With Atlantic Compass entering the Narrows outbound, OOCL Antwerp and Oakland Express Had to wait in the inner harbour for her to pass. Large vessels are restricted one direction at a time due to the Narrow passage to avoid collisions. (This rule came into effect as a result of the 1916 Halifax Explosion)
At Anchor, Bedford Basin
Tanker barges are a common sight in US waters but much less common elsewhere. US Crewing regulations require a much larger crew fro a tanker of similar size, However a Tug requires a much smaller crew, and the barge, an even small crew then the tug. LoopHole…
Towing the barge in.
Turning.
Taking the barge up on the hip.
Tieing up at the Dock.
AFL New England and Sichem Beijing Both arrived and went directly to anchor.
Presumably the winds were too high to Tie up.
OOCL Hong Kong, being considerably larger was able to tie up Without Issue.
The ferry Dartmouth III Now Carries AIS. you can now watch her ply the crossing Between Halifax And Woodside. Besides now being visible on our ship tracker, Dartmouth III Will be more visible to incoming and outgoing commercial traffic – a big safety/collision avoidance benefit.
Dartmouth III Went in for periodic Maintenance and inspections Beginning Sept 19.
UPDATE: Looks like all 3 Ferries are getting the upgrade. Ferry Woodside 1 showed up last night on AIS.
The tug Point Vim arrived this evening an tied up at Woodside.
Point Vim was a tug stationed in Halifax for many years at ECtug, and was sold several years ago, and now operates with the same name out of Newfoundland. Her sister Point Vigour, now operates out of Quebec as Molly M1.
She Sailed at 1700 for Bay Bulls NF. It looks as though she delivered so cargo to Woodside.
The Nova Scotia Government Spent $600 thousand dollars on the recent Ships Start Here campaign, with the Irving’s and others spending another $500 thousand. Recent comments by the Defence Minister Peter Mackay, indicate he believes that the Ships Start Here campaign was a waste of money because it did not influence the national ship building procurement strategy bid process. This is true. All parties seem to believe the process was fair, and contracts were awarded on merit, however, perhaps influencing the Decision makers was not the main purpose of the campaign…
Nova Scotia has a long history of shipbuilding. The Halifax Shipyard has existed, in some form, at its present location for over 100 years. Nova Scotia Built the Bluenose, Ships built there were involved in every major conflict of the 20th Century, But in our current times, shipbuilding is viewed as a quaint activity from our past – A sunset industry, in the eyes of the previous Liberal Government.
The ships start here campaign brought to the forefront of every Nova Scotian’s mind that we are maritimers, and we build ships. It didn’t matter if you are a banker in an office tower or a Clerk at a connivence store, the lawn signs, stickers and pins turned us all into shipbuilders, and we all wanted the prize. The Campaign United us all – people who never thought or cared about shipbuilding now wanted to win, and win badly. Not only did Nova Scotian’s Embrace the campaign, but so did people from across the country. Canadians from sea to sea to sea were pulling for us.
In the end Nova Scotia won. We beat the competitors, and came out on top. We beat them fairly and without political influence or meddling. Our product, our people, and our facilities were judged to be the best and most capable. And now the entire province celebrates, United, as we are Are Nova Scotians, and we are Built to Build Ships.
The first ships to be built in Halifax are the 3 Arctic Offshore Vesssels.
As this procurement program was begun several years ago, and Contracts for design work awarded in 2008, Presumably there is a design sitting in an office in Ottawa somewhere. The rendering above Comes from the DND project office, and represents the working design of the vessel.
Requirements (from DND)
Its worth noting that these vessels displace 5780 tonnes compared to the Halifax class frigate’s 4750 t, and at 98m are not much smaller (aprox. 30m). The extra weight is Due to the ice class Hull. The top speed of 17 Knots, is not much faster then the Current MCDV’s top speed of 15. The Mcdv’s slow speed is what planers say make it unsuitable for Coastal Patrol, so these AOPS will likely be limited to the Arctic Area of Operations. For more, See:The Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) Projectand CASR
Just after 5 pm the winners of the National Shipbuilding procurement strategy were announced.
