Category Archives: atlantic towing

MSC Kim Adrift in Gulf of St.Lawrence

1 Reply
CCGS Photo of MSC Kim adrift.

The Coast Guard is reporting that the container ship MSC Kim is adrift off Newfoundland, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The Ship was bound for Montreal, and sailed from Halifax the night of the 5th.

Last reported position of MSC Kim via MarineTraffic.com

According to Marinetraffic, the ship was making 20kn and then dropped to 1.5kn around 21:50utc on the 6th. The position again updated briefly on the 8th, with the reported speed less then 1kn. Its last reported position almost 48 hours ago was 48°25’24.7″N, 061°48’55.1″W, and the ship was reporting a navigation status of Not Under Command.

The CCGS Terry Fox is breaking ice in Stevenville NL, where the Atlantic Kingfisher is tied up, and will be responding to take the vessel in tow. MSC Kim was built in 2008, and is rated for 4254teu

UPDATES to Follow.

Update 02/09 22:34 with a more recent position. MSC Kim is drifting eastward towards Newfoundland in the wind. It is still 30nm West South West from the closest shore at Cape Saint George NL.

Atlantic Kingfisher is currently taking fuel from CCGS Terry Fox and is expected to Depart at 2300nl. Towing should begin in the morning. CCGS Jean Goodwill will also be responding.

UPDATE 02/09 2342: Atlantic Kingfisher is off the dock, and proceeding to MSC Kim with CCGS Terry Fox. MSC Kim is drifting east at 1.2kn

UPDATE 02/10 0700: Looks like Atlantic kingfisher has arrived at the MSC Kim. Overnight the MSC Kim drifted another 8nm east.

UPDATE 0809: now under tow. heading south.

UPDATE 1101: tow currently off Cape Anguille, NL and is bound for Sydney NS. Currently making 9kn, with CCGS Terry Fox following.

Position at 8:44pm Atlantic time

UPDATE 22:19: the tow is progressing towards Sydney, with an ETA of 1am.

Its also a good time to better understand the response. Its not known at this time when the MSC Kim called for assistance, but it certainly should have reported to MCTS that it was not under command. the CCGS Terry Fox was on icebreaking duty in the Straights of Belle Isle, specifically on the the Saint-Barb to Blanc Sablon Ferry route. On the 5th, terry fox departed for Corner Brook,and spent most of the 6th breaking ice in Corner Brook, before returning to the ferry run on the 7th. Terry Fox then Sailed for Stephenville the Evening of the 8th, arriving the afternoon of the 9th, which is where we picked up the story.

Jean Goodwill, Sailed from Sydney on the 4th to break ice in Charlottetown. The ship then returned to Sydney on the 6th, rounding the Tip of Cape Breton island 30 minutes after the ship appears to have lost propulsion. The ship returned to Sydney, and looks to have spent a portion of the day breaking ice in the approaches to Sydney.

Why does this time line matter – in 2014, the John 1 went aground after refusing a tow from the Coast Guard before the situation got worse. A last minute tow attempt by the Earl Grey failed, and the ship went aground. it was subsequently declared a constructive total loss and recycled.

The MSC Kim lost power in open water, and calm conditions. That doesn’t make the situation an emergency, however the potential for the situation to go bad exists. Even if a commercial tow is desired, there is no reason not to have a Coast Guard ship capable of taking a tow on scene in case situation changes, or conditions get worse. If you have time, you have options.

When a fire alarm is triggered, the fire department begins moving sufficient resources to deal with a fire closer to the site of the alarm in case they are needed. In many cases they get returned on route. but every now and then they are needed, and the improved proximity helps quickly bring the situation under control.

For all the talk of world class response, and the oceans protection plan, once again we have a case where the Coast Guard has failed to take positive control of a situation, to ensure it doesn’t go bad. Once again, we got lucky that a suitable commercial towing vessel was in a convenient place to respond, and the weather held. But if the Coast Guard wants to convince Canadians they have control, they need to step in and be in a position to respond.

UPDATE 02/11 0748: the tow is outside Sydney now. it looks like they might have chosen a path to avoid some ice, and probably were waiting for daylight to enter the Harbour.

UPDATE 02/19: MSC Kim sailed from Sydney this morning, bound for Montreal.

Suppliers at Pier 9.

Leave a reply

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.

CITT says BC Towing Contract review required.

Leave a reply

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) has responded to a complaint by Heiltsuk Horizon Maritime Services, recommending a review of a key performance requirement in the process to procure two emergency towing vessels for the protection of Canada’s West Coast.

As a bid participant, Heiltsuk Horizon – a partnership of majority partner Heiltsuk Nation of Bella Bella, British Columbia and Horizon Maritime Services Limited, registered a complaint last August that the winning supplier did not meet important safety requirements of the tender process.

I wrote about the issues with the towing contract in this Chronicle Herald Piece when the Atlantic Towing vessels headed west. Heiltsuk Horizon has not publicly disclosed the vessels they bid on the project, though based on other charters they were likely tidewater tugs.

