A busy week on the water locally.

The Strait area had a visit from the 322m crude oil tanker Bunga Kasturi Dua which discharged cargo at the Nustar No. 1 berth on Monday the 24th.I managed to get a few aerial photos of it alongside. Quite impressive.

While overtop I spotted the tug Strait Raven ,Superport Marines' newest addition had the barge SPM 125 on the hip and was delivering supplies to the big tanker.

    Waiting in Inhabitants Bay at India anchorage was the crude oil tanker Americas Spirit and it docked after the Bunga Kasturi Dua  departed.

The Nordanhav made another visit to our area to deliver clay to Port Hawkesbury Paper.it seems to be on a six week rotation between the Amazon and the Strait.

The Oktha Bridge docked at the Nustar Inside Berth on the morning of the 26th to load gasoline. 

Shortly after the tanker docked APA pilot Capt. Elias Dorey guided the self-unloading bulker Atlantic Erie alongside the Strait Superport dock at Mulgrave and discharged a portion of its cargo (17,000 tons) before moving over to the Georgia-Pacific dock at Point Tupper.

Today the tug Evans Mckeil skippered by isle Madames' Capt. Ron Lejeune returned from a trip to prince Edward Island ,transitted Canso Lock with APA Capt. Tony Pierce assisting and docked at the Martin Marietta loading facility in Aulds  Cove to take on another 9000 tons of gravel.the tug Strait Raven with Capt. Earle Tibbo at the wheel  was the assist tug.

The Evans Mckeil and its tow are expected to depart again this evening with a tentative 2200h pilot call in.
At the NS Power coal dock the self=loading bulker Caroline Oldendorff had finished discharging part of its cargo of coal and was taken off the dock by APA Capt. Elias Dorey and will next dock in Sydney to finish unloading.it is expected the caroline Oldendorff will be back in the Strait shortly for a load of gravel from Martin Marietta.

 

More ships than pilots and the Evans Mckeil is back for a bit......

Its either feast or famine some days here in the Strait. Ship movements have been curtailed due to not enough pilots but things will pick upthru the early hours of the 23rd.First in the lineup was the tug Atlantic Fir  with its tow the Atlantic Shark which some local wags refer to as the "Green Monster" were at the north pilot station at 0530h where APA pilot cat. Rick Hanlon  docked it in Mulgrave with the assistance of the Point Valiant. Afterwards Capt. Joey
Myalls took his tug to the Port Hawkesbury Wharf .

Shortly after 0800h APA pilot Capt. Scott MacDonald boarded the yacht Lady M II at the north and took it thru Canso Lock and on to St.Peters where after a suitable interval it was taken to baddeck by APA pilot Capt. M. Langdon.

APA pilot Capt. Evan MacDonald brought the crude oil tanker Asian Spirit in to the Nustar outside dock assisted by the 3 Svitzer tugs based in Point Tupper.

Still at the inside berth is the Azov Sea which is tentativly scheduled to take a pilot at 0730h on the 23rd.

The Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin finished taking on cargo at the Martin Marietta Quarry dock was was supposed to depart for Tampa Fla. with 66,425 tons of aggregate at 1930h but the pilot shortage has pushed its departure time back to 0300h on the 23rd.

The tug Evan Mckeil with the barge Labrador Spirit is supposed to move up from Mulgrave to load gravel with new Captain R.J.(Ron ) Lejeune.

First visit to our port.

The new built self-unloading bulk carrier the Rt,. Hon. Paul E. Martin was brought in to the Quarry loading dock by APA pilot Capt. Evan MacDonald shortly after 0700h yesterday morning under some glorious sunny skies. The MarBulk vessel Pioneer had just departed the quarry berth and as the two vessels passed port to port just below checkpoint 9 the ships' whistles could be heard by all.

The incoming Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin was assisted in its docking procedure by the tug Point  Valiant with Capt. Jerry Maltby in the wheelhouse. 

At the Nustar Ocean Berth One the crude oil tanker Australian Spirit was discharging cargo and out in Inhabitants Bays' india anchorage the oil products tanker Azov Sea was undergoing engine repairs before moving up to be berthed.

Ship movements on this beautiful day..June 16,2013

A beautiful passenger vessel named Yorktown arrived at the inner pilot station before 1000h this morning and APA pilot Capt. Scott MacDonald took it in to the dock at Port Hawkesbury where i'm told that two tour buses whisked the passengers away for some sightseeing.

Meanwhile the bulk carrier Salarium was being toped off with salt at Mulgrave  and was scheduled for a 2000h sailing.

At the Nustar Dock in Point Tupper APA pilot Capt. Elias Dorey took the crude oil tanker Americas Spirit off the dock shortly after 1200h as it was loaded with 570,000 barrels of crude destined for Bayway N.J.

The next tanker lined up to go to Nustar was the Atlas Voyager brought in by APA Capt. Tony Pierce and docked with the assistance of the tug Svitzer Bedford with Capt. Jean Gallant at the helm and the Point  Chebucto commanded by Capt. Derek King.

At 1830h APA pilot Capt. Rick Hanlon took the passenger vessel Yorktown off the dock at Port Hawkesbury and transitted Canso Lock heading north much to the delight of its passengers who  seemed to relish this event.

The Salarium got off the dock at Mulgrave  shortly after 2000h with APA capt. Tony Pierce on the bridge ,turned and made its way to the inner pilot station in waning evening light

Jasmine Knutsen departs,Americas Spirit in and the Aura in for a bit.

At 1900h on the evening of the 14th the departure of the shuttle tanker from Nustar was aborted after the ship experienced some mechanical problems and was forced to remain alongside .in the cool damp morning light at 0730 h this morning the 3 Svitzer tugs came alongside and took the ship off the dock ,turned it under the direction of APA pilot Capt. Rick Hanlon.

The tugs Svitzer Bedford and Point Chebucto provided escort until the tanker reached checkpoint 8 and the tugs were released and waited around the checkpoint for APA pilot Capt. Scott MacDonald to bring the crude oil tanker Americas Spirit in from India Anchorage in Inhabitants Bay to Nustar Ocean Berth One.to load cargo.

The American registered tug Aura made a call in to the Strait SuperportDock at Mulgrave on the evening of the 14th  for water and took on a large quantity of fuel from an Irving tanker truck on the morning of the 15th.

A very nice looking tug it has a similar appearance to the Atlantic Towing vessels and when I saw it approaching Mulgrave thought at first it was the Atlantic Fir.It will eventually sail to New Orleans Louisiana.