Kigoriak () was a Canadian and later Russian icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel. Built by Saint John Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company for Canadian Marine Drilling (Canmar) in 1979 as Canmar Kigoriak, she was the first commercial icebreaking vessel developed to support offshore oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea.
When Canmar's icebreaker fleet was sold in 1997, the vessel's name was shortened to Kigoria and she was reflagged to Liberia. For the next six years, International Transport Contractors used the icebreaker mainly for ocean towage and salvage operations in the Atlantic Ocean. The vessel changed hands again in 2003 when she was sold to her current owner, FEMCO Group, and renamed first Talagy (Russian: Талаги) and, in 2010, Kigoriak.
After more than four decades of service, Kigoriak was sold for scrap in January 2022.
History
Development and construction
In the mid-1970s, Canadian Marine Drilling (Canmar), the drilling subsidiary of Dome Petroleum, began drilling for oil in the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea using ice-strengthened drillships and an extensive support fleet of icebreaking vessels. Aiming for year-round operations, the company also began developing its own experimental icebreaker concepts to support exploration drilling and, eventually, production-related operations.
The first vessel of this research and development program represented a radical departure from previous icebreaker design. In just eight weeks, Canmar's engineering and design team developed an icebreaker concept which emphasized simplicity and ease of construction to ensure quick delivery. While traditional icebreakers featured rounded hulls which were expensive to produce, in Canmar's design approximately 80% of the shell plating consisted of flat plates and hard chines. The spoon-shaped bow also featured reamers to improve turning capability in ice by breaking a channel that wider than the vertical-sided midbody. While the hull surface was initially left unpainted with only a handful of sacrificial anodes, the bow was lined with nozzles that pumped 12,000tons of sea water per hour onto the ice to reduce hull-ice friction. In the engine room, the simplest type of propulsion system was adopted: while most icebreakers featured diesel-driven generators, transformers and electric propulsion motors driving multiple shafts, Canmar opted for two medium-speed diesel engines mechanically geared to a single propeller shaft. The controllable-pitch propeller was shrouded in a nozzle that not only protected it from ice, but also increased thrust by 30% at lower speeds.Icebreaker Kigoriak a success! Northern Development, Winter 1979. Page 8.Ice record breaker. Marine Week, October 1979.Icebreaker Kigoriak tames hostile Arctic. The Calgary Herald, 9 February 1980.
After the icebreaker concept had been developed, Canmar hired the Vancouver-based engineering company Arctic Offshore Design to produce a tender package which was then handed over to Saint John Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company for detailed planning and construction. Laid down on 5 April 1979 and launched only few months later as Canmar Kigoriak, the icebreaker was built in record time of only eight and a half months at a cost of about 25 million Canadian dollars. She was delivered to Canmar on 4 September 1979 and hastily departed to the Beaufort Sea shortly afterwards.
Canmar Kigoriak (1979–1997)
Canmar Kigoriaks primary mission was to protect stationary drillships from drifting ice through ice management. When a potentially dangerous ice feature was detected approaching the drill site and the spread-moored drillship, the icebreaker was dispatched to break it up into smaller pieces that would not pose a threat to the drilling operation; this allowed extending the drilling season by starting it earlier and ending it later. In addition, she was used for other tasks such as escorting drillships to and from the drill site. During the winter months, the vessel was left unmanned in cold lay-up together with other Canmar vessels.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Canmar Kigoriak was tested in all ice conditions found in the Beaufort Sea. In addition to determining the icebreaker's operational capability and limitations in extreme conditions such as large multi-year ice floes, systematic research was carried out to gain understanding of full-scale ship-ice interactions in order to develop feasible solutions for year-round transporting oil and gas from the Arctic in the future. During these trials, the hull and propulsion system were extensively instrumented to measure vessel motions and structural response during icebreaking operations. The tests, which began with the main voyage through the Northwest Passage and continued both during and outside of the drilling operations, demonstrated that Canmar Kigoriak was able to operate safely in ice conditions far beyond what was specified for her ice class. Despite ingesting two foreign objects (a mooring buoy and a steel I-beam) during the early years, the single-screw vessel could continue independent operations at moderate power levels without immediate repairs.
The lack of a protective coating was a serious mistake in the cold, oxygen rich, seawater and, despite the anodes, the vessel suffered from major corrosion and serious weld erosion. The vessel was placed in a floating dock in the Beaufort sea. Plates were replaced and welds were replenished and the entire underwater area was fresh water washed, blast cleaned and coated with about 700 microns of an ice resistant coating (Inerta 160) which had been developed in Finland. This coating basically preserved the vessel and improved the ice breaking capability.
