Irving Shipbuilding Inc grabs the gold ring

The announcement that Irving Shipbuilding Inc has been named prime contractor the RCN frigate replacement program is perhaps the biggest news coming out of Halifax Shipyard since the announcement in 2011 that they had been selected to build the frigates.
Several world scale powerhouse bidders were no doubt vying for the prime status which would have relegated ISI to sub-contractors. Even before the decision of the tribunal in the National Ship Procurement Strategy there was never much doubt that Halifax Shipyard would build the frigates. Irving's credentials as builders of most of the current frigates and refitters of the east coast frigates gave them credibility, even if there are few if any people left in the ISI organization who were involved in the original construction of the Halifax class ships.
However being prime contractor is a far bigger prize than (just) being the builders.
As prime contractor they will essentially be in charge of all aspects of the program, and will call the shots to the myriad suppliers and  sub-contractors. Their ability to get performance out of those subs will be key to the success of the program, both in terms of budget, but also of delivery time and performance. No one should under estimate ISI's determination in those areas.

 The massive new building hall dwarfs the Novadock which will be replaced.

The south end of the yard where the current frigates are being upgraded has a newly built parking structure, the graving dock, machine shop wharf and an ant colony of temporary buildings. 

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Down with the old and up with the new at Halifax Shipyard

The first roof truss was raised today at the new ship construction hall at Halifax Shipyard.
The immense scale of the new structure may be appreciated when compared to the remnant of the old hall (in the background) which will be disappearing soon.

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Here today - gone tomorrow

Demolition of the plate shop at Halifax Shipyard got underway today, with little ceremony. Not even bothering to remove the "Halifax Shipyard" sign, the scrappers tore away the siding and brought down the south portion of the roof.

Meanwhile the frames for the new building are going up to north of the old buildings. The scale of the new structure is not quite evident yet, but it will be gigantic, forever changing the look of north Barrington Street.

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Shipyard activity

Halifax Shipyard is a beehive of activity these days with work on the pier 6 extension barreling along. McNally Construction seems to have completed building concrete cribs and are demobilizing at pier 9C, although all cribs are not yet in position. There is also a steady stream of trucks arriving with precast concrete for the new parking structure. Building demolition is also continuing, and the wall along Barringtoin Street is receiving a new concrete cap:

In the Novadock floating drydock Oceanex Sanderling is getting some new steel above the deck line in the bow. It seems that the damage which flattened out the ship's nose will not be repaired completely:

And the latest patrol boat for the CCG, Coporal McLaren MMV started trials today, first in Bedford Basin [see Halifax Shipping News for some photos of the boat at speed] and then out to sea, returning late in the afternoon:

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CCGS ships and other doings at Halfax Shipyard

The Canadian Coast Guard Hero class patrol boat project continues at Halifax Shipyard. Corporal McLaren MMV, was rolled out June 26, and must be close to launch date by now. However on the Labour Day weekend A. LeBlanc was rolled out for paint and is now blocking the launch way.  It will have to be moved to permit the next launch. Meanwhile the remaining two vessels can be glimpsed (when the doors are open) in the building hall, although not yet fully assembled.

1. Corporal McLaren MMV on the right, nearing launch day, with A.LeBlanc  freshly painted.

 
Complicating matters is the imminent demolition of the current module shop as part of the shipyard expansion and upgrade. It would seem that as the Heros are pushed out the south end of the building, the north end is being torn down.

Meanwhile the first two cribs have been sunk for the new pier face at pier 7 (which they will be calling pier 8.) McNally Construction is building the cribs a sub-contractor to Dexter/Municipal.

 2. The first two cribs that will form the new pier 8. From this point to the shore (on the right) will be filled in to form the new land-level assembly area.

The cribs will form the edge of the new land level pre-launch area, where final assembly of ships will take place. The ships will then move south onto a launch barge (a floating drydock without walls) stationed at pier 6, and will be floated off, before moving to final fitting out piers.

3. New tubular steel piles form the face of pier 6 where the launch barge will be stationed.

(The south wall of the new filled area, perpendicular to pier 6, will technically be pier 7, although that name will likely not be used.)

