CSL Day

Saturday March 20 was CSL day in Halifax, as no less than three CSL ships were on the move. First off was Atlantic Huron. This self-unloading bulk carrier came out of her winter refit and sailed north to National Gypsum to load. The tug Atlantic Spruce tagged along to shove her alongside the pier. Atlantic Huron was built in 1984 as a "straight deck" bulker named Prairie Harvest. She was converted to a self-unloader in 1989 took on her present name at that time. From 1994 to 1997 she was renamed Melvin H. Baker II while on charter to National Gypsum. In 2003 her hull was restructured to take advantage of new St.Lawrence Seaway regulations, thus widening the ship 3 feet over most of her length. This increased her payload capacity substantially and prolonged her life.

She usually runs on the Great Lakes and St.Lawrence River in summer with the odd visit to Halifax with grain.

On her way through the Narrows she passed two of her fleet mates.

Birchglen was preparing to come out of the Novadock floating drydock, which she soon did with the assistance of Atlantic Oak on the bow and Atlantic Larch on the stern. She has also had a refit during which her hull paint was changed from black to red. Birchglen was built as Canada Marquis in 1983 by Govan Shipyard in Scotland. She carried the names Federal Richelieu in 1991, Federal Mackenzie 1991-2001 and Mackenzie from 2001-2002. At that time CSL acquired the ship and has brought it back in operation under Canadian flag and gave it the named Birchglen.

As soon as the drydock was ready the third CSLer, Oakglen moved in, assisted by Svitzer Bedford and Atlantic Spruce. Oakglen is a more recent acquisition by CSL, one of three ships built to maximum Seaway size, but for ocean trading too. She was built in 1980 in Belgium as Federal Danube. In 1995 she became Lake Ontario and was renamed Oakglen in 2009 upon acquisition by CSL. She is still flying the flag of the Marshal Islands, but is expected to become Canadian to take up work in domestic waters. Despite her age (30 is old for a ship) she can be expected to put in many more years working mostly on the St.Lawrence River.

Like a Weaver's Shuttle

Like a Weaver's Shuttle is the title of the excellent book on the history of the Halifax-Dartmouth ferries. And it is true- back and forth they go, in just about any weather -still the cheapest cruise in eastern Canada and worth every cent. The book may be out of print, but it can still be found in used book stores.

With the excellent weather a ride on the top deck is not to be missed.

CSLer arrives

Oakglen arrived at nnon time and tied up at pier 9A. This ship is one of three foreign built ships that CSL acquired for eventual domestic operation. Along with sisters Richelieu and Saguenay these ships are currently registered in the Marshall Islands, but will be transferred to Canadian flag when certain contracts come up for CSL.

Due to a slump in the economy, CSL took over the ships earlier than expected, and after a period of idleness last year, they have been trading overseas. They will eventually be plced on the shuttle run between Havre-St-Pierre and Sorel-Tracy, QC for Quebec Fer et Titane, carrying iron and titanium ore.

There are now three CSL ships in port. Atlantic Huron, fitting out at pier 25-26 and Birchglen in drydock.

If Oakglen is headed to drydock after Birchglen sails, she will likely get a new paint job. Aside from her funnel, which is now in CSL colours, she is still wearing the hull and superstructure colours of Fedav, her previous charterers.

In the photo above, the tug Atlantic Larch is positioned forward, and Atlantic Spruce is steaming astern, to come alongside. She did this because Oakglen's stern is cut in and she could not safely get alongside that far aft. Another reason why ASD tugs are far superior. They can run astern and still have nearly full power.

Farley on the Fly

The former protest ship Farley Mowat sailed out of Halifax this morning on a tow line. Atlantic Spruce is towing the ship to Lunenburg, with an expected arrival time of early this afternoon.

Built in Norway in 1958 as the ice strengthened fisheries research and enforcement vessel Johan Hjort, she was sold in 1983 and carried the names Skandi Ocean, STM Ocean, CAM Vulcan, MVulcan and Scandi Ocean while in use as in research and standby duties. In 1996 the Sea Shepherd Society acquired the ship and she was renamed Sea Shepherd in 1997. In 2000 she became Ocean Warrior and in 2002 Farley Mowat.

The ship was present for the 2005 Seal Hunt in the Gulf of St.Lawrence, but when she started to leak, the Canadian Government responded with three aircraft and two Coast Guard ships and she was escorted safely in to Port aux Basques. She had earlier been held in Halifax for compliance repairs and the Society accused the government of harassment.

By January 2006 she was in South Africa and was detained as unseaworthy. The Society claimed that the ship was a Canadian yacht and did not need to meet the rules set for commercial vessels. In June of that year the ship sailed without clearance and showed up in Australia to continue harassing the Japanese whaling fleet.

There was a report in 2007 that she was flying the flag of Iraq.

In May 2008 she was back in Canada, this time with the Dutch flag and was escorted to Sydney for interfering with the seal hunt. The ship was seized and finally sold at auction.

She spent the winter in Halifax, and is now apparently headed for a refit in Lunenburg. She is still painted all black, and has remnants of the Sea Shepherd "hit list" painted on her house.

