WG Magellan - starts deployment

 

1. WG Coook and WG Magellan at pier 28, last evening, preparing to go to sea.WG Magellan has her paravanes rigged and ready to deploy.

The first of the seismic boats to leave Halifax, WG Magellan sailed this evening in company with the two Canadian ships Strait Explorer and Strait Signet. WG Cook attempted to leave, but cancelled.
Riverton, Ocean Odyssey and Geco Tau so far remain in port.

2. Strait Signet at the government wharf in Port Hawksbury last April.

Strait Signet has an interesting history. Built by Saint John Shipbuilding + Dry Dock Ltd (hull number 1089) in 1967,  she was originally a fishing trawler, named Scotia Port. One of four boats built for Superior Sea Products in Yarmouth, only one remains as a fishing boat.
Scotia Point was renamed Senator Don in 1982 and Tenacity I in 1986. It is owned by Clearwater.
Scotia Bay and Scotia Cape were sold to the west coast. Bay went first in 1976 and was lost in 1979. The same owners then bought Cape and it was lost without trace, taking the owners with in it 1998.
Scotia Port took an entirely different course, and was sold to Raytheon in Newport, RI. They rebuilt her as the research vessel Sub Sig II. It returned to Canada in 2002 when Superport Marine Marine Services bought her and she became Strait Signet and was further modifiedfor their use.

3. Strait Explorer fitting out at Siuperport's yard, last April.

Strait Explorer is also a former fishing vessel. Built in 1982 by Dorbyl Marine (Pty) Ltd in Durban, South Africa, is was Fisheries Products Ltd's Pennysmart until Superport rebuilt it for research work.

Siesmic Invasion

The seismic invasion of Halifax is at its height with two more boats arriving this morning and three more later., joining the two that are already here. There will be a mass exodus on Tuesday as they leave for the licensed research area, and will be joined by an eight vessel. They will start actual work around May 25.

Today's arrivals mark the first X-bow ships to call in Halifax. The patented hull form is said to be better at sea keeping and more fuel efficient than conventional ship's bows, and dozens of X-bow type ships have been built for offshore supply and seismic work, since it was developed. The X-bow form is patented and the name is a registered trade mark of the Ulstein group, who developed the original, but others have built similar concepts, so the type is now generally referred to as an "inverted bow" since the most forward part of the ship's bow is at the waterline.The first ship with an X or axe bow was built in 2006 for Bourbon Offshore.
http://www.ulstein.com/kunder/ulstein/cms66.nsf/doc/3A6662B6DEF379B3C12576C70031E17D

As previously reported here, Ocean Odyssey and Riverton are already in port.[see also Tugfax]
First arrival this morning was Geco Tau owned by Volstad Offshore AS of Aalesund, Norway. Built in 1982 by Sovikens, it has been on charter to WesternGeco since 2004, but worked for the predecessor Geco since it was built.

It has the appearance of a conventional seismic research ship, with large covered deck area, for cable stowing. As a takeup vessel its streamers will be about 2 km long.

Next in was the novel X-bow WG Magellan. Built in 2009 in Vigo, Spain by Barreras,  it measures 6922 gross tons. As one of the prime vessels in the exploration, it can tow 12 streamers up to 10 km long.The ship is one of six Ulstein SX124 class designs built for WesternGeco ( two in Spain).

Thanks to the odd bow shape, there are extending docking wings similar to those found on cruise ships. Surprisingly for a ship fitted with all sorts of thrusters, it took tugs to tie up at pier 27.

Expected later today, its sister WG Cook dates from 2010 and was built by Drydocks World in Dubai.It measures 6599 gross tons.It was the fourth Ulstein SX124 designed boats delivered by the same shipyard and last of six  of the class for WesternGeco.

Also due are two ships from Superport Marine in Port Hawskbury. Strait Explorer and Strait Cygnet Signet will also be participating in the project.

The standby vessel Atlantic Tern (ex Atlantic Birch II) will be joining the team, but will not be coming in to Halifax.