the general cargo ship Wilson Mistral arrived just after midnight, and tied up at pier 9. Loaded with anchors and Chains, these will be installed in Mulgrave by the Horizon Arctic (due in Halifax July 6) to hold the Boa Barge in place with the Deep Panuke Production platform aboard.
the ship arrived from Montrose, Scotland, and is very small.
the ship is due to move to pier 27, likely for fuel, at 10pm tonight.
the tug Boa Odin delivered the Boa Barge 34 to Pier 9. The Barge will be used too remove the production platform for the Deep Panuke offshore gas project. The Platform features jack up legs. Once the platform is positioned underneath the platform, the platform will lower itself onto the barge, and then withdraw its legs from the Seabed.
Nobel Regina Allen is Currently plugging the last well of the project.
Since the platform is still relativity new, a costing trade application was filed to allow the platform to be stored aboard the barge, at anchor in Mulgrave for 1 year.
Boa Barge 36 was used for the installation of the platform in 2011.
Jan de Null operates the 2017 built Adhemar De Saint-Venant. The ship is designed to lay rock on the ocean floor.
The vessels will be able to install rock at depths up to about 600 m by means of a flexible fall pipe to allow for accurate rock installation around structures such as offshore wind turbine foundations and Oil & Gas platforms. The ships Spec Sheet (PDF) give a good view of the vessel
the ship sailed from Saint John, and was spotted off the Coast of Virginia, likely building the bases for the Offshore wind farm which was installed by Vole au vent out of Halifax.
The ship is named after Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant who developed the unsteady open channel flow shallow water equations, known as the Saint-Venant equations, that are a fundamental set of equations used in modern hydraulic engineering
Update:
Sailed at 1400 under fog.
the offshore wind installation vessel Vole au Vent arrived this morning, and tied up at Irving oil for bunkers. the ship will then move to Woodside this afternoon to load the base pieces for installation.
The pieces arrived several weeks ago aboard the Bigroll Beaufort. the installation is taking place off the Coast of Virginia, and is staging out of Halifax to work around US cabotage laws. Vole au Vent will make several trips, to install the Bases, Towers and turbines.
UPDATE May 18:
the ship is now jacked up and in position. Im told the Installation will happen in three trips, first the bases, then the Towers, then finally the top assemblies.
UPDATE May 19:
Looks like the first pieces have been loaded.
The Photo doesnt do it Justice, but Atlantic Osprey is completely dwarfed by the new Maersk Suppliers, both of which are here as part of the Sable offshore decommissioning. Maersk Maker has been in Halifax for a while, and was joined by Maersk Mobiliser. Mobiliser has been to Halifax before, as one of its first jobs was the the tow of the fire damaged Yantain express.
nicely lit one night last week.
Arriving late this afternoon is the the Bigroll Beaufort, loaded with 2 offshore wind turbines for the CVOR, or Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project. The ship will be tieing up at Woodside.
To get around the US Jones act, the Turbine equipment will be delivered to Halifax, where it will be loaded on the Installation vessel Vole au Vent, to then be taken to the installation site off the Virginia Coast. Vole au Vent is still in Rotterdam.
The Jones act is a piece of US legislation that requires any transport of goods between US ports to be done on US Built, Crewed and Flagged ships. Currently there are no US Offshore Wind installation vessels.
From the Project Release:
“Dominion Energy and Ørsted announced today the turbine components and monopiles for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project have started their journey to North America.
The foundations, consisting of the turbines’ monopiles, transition pieces and anode cages fabricated by EEW SPC, have been loaded onto the Bigroll Beaufort cargo ship in Rostock, Germany. The components for the two, 6-megawatt Siemens Gamesa turbines were loaded in Esbjerg, Denmark, before the vessel embarked in mid-April on the approximately two-week transatlantic journey to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Installation of the two turbines, located 27 miles offshore, is expected to begin later this spring and they are expected to enter service by the end of the year.”
Markab returned to pier 9 this morning. it was last here Feb 8., before sailing to Bridgetown Barbados. Built in Norway in 1976, the ship now is operated by Furgo, and was likely conducting a subsea survey.
The brand New Anchor Handling Supply Tug Maersk Maker arrived this morning at pier 9, after spending yesterday with the crane ship Thialf. The Ship was Built in 2019, and is flagged in St. John Newfoundland.
From Maersk’s brochure on the ship:
Maersk Maker is a DP2 deep water anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) of SALT design. This state-of-the-art vessel is built for deep water anchor handling and oilfield operations with reliability, safety and minimized environmental footprint as a top priority.Powered by five medium speed engines with total output of more than 23,000 horsepower, a fuel efficient and flexible hybrid propulsion system and fixed pitch on all side thrusters, the vessel provides good fuel economy, low emissions and excellent station keeping capabilities (ERN 4 x 99). Also designed for high safe deck operations, the vessel is equipped with a multi deck handler system, anchor recovery frame, gypsy handling system and other aid
I have been getting alot of questions about the Crane Ship Thialf currently in the approaches. Thus, I present this Q&A
Q: Why is it Here?
The Thialf is here to remove the topsides and Jackets from the Sable offshore filed. the Crane will lift the topsides, and put them on a barge. the barge will then be taken to sheltered waters, where it will be fastened for sea, and then taken to the UK for recycling. There are 7 platforms, so probably 14 total removals. (the jackets are the platforms legs sitting on the sea floor)
Q: Why is it not entering the Harbour?
Cheaper to anchor out there, Plus no need to pay for pilots, tugs and anchorage in the harbour. Vessels like this have support vessels to bring supplies to them, in this case Atlantic Kestrel and Bylgia.
Bylgia traveled from Amsterdam with the Thialf
Q:Where is it Anchored?
about 3nm East of Chubucto head.
Q: Wasen’t it here before?
One of Heerema’s smaller crane ships, Hermod, was here around 2003. The original Sable Offshore installations were performed in 1998 by the Saipem 7000
Q: If this is the second largest, Whats the largest?
Fleet mate Sleipnir. Built last year, it can lift 20,000tons. The Saipem 7000 is the third largest.
Q: you didn’t answer my question..
Ask it in a comment to this post, and i will