See the schematics on Halifax Shipping News:
http://blog.halifaxshippingnews.ca/2013/08/halifax-shipyard-improvements_27.html

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Pier 6 the next stage

Reconfiguration of Halifax Shipyards is moving right along. Now that work has been completed on the removal of pier 6 deck structure  and the dredging has been largely completed, all the soil cleaning equipment and debris have been removed from the site.

Also the old Burning Shop, the northernmost building, has been gutted ready for demolition, and work has started on a workers' parking garage at the south end of the site.
It will soon be time to start work on the the new pier face cribs, and an ad in Saturday May 18's paper hints at the likely contractor. Dexter Construction the heavy civil part of the Municipal Group is hiring marine and construction personnel including those with slipform experience.
Interestingly (see Tugfax) McNally Construction, the company that built the slip formed cribs for pier 9c have demobilised from Halifax and have towed away most of their gear, so it certainly won't be them. They were keeping the gear here in case they got the shipyard job. Dexter has little if any floating plant of their own, so they will have to rent or find the scows and tugs for the work.
Dexter built a good portion of the new cradle at Irving's Shelburne Marine Shipyard, and in that job hired gear from Dominion Diving.

 There have been many changes at Halifax Shipyard over the years, but little changed form the time the new pier 6 was built in the 1960s until Irving Shipbuilding took over. The photo above shows what it looked like before 1960. Note that pier 9 had not been built by them either. I won't begin to comment on water pollution back then. Compare to the top photo in this post.!

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Environmental Dredging starts at pier 6

Environmental dredging got underway this morning at pier 6. The work is related to the Halifax Shipyard's major expansion which will allow it to build ships under the new National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.
The site was ground zero of the Halifax Explosion in 1917 and until 2008 the location of a major sewage outfall, not to mention more than a century of industrial activity. As might be expected the bottom is strewn with debris, and sludge containing heavy metals and other contaminants.
The dredge Cranemaster will dump the spoil into sealed scows HD6 and HD7 that will be unloaded at the landing on the right in the photo above.The spoil will then be cleansed using a sophisticated process operated by Clean Earth Technologies. See http://www.cleanearthtechnologies.ca/
Once the area is dredged to the required depth a series of concrete cribs will extend the face of pier 6 well out into the stream. The area will be filled and surfaced as a roll out area for the new ships.
Tugs Swellmaster and Atlantic Tamarack will attend the dredge and wrangle the scows.

Low tide - time for clams. These veteran dredge clam buckets are being stored at the shore line until they are needed or scrapped. (2012-03-23 photo)

Another Shipbuilding Announcement

There was another shipbuilding announcement in Halifax today. Despite the supposed "depoliticization" of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy for major Canadian ships, the event was another opportunity for the government. The first word in the title of the Press Release is "Harper", so you will understand how little it really had of any substance in it. In fact it was an outline of a process that, similar to the one on the west coast, was short of detail. 
If read in its entirety : http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?mthd=tp&crtr.page=1&nid=724329&crtr.tp1D=1
it states that the first two of seven work packages of the Definition Contract have been awarded. These packages are for managing the contract and the first of three engineering design packages for the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels.
The announcement was quite free of any detail on how many ships will be built and who will be designing them. We understand that the designers are to be Odense of Denmark.
Reference was also made to the $300mn upgrades to Halifax Shipyard, which will be carried out at no cost to Canadian taxpayers. That work has already started as the proliferation of construction cranes at pier 6 will attest. The arrival on the weekend of the dredge Cranemaster and dump scow HD 7 and workboat Atlantic Tamerack also signals a start to the dredging component of the work. The tug Swellmaster brought in the dredge and returned again to Saint John.

Pier 6 - no sentimentality expected

I did not expect Irving Shipbuilding to show much sentimentality when they started work on the pier 6 side launch facility. The incredible mobilization of cranes is certainly notable, and work is gearing up rapidly.
Little known perhaps are a few artefacts that will be worth watching.
First is this old orange peel grab:

1. Old grab stands ten to twelve feet high.

Left over from the coal operation which Dosco carried out at pier 6, the grab has been there as long as I can remember. When Irving Shipbuilding took over Halifax Shipyard, the grab was given a coat of paint, and largely ignored ever since. It is a large piece of old technology and would be a shame to lose.