Halifax Shipyard won the $25 billion Combat Ship contract, and Seaspan in BC won the Non-Combat ship contract.
Irving Shipbuilding gets to build 3 destroyers, 12 frigates and 3 arctic patrol vessels.
SeaSpan Gets the work on 2 support ships a polar icebreaker, and hydrographic survey ship.
The 3 Destroyers Are intended to replace the Current Tribals, It is very likely that these will again be Area Air Defence Destroyers, though there could be a role for a command and control vessel. I would expect these to look very much like Current destroyers being built in Europe, as Canada has invested in the development of many of the newer combat technologies used by Nato countries, but currently lacks a ship that can support them. As well US ITARS (International Trafficking in Arms Regulations) makes using US technology a pain. I would expect these vessels to be built after the Arctic patrol vessels, as the current Tribals are nearing the end of their lives (built in the 1970’s), and one west coast tribal has already be decommissioned.
The 12 frigates will be the last ships built. The current Halifax Class is just beginning there midlife refit, and should have another 15-20 years of life out of them.
The Arctic Patrol vessels are an interesting project. Though various plans have called for armed
icebreakers, I would expect that in the end, these ships will end up as Ice Class Patrol vessels similar to the Danish Knud Rasmussen class patrol vessels. These vessels are a complete warship, with air, anti submarine and surface weapons. A big advantage to a design like this is the small compliment -the Knud Rasmussen class has a maximum crew size of 43 which makes the ships cheaper to operate and easier to staff. These vessels could then also be used in non arctic regions, where the MCDV’s have proven to be too slow. Mac Mackay of Shipfax advocates a tug like vessel, like Icelands Thor – based on a Offshore tug design while this idea has merit, I suspect the navy has limited interest in towing (Coast Guard Job), and such a vessel would simply be too unconventional.
The SeaSpan contract Calls for 4 ships, all of which are needed in fairly short order. The Polar icebreaker is a replacement for the Louis St. Laurent, The Research Vessel is a replacement for the Hudson, and of course the 2 Replenishment ships.
The Replenishment ships have been a pain, as Navy commanders want a ship that can do Everything
– from command and control, Helicopter operations and replenishment at sea. The Command and control requirement should be built into the New Destroyers.. Such a ship would work Very much like the Danish Absalon Class ships. These ships are built for command and control, and are also armed similarly to the current Tribal Destroyers, as well as carrying two helicopters.
With the Command role removed, We should then end up building Something like a British Bay class.
The Bay Class is actually an Amphibious assault ship capable of carrying vehicles, cargo, helicopters and landing craft to deploy them. Canada would make excellent use of a vessel of this type. Now when disaster strikes somewhere in the world (think earthquake in Haiti), we would have a vessel that could transport and land relief supplies to an area, operate a hospital, and not be dependant on outside resources to offer assistance. To Fulfill the replenishment at sea role, Ensure sufficient Space for Aviation Fuel and Bunker fuel for warships – its unlikely such a vessel would need to fulfill both roles simultaneously.
You will note I used 2 Classes of Danish ships in my examples.. why? because they have similar requirements and operating environment to Canada. Im not saying we run out and build danish designs, but we should look at what our allies have, and Design our own to meet our needs.
Congratulations Irving Shipbuilding. Good Job.
There has been much debate about whether the current Bluenose hull is a restoration or a replacement. Transport Canada has evidently allowed the Bluenose to carry the Builders plate of the 1963 hull, and will treat it as the same ship. But is it really?
First – the original bluenose was built in 1921 and Designed by William Roué as a fishing schooner. Schooners became obsolete for fishing, and she was eventually sold as a freighter. She Survived the second world war, but sank after foundering on a reef off Haiti in January 1946.
