Alfred Needler and other old government ships

 The Canadian Coast Guard announced February 9 that it will not be repairing the CCGS Alfred Needler after the most recent incidents (See previous posts of December 22 and January 19) when the ship had equipment failures and was damaged while alongside at the BIO dock. They have cancelled a planned $5 million refit which was intended to squeeze a few more years of service out of the forty year old research trawler. They have determined that the ship is beyond repair and that further expenditure would not return it to safe operation.

Instead the ship will be prepared for what they politely refer to as "deconstruction" and "environmentally sound disposal." That means scrapping (in Canada) following safe regulations.

The announcement follows the retirement of CCGS Hudson late last year. A contract to demolish that research veteran (at sixty years of age) was awarded to R.J.MacIsaac Construction Ltd (RJMI). They took over "care and custody" of the ship, and in the spring of 2023 will tow it to Sheet Harbour for final disposal. In the meantime RJMI has moved the ship to Pier 9C in Halifax where it awaits the tow.

According to the CCGS press release in December, once the ship arrives in Sheet Harbour there will be a process of hazardous material remediation and disposal.

Then by Fall 2023, the vessel will be removed from the water and the hull and superstructure will be disassembled. The overall project is expected to be completed by the end of Fall 2023.

As per the press release "RJMI will ensure that any steel, stainless steel, aluminum, or other recyclable materials onboard the vessel are recycled while non-recyclable materials are disposed of in an environmentally-responsible manner, in compliance with federal, provincial, and municipal regulations. As well, the contractor will salvage and return the CCGS Hudson's hull transducers and propellers to the CCG."

There has been no visible activity on the Hudson at Pier 9C, and as of this morning, February 10, it still remains intact. RJMI's facility in Sheet Harbour is currently dismantling the fire damaged ferry Holiday Island.

That work is expected to have advanced enough by spring that room can be found for the Hudson.

As for the Alfred Needler there are other contractors that could also bid on the work, and since it is a much smaller ship there could be several locations to do it.

It was also recently announced that the Coast Guard itself has begin to demolish in place the former CCGS Tupper at Marie Joseph, NS. The ship was sold by the Coast Guard in 2000 for conversion to a yacht and renamed Caruso but work never took place and after a fire in 2008 it was sold to a scrapper and towed to Marie Joseph in 2011. Scrapping was never completed and the Coast Guard undertook to remove the remains as a pollution threat. They will likely also demolish the tug Craig Trans at the same location and attempt to recover costs from the same owner. See previous post of June 21, 2011 and April 4, 2021.

There was been a long list of "dreamers" buying former government ships with schemes to reuse or convert them, but the ships usually ended up abandonned when funds ran out, or were involved in smuggling operations. None of this did any credit to the government or to Canada. In recent years, whether intentionally or not, surplus government craft have been few and as per the first three ships mentoned above, were in no state to be reused and so have been sold to be dismantled appropriately.

.

Caruso

 It appears that the ship Caruso will finally be removed from its resting place in the village of Marie Joseph on Nova Scotia's eastern shore.  A notice appeared in Saturday's newspaper issued by Fisheries and Oceans Canada that the Minster plans to dispose of the vessel. Under terms of the Canada Shipping Act the Minister may act to sell, dismantle, destroy or otherwise dispose of the vessel since it poses a pollution threat.

 Originally named CCGS Tupper it was fine little icebreaking buoy tender. In line with longstanding Coast Guard policy the ship was decommissioned at the end of its service life and handed over to the Crown Assets Disposal Corp to be sold for re-use. The CCG has never sold a ship directly for scrap.

I covered the ship's career here in previous posts: 

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2011/06/coast-guard-veteran-on-move.htm

The ship has been a blight on the village ever since a local owner beached it for scrapping. Work proceeded slowly and seems to have been abandoned eventually.

I have not been to Marie Joseph since 2017 when I took this photo, so I don't know what progress if any there has been on demolition. The same owner purchased the tug Craig Trans (on the left in the photo) which was also to be demolished. I have no update on its status either. See my last post on it:

http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/search?q=craig+trans

It is a shame to see once useful ships slide into ruin, beached on some stretch of shoreline. However it is good that the Minister of Fisheries + Oceans finally has authority to clean them up. Nevertheless, the department is ultimately at the root of the problem for trying to recoup a few dollars by selling old ships instead of paying to have them scrapped.

The history of those ships, once sold, should be a huge embarrassment to the government. Any number have been abandoned by "dreamers" who could not afford to recondition them. Others fell into the hands of drug smugglers or other unscrupulous owners and left for someone else to dispose of. Passing them off as "hot potatoes" instead of disposing of them in an environmentally responsible manner is just plain wrong.

.

Coast Guard veteran on the move

The former CCGS Tupper will be on the move tomorrow. The veteran, long retired from active duty, has lying at the former Dartmouth Marine Slip LongWharf for more than five years. A new residential development at the former shipyard site has forced the ship out.

1. Dominon Victory, in the foreground, ready to tow the boarded up and gutted out former Tupper, tomorrow morning.

2. Not her finest moment. CFAV Firebird at work to put out the blaze. She was officially named Caruso, but still had 1998-05 on her bow.

3. CCGS Tupper in her heyday, doing an easy job breaking spring ice in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbour. Her Fairbanks Morses are just singing.

Built in 1959 by Marine Industries Ltd of Sorel, Tupper was one of a pair (the other was Simon Fraser, built by Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver.) It worked from Dartmouth and Charlottetown as a buoy tender and light icebreaker. A diesel electric vessel, she was powered by two 8 cyl Fairbanks Morse (built by Canadian Locomotive Works) totalling 3280 bhp, through two 1150kW generators connected to two electric motors totalling 2900 shp, giving 13 1/2 knots.

With accommodation for 38 crew, including helicopter pilots and mechanics, the ship was a classic Canadian Coast Guard vessel of the era.

The ship was laid up May 5, 1996 and in 1998 was renamed 1998-05 prior to her sale, which was accomplished in April 2000. Her new owners had the intention of converting Tupper and Simon Fraser to expedition tour/ yachts, but the project stalled during the rebuilding of Simon Fraser in Italy.

The only thing that happened to Tupper was to be renamed Caruso and registered in Panama. That name has never appeared in paint however, and she is still referred to as Tupper.

Caruso started moving around Halifax harbour, always in tow, and eventually on July 5, 2005 was towed by Atlantic Oak to Sheet Harbour when her space at the IEL dock was needed by Irving Shipbuilding. The same tug towed her back to Halifax in December 19, 2005 and she has sat at the Long Wharf ever since.

On October 11, 2008 a fire broke out on board, and it was eventually extinguished by land units and CFAV Firebird. I expect that the interior is now completely gutted.

The poor old ship must be on her last legs by now, and it will be sad to see her go. (I expect she is on her way back to Sheet Harbour, but that is to be confirmed.)

Update: Not Sheet Harbour, but an unnamed port on the Eastern Shore, to be broken up for scrap.

.