In a letter to Heiltsuk Horizon, the Tribunal recommends the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada reevaluate the “bollard pull” (towing power) of the vessels in all bids received and also awards Heiltsuk Horizon costs incurred in submitting the complaint.

“The contract was awarded in the absence of the required proof that the vessels met the mandated towing power,” said Chief Operating Officer Steven Widmeyer, Horizon Maritime Services Limited.  “We hope this recommendation leads to a reconsideration of our Heiltsuk Horizon vessels, which are in accordance with recommendations of the 2018 Emergency Towing Vessel Needs Assessment by the Clear Seas Center for Responsible Marine Shipping.”

The CITT letter recommends no further expenditures be made on the awarded contract until a review is complete and also lays out potential actions to be taken post-review, including cancellation of the existing contract.

The Heiltsuk Nation, currently in reconciliation discussions with Canada, teamed up with Horizon Maritime to form Heiltsuk Horizon, following the devastating Nathan E. Stewart oil spill in its territory in October 2016.

Coast Guard to get Icebreakers, Emergency towing Vessels.

1 Reply


On Friday, the Feds signed a contract for $610million to have Davie acquire and convert 3 Icebreakers for Coast Guard use. The first ship is to be delivered by December 2018, with the other 2 to be delivered in Summer  and fall 2019.

The ships were built for the offshore industry to work in Alaska, so should be well suited for the job. The Proposed ships are Tor Viking II, Balder Viking and Vidar Viking. the Ships are owned by Norwegian tor, but are flagged, and currently are tied up in Sweden. Built to DNV Ice-10 standards, they will be classed as medium icebreakers in CG Service.

In a separate announcement last week, the feds awarded a contract for emergency towing vessels. the need for these vessels became apparent After several ships broke down in BC Waters, and were rescued by US based Tugs, the feds have awarded a contract to Atlantic towing to provide 2 emergency towing vessels in BC waters for the next 3 years. Word is Atlantic Eagle and Atlantic Raven will be the ships stationed on the west coast.

Breaking:Nordika Desgagnés Loses Steering Off Cape Breton

Leave a reply

The Nordika Desgagnés has lost steering off cape breton. She Sailed from Montreal bound for Sydney Austrailia. CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell is on scene and A tug has been dispatched by the vessel owner to tow the Nordika Desgagnes to Port.

(Above)  current location via Marine Traffic. (Below) CCGS On Scene Photo.

This Story will be continually be updated at http://blog.halifaxshippingnews.ca/2018/03/breakingnordika-desgagnes-looses-steering-off-cape-breton.html

UPDATE 03/16 12:00:
the ship is apparently facing some weather, and is still in roughly the same area of the Ocean.

The M/V Nordika Desgagnés, a multi-purpose cargo ship built in 2010. With a length of143meters, she has a dead weight of17,000tons and a carrying capacity of nearly 20,000cubic meters excluding the main deck, at a draft of 9.70meters. She is equipped with two cranes of 250tons capacity each which can be combined to lift a total of 500tons,has an additional80-ton crane, holds an ice class equivalent to Lloyd’s 1A and can reach a speed of 15knots. a full spec sheet is available (PDF)

UPDATE 13:14:
Reports are that she is now bound for Port Hawksbury under tow by supply vessel Atlantic Tern

UPDATE 16:00:

CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell was relieved by CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. apparently Atlantic Larch attempted the tow first last night, but the tow line failed.

Final Update: the Nordika Desgagnés has been towed to Port Hawksbury, reportedly with Hull damage after one of her cranes came loose. the Tug, Atlantic Tern tied up in Halifax over the weekend.

Atlantic Towings new PSV’s arrive.. Well the tops anyway

3 Replies


Atlantic towing recently won a renewal for offshore contracts off Newfoundland and announced they were building new PSV’s to do the work. These vessels would be built offshore.

Seems the built offshore bit is a sort of, as is thier arrival today. Rather then build complete vessels the top sides arrived today aboard the Biglift vessel Happy Sky. Presumably the bottom parts will arrive shortly on a semisubmersible vessel.  The tops can then be joined to the hulls completing the ship.

Previous Atlantic towing offshore vessels were built at halifax shipyard. Due to clearances in the old assembly hall top sides were constructed and attached to the hull in the yard, so this procedure is nothing new to Halifax shipyards. I suspect in this case importing ship parts results in less duty to be paid then the 25% paid on imported vessels.

2492307
Photo By Cavit Ege Tulça

UPDATE: Further research has provided a more interesting case. The ships were assembled Entirely at the Damen Shipyard in Romania. The two vessels were then Towed to Cadiz Spain, where the topsides appear to have been removed directly from the hulls by the Happy Sky. The Hulls are in tow to Halifax by tugs Fairplay 30 and Fairplay 31, and due next week.

2501239