Afra Oak - not Canadian

The Liberian flag Aframax crude oil tanker Afra Oak arrived this afternoon in ballast and anchored for bunkers.

The ship is sailing under a Canadian coasting license for Irving Oil,. Unable to find a suitable Canadian tankers to carry Hibernia crude oil from Whiffen Head to Canaport, Saint John, NB, Irving applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency to use foreign ships.
Earlier this month it was the British Cygnet that made one trip carrying 675,000 bbls of crude and before the end of the month Afra Oak will make two trips - 700,000 bbls on the first and 675,000 bbl on the second.

Afra Oak was built as British Oak in 2003 and sailed for BP tankers until 2013 when ownership passed to Hellenic Tankers Co Ltd of Athens and it was placed under the commercial management of the large Navig8 tanker pool. The 57,567 grt, 106,395 dwt ship was built by Tsuneishi shipyard in Tadotsu Japan.

Canadian cabotage regulations specify that if no suitable Canadian vessel is available, the the Minister of Pubic Safety and Emergency Preparedness may issue a coasting license to a foreign vessel. When it comes right down to it, most Canadian crude oil tankers are booked months if not years ahead and are often in dedicated service to other oil companies. Since Irving no longer has crude oil tankers of its own, it is pretty much free to get a coasting license any time they need want.

Cabotage laws are intended to protect the Canadian shipping business from unfair foreign competition, but it is hard to so how it does so. Temporary coasting licenses are granted continually because there are no suitable Canadian ships available. Companies like Irving Oil apparently can't afford to have a Canadian tanker standing by all the time, nor can a Canadian tanker compete on the open market.
That leads to a situation like the Afra Oak, where Irving Oil applied for a coasting license on February 8, the Canadian Transportation Agency made their determination that no suitable Canadian tanker was available and submitted it to the Minister February 16, for a coasting license to start February 17, and have the tanker  immediately available.It is highly unlikely that any suitable Canadian ship could ever be available on that short notice. Afra Oak became available after it unloaded another cargo of crude at Canaport yesterday.

It is unlikely than any Canadian shipowner could or would make a business case for a crude tanker without secure long term contracts (even with the elimination of duties on foreign built ships.). Thus spot coasting licenses will always be needed. Canadian seafarers are the real losers in this equation, since there will be fewer jobs for them unless cabotage laws are tightened. In this day of free trade and elimination of tarifs even the cabotage law we have will soon be history.

One of the only countries still carrying stiff cabotage laws is our neighbour to the south. The Jones Act in the United States contains cabotage provisions, among many others, and is so pervasive that it is a way of life and unlikely to change any time soon. It is not an ideal arrangement either and has its critics. It has resulted in a lot of old ships running domestically when replacements should have been built years before.

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Harbour Tour replacements coming up

The various media outlets are reporting that Ambassatours, owners of seven harbour tour boats and numerous amphibians will be replacing two veterans of the fleet.

Haligonian III will be replaced for the upcoming tourist season.

Passing the old Point Pleasant breakwater inbound in 1973, Haligonian III was originally painted all white.

Built by Hike Metal Products in Wheatley, ON in 1972 for Halifax Water Tours Ltd it has worked in the harbour since new. When Murphy's took over the harbour tours, this was the boat that built the business.

 Although upgraded over the years, the boat is showing signs of age.

With a passenger capacity of 195, it will be replaced in May with a newer vessel (as yet unspecified, but I can guess) with a capacity of 200.

The sailing vessel Mar will be replaced for the 2017 season by another "tall ship" that is currently flying the US flag. 

Mar was built in 1957 in Denmark and  has a capacity of 45 passengers. It was renamed Mar II when acquired by Murphy's Sailing Tours Ltd.

 After going adrift  September 28-29, 2003 in Hurricane Juan (with crew aboard) Mar II was cast up on the McAsphalt jetty (then called Dook's Dock) in Eastern Passage. It was repaired and returned to service, and was renamed Mar again.

Both of the current boats are listed for sale with non-compete clauses, so they will be leaving Halifax if they remain as tour boats.

Most of the Ambassatours fleet is shown in a previous post: http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2015/12/holiday-catch-up.html
Missing from that photo was Theodore Too, which is spending the winter in Dayspring, NS at Snyder's Shipyard, and Peggys Cove Express a 44 foot fast Cape Island type boat.

There may also be additions to the Harbour Hopper fleet of amphibious tour boat./ buses, with Ambassatours' acquisition of more hulls for rebuild.

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Canadian Shipbuilders

Canadian shipbuilders have their knickers seriously knotted once again as they have come out strongly in favour of a review of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy and strongly against possible foreign built tugs for the Canadian navy.

