End of the Thalassa

  A once well known Canadian tanker has reached the end of the line after a storied career. A report dated June 23 says that the ship has been sold to breakers.

As reported here February 21, 2017 [with amendments], the veteran tanker was sold and left Canadian registry for the Panama flag of convenience as of February 20, 2017.

 

Thalassa Desgagnés had been a fixture on the Great Lakes, St.Lawrence and east coast as a dedicated asphalt / black oil tanker since 1993, and thanks to its owners, outlived many tankers of the same vintage.

Built in 1976 by Ankerlokken Verft Glommen A/S in Frederikstad, Norway, as Joasla, the ship was ice strengthened and double hulled with cargo heating coils. It became Orinoco in 1979 for Swedish owners, then in 1981 it was renamed Rio Orinoco and flagged in the Cayman Islands.

On October 1990 while inbound in the Gulf of St.Lawrence with an asphalt cargo, it experienced engine trouble and anchored off Port Menier, Anticosti Island. It was unable to maintain the anchorage and drifted ashore October 16. The crew were evacuated by helicopter in a dramatic rescue operation in crashing seas, and the ship was feared lost.

 But the ever resourceful Transport Desgagnés operators recognized an opportunity, and on a "no cure / no pay" basis salvaged the ship the following spring and summer. The asphalt cargo had solidified, holding the ship in place and preventing major pollution. Re-liquefying some of the cargo to lighten the ship enough for refloating was  accomplished using the ships own boilers, and improvised heating pipes. (The ship'sown heating coils were on the bottom and assumed to be badly damaged.) The lightened ship, with solidified asphalt plugs in the perforated hull, was then towed to Quebec City arriving August 23, 1991 where the remainder of the cargo was removed. The ship was laid up  until the salvage claim could be settled in arbitration.

Still showing signs of recent distress, Rio Orinoco awaits its fate in Quebec City. Note the large tank on the upper deck adjacent to the funnel - part of the salvor's equipment.

 Numerous bangs, dents and scrapes appear largely superficial.

In early 1993 Desgagnés acquired ownership, renamed the ship Thalassa Desgagnés, and began the  process of rebuilding. It went into service in early 1994 and formed the basis for the Desgagnés subsidiary Pétro-Nav Inc. It was so thoroughly reconditioned that its life was extended dramatically.

It called in Halifax numerous times with asphalt, but also with Bunker C fuel for the Nova Scotia Power plant at Tuft's Cove. It also carried heavy fuel from Halifax when Imperial Oil's refinery was in operation.

Safely at anchor in Bedford Basin, Thalassa Desgagnés had arrived the day before in a storm. 

Due to its ultra low freeboard, the pilot could not board the ship safely until it was inside the shelter of Maugher's Beach. 

Thalassa Desgagnés was laid up in Montreal in 2016 in anticipation of its replacement by a new ship and was sold late in the year. Early in 2017 its new owners gave it the name Asphalt Princess and at an age when most tankers would have been scrapped, it resumed service. It was 17 years old when it was declared a total loss, but put in an added 22 years of service after rebuild - a remarkable story.

But that was not the end of the story:

The ship was working in the Gulf of Oman on August 3, 2021 when five or six armed gunmen boarded the ship, apparently with the intent of hijacking it to the port of Jask in Iran. The crew managed to send out a radio plea for help, then disabled the engines so the ship could not move. The hijackers were soon scared off when British and Omani warships responded.

Follow up stories are hard to find, but the ship was apparently taken to the port of Khor al Fakkam in the United Arab Emirates and laid up. Presumably by this time it was not worth repairing, and may even have been abandoned by Owners. In any event it is now reported sold for scrap, but has not yet moved to a scrapyard.

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Canadian Tanker traffic

The Canadian tanker business is in a state of flux, with comings and goings in various fleets.

Algoma
Algoma Tankers, which took over the Imperial Oil (Esso) fleet in 1998, faced a major shift in its business when Imperial decided to close the refinery in Halifax (Dartmouth) in 2013. Several ships that regularly served the refinery delivering refined products in the Atlantic region were moved around and changed their patterns, working instead from Montreal or on the Great Lakes.
Rumours abound as to the future plans for Algoma, and I have no particular insight, but the following  events are worthy of note.
Last year Algoma brought the Algoma Hansa under Canadian flag, very likely to cover for the troubled Algonova that seems to have perpetual mechanical issues, and to replace the Algoeast that was sold. Algonova is now reported to be for sale too.

Algonova was laid up for geabox repairs for much of the summer of 2015.

One of the older tankers, Algosar, that serves the Lakes with occasional trips on the St.Lawrence as far as Sept-Iles, was thought to be on the retirement list, but instead it seems to have caught a second wind and is being refitted this winter in Port Weller. (Algoma Central Corp  has rented the drydock from the St.Lawrence Seaway Authority and is carrying out the work with its own ship repair unit.)

Algoscotia arrived in Halifax August 13, 2004 fresh from the Quixin Shipyard in China.

