City of Thunder Bay now recommending complete recycling of James Whalen tug

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Higher-than-expected bids person prompted the City of Thunder Bay to alteration its proposal connected preserving parts of an historical tug boat.

Last fall, Thunder Bay City Council voted to sphere parts of the James Whalen tug, and recycle the rest. 

"The tender went retired successful January, closed aboriginal February," said Cory Halvorsen, the city's manager of parks and unfastened spaces. "The grant was based connected the basal terms of recycling the full vessel, and past determination were three provisional items that were provided successful summation to the basal price."

"Those provisional items included a radical of astir 10 idiosyncratic pieces, oregon portions of the vas that could beryllium benignant of selected individually," helium said. "And past determination were two versions of preserving the deck, either the apical platform oregon the full platform from the h2o enactment up."

However, basal terms of recycling the full vas came successful higher than the metropolis estimated, Halvorsen said.

"We had budgeted $290,000 positive oregon minus 30 per cent at that time," helium said. "The basal terms came successful astatine $579,000."

As a result, the metropolis is present recommending assembly grant a tender to recycling the full Whalen, not preserving immoderate of it, successful a study being presented connected Monday.

The Whalen was built successful 1905, and was brought to Thunder Bay aft it was retired successful the 1990s. It had been moored astatine Kam River Heritage Park until it was recovered submerged successful the stream astir 3 years ago.

The metropolis has since moved it to a adust dock connected backstage land.

The study states the metropolis did look astatine immoderate different options speech from recycling the vessel. There were discussions with the Transportation Museum of Thunder Bay, for example, "to connection them the accidental to money the provisional items included successful the tender that would clasp prime pieces oregon full portions of the platform connected the information that they would money the further costs and instrumentality implicit afloat ownership."

While the depository was interested, the study states the museum — which operates the Alexander Henry historical vessel that's docked astatine Pool Six — said it was incapable to perpetrate unless it received a "viable agelong word onshore usage licence," which would let the depository to use for funding.

The occupation with that, Halvorsen said, is the metropolis has a constricted magnitude of clip to grant the tender, and dialog a onshore usage statement with the depository would instrumentality months.

Moving the Whalen to different city-owned site, meanwhile, would beryllium precise challenging, Halvorsen said.

"Due to its mass, it is incredibly challenging and costly to determination it anywhere," helium said.