The Bluenose II was built in 1963 by the Oland Family to sell beer. (There is the Oland brewery in Halifax, now owned by Labatt, However the family still owns Moosehead in NB) it was later transferred to the Province of Nova Scotia for $1, and operated as the provincial sailing Ambassador.
Wooden Ships have issues as the age – timbers need to be replaced, they need to be painted and require constant maintenance. Wooden ships also Hog. Hogging is when a ship starts to bend – the keel develops a curve, and the frames begin to sag. Left unchecked, that can lead to failure of the Hull. Hogging was the main justification for the restoration work recently undertaken.
When the restoration began, Nobody was surprised when all the fittings were removed from the Hull and put in storage. The shock came when it was reported that the hull was disassembled, and the wood shredded and sent for recycling, and a New one would be built in its place. Despite the re-use of some fittings, this is a New Hull, and should not be Called the Bluenose II it simply isn’t.
First – the 1963 bluenose was built based off the original William Roue Drawings. It was not an exact replica, but it wasn’t intended to be. The 2011 hull is being built with drawings that were prepared by Marine Architects, and were done so without the use of the original Roue Drawings – the 2011 Hull is therefore not to the same design as the 1963 Hull.
Second – The 2011 Hull is made from Modern Laminated Lumber, of tropical origin. The Bluenose and the 1963 Hull were made from Locally available lumber. Its not the same plan, its not the same materials, how can this be a restoration.
Lets look at a Couple of Restorations.
The Japanese have several pagodas made of wood, that date back to 706ad. The likelihood that any part of the original temple is still there is slim, however the temple is continually refreshed, and bad pieces replaced with New. So while no single piece actually dates back to 706, each piece shares a lineage and existed with other pieces at a moment in time. The temple is not periodically torn down and replaced every 40 years when some rot shows up. The bad pieces are refreshed.
The Government even uses this lineage principle, when attempting to justify that this is a restoration, and not a replacement, when they refer to the original masts being reused. The masts they refer to are not the original 1963 masts – One of those can be found flying the Nova Scotia Flag at Historic Properties in Halifax, however they shared a lineage with the rest of the vessel. Unfortunately it is too simplistic to refer to the hull of the Bluenose as just another component. The Hull is the Ship, and everything else are simply fittings. This would be like taking Julies cloths and jewelry, putting them on Jennifer, and calling her Julie. Call her what you want, but Jennifer is not Julie.
On a more appropriate scale, Lets look at the restoration of the whale ship Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. The Charles W Morgan was badly hogged – this has been removed with the careful use of jacks. Rotten Frames and Hull timbers need to be replaced, and they are, with traditional methods (though modern tools) and where possible with lumber originally cut in the same era (thanks to a lumber cache found underwater at the former Boston Naval Yard). What makes the Charles W. Morgan restoration all the more impressive is that it is being completed by a non profit organization, with donations and volunteer labour (though not all). Oh – an the Charles W Morgan’s maiden voyage was in 1841. She worked for 80 years, and has been a Museum ever since. The Goal of the restoration is to take her on her 38th voyage.
So, despite what the politicians say, The 2011 Bluenose is clearly a replacement, as no effort was made to perform the work actually required to fix her. Her 2011 hull shows no lineage or connection to the 1963 hull, is not made to the same drawings, or with the same materials and methods. It is hard to say which Bluenose, One or Two, came to the more tragic fate. I say Bluenose II has the more tragic ending, as she met the wood chipper, whereas the Bluenose died as a working ship. So, lets just call the 2011 Hull the Bluenose III, so we can all reflect on the shortsightedness of destroying a piece of Nova Scotia goodwill, and replacing it, with a modern product. The province already owns the Name Bluenose III anyway.
One last footnote, This Piece is intended to be critical of the decisions of the owners of the Bluenose. The Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance is building an excellent ship, and I’m sure It will be an excellent Sailing Ambassador for Nova Scotia, and I hope this generates much additional work for them. I think, that if you are going to build a new vessel, you should use modern materials and methods – which is what they are doing – however it is disingenuous to say it is a restoration, when its a new build.