First, to be clear this is the Shipbuilding Association of Canada speaking out. Its aim is "to promote the interests of the Canadian shipbuilding ship repair and industrial marine industry". It has three classes of members: Shipyard Members (shipyards with more than 100 employees), Associate Shipyard Members (less than 100 employees) and  Associate Industry Members (generally equipment and material suppliers). The shipyard definition is loose enough to include repair and other facilities that do not actually build ships and never could. It also does not include Canada's largest shipbuilder, Irving Shipbuilding Inc (ISI).

So it is an industry promotion group, which seemingly does not approve of  non-members, such as ISI, getting a big chunk of the NSPS work. As I recall it was this same group that threw in the towel on commercial shipbuilding in Canada many years ago and called for the government of the day to get its act together on rebuilding the navy and Coast Guard. Which it did.


As costs rose (no surprise) the government started to cut back on the number of ships to be built, instead of several alternatives. So it is time to straighten out that mess.
 

A new shipyard was needed in order to build the combat ships and arctic offshore patrol ships.

However the SAC seems to resent the fact that none of its members was able to build a warship, and the government had to step in and finance the building of a new yard to do the job. When it came down to it, the NSPS was only able to find two yards in all of Canada that had any amount of expertise and financial wherewithal (or courage) in the type of shipbuilding necessary to build naval and Coast Guard vessels, and even they needed huge upgrades to build the types of ships needed.

What was deemed a sunset uindustry was rescued from oblivion by the NSPS.

That the SAC is headed up by a retired Vice-Admiral is no coincidence. Naval shipbuilding is the only game in town, and the SAC members now want a bigger part of the pie. Sounds like a sour grape pie to me.

I welcome a review of the NSPS, but only if it can find the means to deliver the desired ships in a timely way and with cost control. No naval shipbuilding program in the world can currently deliver a ship to an unknown design, on time and based on ten year old budgets, so a dose of reality is needed. 

As to the rumour that the navy may acquire tugs built overseas, that is an interesting speculation. Certainly there are Canadian yards that can build tugs for the Canadian navy, and they can do so at a 30% to 50% premium above what foreign yards can deliver. The SAC is right that building tugs offshore is no way to promote a Canadian shipbuilding industry. But do we need another heavily subsidized industry in this country? If it's not planes, then it is tugs, then what? Every non-competitive industry in the country will have its hands out.

As I have stated before in this blog and on Tugfax there are ways to deliver tugs to the Canadian navy in a sustainable and planned way, using Canadian shipbuilders. But if the navy insists on replacing all its tugs, all at once - again -  then I fear Canadian yards may be out of luck. Or they will end up assembling kits from foreign suppliers, and that is hardly a way to promote a sustainable Canadian industry.

It is interesting that Serco Denholm, which provides tug service to the Royal Navy has ordered a big tug to berth aircraft carriers at Portsmouth, and it is coming from the Netherland's Damen shipyard. An ART (advanced rotor tug with three azimuthing drives and three engines and 80 tonne bollard pull), it is a proprietary design, developed by the Canadian naval architecture firm of Robert Allen Ltd and built by the the world's dominant tug builder.

The Rotor tug with two drives forward and one aft is  highly maneuverable, with great redundancy and can operate on one, two or three engines as needed without sophisticated and costly secondary systems.

Although the Serco Denholm tug is much more powerful than what the Canadian navy needs, the ROTOR type would be very effective for the RCN in an available smaller version. The fact that it is a proprietary design of the Dutch tug operator Kotug, and built only under license, may explain why the rumour is out there about foreign build.

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Nanny and BBC Louisiana - two blue arrivals

It was blue ship day in Halifax today with two arrivals, both blue.

Blue Ship #1
Nanny arrived at noon time from Come-by-Chance, NL with another load for Wilson's Fuels, to be unloaded at pier 9. This is the third trip since November for the ship.

Nanny passes the Nova Scotia Hospital on Mount Hope inbound to pier 9.

Built in 1993 by Hyundai, Ulsan the 6544 grt, 9170 dwt ice strengthened tanker made its first appearance here in 1998 under its original name Natalie Sif. It was renamed in 1999 when original owners KIL Shipping sold it to Alvtank Rederi of Sweden and renamed Nanny. When Woodward Group acquired the ship in 2008 they did not rename it, hence its unusual name.

The fourth residential tower of the King's Wharf development, on the site of the old Dartmouth Marine Slips, forms the background as Nanny glides across the ferry track.

North Atlantic Petroleum, operators of the Come-by-Chance refinery, have recently begun to process US shale oil and crude from the White Rose field. Previously they only used foreign petroleum to meet demand for low sulphur fuel. They supplied Newfoundland's domestic needs for gasoline and furnace oil, but apparently have decided to expand to the mainland, with what I assume is furnace oil, but may also be gasoline and diesel.


Blue Ship #2
Later this afternoon the general cargo ship BBC Louisiana put in at pier 30-31. A member of the large BBC chartering fleet of Bockstiegel Reederei headquartered in Emden, Germany, it is one of twelve ships in its class. All measure 9618 grt, 12,763 dwt and carry two 150 tonne cranes than can combine for a 300 tonne lift.

