Atlantic Towing Limited of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is providing marine tug and barge services to the Cape Sharp Tidal project. Cape Sharp Tidal is a multi-phase project with plans to grid-connect a 4MW demonstration tidal array in Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy in the coming months.

The project could be the first of its kind in the world, helping establish a tidal industry in the Province of Nova Scotia.  Atlantic Towing will provide specialized marine services including harbour and terminal towage, ocean and coastal towage, barging services, offshore support such as anchor installation and more. These services, as scheduled, will employ up to 28 seafarers currently working for Atlantic Towing. 

“We have safely operated in challenging sea conditions like the strong Bay of Fundy currents and tides for more than 50 years,” said Gilles Gagnon, Atlantic Towing Vice President and General Manager. “Working on the Cape Sharp Tidal project is a perfect fit for our local team’s expertise and capability.”

Highly trained and specialized crews on three Atlantic Towing tugs—the Hemlock, the Bear and the Spruce— as well as the Beaver Barge, will support the project in the strong Bay of Fundy ocean currents. In addition to anchor and cable installation, the tugs will transport both 1,000-tonne turbines on their journey from Pictou to the Minas Passage on a purpose-built OpenHydro barge, The Scotia Tide.

Once in position, the tugs will manoeuvre the barge and turbine while crews lower the turbine to the seabed and connect the cables to the Nova Scotia power grid. The subsea cables, on-shore transmission lines and power infrastructure belong to the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) in Parrsboro. 

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