(Above) The first AOPS, the Future HMCS Harry DeWolf has been tarped off for painting, prior to launching in September. the modules were painted indoors as they were built, though it was presumably with a primer, as the grey is not the Canadian navy grey in use on existing warships.
(Below)The Middle and Stern Mega blocks for the Future HMCS Margaret Brooke are well underway. they will be moved out Post launching of the Dewolf and assembled, then joined by the Bow mega block.
The 3 consortiums that submitted bids for the CSC had their final Submissions due last Friday on the 20th. this final submission allowed them to clean up and clarify portions of the submissions based on feedback from the federal government and Irving.
The Three Bidders Are:
Canada’s Combat Ship Team – composed of Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and CAE, MDA, L3 Technologies, and Ultra Electronics – submitted their proposal based on the British Type 26 Global Combat Ship. the British are currently building this ship, though it is not yet in service.
Alion Science and Technology-led team with a proposal based on the De Zeven Provinciën Air Defence and Command frigate which is in service with the Dutch Navy. The combat system solution is based on the world-class capabilities of ATLAS-Elektronik and Hensoldt Sensors
The third bidder is Spanish Navantia with its F-105 frigate design. The company will partner with Saab and CEA Technologies to deliver the ships should it be selected. The F-105 is a variation of the Spanish Álvaro de Bazán-class frigates and is the basis for the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen class, and the under construction Australian Hobart Class. The ships use the American Ageis system. Their CSC Proposal is fitted with a 127mm main gun by Leonardo, a CEAFAR2 radar by CEA, 2x RAM launchers by Raytheon, 2x 35mm Millenium CIWS guns by Rheinmetall, 48x VLS and 8x RBS-15 Mk3 anti-ship missiles by Saab
During a short ceremony held January 10 at the Chinese shipyards of Jinling in Nanjing (China), the Pure Car & Truck Carrier Grande Halifax was delivered to the Grimaldi Group. It is the last of a series of three sister units, ordered by the Neapolitan group to the Jinling shipyards.
The Grande Halifax has a length of 199,90 meters, a width of 32,26 meters, a gross tonnage of 63.000 and a cruising speed of 19 knots. Italian-flagged, the vessel can carry 6.700 CEU (Car Equivalent Units) or alternatively 4.000 linear meters of rolling freight and 2.500 CEU. The Grande Halifax is equipped with four hoistable decks which make her an extremely flexible vessel, able to transport any type of rolling cargo (cars, vans, trucks, tractors, buses, excavators, etc.) up to 5.2 meters high.
In addition, for the access of freight into the vessel, the Grande Halifax has a side ramp and a quarter stern ramp, the latter allowing the loading of freight with a weight up to 150 tons. The configuration of the various decks and the system for the internal ramps reduce to the minimum the risk of damage during the loading / unloading operations.
The Grande Halifax will be deployed on the Mediterranean-North America weekly service operated by the Group, joining her sister vessels Grande Baltimora and Grande New York., and should be seen in Halifax in the Coming weeks.
Finally got a picture of her , tied up at pier 9
The New build shuttle tanker Beothuk Spirit arrived at pier 9 yesterday morning on her delivery voyage from Korea. She will go into service shuttling crude oil from the Hiberina and Hebron Oil Fields off Newfoundland to various refineries.
BAE Systems has announced they have submitted a variant of their British Type 26 Frigate design for the Canadian Surface Combatant project. They Published the Intro Video below.
Trident is reporting that the Queenston Class Support ships will now be the Protecteur Class, and will now be named Protecteur and Preserver. The previous Conservative government named the to be built support ships in October 2013 as HMCS Queenston and HMCS Chateauguay .
The recently scrapped supply ships HMCS Protecteur and Preserver were the original Protecteur Class, and the new class will continue the legacy of the Old ships. Given these vessels were in service in 2013, the names were unavailable for re-use.
These Vessels are scheduled to be built by Seaspan in Vancouver.
Davie Shipyard announced today they would be opening a Halifax Office for Federal Fleet Services in the Fall as part of Project Resolve – the Interm Supply ship they are building and leasing to the Navy. Federal fleet Services is the Subsidiary who holds the contract with the feds for the ship.
The Interm ship is a converted Container vessel, that was purchased and refit at Davies Yard. The Ship was re-floated for the first time in the Dry Dock Earlier this week. Also contained in the announcement, is confirmation that the ship will be stationed in Halifax.
The Ship is meant to fill the gap between the retirement of HMCS Preserver, and the Construction of the new Berlin Class Ships. Given the Cost of relatively new, Panamax container-ships – conversions like the Asterix make alot of Sense.
Below is a Before Picture of the vessel. Above photo from Davie, via twitter.
Halifax has 2 new pilot boats, Nova Pilot and Scotia Pilot. Both came from Holland via Emskip containership at the end of June. After some training and familiarization both are now in service.
The existing boats have been reassigned. The below photos are of the delivery, and were provided by a friend of the site.
Bonus: Video of a pilot leaving an outbound PCTC
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.
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.