Next is Shovelmaster's shovel:

 2. Obsolete shovel will certainly be going to the scrap yard.

Harbour Developments Ltd lost the dredge Shovelmaster off southern Nova Scotia in 2008, but I believe this shovel was formerly part of its gear. There are no dredges of this type working in eastern Canada any more - they are all clamshell dredges now,  so this artefact is perhaps unique.

Last and most intriguing to me, they started this week to cut down the derrick scow Channelmaster. 

 3. Work has started cutting up the deck house.

Harbour Development have been the owners of this unit since about 1988 when they acquired it from Sceptre-Riedel-Dawson, successors to Scetpre Dredging, a company that tried to pick up the pieces after the collapse of J.P.Porter and Co in 1977. It was Porter that  had no less than Canadian Vickers of Montreal built the craft as Hamilton 56 in 1956. Fitted with a 6 cubic yard clamshell crane ( very likely steam powered) it was built for some important work in Hamilton, ON, but scandal surrounded awarding of the contract  and continued on and off to dog Porter until the end.
In 1977 when Porter's fleet was laid up I photographed Hamilton 56 at their base.

 4. In 1977 the scow was still in serviceable condition.

It was towed out when Sceptre took it over and eventually worked in the Magdalen Islands and Dalhousie, NB, but returned to Halifax in August 31, 1993, towed in by Irving Hemlock.(now Swellmaster)
At that point Harbour Development removed the ancient crane and it was renamed Channelmaster.

 4., 5., 6. By 1993 the old crane was ready for scrap.  Alongside in the lower photo is Mighty Master ex  DPW  No.16 dredge, de-registered in 1998, sunk in Hurricane Juan in 2003 but still in existence at pier 6, as a landing platform. Channelmaster continues to carry the graceful davits for a lifeboat.

Since then it has carried a couple of different crawler and truck cranes, and has had some quite large spuds (the new spudding winches came from the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent). It has worked around Halifax Harbour, but also in Saint John from 2005-2006.
Perhaps remarkably the original "builder's plate" can still be seen on the after house. Had it been bronze it would have disappeared long ago, but as a crude piece of welder's art it has survived - but for how much longer?

 

7. In 1977 the builder's plate was still quite legible.

 8. The builder's plate is midships, on the yellow background, just below the white.

I will continue to watch as this work unfolds.

Shipyard - launch area work starts

 1. Pier 6 makeover begins

With much noise in the local press about an imminent signing of Phase II contracts in the ship procurement contract with Halifax Shipyard, physical work has started on the new launch area at the north end of the yard.
As we understand it, Phase II of the contracts is called the Definition Contract, worth multi-millions, most of which will be done elsewhere. Such yards as Maersk's former prime shipbuilding yard of Odense in Denmark, and General Dynamic's huge destroyer building yard in Bath, Maine, will carry out a lot of design and engineering work, but it will not involve the actual building of ships. That will be done in Phase III in Halifax.
In order to build the new ships, which will  be too big and heavy to launch on the current launchway, a former steelyard in the north end of the yard at pier 6 will be converted to a side launch area. Ships will be rolled northward out of the fabrication hall and then eastward to Pier 6 where they will moved onto a new floating drydock and gently lowered into the harbour and floated off.
Pier 6 is of course best known as the Ground Zero area of the Halifax explosion in 1917, where the drifting IMO came ashore after the massive explosion which devastated the Richmond area of north end Halifax.
After the explosion the area was a wasteland, but was rebuilt by Halifax Shipyard and parent company Dosco, which used it as a coal stockpile. Then in 1960 it was fitted with a series of unique steel bridge structures, supported on steel encased concrete cells.The structures, topped with concrete, acted as a pier, supporting shipyard cranes, and on a lower level some machine ship functions.
This series of photos taken in September, 1960 shows construction of the bridge sections. *

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Pier 6 was used a fitting out berth and for in water repairs, and was heavily utilised during the oil rig building program of the 1960s and 70s.

8. Oil rig Sedco H under construction at pier 6 in 1969. The steel yard on the shore had its own traveling gantry crane.

 9. Shipyard crane Timberland unloads oil rig leg sections from the barge Haltren No.1 at pier 6 in 1975. The sections were built by Dosco's Trenton Works and barged to Halifax.

