Big Lift- Tracer- status?

[GuestfromEU]

Great Lakes Fitted means it meets the requirements of the Seaway Corporation for vessels transiting the Seaway and Welland Canal.

https://greatlakes-seaway.com/wp-conten ... ransit.pdf

The link outlines some of the requirements. Having a stern anchor is one example. This is compulsory for all ships transiting the Seaway, but it is not common on most ocean-trading ships worldwide.

Fairleads are also outlined in the above guidebook. The type of fairleads used on Lakers is not seen anywhere else in the world. I believe I have read of them called Port Colborne Fairleads. Most ocean ships will have standard Panama chocks and possibly roller fairleads. Unlike Lakers, ocean ships often do not use wire ropes, but fiber mooring ropes instead. Lines are often passed around bitts and other deck fittings, some of which may be designed in a certain layout if the ship is designed for trading in the Great Lakes, to permit easier lock transits.

[hausen]

"Great Lakes Fitted" probably refers to the vessel being able to "fit" through all of the the locks. Their size is much less than 740' x 78'.

As mentioned above, "Great Lakes fitted" refers to a ship whose mooring equipment is configured in such a way that it meets the requirements of the relevant authorities and is allowed to transit the Seaway system. If I'm not mistaken a lot of this has to do with lock transit procedures which have been standard on the Seaway/Welland Canal for many years, which necessitate things like certain types of fairleads.

As Seaway lockage procedures adapt to recently installed vacuum pad moorage systems, the requirements to meet the "Great Lakes fitted" standard may be changing or may change soon, or may become obsolete altogether, theoretically increasing the number of ocean freighters which are capable of transiting the system.

[geysir]

"Great Lakes Fitted" probably refers to the vessel being able to "fit" through all of the the locks. Their size is much less than 740' x 78'.

[Guest]

I believe that means it the vessel is equipped with fairleads which are needed in the locks, I don't know what exactly a fairlead is but, I know when the Techumseh was brought ot the lakes, she was fitted with the Canadian Leader's fairleads.

[New Guy Rick]

You guys are amazing! I've googled around a few times trying to determine the status of the Tracer with no results. You guys brought the mother load.

It did bring up another question. On the link, page 3 under class, is says Great Lakes Fitted.
What does this mean? Is this an expensive feature to have? I surprises me that a ship stationed 1/2 way around the world would be specifically equipped and ready to come into the Great Lakes.
Thanks so much..

Rick

[William Lafferty]

If you look around, you can find that the Tra-class has not been entirely removed from the site. Good technical information (scroll down a bit):

https://www.bigliftshipping.com/assets/ ... types_.pdf

Tramper is now flagged in the British Virgin Islands as Bulunia for Bulunia Ltd. with Spliethoff as manager, and in service. It seems to have been at Livorno for the past couple of months. Traveller is flagged in the United Arab Emirates for Emirates International Air Cargo, sold 23 June 2017. Seems to have been in Abu Dhabi since April.

[Mr Link]

Wondering if it might have been sold or chartered to another company. The TRA type ships (Tramper, Tracer, Transporter and Traveller) were all removed from the Big Lift website by August 2019. It doesn't appear that Big Lift ever owned the vessels, they were just the managing company. But the TRA ships were once listed on their website.

[William Lafferty]

Tracer arrived at Massawa on 7 July 2019 and was sold 31 July 2019 to "undisclosed interests." It was not registered under another flag and it was suspended from Bureau Veritas. Its sister, Transporter, arrived there 13 June 2019 and is also still there. This indicates to me it is perhaps for non-transportation use, maybe as transfer vessels, for which they would be ideally suited. Here the pair are at Massawa, 16 August 2019. I should add there is also a small ship breaking yard at Massawa. Shipnext indicates the vessels remain as seen in the photograph.

[New Guy Rick]

In 2015 a Big Lift ship, the Tracer came and loaded the last Palmer Johnson (PJ172) to be completed, I think, in the Netherlands. It was amazing to see a 172 foot yacht strapped to the top of this ship.

I was so fascinated by this ship that I started tracking in on Marine Traffic. For about 5 years I have watched the many places this ship worked and the type of cargo it would haul. It has been fascinating seeing it go from very hot weather to very cold weather. It seemed to never stop for very long.

Anyway, it has been in Massawa, a port city in Eritrea, on Africa's Red Sea since the beginning of July.
Is there any way to find out if it is really there and what it is doing? Maybe my Marine Traffic is wrong.
Is there a shipyard there? Is it getting a five year inspection or service?
I’ve been following for years and have never seen it go in for any period of time. I’m just curious and was wondering if there is another resource to look at.
Thanks
Rick