Meanwhile their largest tanker, Algoscotia sailed form Sarnia December 22 for Finland, where it will take up a charter for at least four months. The work is apparently lucrative enough to warrant a transatlantic passage. The ship is high ice class so it will be useful in the winter Baltic.It will be reflagged for this work, and a return date is somewhat uncertain as the charter may be extended.


Algoma seems to be concentrating its efforts in the bulk business instead, with several orders for new Great Lakes ships announced this year.
On January 15 they also announced a joint venture with Nova Marine holdings of Switzerland, that will see Algoma buy a 50% interest in 3 existing and 2 new building cement carriers. The new venture, to be called NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers (NACC) [not much imagination in that name!] will concentrate in the Europe Asia regions.

Pétro-Nav

The tanker branch of Transport Desgagnés is going from strength to strength. It now has both of its large tankers Espada Desgagnés and Laurentia Desgagnés under the Canadian flag (the latter was registered January 6) and they are operating the shuttle service from the Montreal terminus of the Enbridge Line 9 pipeline to the Valéro refinery in Lévis, QC.
Among the other members of the tanker fleet Sarah Desgagnés is working in Europe again this winter as in the past.
Also the fleet will be expanding again when several new tankers are delivered, starting this year..
These include two new asphalt / bitumen tankers under construction in Turkey to be named Damia Desgagnés and Mia Desgagnés. They will be approximately 15,000 dwt dual fuel ships (diesel and LNG) and are expected this year. They will likely replace two older tankers, Vega Desgagnés sold in 2015 (now Fort Abel under the Panamanian flag and operating between Nigeria and Togo) and Thalassa Desgagnés.

Time is running out for Thalassa Desgagnés

A new  product tanker is also in the works.
Also recently announced is a joint venture with Stolt Tankers to serve the LNG plant in Becancour with two new build LNG carriers of approximately 30-45,000 cu.m. capacity. They will also be dual fuel.

Irving
Work on Irving Oil's new terminal at Woodside, on the Dartmouth side of Halifax harbour will be completed this spring. It will replace a shared facility with Imperial Oil and will allow Irving's tankers to come and go at will, and load directly into their own tank farm instead of routing through Imperial Oil.

McNally Construction has built the dolphins and crib for a new pier at Woodside. Right next door to Imperial's former refinery, it will connect directly to Irving Oil's tanks on shore, and more well inland, not visible in this photo. Imperial will be dismantling the refinery (in the background to the right)  over a stretch of several years, but will be keeping some storage tanks for local distribution of imported refined product. 

 

In 2015 Irving completed the installation of exhaust scrubbers on their four ship charter fleet, and in 2014 brought Nor'easter under Canadian flag as East Coast to join Acadian.

East Coast on long term charter from Vroon, carries the Vroon crest on the bow, but wears Irving hull colours and funnel mark.

That leaves two ships under foreign flag, Great Eastern and New England, trading from Saint John to the US East Coast. Another ship from the Vroon fleet, Iver Progress has been on dedicated Irving service in 2015, but has not been given an Irving name.
Irving Oil does do ship bunkering in Halifax, but delivers the fuel by truck to ships that are tied up. With the new facility they may be able once again to bunker ships from their own dock. 

Shell
Although not in the tanker business in Canada, Shell does a brisk ship bunkering business in Montreal and Sarnia. The motorized bunkering barge Arca (ex Murex-03, Josee M-03, Imperial Lachine-03), which began operating for them in Montreal in 2003 was laid up in December 2014 and was not operating in 2015 at all. Ships taking Shell bunkers in Montreal were doing so at Shell's dock, but I am sure this was unpopular with foreign shipping lines that do not want to hire pilots and tugs to shift docks just for fuel.
Opening of the Enbridge pipeline may have been a factor in Shell's decision to acquire a new bunkering tanker. That vessel, currently name Milo arrived in Halifax today (January 17) from South America.

Built in 2004 by Miura, Saiki, Japan, the 2191 grt, 1952 dwt ship is a miniature tanker, built specifically for bunkering work. Originally named Alios Apollo it worked for BP among others and was renamed Elin Apollo in 2010 for Elinoil.Its last port was Rosario, Argentina.

After such a long trip in ballast, with some very bad weather on the way,  I am sure the delivery crew could sing their own version of "Rolling Down to Rio". The ship was rolling a bit even in the harbour.

The big deck crane could be used to handle lube oil in drums. Shell is one of the few producers of that product in this region. 

 

Milo will likely remain in Halifax for a time to be Canadianized, and may get a more typical Shell name before taking up duties in Montreal. Its seagoing ability will allow it range outside the confines of Montreal harbour if need be to fuel ships in other river ports.It was flying the Belize flag on arrival in Halifax.

Coastal
Newfoundland based Coastal Shipping Ltd, part of the Woodward Group does most of its work seasonally, supplying northern ports in Labrador and the Arctic, but recently it has been supplying Wilson Fuels in Halifax. The tanker Nanny is due again this month at pier 9 where it will pump ashore to Wilson's tanks on north Barrington street.

