Northern Canada News

Tallinna Sadam subsidiary TS Shipping has signed an agreement securing summer work for its multifunctional icebreaker Botnica with Equinor in the U.K.The 40-day charter agreement, which includes a 10-day extension option, will start from June 5 and will see Botnica provide auxiliary vessel services towards Equinor’s operational offshore wind farms in the U.K., including transport and accommodation of the maintenance team as well as providing motion-compensated walk-to-work gangway and crane operations.Under a 10-year agreement with the Estonian Transport Administration, Botnica provides icebreaking services in Estonian coastal waters from December 20 to April 20.

Four new 90-meter oil/deck cargo barges for Canada's Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Marine Transportation Services (MTS) have been launched by Nanjing Jinling Shipyard, in Nanjing, China.The first barge MTS 3501 was launched on June 16, followed by barge MTS 3502 launched on June 22 and barges MTS 3503 and MTS 3504 launched on June 28.The barges will undergo final testing and touch-up work in preparation for the 400-kilometer tow down the Yangtse River to Shanghai where they will be loaded onto a semi-submersible heavy lift vessel and transported to Tuktoyaktuk…

Cryopeak LNG Solutions Corporation said Wednesday it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with marine bulk fuels transporter Island Tug & Barge Ltd. (ITB) to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering services in Southwest British Columbia, Canada.Cryopeak and ITB have developed a design for a 4,000-cubic-meter articulated tug and barge (ATB) which is planned to be in operation in 2023. A key feature of this solution is that it will leverage one of ITB's tugs designed and…

On October 10, 2019 the steel cutting ceremony took place at Jiangsu Jinling Shipyard, Co. Ltd. in Yizheng, China (a subsidiary of the Nanjing Jinling Shipyard) for four oil/deck cargo barges being constructed for the Government of the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada.Steel blocks will be constructed at the Yizheng shipyard and then barged approx. 50 kilometers up the Yangtze River to Nanjing Jinling Shipyard for final assembly. Following steel cutting the construction is expected to take 9 months…

As the 90th anniversary of Robert Allan Ltd. approaches it is quite timely to address the development of Robert Allan’s designs as the years passed by and technology changed.When the first Robert Allan came out to Canada at the end of the First War he was a trained naval architect experienced in the design of rivetted steel ships. With the end of the war and the curtailment of Government support of shipbuilding new steel ships built in BC became very rare. Wood was the material of choice, used in the design and construction of all sorts of commercial and government vessels.

Together with the introduction of new expedition cruise catalogues for the 2020-2021 season. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises has also announced that low-pollutant marine gas oil (MGO) will be used exclusively on all routes sailed by its expedition ships in the fleet - the HANSEATIC nature, the HANSEATIC inspiration and the BREMEN from July 2020. Joining the fleet in 2021, the HANSEATIC spirit will also use this fuel.The use of low-sulphur fuels in the Antarctic has been mandatory for several years and already Hapag-Lloyd Cruises uses marine gas oil voluntarily in other sensitive regions, such as the Arctic or Kamchatka. This low-pollutant fuel has a sulphur content of just 0.1 per cent.

Clean Arctic Alliance called on member states to “renew their commitment” so that a ban on the use and carriage of polluting heavy fuel oil (HFO) from Arctic shipping can be adopted in 2021 as  the International Maritime Organization (IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 73) gathered yesterday (October 22) in London.“IMO member states must be resolute in ensuring that the Arctic ban on heavy fuel oil is developed by 2020, and adopted  in 2021, to protect Arctic ecosystems and communities from both the threat of oil spills and the impact of black carbon emissions”, said Dr Sian Prior, lead advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance…

Dutch based Damen Shipyards Group said it has signed a contract with Canada’s Group Ocean for the delivery of two new workboats that will provide dredging support services at an oil sands project in northern Canada. The new vessels, both Modular Multi Cats 1205, are made of standard, container-sized units that enable easy transport. The versatile Multi Cat workboat used in many sectors for operations such as towing and anchor-handling, dive support, marine engineering, offshore energy operations and for dredging and dredging support.

As of August 14, Arctic sea ice extent is tracking third lowest in the satellite record, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The southern route through the Northwest Passage appears to be largely free of ice. Despite a rather diffuse ice cover in the Chukchi Sea, it is unlikely that Arctic sea ice extent this September will fall below the record minimum set in 2012. As of August 14, Arctic sea ice extent was 5.61 million square kilometers, the third lowest extent in the satellite record for this date and slightly below the two standard deviation range.

The 'West Alpha' platform, owned by North Atlantic Drilling, has begun drilling the Universitetskaya-1 well in the Kara Sea as part of a joint Rosneft and ExxonMobil project, reports Russian official news agency 'Arctic-info'. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took part in the launch of works by videoconference, called it an important step in the development of prospective fields in the Arctic. He noted the uniqueness of the project in terms of technologies applied in exploration and environmental enterprises. Earlier, the head of the Russian oil company, Igor Sechin, said that the beginning of the implementation of the joint project between Rosneft and ExxonMobil in the Kara Sea is the most important event for the company in 2014.

Alaska Marine Lines Inc., a Seattle-based marine transportation company whose fleet ferries supplies to Alaska, is the latest employer to be certified under a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) program designed to strengthen hiring practices and combat the unlawful employment of unauthorized workers. Alaska Marine Lines is one of more than 160 employers nationwide to complete the IMAGE (ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers) certification process. IMAGE is a voluntary program that allows private industry to partner with ICE to reduce unauthorized employment and the use of fraudulent identity documents.

UK-based Martek Marine has signed a breakthrough contract with the Canadian Navy. The deal will see Martek supply 12 MM2000 marine gas detection systems, with Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) capability, to the Canadian Navy’s fleet of Halifax-class multi-role patrol frigates based in Victoria, British Columbia, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. This is the first contract that Martek, one of the leading manufacturers of marine safety and environmental monitoring systems, has secured with the Canadian Navy and the H2S monitoring technology will be fitted on the Halifax-class ships while they are in port over the next 12 months. Steve Coulson, Business Development Director…

Northern Transportation Company Ltd. of Hay River, Canada, recently completed a major refit of one of their quad screw pusher-towing tugs, the Edgar Kotokak. Vancouver's Robert Allan Ltd. provided design and engineering services for the refit which improved the operational efficiency of the tug. The refit included new CAT 3512B engines and replaced the open propellers and rudders with integrated Nautican Nozzles and Triple Rudders. Although total engine power increased from 4,500 to 5,640 hp on the Edgar Kotokak, and obviously bollard pull trials showed improvement, anecdotal evidence from the first month or so of operation seems to indicate that both the nozzles and Triple Rudders together with the new engines have improved the overall fuel efficiency.