Kuwait liberated 25 years ago

A military ceremony today recognized the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait. The Gulf War - it was then called the Persian Gulf, but is now more frequently called the Arabian Gulf, saw Canada participating in a war for the first time in a generation.
The RCN hastily updated three ships and in a major send off August 24, 1990 they sailed from Halifax. The waterfront was lined with spectators and well wishers and the harbour was choked with pleasure craft. The skies were also busy with numerous Sea Kings flying off.

HMCS Athabaskan, Terra Nova and Protecteur sailed from Halifax August 24, 1990. Note the bow gun has reappeared on Protecteur , It had been removed due to its exposed position when it was damaged by high seas.

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Slotergracht (continued) - we have lift off

Despite hideous weather conditions of driving rain and gusty high winds, the crew of Slotergracht were able to lift off the trawler O-156 this morning.
However lift on of the high speed catamaran tour boat Famille Dufour II had not taken place by late afternoon as the conditions persisted. That may happen tomorrow.

As reported yesterday, O-156 arrived on deck from Europe, returning from seven years fishing out of Ostend Belgium. Now at pier 30, it will be handed over the new owners in Goulds, NL.

Famille Dufour II arrived here in tow of the Point Vim on January 9 from Tadoussac, QC. Since arriving  the Croisières Le Montréalais banners have been painted over in preparation for a new career running between Vancouver and Victoria, BC. See http://shipfax.blogspot.ca/2016/01/famille-dufour-ii-slow-speed-to-halifax.html

It has been lying at Connor's Diving's jetty at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, where it was very difficult to photograph. (February 13 photo when we still has snow).

This morning it moved under its own power to pier 27.

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Protecteur on the way

The decommissioned former HMCS Protecteur is underway from Esquimalt BC, bound for Liverpool, NS where it will be broken up by R.J.MacIsaac Construction Ltd. It suffered serious fire damage while returning from Hawaii February 27, 2014. It had been expected to pay off in 2017, but instead was decommissioned May 14, 2015.

Sailing from Halifax August 3, 1987, HMCS Protecteur was an impressive ship. It was transferred to the west coast in 1993.

The ship is not traveling under its own power but is in tow of the American tug Corbin Foss. The tug is no stranger to towing old warships. It was responsible for the successful tow of the former USN aircraft carrier Constellation from Bremerton WA to Brownsville TX just over a year ago.


The tug is giving an ETA of March 17 at Balboa, Panama. It is interesting to speculate on what will happen then. I would have thought that a tow from British Columbia to Nova Scotia would be considered a coastal tow, and require a Canadian tug. Maybe a stopover in Panama or a US port would break that chain, or maybe Corbin Foss will tow it all the way. Stay tuned on St.Patrick's Day.

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Slotergracht makes two

With the arrival of Slotergracht this morning there are two Spleithoff "S" class ships in port at the same time. By this time the first ship Singelgracht would have been on its way, but it is still submitting to the attentions of Dominion Diving, whose boat was awaiting for it on arrival and has been alongside ever since.Some underwater repair may be going on, and if so it is not visible to this set of eyes. 

The versatile "S" series ships, as previously reported can carry all sorts of cargo, and have cranes and heavy hatch covers to accommodate odd deck cargoes.See February 22

Slotergracht is living up to its reputation by carrying the stern trawler O-156. The 65 foot compiste aluminum / reinforced plastic boat was built in 2003 by TWL Enterprises Ltd of Trinity, NL as Fundy Commander. It fished out of southwestern Nova Scotia primarily from Digby until 2009.

At that time a pair of Dutch brothers from Urk, Netherlands bought the boat and after a three week Atlantic crossing at a blistering 8.5 knots, reached their new home port of Ostend, Belgium. After refitting the boat to European standards, they renamed it O-156 Maaretje-Alte and went fishing off Denmark, landing some of their catch in the Netherlands and some in Ostend. (The O in the boat's name stands for Ostend.)

In June of 2015 the boat was reported en route to Horta in the Azores, and seems to have remained there. On September 29 it was re-registered in Canada (in Yarmouth, NS) and renamed O-156 and classed as a pleasure craft. The new owner is a numbered company based in Goulds, NL.
Spliethoff's offer yacht transport as part of their regular business,but this boat is pure working trawler, although reportedly finished inside to a very high quality.
If it is to be unloaded in Halifax, there will be a wait as two days of high winds and driving rain are predicted.

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Sichem Mumbai - it isn't easy being green

When the Panama flag chemical tanker Sichem Mumbai anchored in number one anchorage today to take on bunkers, it would have been easily ignored were it not for the unfortunately brilliant green stripe painted around its superstructure. (Just around the arm pits, it the bridge wings can be thought of as arms).
Operating for the 40 chemical tanker strong Team Tankers International Ltd [TTI] fleet (formerly Eitzen Chemical) the ship was built in 2006 by 21st Century Shipbuilding Co of Tongyeong, South Korea. The 8562 grt, 13.085 dwt ship has epoxy coated tanks, which allow it to carry certain types of chemicals (other ships in the fleet have stainless steel tanks for other sorts of products).

Up until recently the ship was painted in a conventional way with a red hull, white superstructure and  blue funnel. It acquired a TT logo when Eitzen morphed into TTI in 2015. The green stripe appears to be a rebranding of the Bermuda based TTI (that is in reality Norwegian and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange), but has so far not gotten around to changing the funnel to green. The ship itself is owned by Toda Kisen KK of Japan and is on finance lease to TTI.

The ship arrived from wintery La Baie, on the Saguenay River,and still has some frozen spray on its deck, and is heading to balmy Key West - probably for orders.

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Singelgracht - waits for bunkers

The Netherlands flag general cargo ship Singelgracht put in for bunkers this afternoon, but it will have to wait for a while. The bunkering tanker Algoma Dartmouth left Halifax Saturday for point Tupper to load and is not due back in port until tomorrow.

Singelgracht is one of the 14 strong 'S' class built for Spliethoff's by Mitsubishi, Shomonoseki. This one dates from 2001 and measures 16,641 grt, 21,402 dwt. It carries three cranes of maximum 120 tonne capacity, and has removable tween decks. It is also fitted with five sideloading elevators, located on the starboard side - it is the housings for those elevators that look like containers on deck. The 16 tonne capacity elevator platforms are used to load paper rolls or other types of cargo, without opening the ship's hatches.
See the ship's spec sheet and a video: http://www.spliethoff.com/fleet/s-type/
 

As the ferry Woodside I scoots around the ship's stern, Singelgracht's exhaust scrubber system is visible in close up. The ship has been fitted with the scrubber so that it can continue to use heavy fuel, hence the need for Algoma Dartmouth to go to Point Tupper to top up. Judging by the exhaust plume from the ship's funnel - it looks like it could use a bit more scrubbing!

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Fremantle Highway - all systems go at Autoport

The K-Line autocarrier Fremantle Highway was in and out of Autoport today, effortlessly unloading a cargo of  fresh Mercedes, BMW, Mini and Audi cars. Unlike last winter when Autoport had thousands of cars frozen in up the door handles in some cases, this year the entire facility is ice and snow free. Thanks to several days of mild weather what snow there was has disappeared.
Winter isn't over yet, but so far it has been all systems go at Autoport this year.

A grey day for a grey ship, but with temperatures well above the freezing point, it is only rain that threatens.
Fremantle Highway was built in 2013 by Imabari Zosen in Marugame, Japan and measures 59,525 grt, 18,549 dwt. It is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha, and is on charter to K-Line's large auto carrier fleet.

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