Christmas Day activity

There were three ships came sailing in on Christmas Day, but not all in the morning. Rain, fog and high winds discouraged photography, but all were still in Boxing Day when the sun shone brightly.
First in was Atlantic Condor on its normal shuttle from Sable gas.It tied up at the Mobil dock in Dartmouth.

Next in was the tanker Mare di Genova which tied up at Imperial Oil #3 dock.

The ship was last here September 21. It flies the Italian flag and dates from 2009.

The third ship waited until 1800 hrs when the Christmas Day overtime rates for longshoremen had ended, and tied up at pier 27 to load, using its own crane.

(File Photo)

Seabed Prince to work off Nova Scotia

The Norwegian Seabed Prince tied up at pier 27 today to load gear for work offshore. The ship will be working for Secunda Canada to accommodate a dive team and and ROV to work on the export gas pipeline at the Thebaud field off Sable Island.
Work will include placement of grout bags, reinforcing bars, and weighted mattresses on the seabed. to hold down and prpotect the pipleine.

As a Norwegian ship, it has been granted a coasting license since no suitable Canadian vessel was available to do the work. The license is to expire December 31.

 A shore based crane loads gear aboard Seabed Prince at pier 27.

The ship's hull was built by the Yildirim shipyard in Tuzla, Turkey, but construction was completed by Baatbygg, Raudeberg, Norway. Laid down as Acergy Merlin it was completed in 2009 as GSP Prince for owners Volstad Shipping AS of Aalesund and managers Troms Offshore Management. In 2012 management was taken over by Swire Seabed Shipping of Ovre Irvik, Norway. and the ship was renamed Seabed Prince. (Swire is a Hong Kong based shipping conglomerate).

Aalseund is an ancient Norwegian fishing and sealing port with longtime ties to Halifax, but is now also heavily involved in the Norwegian North Sea oil and gas business.

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