For the past several years pier 6 has fallen into a state of disrepair and has seen little use, except at the very north end where Harbour Development Ltd keeps some of its dredging plant..
This week demolition crews moved in and have begun to dismantle the steel bridge sections.

New work will include dredging, a new pier face 10 meters farther to seaward, a pier extension of 250 meters and new buildings, as well as the hard stand where the new ships will be transferred to the drydock for launching.
Due to a change in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which came into effect July 6, 2012, there was no requirement to complete an assessment on the project.

* In the background of the 1960 construction photos are ships of the former Canadian National Steamships.CNSS laid up its ships rather than bow to union strike demands. A deal to sell the ships to Cuba fell through when Fidel Castro took over and most of the ships languished in Halifax for years until sold for scrap. Also appearing in photo #6 is the coal burning icebreaker CGS Saurel tied up at the north end of pier 6.

CCGS Corporal Teather C.V. takes to the water

1. A crew from Connors Diving assists in the launch from a small boat.

The patrol vessel CCGS Corporal Teather C.V. took to the water this morning. It was a cold and windy day, and as with the launch of the first boat in the Coast Guard's Hero class, this one hung up on the end of the launch way for time. I stand corrected- the cradle did not hang up. The launch was stopped before the ship hit the water, so that the lines securing the cradle to the hull could be released, and the hull checked for water tightness. When all was well, the ship was launched without incident. The first Hero launch did hang up, but not this one
A crew from Connors Diving in a small boat, and the two tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Willow soon had the matter in hand assisted and the ship was safely afloat [see also Tugfax]
This is the third of nine Hero class boats built by the yard, and it will fit out at pier 9B.
The internet has many accounts of the heroism of RCMP Corporal Robert Teather, but one interesting one can be found on the RCMP Veterans Association web site at: http://www.rcmpveteransvancouver.com/cpl-bob-teather/?doing_wp_cron=1355579876.4581770896911621093750
The ship will enter service early in 2013.

2. With tugs fore and aft, Corporal Teather C.V. moves toward pier 9B.

3. Atlantic Oak handles the bow line.

Atlantic Vision out of drydock

Marine Atlantic's Atlantic Vision sailed this afternoon from Halifax Shipyard. The ship arrived in Halifax for the first time October 27 and entered the Novadock floating drydock for maintenance.
Using her thrusters she wiggled out of the drydock on her own, but did use the tugs Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Oak to turn once clear of the dock. She then proceeded to number one anchorage area for a compass swing before heading to sea.

Having completed her summer service between North Sydney and Argentia, the ship may now be on standby to fill in for Highlanders or Blue Puttees if needed, but otherwise will spend a quiet winter alongside. It will be spring however before the crew can get out and complete the much needed repainting of the main blue colour of the hull.

Caporal Kaeble, V.C.

The second in the series of Coast Guard patrol vessels, Caporal Kaeble, V.C. rolled out of the Halifax Shipyard plate shop on Sunday. This is the ship's second appearance outdoors, it was rolled out in April for painting, then returned indoors for more work.

Halifax Shipyard - signs of expansion

1. Belle. D and 5 section scow off pier 6 & 7 at Halifax Shipyard on Monday, February 9.

With the signing of the umbrella agreement with the Federal government this week the way ahead seems to be clear for Halifax Shipyard on the construction of the combatant ships.

Since well before the award of the contract the shipyard has been showing a sketch of the yard's facilities on its website. It is a little thin on details at the north end of the yard, but it does indicate a warehouse (which doesn't actually exist - yet) and the pier 6 and pier 7 areas used as a fitting out area.

http://www.irvingshipbuilding.com/uploadedFiles/Halifax%20Yard%20Layout.pdf?n=4859

A prior sketch, which seems to have disappeared from the web site did actually show a "side launch" area at pier 6 & 7.

This week the tug Belle. D has been handling a sectional scow with a core drilling rig just off pier 6 & 7. This is usually the first sign of new construction. Construction could still be a long way off, but at it is good to see something happening.

Belle. D is owned by Atlantic Towing Ltd, but operated by RMI Marine and is a general workboat used on a variety of projects around the harbour. Most recently it was working on the oil rig refit.

The drilling is under the supervision of Boart Longyear.

