Owen Sound’s harbour was recently busier than usual as three tugboats and barges dropped in.
On June 5, the tugboat John D. was the first to arrive, tying up near a barge that had recently been assembled for the incoming tugboats. The John D. was followed on June 6th by the Vigilant I which arrived with a barge it had brought up from Lake Erie. Both boats are operated by McKeil Marine and were being used to deliver drilling barges for survey work near Meaford.
The Vigilant I has a local connection, having been built by Russel Bros. during World War II. Launched in 1944, it was originally the Glenlivet, one of 11 Glen class tugboats built for the Royal Canadian Navy.
The last tugboat to arrive was the Petite Forte pushing the barge St. Marys Cement. The ATB combo pulled in a few hours after the Vigilant arrived. They delivered cement to the Miller Cement silos.
The Petite Forte’s arrival marked a change from recent years. In recent years, deliveries typically came on the American-flagged tugs Prentiss Brown and Bradshaw McKee operating out of Charlevoix, MI, while the Petite Forte is Canadian-flagged and delivers from Bowmanville, ON.
While this is a switch-up, it is not an especially dramatic change as the companies involved are all the same: the cement comes from St. Marys Cement while the tugs are operated by Port City Marine Services.