I Caught a release from Hapag-Lloyd. Seems the Atlantic Sail broke. from the release:
“M/V “Atlantic Sail” employed in the ATA Service under current voyage ATS29 suffered technical issues and therefore requires dry-docking. The vessel will terminate its current voyage in Hamburg and phase out for dry-docking.”
sounds like a replacement vessel will be put in place.
Dominion Warrior went to work of Maughers Beach recently. this looks to be the workboats first job since it was imported last March. the large navy trot buoys denote the Static Sound Range, so the work just to the west of it may be related.
The MOL Partner called on Fairview cove yesterday. the Ship is a regular on the Alliances EC5 service. Coincidentally, I later spotted the tweet below, which appears to be this ship. Want to know why Flag of Convenience ships are so cheap – this is one of the reasons.
#ITFinspection finds that crew has just over 7 dollars a day food allowance and Provisions to low for crossing the Atlantic milk juices and fresh veggies needed so off we go to supermarket pic.twitter.com/S60siZHjuq
— Karl Risser (@risserk) March 27, 2019
The bulk carrier Nordpol put in for bunkers yesterday before sailing for the Cape Verde Islands.the Ship, and its sister Nordkap had been on charter moving bauxite to Sept-Iles but with that charter over, the ships have been sold.
The CSL bulker Ferbec arrived in Halifax March 13. the ship was operating under the Barbados flag internationally over the winter, and will will be re-flagged to Canada. The ship is under contract to Rio Tinto and shuffles ore between the mine in Havre St-Pierre and processor in Sorel-Tracy
The Nova Pilot and Scotia Pilot had seemingly returned to halifax, but have yet to return the service. The Captain E.T. Rogers (Ex Halifax Boat Chubucto Pilot) is still covering most of the Arrivals and Departures.
the Nova Pilot and Scotia Pilot are both Jet powered boats, that were imported form Europe. Both suffered engine issues and loss of power, which led to them being sidelined and sent for repairs.
The Cruise ship Viking Sky lost power and declared a mayday on Saturday off Norway. The ship was able to Anchor, and eventually restored some power and made it safely to port Sunday. 400 of 1300 people on board were evacuated by Helicopter. This was a significant near miss.
Viking Sky entered service in 2017, and has called on Halifax. the ship carries 930 Passengers, and 560 crew.
cruiselawnews.com reports 18 incidents of ships loosing power in 2016. Cruise Junkie tracks Cruse ship incidents of all types.
Below are some tweets which captured the situation.
#vikingsky map speaks for itself, had the ship not been able to secure anchors and get engine powered again it would be a costa concordia scenario all over again. Situation better now and winds should ease later on pic.twitter.com/6Zi31kTVjO
— Magic Bullet Biotech (@magicbulletbio) March 23, 2019
NEW: First responders are evacuating passengers stuck on a cruise ship off west coast of Norway as video shows rescue boats, helicopters arriving to scene of Viking Sky seen floating adrift in stormy weather after suffering from engine failure Saturday. https://t.co/Hh4uCLhYqW pic.twitter.com/jPbw3V5iBK
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) March 23, 2019
Helicopter video from the evacuation of 1,300 passengers from the Viking Sky cruise ship off the coast of Norway. The vessel has been able to restart one of the engines and is now anchored two kilometres from land. https://t.co/tUBm6A04pN pic.twitter.com/BzRDcX9fuJ
— Breaking Aviation News (@breakingavnews) March 23, 2019
We’re waiting for evacuation by helicopter #VikingSky #Mayday pic.twitter.com/rqSYaWGi0k
— Alexus Sheppard 🏳️🌈 (@alexus309) March 23, 2019
Still waiting for evacuation. #VikingSky #Mayday pic.twitter.com/6EvcAjf5D2
— Alexus Sheppard 🏳️🌈 (@alexus309) March 23, 2019
Pretty calm at the muster station #VikingSky #Mayday pic.twitter.com/SKMmj8GQLA
— Alexus Sheppard 🏳️🌈 (@alexus309) March 23, 2019
Sunday morning there was a collision between two ships in Vancouver Harbour. The Inbound, laden bulk Carrier Caravos Harmony struck the anchored bulk carrier Pan Acacia. The Caravos Harmony, with pilot aboard, was heading to anchor for bunkers after sailing from Tacoma Wa. The collision happened just after midnight.
The Caravos harmony suffered damage to the ships bow. The Pan Acacia was holed amidships above the waterline, possibly from Caravos Harmony’s protruding anchor hawse pipe. Fortunately there were no reports of Injury or Pollution.
