Emergency Towing Vessel

 I have not addressed the topic of an east coast emergency towing vessel (ETV) in a long while. Due to an unfortunate coincidence of geography, I was reminded to raise it again.

The bulk carrier Genco Endeavour has been anchored off Cape Breton for nearly a week as the crew work to repair some engine trouble. According to news reports several government departments  are providing assistance. What that assistance might be or why the government should be providing any assistance at all is a valid question. 

The unfortunate coincidence is that the ship is anchored 27 km off Scatarie Island, the site of a ship grounding in 2011 that cost the taxpayers a fortune. The contract to remove the wreckage of that ship was $12 million, but there were many millions more spent to remove fuel, and other work associated with the wreck. (The ship Miner broke its towline when under tow to Turkey for scrap, then drifted ashore and broke up on Scatarie Island. It was carrying 6,000 liters of fuel and the tug was clearly inadequate.) There was no recovery of these costs from the owners, and the ship was not insured.

Fortunately the Genco Endeavour appears to be in no danger, and has weathered one storm. The ship, built in 2015 in China by Shanghai Waigaoqiao as SBI Puro was renamed Waterford in 2015 and Genco Endeavour in 2018. Measuring 94,385 gt, 191,060 dwt, it is carrying a cargo of somewhere in the area of 180,000 tonnes of iron ore loaded in Sept-Iles, QC. It is operated by the US based shipping company Genco Shipping + Trading Ltd, which is listed on the NYSE and has a fleet of 46 dry bulk carriers. It is no doubt a well found ship, operated by a reputable company, but accidents happen. Genco promotes itself as one of the largest and most responsibly managed shipping companies, so can well afford to deal with its own issues, without government assistance.

A news report says "a tug has been chartered", and herein lies the rub (or one of the rubs): the tug that has apparently been chartered (but by whom?) is the Atlantic Elm a ludicrously underpowered vessel of 3460 bhp. It is currently standing by in the lee of Main-à-Dieu while the Canadian Coast Guard's fisheries research trawler Teleost is standing by for Search and Rescue. Neither of these vessels would be of any realistic assistance if emergency towing was required - even in ideal conditions. I wonder who could have advised the charter of this particuar tug, By comparison the chartered ETV on the Pacific coast has in excess of 14,000 bhp. There are several 4,000 bhp to 4500 bhp harbour / short sea tugs in the area - one in Sydney and three in Point Tupper, but even though they are closer, they would not be of much use in rough weather.

Despite some recent noise that the CCG might consider emergency towing (its policy has been not to tow ships), very little has been done to equip the Canadian Coast Guard for towing. The three recently acquired icebreaking offshore vessels had that capability when they were purchased from Sweden, but as far as I know, they will only do towing in ice.

Various government agencies are no doubt monitoring the situation, and apparently see no need to make serious arrangements for emergency towing. The nearest "vessel of opportunity" (that is a powerful tug that would be capable of towing a ship of the size of the Genco Endeavour and would be made available given sufficient inducement) is off the east coast of Newfoundland and would have no chance of reaching the ship on short notice.

My contention that an emergency towing vessel program is needed for Canada's east coast is clearly not based on the number of actual casualties in recent times. However I believe the probability of a major event suggests that some program is needed. I do not think a full time dedicated ETV is needed, but there should be an arrangement with tug operators for availability on a user pay basis.

Assuming the Genco Endeavour is able to self-repair or in the end it is towed away by a private contractor, the incident will be soon forgotten. Instead of being considered as just a near miss it should be an opportunity to re-evaluate the response capabilities.

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