Placentia Bay pilot boat

The Placentia Bay Newfoundland pilot boat Atlantic Pilot sustained severe damage when it ran aground in the early hours of August 7, 2013 at Adam's Head, NL. The two persons aboard were not injured, but it required the services of the tug Placentia Hope to tow the boat off the shore. Once freed, sister boat Avalon Pilot towed the craft to Arnold's Cove for damage assessment.
A.F.Thériault & Son Ltd, of Meteghan, NS,  built both boats in 2007, and Atlantic Pilot was in Halifax in May of this year en route from a refit.

1. Atlantic Pilot in Halifax, May 17, 2013- Shipfax Archive.

This is the second such accident in the area. On May 28, 2006 Placentia Pilot also ran aground in Placentia Bay. In that case the boat's rudder and props were badly damaged. The hull was holed in several places causing the boat to sink to deck level. Damage was so severe that it was declared a constructive total loss and sold. In that case operator fatigue was cited as the cause of the accident. There were also serious injuries to one crew member.

Interestingly, that boat returned to service as a pilot boat, but in the Strait of Canso. Superport Marine in Port Hawksbury, purchased the wreck and rebuilt it and returned it to service. Now renamed Strait Eagle, it continues to provide pilotage services under contract to the Atlantic Pilotage Authority. It was built originally by Hike Metal Products in Wheatley, ON in 2000.

Pilot boats in Placentia Bay and the Strait of Canso are operated by contractors, whereas in Halifax the boats are operated directly by the Atlantic Pilotage Authority.

Sources include CFCB news, cached at:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Yb_id7ucQBgJ:www.cfcbradio.com/newsarticle.asp%3Fmn%3D2%26id%3D37147%26latest%3D1%26region%3D+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

2. The rebuilt Placentia Pilot now serves the Strait of Canso as Strait Eagle. Shown here with the smaller Strait Falcon.

 

Atlantic Pilot - visiting pilot boat

The Atlantic Pilotage Authority wharf had a visiting pilot boat today. Atlantic Pilot is one of a pair of pilot boats built for Placentia Bay, by A.F. Theriault in 2007 to a Camarc design. It was here before in November 2007 for trials.

Avalon Pilot was built first, and delivered in May 2007 and Atlantic Pilot was delivered in October of 2007. Both also worked in Saint John, NB for a time before taking up station in Placentia Bay. The bay is a busy pilotage area, with the Whiffen Head terminal, Come-by-Chance refinery and Kiewit shipyards at Marystown and Cow Head. Much of the traffic is tankers with several arrivals and departures daily.
The boats are slightly larger than the Halifax boats because they must withstand harsher conditions, and they are capable of greater speed because of the great distances they have to travel. With two Caterpillar engines of 925 bhp each they can hit 23 knots.

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Captain A.G. Soppitt

Atlantic Pilotage Authority's newest pilot boat Captain A.G. Soppitt is in Halifax fresh from the shipyard. This is the second boat built by ABCO Industries in Lunenburg, to the same design by Lengkeek Vessel Engineering. The first one, Chebucto Pilot, was delivered in June 2012.

 This new welded aluminum boat will be based in Saint John, NB, and was registered there on January 7. A ceremony  on December 6, 2012 in Lunenburg named the boat for Alwyn Soppitt the former CEO of the Saint John Port Authority, who retired in 2011. Capt. Soppitt's wife Eugenie was the sponsor. After a career at sea, and ashore as a marine superintendent, Capt. Soppitt joined the Port of Saint John in 1981 becoming Harbour Master in 1989 and President and CEO in 1996.

The $2.2mn craft can reach a speed of 18 knots, but is geared down to cruise at 15 knots, powered by a pair of Cat engines and can accommodate eight persons.

Following trials in the Halifax area, it is expected to enter service in Saint John in February.

Addendum:
I regret to report that Captain Soppitt passed away on January 1, 2013 in Saint John. Capt. Soppitt did attend the christening ceremony for his namesake boat in December. It is reported in an APA press release that he took the helm for a brief crossing of Lunenburg harbour.
For more on the career of Capt. A.G. Sopppitt:
http://www.brenansfh.com/obituaries/75975

New pilot boat needed - badly [UPDATED June 6]

Pilot boat service in Halifax was delayed today when A.P.A. No.18 broke down and had to be towed back to base by the tug Atlantic Oak. The 1974-built boat is back up to A.P.A.No.1 (built in 1976) which was out of service for maintenance.

1. Atlantic Oak, towing over the bow, brings A.P.A.No.18 back into port after a breakdown this afternoon.
Departure of the visiting Norwegian warship Thor Heyerdahl was delayed for several hours until A.P.ANo.1 could be returned to operation.

2. A.P.A. No.1 - seen here on Sunday June 3, is the duty pilot boat.

The new pilot boat Chebucto Pilot has been delivered to Halifax (it arrived about Sunday June 3) but it has not been commissioned yet (nor is it officially registered.) The new 18 knot boat is the first of two boats built by Abco of Lunenburg for the Atlantic Pilotage Authority. (The second will be delivered in the fall for service in Saint John.)