In tow, with no power and no riding crew, she was caught crabbing down the harbour this morning.

Her old foes the Canadian Coast Guard were quietly tied up in the background. With little ice in the Gulf this spring it looks very much like there will not be a commercial seal hunt of any consequence.

Canada will investigate the loss of the Concordia

The Canadian Transportation Safety Board will conduct an independent investigation into the sinking of the Concordia. No doubt because Barbados, the flag state, does not have the capability or the willingness to conduct an objective one, Canada has decided to go on its own.

Concordia was registered in Barbados. Why? As a tax avoidance measure.

The owners would not have to pay Canadian duty to import the a Polish built ship, nor would they have to satisfy other Canadian regulations. If the owners set up an offshore corporation to own the ship, then it would not be subject to Canadian income taxes.

Now Canadian taxpayers will have to foot the bill for a very expensive Transportation Safety Board investigation. Yes the TSB will do a thorough job. They will conduct a detailed investigation, and in a year or two they will submit a splendidly detailed report.

Sorry to be cynical, but so what? They will no doubt conclude that the ship sank due to downflooding caused by sudden lack of stability, likely caused by a microburst. The vessel had insufficient stability or insufficient water tight separation for such an event, and it was not required to by law or by regulation.

The TSB has no authority to impose or enforce regulations. Transport Canada will certainly have no response to the report, since the ship was not within its jurisdiction either by flag or by location. Barbados will certainly ignore the report. As port state control, Transport Canada can inspect ships and enforce IMO regs if it chooses, but it can't change the water on the beans, nor the facts:

- the ship sank,

- all aboard were saved thanks to excellent training and drills

- Brazil was slow to respond because they were hungover from Mardi Gras

What more is there to learn?

All in all the TSB report will be a huge waste of time and effort for no effective result.

Gypsum flowing - a good sign

With today's departure of Alice Oldendorff with a load of gypsum for Baltimore, there are signs that gypsum may be starting to flow again.
The ship arrived from the Mediterranean via Rotterdam, which indicates to me that the ship has now been repositioned on this side of the Atlantic. A ship sailing in ballast across the Atlantic to load gypsum, would not be a normal spot trip, so there must be enough work to keep the ship on this side.
Other good signs: There was a huge pile of gypsum at National Gypsum earlier this week, and Georgia S made back to back trips, without lying at anchor between times.
Gypsum is an early sign of economic recovery, so it is worth watching how much activity there is.

[April 21, 2007 photo]

Good News / Bad News

Last week's announcement that the provincial government would loan the Halifax Shipyard $20 million was good news, especially in light of recent events.
The Halifax yard will get the money in increments over a period of time - so in fact it may be a revolving loan of about $5 million, and renewable. The actual cost to Nova Scotia taxpayers will be minimal. However it will allow the yard to modernize. This is critical if it is to remain competitive both nationally and internationally. Money will go to new cranes (hooray - some of the present ones must be 50 years old) wharves and docks. Work is certainly needed on pier 6. I saw a test boring scow working off pier 6 last week, so perhaps they will also do some dredging there as well- it is quite shallow.
Finding money is tough in today's financial climate and the province stepped in when needed.
The recent event referred to above was the March 1 layoff of 1,590 workers at the Davie Quebec yard in Levis. This comes as the yard seeks creditor protection in order to reorganize. The yard claims that building the 5 offshore vessels it has on its books is more complex than they had expected, and that they need a major infusion of capital. As Tim Colton reports this is the 7th time the yard has been in deep financial trouble. [See Maritime Memos in "My Faves"]
It also sounds too familiar. The Port Weller yard and Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering got into similar trouble in 2004 and in fact was liquidated. Since the sale of the yard it has little work and is certainly in no position to build new ships.
Davie expects that their current status is temporary and they hope to hire back the workers soon. One can remain hopeful, but it is not a sure thing.
With $40 billion of ship orders expected from the Canadian government alone in the next few years, a healthy Canadian shipbuilding industry will be essential, or we can expect many of those ships to built abroad.
It is certainly Halifax Shipyard's intention to be competitive for that work, and it will mean jobs for Canadians if they can stay in the game.
But what of ship building in eastern Canada? Halifax seems to be the only serious player at this point. Marystown in Newfoundland and Bull Arm have some ambitions, but they are not at this time major shipbuilders. Port Weller is out of the game and so it is only Davie Quebec and Halifax with any real potential to build major ships. Verreault in Quebec has ambitions, but at this point are only occasional builders. They exist on repair work.
Halifax is certainly limited in physical size, so could not be expected to build large ships. As part of Irving Shipbuilding they can call on East Isle in Georgetown, PEI to assist with components, but that yard is set up to build small vessels, such as tugs.
Halifax can't really expand very much physically, but they can still be a player in the small/medium ship range.
That leaves only Davie in the big ships range, but they need to be on much better financial footing if they expect to see any Canadian government work coming their way. Their present situation could very well have been brought on by new management's desire to clean up the mess and get on with shipbuilding. Let's hope that is succesful, because Canada needs a strong shipbuilding capability.