Following Canmar Kigoriaks arrival to the Beaufort Sea in late 1979, the Canmar drillships drilled a total of 25 wells for Dome Petroleum and other oil companies in the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea.Callow, L. (2012): Oil and Gas Exploration & Development Activity Forecast, Canadian Beaufort Sea 2012 – 2027. LTLC Consulting in association with Salmo Consulting Inc. April 2012. In addition, four more wells were drilled by the drillships in the Alaskan waters in 1985–1991. Other wells were drilled from artificial drilling islands as well as novel drilling systems such as Kulluk and the single steel drilling caisson.Beaufort Sea Exploration Wells. BOEM. While a number of oil and gas discoveries were made, none of the findings were sufficient to warrant commercial production. Following the falling oil prices in the 1980s and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, hydrocarbon exploration in the Beaufort Sea and the MacKenzie Delta gradually ended.Oil and Gas Exploration & Development Activity Forecast, Canadian Beaufort Sea 2013-2028. Lin Callow, LTLC Consulting, March 2013. In 1994, Canmar Kigoriak took part in disbanding Canmar's Arctic drilling fleet: after towing the laid-up drillship Canmar Explorer out of long-term storage in McKinley Bay and handing her over to a Russian tug bound for scrapyard in the Far East, she returned to collect the 30,000-ton floating dock Canmar Careen that was relocated to British Columbia to be stored until sold.1994 Sales and Charters . Marcon International Inc. Marcon International Sells Vessels For Canadian Marine, Hornbeck. MarineLink.
The experience gained from Canmar Kigoriak and Canmar's subsequent icebreakers was used in the design of the 1988-built Swedish icebreaker Oden which incorporates some design aspects of the Canadian icebreakers' hull form, propulsion and auxiliary systems used to reduce ice resistance.New Powerful Icebreaker Under Construction At Gotaverken Arendal. Maritime Reporter, August 1988.
Kigoria (1997–2003)
In 1997, Amoco sold Canmar's remaining assets, including Canmar Kigoriak, to an international consortium of shipping companies.The Richness of Discovery. Peter McKenzie-Brown, 12 August 2006. Barker, A. and Timco, G. (2012): Overwintering of Barges in the Beaufort - Assessing Ice Issues and Damage Potential. Technical Report OCRE-TR-2012-008. After reflagging the vessel to Liberia and shortening her name to Kigoria, the full commercial and operational management was entrusted to International Transport Contractors (ITC), a subsidiary of the Norwegian-based Tschudi Group. Initially, she was chartered to support laying submarine communications cables such as Alaska United linking the State of Alaska to the Contiguous United States.ITC NewsWaves Issue 2 , October 1998. ITC NewsWaves Issue 3 , May 1999. ITC NewsWaves Issue 4 , November 1999. In 2000, Kigoria was also used to remove and dispose of a section of the first transatlantic telegraph cable laid by the SS Great Eastern in 1866.ITC NewsWaves Issue 6 , May 2001.
Despite being originally built as an icebreaker, Kigoria was often used in marine salvage operations where her large cargo deck and powerful crane were found useful. In August 1999, she was dispatched to search for a general cargo ship Lady Belle which had been abandoned in mid-Pacific following an engine room fire, but the stricken freighter was never found and the search was called off. In a more successful salvage operation in 2000, Kigoria refloated the 35,000-ton bulk carrier Bovec at Tuck Inlet near Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The ship had been awaiting for berthing in ballast when she began dragging anchors in a storm and drifted around. At low tide, her hull was subjected to excessive longitudinal stresses as the aft section with engine room, propeller and rudder was hanging unsupported in mid-air, completely out of the water, and there was a serious danger that the vessel would break in two during the upcoming spring tide. While Bovec was later declared constructive total loss and sold for scrap, the salvage operation was successful: with nearly 200 tons of pulling force, Kigoria managed to drag the bulk carrier off the rocks.Major Marine Vessel Casualty Risk and Response Preparedness in British Columbia. EnviroEmera Consulting Services, July 2008. ITC NewsWaves Issue 5 , July 2000. Another successful salvage operation involving a 25,250-ton Panamian-flagged tanker Shauandar was completed off the Cuban coast few years later.ITC NewsWaves Issue 7 , April 2002. In January 2003, Kigoria was dispatched from Bermuda to salvage the Finnish-flagged ro-ro vessel Camilla that had been abandoned off Newfoundland due to engine troubles. Despite heavy weather, Kigoria managed to take the stricken vessel into tow and bring safely to Conception Bay.Ms CAMILLA, vaaratilanne ja aluksen evakuointi Pohjois-Atlantilla 23.1.2003. Tutkintaselostus B 1/2003 M. Onnettomuustutkintakeskus. ITC NewsWaves Issue 8 , May 2003.