When the Irving Oil tanker East Coast moved to Pier 9B on February 27 I should have realized that the ship would be handed back to its owners. My post of that date, titled More Tankers gave the story of that ship and an update on the new tankers that Irving Oil will charter from Algoma. In fact the ship's Canadian register was closed the next day, February 28.
On February 27 the East Coast turned in the Narrows in order to tie up at Pier 9B for re-flagging.
The ship hoisted the Portuguese flag (not Portugal's offshore flag of Madeira) and sailed today March 3, for Gibraltar, giving an ETA of March 12. That would indicate to me that Vroon, the ship's actual owner have either sold the ship or found a new charter, but in any event the ship has completed its twenty year charter to Irving Oil.
November 20, 2024 photo.
Until the new ships arrive from the Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan, Douth Korea, Irving Oil will be relying on ships from other Canadian tanker fleets to distribute product. The first of those arrived in Halifax from Saint John, NB today, March 3. The Sarah Desgagnés has rarely called here, since it was acquired by Transport Desgagnés Inc's tanker operator Petro-Nav in 2008.
Built in 2007 by Gisan Gemi in Tuzla, Turkey, it is smaller tanker of 11,71 gt, 17,998 dwt. All ships built in Turkey are given a name when launched, and often trade for a time for Turkish onwers. This ship was originally named Besiktas Greenland and after trading for about a year under Turkish flag became Sarah Desgagnés in mid 2008.
The Sarah Desgagnés usually works the St. Lawrence River and Gulf and into the Great Lakes. On January 1 the ship sailed from Port-Cartier, QC and arrived in Las Palmas January 20 for refit until February 14. It then sailed for Saint John, NB, arriving February 1.
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