Atlantic Bear - fourth tug for Halifax, (and other news) - see Update

As ships grow larger and business picks up in Halifax demand for tug services also increases. Halifax Marine Towing Ltd is the only large tug provider in the port. It is a joint venture between Atlantic Towing Limited and Svitzer Canada, with Atlantic Towing providing the tugs since 2010.

It has made do with three tugs up until recently, but in mid 2017 it brought in a fourth tug temporarily, then in December made it a full time arrangement. [see Update at bottom of page]

 Atlantic Bear

The current fourth tug is Atlantic Bear a 5,432 bhp tug built in 2008 by East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE for Atlantic Reyser Ltd. One of three terminal tugs to serve a new LNG import facility near Saint John, NB it was specially built for harsh conditions and work in exposed areas. It has additional fendering and delivers 70 tonnes bollard pull.

With the downturn in LNG imports, the sister tugs Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III are now assigned to general duties in Saint John and the third tug is not needed there.

The three other tugs in Halifax are Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Fir, of 2004 and 2005, both 5050 bhp, 68 tonnes bollard pull and Atlantic Willow 1998, 4,000 bhp, 50 tonne bollard pull. All have firefighting equipment.

 Atlantic Willow

Other Tug News

*   Atlantic Towing Ltd and Svitzer Canada are also partners in Point Tupper Towing, with Svitzer providing tugs primarily for the NuStar Energy terminal in Point Tupper, but also serving the other port facilities in the Strait of Canso. This year PTT also added a fourth tug. Svitzer Montreal joined the other Svitzer tugs, Point Chebucto, Point Valiant and Svitzer Bedford. The move allowed Point Chebucto to go to Lunenburg for an extended refit (now completed).

*   Interestingly Groupe Océan has stationed Océan Stevns in nearby Port Hawksbury. It arrived in mid-December, shortly before the Canso Canal closed for the season. What plans they may have for a single tug there remain to be seen, but it has apparently found some docking work. The tug was built in 2002 by Industrie Océan in Ile-aux-Coudres as Stevns Ocean and exported to Denmark. It is a 5,000 bhp ocean going tug, and was brought back to Canada in 2013. Update: Océan Stevns has a barge tow for the Caribbean and is waiting out weather to continue south.

Update:
No sooner had I filed this post than Atlantic Towing Ltd sent Atlantic Bear back to Saint John on January 2 and replaced it in Halifax with Atlantic Spruce. This is certainly a step backward in terms of power. It rates at only 4,000 bhp and 50 tonnes bollard pull. Built in 1997, it is the second oldest of the ASD tugs in the Atlantic Towing fleet.

 Atlantic Spruce working in Halifax on a previous occasion. 4,000 bhp tugs no longer perfrom tethered escort service in Halifax, that is now done by the 5,000 bhp tugs.

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