I don’t imagine that there was any insurance on the tug (except perhaps some minimal liability and pollution coverage), or on the tow itself, so probably no trip in tow survey.
It would interesting to hear who Hunt sold the tug to. Exactly when it was sold. Who the crew was (is)? I’d really like to hear about the crew! And if the tug changed hands again when it was reflagged in the great maritime nation of Bolivia.
The 50 year old, single screw, HUNT may have been adequate for towing local gravel barges or dump scows, but it certainly wasn’t fit for a voyage like this.
With the benefit of hindsight, I cannot understand how Transport Canada could let them leave.
I sure as hell cannot understand how the Canadians can justify leaving the ship afloat and adrift as a menace to navigation.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;97643]I don’t imagine that there was any insurance on the tug (except perhaps some minimal liability and pollution coverage), or on the tow itself, so probably no trip in tow survey.
It would interesting to hear who Hunt sold the tug to. Exactly when it was sold. Who the crew was (is)? I’d really like to hear about the crew! And if the tug changed hands again when it was reflagged in the great maritime nation of Bolivia.
The 50 year old, single screw, HUNT may have been adequate for towing local gravel barges or dump scows, but it certainly wasn’t fit for a voyage like this.
With the benefit of hindsight, I cannot understand how Transport Canada could let them leave.
I sure as hell cannot understand how the Canadians can justify leaving the ship afloat and adrift as a menace to navigation.[/QUOTE]
I would think that there would be coverage in place for the tow. Likely for the tug, too. There would certainly be Liablility cover in place in order for the vessels to obtain the necessary COFR documentation.
I did some work on her when she was the Betty Jean Turecamo. They got her as part of the deal when they sold a barge to Morania. If I remember correctly they had to take the tug in order for thw sale to go through. She also worked in Philly for a little while. I believe she was getting fined by the EPA for smoking too much.
There were two sisters built Bronx Towing. They originally towed trap rock scows up and down the Hudson. This one was the Colonial and the other was the Lainoloc. Which is Colonial spelled backwards. They were nice boats in their day.
Nothing wrong with her except that she was a 50 year old inside boat in apparently poor condition, and being operated by someone that didn’t know any better.
At this time of year, St Johns to the DR is at least as rough a voyage, as from Dutch Harbor to Seattle.
The 2nd mate on here did some side work for Kevin Hunt, running deck barges local with that boat, he said she could be a handful. He had put some work into the boat while he had it, had a fair amount of parts, but it was an ALCO, UGGHHHH…
ship owner…
After the Exxon Valdez everyone knows the last thing you ever want to be caught at is owing a ship ( rigs cant be far away…)
The Prestige tanker that broke in half off the coast of France had the court case last year…jail for the RINA surveyor and billion dollar fines everywhere BUT
after 10 years still cant find the owner…brilliant!!
[QUOTE=Pilot;97748]According to Marinetraffic it still displaying on AIS as still US flag, MMSI and call sign . Lloyd’s still has Hunt as owner and US Flag.
It appears something is fishy and everyone is trying to CYA.[/QUOTE]
A Turkish Flag or an American one … seems to have not much difference !!!
[I]The tug is owned by Hunt Tugs and Barges Inc. of Rhode Island. Attempts to reach company owner Kevin Hunt were not successful.[/I]
I was the pilot on the ocean tug CENTAURUS when we hauled the ex GORGON C. LEITCH outbound to Turkey for scrap. That’s what I call a real ocean tug. I tough that Transport Canada had learned from the ex CANADIEN MINER grounding experience, towed by the shit tug HELLAS, which I was also the river pilot. But it seems that it was not the case by letting the shit tug CHARLENE HUNT to tow the LYUBOV ORLOVA out in the North Atlantic Grand Banks …
Saturday, January 19, 2013
UPDATE: Charlene Hunt - welcome to Bolivia - or here we go again
I have been informed that the US flag tug Charlene Hunt, which called in Halifax, in distress in November, has now been re-flagged to Bolivia. This welcoming flag state is “home” to the tug Craig Trans also in Halifax in distress.
Charlene Hunt managed to get itself back into condition to sail to Newfoundland, complete with plywood over its windows and had other harrowing adventures on the way. It took more than a week to reach St.John’s.
The tug has been lying there ever since, but is set to sail today towing the miniature cruise ship Lyubov Orlova .
The Yugoslavia built ship dates back to 1976, and was arrested in St.John’s in September 2010 for debts to Canadian charterers. The owners walked away, leaving 49 Russian and 2 Ukranian crew unpaid. The crew had been depending on local charities for food, and were eventually repatriated with public assistance.
In January 2012 the ship was sold in Federal Court to an owner based in the British Virgin Islands.
The intention is to tow the ship to the Dominican Republic for scrap.
Update: The tug and tow left St.John’s on Wednesday January 23. Their weather predicting cpabilities are being brought into question as a rare winter “super storm” is predicted fo rthe weekend.
’ A historic extratropical storm is possible over the central North Atlantic on Saturday, the 26th of January based on the latest computer models. A weak 1014mb low will move off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts early Thursday moving rapidly east to northeast deepening to a 977 mb storm low by 12Z Friday, the 25th southeast of Cape race with winds to 50 knots. Thereafter, this low is forecast to “bomb out” as it moves northeast dropping 57 mb of pressure to 920 mb by 12Z Saturday, the 26th with hurricane force winds to 85 knots (nearly 100 mph) likely. ’ Source Ocean Weather Services blog
Posted by Mac at 10:29 AM 5 comments:
Allegedly an American crew was aboard despite the reflag. Probably missing ocean licenses etc you’d want to go international. 1200’ of 1-1/2" wire I’m told…info tricking in
