Back to Polar Expedition Yacht. How many “First” of this kind are there?: https://www.scenic.co.uk/ocean-cruise/eclipse
So far Kleven has one under construction as mentioned and two (+2 options) for Hurtigruten on order.
Vard has four for Ponant + 2 for HAPAG Lloyd on order.
One is under building in the US for NGC
A Dutch yard and one German yard is offering their designs, but doesn’t have any orders yet.
The Arctic is going to be a crowded place soon.
Have you seen the latest about that cruise expedition through the NW passage?
Cruise passengers are so weird. Even here in temperate urban vancouver they’re weird. The cruisers are like “is winter cold? It is? I need to go back to New York, now.”. The locals are like, “Why come all the way up here? I would have asked google.” The story also talks about some new Amundsen work being done up there. Crouded indeed.
[QUOTE=Emrobu;189760]Have you seen the latest about that cruise expedition through the NW passage?
Cruise passengers are so weird. Even here in temperate urban vancouver they’re weird. The cruisers are like “is winter cold? It is? I need to go back to New York, now.”. The locals are like, “Why come all the way up here? I would have asked google.” The story also talks about some new Amundsen work being done up there. Crouded indeed.[/QUOTE]
Did a job many years ago with someone from Juneau. . . had some stories about the cruise passengers that came ashore. . . a couple that I recall. . . one, “Wow, this is beautiful. What is the elevation here?”. . . and another about one who was going out in the woods and bought some bear repellent. . .and then sprayed himself down with it. . .
Classic. I can’t believe they let them run around the city free range. “do you know the shortcut to gastown?”
[QUOTE=Emrobu;187538]
So what’s wrong if the Canadian North becomes a cruise destination? Those folks need livelyhood, up there. The social-economic issues are profound. A little trade might be a good thing. Trouble is, we’re short on deep water ports.[/QUOTE]
Didn’t Churchill, Manitoba just get closed down?
[QUOTE=bbryantm;189821]Didn’t Churchill, Manitoba just get closed down?[/QUOTE]
The rumor is that it will close on Thursday next week. The American operator is being a little bit secretive.
There’s an undeveloped deep harbour on Baffin Island… But as far as I know, that’s it.
Hay River: last port in the north. Thats like saying St. Paul, last port on the Gulf of Mexico.
A MARI USQUE AD MARE may never be A MARI USQUE AD MARE AD MARE, as it should be.
The Canadian Navy has a presence at the northern tip of the island in Nunavut and has plans for expansion. That is a strategic piece of real estate militarily as well as commercially. After some development, Baffin Island could end up with more cruise ships than a runaway dog has fleas.
[QUOTE=Lee Shore;189836]The Canadian Navy has a presence at the northern tip of the island in Nunavut and has plans for expansion. That is a strategic piece of real estate militarily as well as commercially. After some development, Baffin Island could end up with more cruise ships than a runaway dog has fleas.[/QUOTE]
You’re talking about Nanisivik. I agree. Unfortunately this was a pet of the unpopular former PM and is now behind schedule and over-budget. Unlike Churchill, it is only accessible by sea and has a very short season. But its super important, none-the-less.
Here’s a link to the Maclean’s article I read on the Churchill closure. Not sure if Churchill would’ve become a cruise ship destination even with development, but it seems a shame for it to be mothballed like this.
[QUOTE=bbryantm;189864]Here’s a link to the Maclean’s article I read on the Churchill closure. Not sure if Churchill would’ve become a cruise ship destination even with development, but it seems a shame for it to be mothballed like this.
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/abondoned-churchill/[/QUOTE]
You’re from Alberta. Me too. Born and raised.
I wish I had something smart to say. I’m just heart-broken. We can’t sell the oil, we sold all the fish already, timber is getting used unfairly, farmers don’t own the wheat, the North isn’t ours (and maybe never was). That red leaf wasn’t a good choice: it represents something that comes and goes quickly, no mater how beautiful.
Thanks for the article, that was a good read.
I second Tugboater203, that was an excellent read.
And while I was there on MacLean’s I also read this one.
Bloody awful abdication of duty by both main parties to maintain adequate naval capabilities for a continent-wide nation with water along almost all of its borders, it would appear. But at least they weren’t spending money they didn’t have, or it was given over to different priorities, good or bad.
America just blows billions of $ like it’s nothing for stuff that ultimately doesn’t work,
and also may not really need.
[QUOTE=captjacksparrow;189926]I second Tugboater203, that was an excellent read.
And while I was there on MacLean’s I also read this one.
Bloody awful abdication of duty by both main parties to maintain adequate naval capabilities for a continent-wide nation with water along almost all of its borders, it would appear. But at least they weren’t spending money they didn’t have, or it was given over to different priorities, good or bad.
