Craig Trans detained due to poor living conditions

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JK
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Craig Trans detained due to poor living conditions

Post by JK »

This tug was on its way to Montreal where it was assigned to pick up a ship for scrap. Which immediately brings the Canadian Miner fiasco to mind. A one ship (?) company with an ancient towboat towing a scrap ship out into the N.Atlantic in winter.
The crew had no water or food for 3 days and if they had continued on their way, would have been a week without. Anyone who wants to throw a few bucks to the Mission to Seaman to help support these poor buggers who are essentially trapped here, (which may have saved their lives) here is the site:

http://www.missiontoseafarershalifax.ca/donate.html
A Bolivian tugboat, the Craig Trans is detained in Halifax, due to poor conditions.
CTV Atlantic
Published Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012 6:59PM AST
The crew of a Bolivian-registered, American-owned tugboat is being cared for in Halifax.
Their boat, the 68-year-old Craig Trans, is being detained because of poor living conditions and concern for the general condition of the vessel.
Rough weather forced the Craig Trans into Halifax Tuesday night.
“It came in out of the weather to the Port of Halifax,” says Michele Peverill of the Halifax Port Authority. “Transport Canada did an inspection and noted deficiencies that need to be repaired before it can leave port.”
Aboard the boat are eight Honduran sailors, who ran out of food and water three days ago.
“On the boat is, ah, right now, is no water, no food, it’s kind of tough on the boat right now. We get here, it’s better. We get a lot of help here,” says Chief Mate Pedro Andrade.
Help has come from the Mission to Seafarers.
“The first thing we did this morning was take breakfast onboard for them and some hot coffee. We supplied food again at lunchtime,” says Mission to Seafarers co-ordinator Maggie Wittingham-Lamont.
“There’s no water to bathe, we had a couple of jugs for drinking,” says Andrade.
Jim Stonehouse says his company, Atship, is fronting money, taking care of humanitarian needs and even took one crew member to hospital for a minor ailment.
Andrade says the tug was on its way to Montreal where it was assigned to pick up a ship for scrap.
The Craig Trans was built in 1944 in Florida and is registered in the landlocked South American country of Bolivia. It is owned by Vesta Shipping of New Jersey.
“A lot of things got to be touched up,” says Andrade.
Wittingham-Lamont says donations of money or lightly-used winter clothing would be appreciated from anyone who wants to help the crew.
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Re: Craig Trans detained due to poor living conditions

Post by The Dieselduck »

Pretty sad...
I imagine they are now on their own.

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/pho ... id=1442907
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Re: Craig Trans detained due to poor living conditions

Post by JK »

The crew was repatriated home this week. Not by the owner but by donations of airmiles from generous souls.

The Chief mate and owner Gerard Antoine,are interviewed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/popupaudi ... 2326400249

you may have to poke around to get the right interview.
Amazing, the owner said if they aren't working he won't pay their salary. The food he bought in Mexico should have lasted them. I wonder if he took the cockroaches share into account.
From info on Mac Mackays Blog
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The latest Chapter in the story of the Craig Trans

Post by JK »

The tow job from 2012 is herself the new issue:

Looming environmental disaster in Quebec as discarded ship could break up
JANUARY 19TH, 2016 Sam Chambers SAM CHAMBERS AMERICAS, ENVIRONMENT, OPERATIONS

Local authorities in Quebec are warning of a looming environmental disaster if nothing is done to salvage a discarded bulk carrier.

The Kathryn Spirit was abandoned by its Mexican owners four years ago at the city of Beauharnois near Montreal and the St Lawrence River. The Mexican firm has since declared bankruptcy and all pumping operations to keep the ship upright have come to a halt.

Beauharnois mayor Claude Haineault has warned rain and snow are accumulating in the hold of the ship, and with the pumping operations stopped, he is concerned the open hatch ship could begin to list and eventually capsize.

“I think it will be a very big environmental disaster very soon,” Haineault said, suggesting oil could leak into the river and affect Montreal’s access to drinking water. The mayor has asked both federal and provincial governments to help salvage the 1967-built vessel.

The Kathryn Spirit is a vessel with a long history of infamy in Canada. In 2011, after a period of lay-up, the Kathryn Spirit was sold to the Groupe St-Pierre for scrapping. The company decided that they would carry out the demolition at Beauharnois on the shores of Lake Saint-Louis. The mayor of Beauharnois opposed the operation, even though it would take place in an area zoned for industry, due to fears about environmental pollution.

In August 2012, in the face of continued opposition from the municipality, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment and environmental groups, the Groupe St-Pierre decided to withdraw from the demolition project and resold the Kathryn Spirit to the Mexican company Reciclajes Ecológicos Marítimos. The American-owned, Bolivian-flagged tug Craig Trans, built in 1944, was hired to tow her to Mexico, but was detained at Halifax by Transport Canada due to safety deficiencies and poor living conditions. The tug’s crew were later repatriated with charitable donations, and the tug arrested by creditors.

By May 2013 there were further delays in the departure of Kathryn Spirit, due to water ingress, lack of survey for the voyage and other environmental concerns, and a fear that lower water levels might prevent her departure.

http://splash247.com/looming-environmen ... -break-up/


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