The first of a pair of new tugs for Atlantic Towing's Halifax operation departed Turkey on June 9. The Atlantic Maple is a RAStar 3200-W class tug of 499 gross tons measuring 32m overall x 13,2m breadth x 6,18m depth. Initial indications are that it will have 6675 bhp and an 85 tonne bollard pull, but that may be exceeded on trials. The popular RAStar 3200-W design of "escort/offshore terminal tug" features a sponsoned hull and foil shaped escort skeg on the forepart of the hull. See the fact sheet at: 3220-W
The two tugs will be employed in Halifax where larger container ships (15,000 TEU and more) require greater power and escort capability than the current fleet of tugs can provide. Those large ships now require two stern tethered escorts using the present tugs.
Builders Uzmar initially named the tug Uzmar 161 and have a sister tug Uzmar 162 under construction. Irving Maple has now been bareboat chartered to a ship delivery company and temporarily registered in St.Vincent and the Grenadines for the delivery trip. On arrival in Halifax - ETA July 3 - and after handover to Atlantic Towing it will be registered in Canada.
The new tug takes its name from a previous Atlantic Maple, built by Saint Drydock and Shipbuilding in 1966 as Irving Maple. Designed for ocean towing and salvage it was widely acclaimed as a fine sea boat. The 3200 bhp ice class tug was renamed Atlantic Maple in 1996. The tug figured in many noted salvage operations and long distance tows until it was laid up in 2008 and finally broken up in 2013.
The Irving Maple, later the first Atlantic Maple.
Atlantic Towing Ltd is part of the J.D.Irving group of companies, owned by the descendants of K.C. Irving, who also founded Irving Oil.
Originally the Irving tug fleet was employed on the Saint John River towing log booms to supply saw mills and the paper mill in Saint John, NB. Appropriately, the tugs were named for softwood (coniferous) trees, such as Cedar, Fir, Pine, etc., When the company acquired tugs to work in salt water, they took the names from hardwood (deciduous) trees such as Birch, Maple and Oak. In later years river work was discontinued. Since then tugs have been named for both deciduous and coniferous trees. There are currently a Beech, Cedar, Elm, Fir, Hemlock, Larch, Oak, Spruce, Tamarack, and Willow in the fleet. (The company's offshore supply tugs are named for birds and their barges are named for species of fish or aquatic mammals.)
When Irving Oil and Repsol developed an LNG gas import facility near Saint John, Atlantic Towing in joint venture with Grupo Reyser, built three heavy tugs for tanker escort and standby at the offshore monobuoy. Two of the tugs adoped a new naming theme and were named Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver. The third tug was named Spitfire III in recognition of the spruce frames and birch plywood skins manufactured by the Irving company for Spitfire fighter aircraft in World War II. Two of the tugs, Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver have been transferred to Halifax to handle the ever larger container ships. They do go to Saint John on the rare occasions when an LNG tanker calls which potentially leaves Halifax under-equipped. The 5,432 bhp tugs sre rated at 72 tonnes BP.
With a second new RAStar 3200-W to be delivered I will go out on a limb (pun intended) and suggest that it will be called Atlantic Birch after another legendary tug of the 1960s. More on that when it happens.
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