America just blows billions of $ like it’s nothing for stuff that ultimately doesn’t work,
and also may not really need.[/QUOTE]
No so fast sir. We don’t have a monopoly on stupid ways to waste money. Check out this little boondoggle: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/26/mother-canada-statue-nova-scotia-stephen-harper
Abdication of duty is right. Canada has left the door open in the Arctic and considering the fact that the Chinese are drooling over the Arctic passage, and given their record of pushing their weight around the South China Sea, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine them trying to establish some facilities to bolster their use of said passage. Guess whose cavalry will have to ride to the rescue.
[QUOTE=Lee Shore;189930]No so fast sir. We don’t have a monopoly on stupid ways to waste money. Check out this little boondoggle: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/26/mother-canada-statue-nova-scotia-stephen-harper
Abdication of duty is right. Canada has left the door open in the Arctic and considering the fact that the Chinese are drooling over the Arctic passage, and given their record of pushing their weight around the South China Sea, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine them trying to establish some facilities to bolster their use of said passage. Guess whose cavalry will have to ride to the rescue.[/QUOTE]
Neither the USA nor China has ever recognized Canada’s sovereignty in the North. USSR did, but only to goad the Americans. If Canada had made a peep about the US respecting the NW Passage as ours, the USSR would have had an excuse to go to war in the North. I don’t know kind of noises Russia is making recently on this front, sit may be that they are preoccupied with their warmer water ports expansionist thing that they are doing in the Black Sea and the Med.
The one thing we have going for us, is that the aggression between the USA and Chine is focused on the “West Philipeans Sea,” and not the arctic. But its not as if the USA is going to come to an area who’s sovereignty they made a point of never recognizing, save it from the capicomunists and then leave. Being occupied by the USA would suck, and I don’t want it. But the worst thing that could happen is that China just uses the waterway without regard to our laws. Having the navy to strong-arm our claim is one thing. But what is really needed is the infrastructure to enforce laws, predict sea-ice and weather, clean-up pollution, instal and maintain navigational aides, and save lives. We pride ourselves on being peacekeepers and nation-builders, but in some ways, our own nation isn’t fully built yet.
If you’re looking for a fine example of a waste of money read about the Victoria Class submarines. “Hand-me-downs and cannon fodder”: if we could translate that into Latin, it would make an appropriate motto.
This might be a good time to bring some of the DEW line stations back to life with a different purpose or do we let the Chinese become Canada’s new best friends?
As for wasted legal tender from the great white north, how about the Arrow? Didn’t Diefenbaker preside over that fiasco? And now you’re naming your best icebreaker after him?
This doesn’t have much to do with oil jobs coming back. Maybe the Arctic needs its own thread.
[QUOTE=Lee Shore;189939]
This doesn’t have much to do with oil jobs coming back. Maybe the Arctic needs its own thread.[/QUOTE]
Only if the thread is recognized by the US as the sovereign territory of Canada. Don’t worry, all your charter rights and freedoms will be protected.
Everything is named after Dieffenbaker. I went to an primary school named after him. It’s just one of those things that sounds Canadian, and yet won’t make people get all fussed. They couldn’t call it the Gabriel Dumont now, could they?
[QUOTE=Emrobu;189941]Only if the thread is recognized by the US as the sovereign territory of Canada. Don’t worry, all your charter rights and freedoms will be protected.
Everything is named after Dieffenbaker. I went to an primary school named after him. It’s just one of those things that sounds Canadian, and yet won’t make people get all fussed. They couldn’t call it the Gabriel Dumont now, could they?[/QUOTE]
Gabriel Dumont. I had to look that one up. Presumably you are referring to the Metis dude and not the hockey player. Go Gabe!
Diefenbaker always looked like his constipation would break the pressure limits at any moment and shit would start shooting out his eyeballs. I understand if you are embarrassed to have gone to a school bearing his name. This is evidenced by the fact that you refuse to correctly spell his name even after it was drilled into you during your formative years.
Your pestiferous demand that a future Arctic thread should duly recognize Canadian sovereignty is approved as requested.
Moving from Canadian Arctic back to the world of shipping at least.
I know that most here are not interested in things that doesn’t have to do directly with the US, or especially the GoM, but I venture to bring tidings about the world of shipping outside the US: http://splash247.com/hanjin-shipping-exclusives-getting-noticed/
The largest gathering in the world of Shipping has just wound up in Hamburg.
This report may give some insight into the future of Shipping, incl. the Offshore end of it: http://splash247.com/tag/smm-hamburg/
It may take a while before any positive development world wide results in changes to the GoM reality though.