Nanny at pier 9 in November.

The supply boat Skandi Flora taking on Wilson fuel at pier 9.

Interestingly the same pier 9 berth has also been supplying fuel to the support craft for Shell's offshore drilling ship Stena Icemax in the Shelburne Basin. This is the first time that I am aware of that Wilson has been done ship fueling, and is apparently in association with Shell Oil, since that is the ultimate user of the fuel.

Sterling / McAsphalt
Sterling Fuels still provides the bunkering fuel in Halifax that is delivered by the tanker Algoma Dartmouth. It is the only fuel company in Halifax that can deliver fuel to ships at anchor. Some of the fuel comes from Imperial Oil (likely diesel only). From time to time Algoma Dartmouth goes to Point Tupper to take on other grades of ship's fuel from the NuStar Energy storage facilities.  

Algoma Dartmouth makes an early morning run up the Narrows to bunker CSL Atlas at anchor in Bedford Basin.

Sterling's parent company McAsphalt continues to operate its two tug/tanker barge combinations, primarily on the Lower Great Lakes and Seaway, with very occasional trips to Saint John and Newfoundland. Both units carry only heavy fuel/ bunker C/ asphalt  and are wintering on the Great Lakes this year.

The Oil Majors
Oil companies themselves have generally remained at arm's length from tanker ownership and operation for many years, after several infamous oil spills and ship wrecks. Irving Oil (see above) is a notable exception.
Exxon Mobil's Canadian operation Imperial Oil (marketing under the  Esso label) now imports most of its Atlantic Canada supply or refined product from the US. Paying for that fuel in low value Canadian dollars, even with depressed oil prices, must still be painful. A steady stream of handysize foreign tankers comes and goes from Imperial's Dartmouth storage facility (and former refinery.) All that fule is for local consumption or is transported by truck in the region.
Imperial also supplies refined product from Montreal to Cape Breton and Newfoundland by ship, but not is own. It uses Algoma tankers for the most part.
Valéro's huge refinery in Lévis produces Ultramar brand product which is distributed by Desgagnés' PétroNav tankers. Valéro has a storage facility in Eastern Passage (also a former refinery) but it is seldom visited by ships.
Other nationally recognized brands such as PetroCanada and Shell purchase their product for this region from competitors and distribute it by truck.
Smaller local fuel suppliers such as Wilsons and the many independent furnace oil dealers, buy their products where they can from whom they can, and aside from Wilson (see above under Coastal) use truck and train to distribute.
  
    

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Thalassa Desgagnés - any port in a storm

Thalassa Desgagnés rests at anchor in a peaceful Bedford Basin this evening , a little more than 24 hours after arriving to shelter from a storm.

The Dockyard barge YC 600 , which has been  moored to maintain the anchorage of the Defence Research and Development calibration barge, keeps the tanker company. 

High winds, seas (and driving rain) combined with the ship's very low freeboard meant that the pilot was not able to board at the pilot station. Instead the pilot boat lead the ship in to a sheltered position inside Meagher's Beach, where the pilot boarded safely. This is the second low freeboard ship in as many weeks to follow this procedure. (The previous one was the reefer Frio Kyknos).

For a time the ship that is now Thalassa Desgagnés did not look so pleasing to the eye, and came very close to being an abandoned wreck. The ship came down the ways of the Ankerlokken Verft Glommen in Fredrikstad, Norway in 1976 as Joasla In 1979 it became Orinoco and in 1982 Rio Orinoco. A double hulled asphalt tanker, it  traded world wide until October 16, 1990.

It had anchored off Anticosti Island, QC, with machinery problems and dragged its anchors and grounded. Fully loaded with asphalt, it was swept onto the shore by violent seas. Helicopters rescued the crew and the ship was declared a constructive total loss. However the owners of Transport Desgagnés believed that they could salvage the ship. In the summer of 1991, they mobilized a flotilla of tugs and their own ships, fitted with special boilers to liquify the rock solid asphalt. Once they had pumped off cargo, they were able to refloat the ship, and it arrived in Quebec City August 23, 1991 in tow of Irving Miami and Capt. Ioannis S.

Rio Orinoco, still smeared with asphalt, was laid up in Quebec City from 1991 to 1993 when Desgagnés rebuilt it and put it back into service as Thalassa Desgagnés.

Transport Desgagnés had been dry cargo ship operators only, but they were awarded ownership of the ship as salvage award. They rebuilt the ship in 1993 and it made its first trip in February 1994 as Thalassa Desgagnés. It measures 5,999 grt and 9,748 dwt. 

From this one ship Desgagnés expanded their tanker business, which, in terms of tonnage, is Canada's largest tanker fleet with seven coastal tankers and now two post-Panamax tankers which will join the fleet this year.

The ship sailed this evening for Providence, RI.
Important - see comments below

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