Caribou retiring

1. Caribou leaving Halifax May 7, 2004.

This week will mark the end of an era on Marine Atlantic's Sydney/Port aux Basques ferry service. The ferry Caribou will be retired, making her last crossing on November 28.
Both Caribou and fleet mate Joseph and Clara Smallwood have reached the end of their working lives and will be replaced in the new year.

Caribou was built by Versatile Davie Inc at Lévis, QC (the yard is in the village of Lauzon which disappeared as a place name in municipal amalgamations) in 1985. The ships was christened on September 7, 1985 by Governor General Jeanne Sauvé. It is the second Cabot Strait ferry of the same name. The first Caribou was torpedoed and sunk on October 14, 1942 with the loss of 137 passengers and crew. There were 101 survivors. The present Caribou therefore commemorates that terrible event that took the lives of Newfoundlanders, Canadians and Americans.

An impressive ship of 27,213* gross tons, Caribou (ii) was built to Ice Class 1A Super, for year round Cabot Strait service, with minimal icebreaker assistance. Cruising at an economical speed of 15 kn , but capable of 22 knots, she is powered by four Krupp MaK engines with a total horsepower of 24,700*, driving two controllable pitch screws. Her speed would allow her make four one way crossings per day at 4.5 to 5 hours each.

The ship is also fitted with two controllable pitch thrusters forward and two aft. These units permit the ship to berth without tug assistance. She drydocked in Halifax from time to time and it was always an impressive sight to see her steam directly in to the Novadock floating drydock with no help.

The design capacity of the ship was for 1146 (Marine Atlantic now says 1200) passengers. There are berths for 196 in 96 four-berth dormitory type cabins. There is capacity for 350 cars or 91 tractor trailers*. These are loaded through bow and stern doors, with retractable ramps, to two vehicle decks. Crew numbers vary seasonally with 106 in summer and 68 in winter.
Caribou arrived at Point Edward, Nova Scotia on March 29, 1986 for final fit out of owner's equipment, and made its maiden voyage from North Sydney to Port aux Basques on May 12, before going on to St.John's for a reception.

The ship has had numerous incidents in its career - each examined under the microscope of public opinion and political rivalry, since the ship maintains an essential service, a condition of Newfoundland's confederation with Canada in 1949. Regrettably Marine Atlantic and CN Marine before it, have been political footballs, kicked from pillar to post by all and sundry, and interfered with at all levels by countless politicians of all levels and stripes, both public and private, elected and non. Marine Atlantic's problems are far from over, as colossal sums of money will be spent in replacements, overshadowing Caribou's original price tag of under $100 million.

New ships are on the way, but before they arrive it is time to say goodbye to Caribou. It is not known what her future may be, but if history gives us any clues, we may be hearing more about her before she goes.

* Marine Atlantic's published numbers may vary from these figures which were taken from Lloyd's Register.
.

Troubles at Marine Atlantic

1. Joseph and Clara Smallwood enters drydock in Halifax October 29, 1994. The drydock is currently occupied, and not available.

The announcement of new names for the Marine Atlantic's ferries that will join the fleet next year has been overshadowed somewhat by events.

Both Atlantic Vision and Joseph and Clara Smallwood are out of service for repairs, leaving Caribou and Leif Ericson to try to cope with Thanksgiving weekend demand. Smallwood has rudder damage and has headed for Boston - the nearest available large drydock - to be repaired. Atlantic Vision is undergoing regular maintenance.

The new ships will come none to soon as Caribou and Smallwood are aging rapidly. Joseph and Clara Smallwood was built by Davie in Lauzon in 1989 and Caribou in 1985.

The two new acquisitions for Marine Atlantic, Stena Trader and Stena Traveller were built in 2006, and are undergoing modification in Europe in preparation for service in 2011. They are to be named Blue Puttees and Highlanders for two distinguished army regiments, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (who wore blue cloth windings on their legs) and the Cape Breton Highlanders.

.

Marine Atlantic-building for the future

Big news from Marine Atlantic last week, that they have done a deal with Stena to acquire two RoPax ferries for charter and option to purchase, as replacements for the aged Caribou and Joseph and Clara Smallwood.

This is good news for Newfoundland travellers and truckers, but it will likely not be well received by the shipbuilding fraternity. However as Shipfax has reported in the past, the only yard in eastern Canada that is physically large enough to build ships such as these, is in no position to do so. Davie Yards in Quebec is under creditor protection and is looking at an infusion of capital (or sale) to survive. Even that is in doubt. West coast yards were not competitive in recent large ferry orders for BC Ferries, but have done well with smaller ferries for BC and are getting navy refit work. They also need more work to survive, but will be in the running if the navy ever gets around to building its new supply ships.

Back to Marine Atlantic Inc (MAI) . They have chartered for 5 years, with two 5 year extensions, and option to purchase, the large Freight and Passenger Ferries (RoPax) Stena Trader and Stena Traveller. Built in 2006 and 2007 they currently trade between Killingholme, England and Hoek van Holland. MAI have dubbed these the Seabridge class. They measure some 26,660 gross tons, and will be refitted (at least in part, in Europe one assumes) for MAI service in 2011.
The ships will have to be shortened 12.5m to fit the Port aux Basques terminal. This may not be as hard as it sounds, since they were both apparently lengthened for the present UK/Netherlands service.
When ready, they will accommodate 2,840 lane meters for cars and trucks. They will also have new passenger lounges added to increase capacity from 300 to 1,0000 persons (including crew) They presently have 50x4 bed rooms and 50x2 bed rooms, which will not change by the sound of things.
Capable of 20 knots or so, they are efficient modern vessels, fitted with stabilizers, and were built partly in Russia and partly in Norway. They have two level bow and stern loading, and unusual for the Cabot Strait area, large open car decks aft. How these will work out in the winter is a good question. In any event they have the capacity to handle passengers, cars, trucks and drop trailers to meet present and some future demand.
While no names have been selected yet, one can only hope that recent suggestions are not followed (John and Jane Crosbie and Brian and Mila Mulroney carry far too much baggage for even ships of this size!) Marine Atlantic's most recent ferry acquisition, Atlantic Vision, was named after a competition was held. This seems as good a method as any (although it did lack "Vision" in my opinion). I also fervently hope that the Caribou II or other such recent naming trends are not followed. That would be chickening out in my opinion. Pick a good solid and unique name and be proud of it.

As part of this process of acquiring new ships, the present Atlantic Vision has made some changes. Eighteen passenger cabins have been removed, freeing up space for 113 reclining sleeper chairs. This may allay the criticisms raised after its first season in service, that it did not cater to day passengers. In the 2010 season it will continue to run to Port aux Basques, but in 2011 it will run to Argentia, a service it is far better suited to in view of its large cabin capacity.

It is good to see Marine Atlantic moving ahead. For far too long it has been a political animal that has been kicked around and abused beyond reason. Finally they can see a clear future. Realistically no Canadian-built ships would be ready in any reasonable amount of time, and would cost the world. So MAI have turned to long time partners Stena (which has supplied many ships to MAI and CN Marine over the years) for some good ships, built with European experience and quality. How they will fare in winter remains a big question in my mind, but no ships are perfect, and solutions will be worked out.

See Marine Atlantic's web site for some interesting info and images:
www.marine-atlantic.ca/en/fleet/index.shtml