Guested wrote:American Fortitude will be departing Montreal tomorrow at 0800 in tow of Jarrett M upbound for Port Colborne ON. It appears he was denied passage by Transport Canada and resold to IMS.
I'm sure that will tic off the americans who originally bought the hulk. How dare the Canadians block passage of an american vessel?
Guested wrote:American Fortitude will be departing Montreal tomorrow at 0800 in tow of Jarrett M upbound for Port Colborne ON. It appears he was denied passage by Transport Canada and resold to IMS.
*Grovels at the gate of IMS with puppy dog eyes, that they might spare her and resell her to LLT.*
If true it's the right course for this ship. The decision to attempt a tow to Texas at this time of the year was not very bright imho. Nobody wants another multi million dollar Canadian Minor catastrophe on their hands.
The owners of the Fortitude clearly did not investigate this endeavour very well. They should have checked with Transport Canada before this deal to tow her off the lakes in December was set in motion.
How much will the tow all the way back to IMS cost?
American Fortitude will be departing Montreal tomorrow at 0800 in tow of Jarrett M upbound for Port Colborne ON. It appears he was denied passage by Transport Canada and resold to IMS.
If you're suggesting that Lower Lakes is getting her, barging doesn't make any sense then. They've quite clearly communicated their preferences in this area as a multitude of repowerings can attest to.
The only ATB's in the fleet that were built that way or modified to into a barge have been done by previous owners, not by Lower Lakes.
Lower Lakes themselves when it has came time to replace obsolete steam plans have always repowered.
Some ships have left the lakes in December bound for the scrapyard. I don't know if this is the latest, but I do know that such tows do not have a good record of making it to their final destination. If they attempt to tow the Fortitude to Brownsville than they are being foolhardy.
On Environment Canada website you can see that they have ice more than 20 cm/8 in thick in the St Lawrence river by Quebec City.
There are many lay up berths in Montreal but the port website is updated every day showing it is expected at section 52 (not a layup berth). So someone is still expecting that it will go father than Montreal this year.
Bruno wrote:Transport Canada has placed the whole adventure under arrest, there are issues with the McKeil tugs as well as apparently 50 tons of bunker still on-board the Fortitude, that will have to be removed before the journey to Brownsville can proceed.
In the meantime, Eileen MacAllister, has given-up and moved-on to other business. Ice is forming in the river, I would expect either a spring tow out or back up to port Colborne but it is my opinion that they will not go beyond Montreal this year.
Bruno's assessment appears to be right on.
AIS still shows the tug Jarrett M, stopped near the Cote St Catherine lock. I assume the Fortitude is still with her. I've got to believe that Transport Canada doesn't want another repeat of the Canadian Miner fiasco and the tow will be postponed.
Does anyone have any new info on the status of the tow?
Nighthunter wrote:When the American Fortitude arrives in Texas, what prevents the conversion to a articulated tug/barge. Everything is operational.
Well she's missing various parts from her engine room (according to ex Columbia guys) and the hydraulic thing on her boom is also gone. So she'd need a repower and replacement of the missing parts. I honestly hope they sell her back to the Great Lakes intact, like what happened with Algocen.
Conversion into a articulated barge would not require a repowering, and if there are in fact items missing from her engine room such a condition would not present much of a problem in such a rebuilding. Although possibly pricey, the hydraulic cylinder on the ships unloading equipment would be a minimal investment compared the overall cost of a conversion and thus would not be much of a factor. Unfortunately, however, I believe we have seen the last of the fine ship on the lakes.
As a side note, would there be much of a use for this type of conversion in the coastal or Mississippii River trade?
That's true, for some reason I was imagining a different kind of conversion and forgot about the barge part, hah. Oops.
Nighthunter wrote:When the American Fortitude arrives in Texas, what prevents the conversion to a articulated tug/barge. Everything is operational.
Well she's missing various parts from her engine room (according to ex Columbia guys) and the hydraulic thing on her boom is also gone. So she'd need a repower and replacement of the missing parts. I honestly hope they sell her back to the Great Lakes intact, like what happened with Algocen.
Conversion into a articulated barge would not require a repowering, and if there are in fact items missing from her engine room such a condition would not present much of a problem in such a rebuilding. Although possibly pricey, the hydraulic cylinder on the ships unloading equipment would be a minimal investment compared the overall cost of a conversion and thus would not be much of a factor. Unfortunately, however, I believe we have seen the last of the fine ship on the lakes.
As a side note, would there be much of a use for this type of conversion in the coastal or Mississippii River trade?