concrete sufficiently cured, the barge will be partially sunk and the crib will be floated off.

3. Orange suited workers place concrete in the slip-form on Beaver Neptune. The continuous pour goes on twenty-four hours a day. The concrete pumper truck's delivery pipe is seen at the top left of the photo. 

Dredging Shakeup

1. On Tuesday April 17 the dredge Rosaire and hopper boat I.V.No.14 are lying at Meteghan, NS, with the Groupe Océan tug André H. (in the background) preparing to tow then to Quebec.

Another of those monumental shakeups that seem to follow the Canadian dredging industry has passed beneath the radar of the English language press, since it appears (on the surface) to be a Quebec story - but don't be so sure.

In 1956 Verreault Navigation of Les Méchins, QC entered the dredging business. A local entrepreneur and ship's captain Borromée Verreault built his own little dredging fleet with unique self-propelled hopper boats. As the lucrative business base, it was able to expand its shipyard into a large enterprise. When the founder died his wife, and then two daughters took over and ran the company.

In 2000 the Verreault daughters decided to split the enterprise, with Denise Verreault keeping the shipyard selling the dredging business to her sister Claudette. Among the contracts that went with it was the lucrative North Traverse maintenance dredging. A yearly channel clearing project that used the trailing suction hopper dredge Port Méchins, originally J.P.Porter's Lockeport, which had been based in Halifax. Claudette Verreault discovered that the fleet was in poor condition and that Port Méchins would not meet Transport Canada standards. Verreault had also gobbled up a lot of old DPW plant, but it had not been used much and was also in bad shape. As a result there were lawsuits between the two family members and and the newly formed Dragage Verreault took on a large debt to keep the company going. One frequent contract for Verreault was Saint John, NB harbour dredging, but this was eventually won by Harbour Development (through Atlantic Towing Ltd, a J.D.Irving company.) Verreault also lost the Traverse work because Port Méchins could not be upgraded. It was sent to Veracruz, Mexico where it may have found some work.

Meanwhile Groupe Océan of Quebec City, an aggressive marine construction and tug operator was expanding, and was extremely well capitalized. In 2004 it acquired Dragage St-Maurice and never looked back. With its own shipyard, and ability to built its own modern dredging plant and adapt existing equipment for dredging use, it became a powerful force. It gradually wrested away the majority of the St.Lawrence work from Verreault, leaving the company with very little work after about 2009.

In 2011 Océan won the North Traverse dredging contract and now have their own dredge under construction at their own shipyard. It may be in service this year.

In December 2011 Verreault's creditors had enough and forced the company into bankruptcy. On March 29, 2012 its entire fleet was put up for auction - and in a bit of a coup Groupe Océan acquired the whole lot. Valued by some estimates at up to $15mn, they probably paid a lot less, but whatever they paid, they overnight became the major player in the Canadian dredging business.

As this is written Océan is gathering up the Verreault assets at its Shipyard in Ile-aux-Coudres, QC. This includes a dredge and three self-propelled hopper boats that had been laid up in Meteghan, NS for three years. Two of the boats sailed on their own, but Ocean's tug André H. (ex Point Valiant, ex Foundation Valiant) has the dredge Rosaire (ex J.P.P.No. 530, ex P.W.D. No. 21) and hopper boat I.V.No.14 in tow. They passed Halifax late this afternoon.

There are only a few other players in the dredging business. McNally Construction, which was taken over the US firm Weeks Marine in 2011, seems to be more concentrated on marine construction than dredging, but does maintain a large, if aging plant.

Harbour Development is rather a small player, and has not replaced the dredge Shovelmaster which sank in 2008. It is currently working on dredging at the pier 9C extension in Halifax and still has the contract for Saint John.

I expect that we will see Océan expanding out over a wider region beyond Quebec and continuing to grow.

--

The dredge Rosaire was built by the Saint John DD Co in 1952 for the Department of Public Works. It was later acquired by the now defunct J.P.Porter Co. That company was brought down by the 1970s price fixing scandal and it was acquired by Verreault. Fitted with a 20 ton American crane , it has accommodation for 12 and is loaded with equipment.

I.V.No.14 is one of five self-propelled, self dumping spoil hopper boats converted from newsprint carriers. Originally built in the 1930s, they were rebuilt 1969-72 and are unique in the Canadian dredging business. All other operators use tugs and barges.

There are four other barge type dredges in the former Verreault fleet and a couple of scows.
The future of the Port Méchins however is in question.

.

Pier Contractor Takeover

McNally Construction, contractor for the Halterm pier extension, and most other major marine construction projects in Halifax over the last several years, has been purchased by the US marine construction firm Weeks Marine, Inc.

McNally, based in Hamilton, ON, but with an important branch in Sorel, QC (it owns the former MIL shipyard site) and its regional office in Halifax (the former Beaver Marine) did about $150mn in business in the year ending April 30.

Weeks Marine, Inc., based in New Jersey, and was involved in the new Irving/Repsol gas terminal in Saint John, did $500mn of work in 2010.

According to a press release from Weeks, dated July 8, McNally will continue to do business under its present name, and will be a wholly owned subsidiary. McNally has a major presence in the US with its tunnel boring operation based in Cleveland, OH., which will also continue to operate under that name.

The takeover will therefore have no visible bearing on the operations at Halterm. However it may mean that McNally's access to capital will be improved and thus an investment in new plant may be expected. Like many marine construction firms in Canada its fleet of work barges, scows and tugs is aging and renewal did not seem probable. Weeks on the other hand is noted for its first class plant and excellent tug fleet. [see also Tugfax]