3. The handsome new Chebucto Pilot has been delivered to Halifax, but is not yet in service.

Update: Chebucto Pilot on harbour trials June 6.

A.P.A. No.1, 18 and 20 (also built in 1974) have served the A.P.A. very well, but are certainly of retirement age.

It's off to work we go

1. Pilot boat A.P.A. No.1 heads out.

2. The sail training vessel Roald Amundsen departs after a summer in Canada. She is bound for Ponta Delgada in the Azores.

3. Vietnam Express, outbound from Fairview Cove. The ship carries a Hapag-Lloyd name, but continues to wear OOCL colours. Her next port is Cagliari, Italy.

The pilot boat A.P.A. No.1 leaves the dock with the outbound Vietnam Express, and Roald Amundsen. Halifax's two pilot boats A.P.A. No.1 and A.P.A. No.18 are smart looking boats, always well kept, and ready for work. They take pilots out to meet incoming ships and remove pilots from outbound ships. It takes about 45 minutes to get from the pilot dock to the pilot boarding station off Chebucto Head, and another 45 minutes to get back to the dock.

Once pilots have disembarked from outbound ships they are often landed in Herring Cove so that they can get to the next assignment more quickly.

Dating from 1976 and 1974 respectively, the boats are due for replacement in the next few years with more modern craft. Atlantic Pilotage Authority (APA) operates pilotage services in numerous ports in all four Atlantic provinces, and has upgraded pilot boats in Saint John and Placentia Bay recently. See more on their web site at: http://www.atlanticpilotage.com/

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Close Calls in the harbour

The French naval patrol vessel Fulmar elected to leave her berth without a pilot this morning to assist in the start of the St-Pierre sailing race.
She, and the assembling yachts, generated several tense moments with arriving ships. The sailing vessels kept to the western side of the harbour before the race start , but the Fulmar was not as cooperative and insisted on sailing out, sans pilot, and without anyone on the bridge who spoke fluent English. Functional English was not adequate for the situation.
Her very close pass with the inbound Essen Express will surely be the subject of an investigation of some sort.
After the race start the boats soon got into fog and started wandering around in various places they shouldn't have been, giving a bit of a scare to some of the local tour boats.
The next incident is said to have occurred when the inbound gypsum boat Ambassador tried to arrange passing with Fulmar. Again English comprehension was an issue and a close call was narrowly averted.
The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron was also not much help in this situation either. Its race committee boat, Enos Collins, was reportedly incommunicado for several periods of time, and allowed the participants to wander at will all over the traffic lanes.
When the outbound Algonova (seen in the background of the race start) had disembarked her pilot, he was transferred to Fulmar. By this time however she had passed all outbound traffic and the crisis was over.

1. A puzzled cormorant gets birds eye view of an uncomfortably close pass between Essen Express and Fulmar.

2. Victim or villain? Fulmar was given clearance to proceed to sea without a pilot, at a time of busy traffic and limited visibility.

3. The race start, with the usual milling about. The RNSYS race boat Enos Collins is at the far right and the outbound tanker Algonova is in the background.

Some serious questions arise from this incident. First, how could Halifax Traffic give clearance to this vessel when she had no pilot aboard? Second, when Halifax Traffic finally came to and realized that the vessel needed a pilot, why did they not order it back to its berth or to anchor?

And third, when will Halifax Traffic get over its snit about pilotage? This "turf war" or whatever it is between the two organizations could have resulted in a serious incident. I think it's time to grow up and behave professionally.

For the record foreign flag vessels (other than small craft) require pilots. Outbound vessels are required to give 12 hours notice of intent to depart port. They are required to confirm the intent again at 5 hours from sailing and again at 2 hours from sailing time. All this is to ensure that a pilot will be available when the ship wishes to leave.

Foreign naval vessels are not immune from this requirement, but this is not the first time that a foreign naval vessel has done this in the past year.

Plastic Peril is back

APA No.3 has made a reappearance in Halifax after several years absence. The 1981 built fibreglass vessel has been kept by the Atlantic Pilotage Authority as a backup boat and moves around when needed. It has been in Halifax since late June.

A.P.A.

The Atlantic Pilotage Authority operates two pilot boats in Halifax. A.P.A No.1 is shown getting away from the dock at noontime today, with A.P.ANo.18 remaining alongside. Both boats were built of aluminum by the now defunct Breton Industrial & Marine of Point Tupper, NS. A.P.A. No.1 was built in 1976 and A.P.A.No.18 and a sister A.P.A.No.20 were built in 1974.

All are due for replacement, and the last news from APA was that design work was completed, and that tenders would be called for early in 2010.

The new boat will likely be bigger and more stable, and perhaps a bit faster than the stated top speed of 20knots for the current boats. They rarely do 20 knots however, since that is not an economical speed for them.