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Big Day

So today was the big day for the Federal Government's $35 billion shipbuilding announcement. The announcement came just after 5 pm Halifax time (ADT).

At first it was reported that the announcement would be made following the close of the stock markets - not sure why this should be - oh, yes, Seaspan is a publicly traded corporation. Irving Shipbuilding is privately owned, and Davie is, well, under creditor protection. Davie's new parents Daewoo and Upper Lakes Group are not publicly traded as far as I can determine, and the yard is under creditor protection until the end of October.
In a very dry pronouncement the bureaucrat tasked with reporting on the selection process finally got to the point:
Irving Shipbuilding (Halifax Shipyard) gets the plum contract, the construction of the combat vessels- namely 3 destroyers, 12 frigates and 3 arctic patrol vessels.
Seaspan (Vancouver Shipyard) gets the non-combat portion of the work, namely two support ships (with an option for third) a polar icebreaker, a hydrographic survey ship, etc.,
Davie Quebec is out of the running, but eligible for other contracts for the Coast Guard, fisheries, etc., from which the other two yards are excluded.
This is wonderful news for Halifax of course, and seems to be the most reasonable one too- and apparently free from political interference.

By coincidence the Icelandic patrol vessel that visited Halifax over night left early this afternoon.
The Canadian three ship arctic patrol vessels will look very similar, and they are expected to be the first ships to be built by Halifax.
Although they will be even larger, they will be of a similar configuration to Thor.
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Private Robertson VC, First Hero rolls out at Halifax Shipyard

Update and Correction: The Mininster of Defense, Peter MacKay MP from Pictou County participated in a naming ceremony at Halifax Shipyard on November 10, in which the first ship of the Hero series was named CCGS Pvt. Robertson, VC after a war hero from Pictou County. The first ship, was to have been named Cpl. Kaeble, VC according to earlier government press releases, but things can change!

The first of the new Hero class mid-shore patrol boats was rolled out at Halifax Shipyard today. The 43m vessel, to be named CCGS Caporal Kaeble VC [see above] will be in service early next year. Built to a modified Damen design, it is the first of nine such vessels to be assigned to the Coast Guard and RCMP.

All the boats in the series will be named for Canadians who have died in service to their country. This one for a World War I hero who died near Arras in 1918, and received a posthumous Victoria Cross, the highest military honour.

More on Cpl. Kaeble can be found here: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2010/11/halifax-shipyard-under-construction.html or in various government publications:

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/media/back-fiche/2010/hq-ac54a-eng.htm

Shipyard crane truck tips

1. This afternoon. Slings have been attached to the outriggers of the crane in preparation to raise it from the water.

2. November 28, the yellow crane truck sitting on its wheels.

A crane truck at Halifax Shipyard tipped over this morning while lifting a fork-lift off the ferry Holiday Island. The forklift ended up on the harbour bottom, with the crane truck nose down over the edge of the pier. The crane driver escaped with bruises.

According to press reports there was no damage to the ferry, and retrieval operations are underway.

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Chemul at anchor

1. Chemul rests in number one anchorage on Sunday afternoon.

2. Atlantic Willow runs out an anchor (at left) while Atlantic Larch stands by as the Chemul conducts inclining tests on Saturday.

The construction and accommodation rig Chemul moved out to anchor on Saturday for inclining tests. These tests, used to confirm the rig's stability, are among the last steps to be taken before a project is completed. Therefore the project to repair and rebuild the rig must be nearing an end.

The work has been a major project for Halifax Shipyard, and has employed a large work force at the Woodside dock since the rig arrived in 2008. At the time the contract was estimated to exceed $110 mn.

Chemul was undergoing repairs and refit at Mobile AB when it was damaged during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The rig, which was secured on a barge when the storm hit, was swept up the Mobile River and wedged under a bridge. Considerable damage was done to rig, barge and bridge. Some of the hull work (that is below the main deck level) had been done by the yard in Mobile, but it was Halifax Shipyard that was hired to complete rebuilding of the accommodation block and install cranes and other construction equipment on the rig.

The unit is not a drilling rig, but is used to support construction activity offshore and to house a large work force. It is built along the lines of a conventional semi-submersible oil rig, but it does not do drilling.

Chemul is owned by Pemex, the Mexican state oil company and is expected to return to Mexico on completion of the work.

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