From the AIS tracks available online, it appears as though the Caravos Harmony was slowing as it approached an anchorage, before it collided with the Pan Acacia. I have been told that ship had lost power. The ship actually made 2 course changes towards the Pan Acacia, which I was told by an official with the Pacific Pilotage Authority was the result of the ships stern being pushed around by a 3 knot current, and the second course change was caused by the crew dropping the wrong anchor in an attempt to avoid a collision.
The Caravos Harmony loosing power is all the more problematic, when one looks up the ship in the Paris MOU Port State inspection Database . The Ship was inspected in Port Moody B.C. between June 14-19 2018, and 3 deficiencies were noted. The Engine room was found to be Unclean, The Main Propulsion Engine was found to produce insufficient power, and the Bilge pumping arrangements were not as required. while the database does not identify the specific issues, the ship was not detained.
The Caravos Harmony Sailed for Inchon Korea early morning Tuesday the 19th. the Pan Acacia remains at anchor for repair work.
The Jana Desgagnes, lost its steering approx. 16 nautical miles southwest of Port aux Basques. the cause is likely Ice damage to the rudder. The CCGS Captain Molly Kool took the ship under tow through ice, in what is an impressive tow in difficult conditions.
The Jana Desgagnes is an ice class products tanker run by the Quebec based Desgagnes Group.
The tow was taken on the grounds of preventing pollution. Historically the CG has not offered tows, or intervened with insufficient time to allow for a plan B. The CG reports they are awaiting commercial Tugs. However why does the coast guard not simply complete the tow and charge commercial rates. – certainly the funds could be used for fleet renewal.
The Heavy icebreaker CCGS Louis Ste Laurent is standing by on scene as well.
The Mckeil Tug Lois M responded from Sydney, however the tow was taken up again By the CCGS Captain Molly Kool due to difficult Ice conditions.
The Province of Quebec has a Ferry Problem, and it keeps getting worse in Spectacular ways.
La Société des Traversiers du Quebec (STQ) operates a ferry service year round from Matane to Baie-Comeau and Godbout Quebec. Without it, there is a 10-12 hour trip to a bridge to cross the St Lawrence river at Quebec city. The detour shortens somewhat with Seasonal Ferries in service.
In 2015, the brand new, F-A Gauthier went into service. the Ferry was built by Fincantieri in Italy, and is powered by LNG. this past December, it was pulled from service due to a technical issue, and drydocked. there is no timeline for its return, however there are reports it may be back in service in August.
STQ was able to borrow a boat from CMTA, due to the seasonal nature of the service, however that was only usable for so long. The STQ needed a long term solution, and was able to acquire the veteran ferry Apollo, which was serving between St. Barbe, N.L. and Blanc Sablon PQ, crossing the Straight of Belle Isle. The Woodward group, who own and operate the ferry have a replacement vessel Qajaq w in service this year as the permanent replacement for the 49 year old boat.
STQ purchased the Apollo for 2.1 million dollars in January, and promptly put it into service. What seemed like a good long term solution became problematic, after only a few weeks in service, the Ferry struck the dock in Godbout February 25th. The boat was repaired, and returned to service March 8, but 8 days latter, on march 16, struck the dock in Matane.
The second collision proved to be the fatal blow, as a more detailed inspection by the TSB raised concerns about the seaworthiness of the Vessel, including corrosion, issues with water tightness, and electrical problems. STQ has permanently docked the vessel, after spending 3.5 million on it.
However it gets worse – As the Quebec government is now stating that Transport Canada inspected the Apollo in 2018, and again when it was sold in January, and determined it was safe. The Transportation Safety board told the Saltwire network however they were expanding the investigation to look at the ferries operation in Newfoundland, as there recent inspections uncovered damage from previous incidents, that appear to have gone unreported.
This raises serious questions about the quality and competence of Transport Canada Inspectors. Concerns have been raised recently about TC inspectors, as at the criminal trial of the Marathasa, the judge found one of the inspectors to not be a credible witness.
The Marathasa was a new build bulk carrier that spilled bunker fuel into Vancouver’s English Bay. the ship faced criminal charges for the pollution incident, but was acquitted when they presented a Due Diligence defense. having one of the prime witnesses for the crown to be deemed not credible by the judge certainly went along way to advancing the defense’s position.
the TSB report into the Apollo, when it is released, should make for an interesting read.