 

BBC Louisiana appears to be in ballast, so may load some special cargo in Halifax. but has some machinery components to unload.

The ship was built in 2008 by Jiangdong Shipyard in Wuhu, China and flies the Antigua and Barbuda flag, with port of registry St.John's, Antigua.

Atlantic Willow nudges the ship alongside at pier 30.

Logistec's wheeled crane unloads the cargo.

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Patino was due to sail this morning

ESPS Patino was due to sail at 1000 this morning with other ships of the RCN to participate in exercises with the USN. That has now been changed to Wednesday afternoon.The two month charter from Spain will allow the RCN a degree of self-sufficiency which they would not have otherwise.

Patino arriving Friday, is built to a Dutch design.

Expect more arrangements like this in the future while the RCN attempts to keep maintain capabilities in replenishment at sea until Resolve is delivered in 2017.


That ship, the former container ship Asterix, is in conversion at Davie Quebec to be a temporary RCN supply ship for five years, with an option for a further five years! There was a temporary hiccup as the new Liberal government second guessed the Conservative decision to award the work to Davie as a single source, but work is under way again.

Patino usually carries three SeaKing helicopters, but can accommodate five, with hangar space for two.

Work on the Queenston class supply ships may start at Seaspan Vancouver this year, or maybe next year as the Ship Procurement Program stumbles along from one crisis to another.
The first of those new ships, Queenston will not be delivered before 2021 at the earliest with Chateauguay following by a year or more. The usual time from keel laying to commissioning is five years, but could be longer for the first ship of its class. Since it is based on a German design, one could hope it will be simpler than starting from scratch.

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Name that ferry (quickly)

You have until February 15 to participate in the latest Name the Ferry contest. The winning name will be "submitted to Transport Canada" for approval and if accepted will be assigned to the third and last of the new Halifax Transit harbour ferries.

You can vote here (but only once): http://www.halifax.ca/transit/ferrynamingcontest.php

The first two new harbour ferries in 2013 and 2015 were named in the same manner. City Council winnowed down the suggestions (this time from more than 200 to five), then invited the public to vote by on-line survey.

The name Christopher Stannix was chosen by contest in 2013.

First let me say I have no quibble with the process and I certainly have no doubt that the first two ferries were named for worthy persons. Similarly the five choices for the current contest are all worthy of civic if not greater recognition.

Craig Blake was the second ferry to be named by contest.

However what I really wish is that Council in their great wisdom had redressed the balance this time. One would think that there was nothing here before the European settlement of Halifax 267 years ago, and that since then mostly males of European ancestry had occupied the place.

I would like to have seen the current list restricted to persons with some of the following qualifications (and in no particular order):

• females
• indigenous persons 
• persons of ancestry other than European
• persons who may not have been adequately recognized in their lifetimes

How is it that among  sixteen selected names (fifteen persons) over three contests they could find only find thirteen different names and only three women? (I also assume the European-ness of all the males named.) 

Poor old Halifax explosion telegraphist Vincent Coleman has been nominated in each of the three contests but only received 18% of the vote in 2013. I wonder why he has been included in the third contest? Does Council have an agenda with the 100th anniversary of the explosion coming up?

I have voted and you can perhaps guess who I voted for, and I suggest you do too.

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Tanker Activity

After a fairly quiet period, there is tanker activity in Halifax again.

 A string of auto racks line a siding that runs through Imperial Oil and ends up at Autoport.

(February 11 photo)

Yesterday Petalouda arrived at Imperial Oil dock 3. The 26,913 grt, 47,322 dwt ship was built in 2008 by Onomichi Zosen and flies the Bahamas flag for Samos Steamship Co of Athens.

BW Cougar in Bedford Basin.

(February 6 photo)

 The BW Cougar, which arrived February 4 and was sitting at anchor in Bedford Basin moved to number 4 oil dock this morning. It was built in 2014 as Eleanora Cougar by SPP Shipbuilding Co of Goseong, South Korea. It measures 29,737 grt, 49,999 dwt and is owned by BW Group Ltd of Bermuda, but flies the Singapore flag.

Four tankers in one photo, with Gotland Carolina in the middle, and Algoma Dartmouth alongside.

Then later this morning the Gotland Carolina arrived in ballast and anchored at number one anchorage in the lower harbour for bunkers. The 29,283 grt, 53,160 dwt ship dates from 2006 when it was completed by Guangzhou International in China. It is also Bahamas flag for Hafnia Management of Hellerup, Denmark. It has called in Halifax several times and is also a frequent winter visitor to Montreal and Quebec.
It was here January 7, 2015  also for bunkers, but was fully loaded, and November 20-22, 2015 at Imperial Oil.


It has also been a quiet time for the bunkering tanker Algoma Dartmouth which had not strayed from its base at pier 34 for weeks.