Podunk Below the Masthead, Tuesday, January 5, 2009

Final details on Minnette Bay purchase, billets needed urgently for Northern BC Winter Games and the Mayor reviews and previews, some of the items of note for the news cycle on Tuesday.

Daily News, Front page, headline story
MINNETTE BAY TUGS PURCHASE AGREEMENT ALL TIED UP-- They've dotted the i's and crossed the t's as Smit International takes control of Minette Bay Ship Docking. The purchase which was first announced in March of 2009 (and which we detailed at the time on this blog), was finalized on New Years eve, with the Dutch company now officially in the captain's seat for tugboat service on the North coast.

The Daily has their first picture of Prince Rupert's first baby of 2010, as Monica Lamb Yorski provides a little background on the arrival on January 4th of the youngest Rupertite at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital.

Prince Rupert Fire Rescue is looking for a motto and with 40 submissions received there's no shortage of material to work with. The Fire Department has whittled down the list to four, with plans to outline the new motto by January 10th.

The Sport section provided a snapshot of some of Prince Rupert's long distance hockey players, local residents who have moved to other locales to continue on with their hockey ambitions.

(Archive for Daily News Articles for January, 5 2010 )

Northern View
Billets families urgently needed for Winter Games -- With time running short, the urgent call has gone out for families to take in billets for next month's BC Northern Winter Games (see article here)

Northern View
Mayor discusses 2009, 2010 -- Mayor Jack Mussallem looks back at the events of 2009, highlighting our summer weather, the Musical ride and the opening of the Green Gym, he also looks ahead for the city and ties much of our future to the progress at the Port of Prince Rupert (see article here)

Northern View
MLA Coons looks back at 2009 -- Carrying on with their theme of looking at the last year, the Northern View offers up the chance for MLA Gary Coons to recall the events of 2009 and provide his thoughts on what 2010 may bring (see article here)

Northern View
Assessments down for 2010 -- As we outlined on the blog on Monday, Assessments BC has mailed out the property assessments of 2009, showing some declines in parts of Prince Rupert with some property owners perhaps looking at a reduction of between 5 to 10 per cent. The Northern View provides its interpretation of the assessments posted to its website on Tuesday (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Property Assessments Up Across Most of Northwest -- CFTK TV takes a wider look at assessments for the entire Northwest which see other communities finding assessments on the increase (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Northern Winter Games Committee Desperate For Billets -- With 200 to 300 athletes still to be housed, the Northern Winter Games is asking Rupertites to step in and offer up accommodation as soon as possible (see article here)
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Sahar Nassimdoost's video report
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CBC News British Columbia, Daybreak North
While they may be back at work in the studios of Daybreak North, no new content has been posted to their website so far in 2010.

Daily News, front page, headline story
Minette Bay tugs purchase agreement all tied up
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Tuesday, January 5, 2009

Smit International has finalized their purchase of Minette Bay Ship Docking Ltd.

This means that the Dutch tugboat operators will now own the contract to service Prince Rupert’s Ridley Coal Terminal Inc. The purchase was finalized on New Year’s Eve, but announced on Monday.

According to Minette skipper Shane Dienstadt, employees are not expecting any significant changes to working conditions or pay.

“We are just basically doing what we have been doing for the last 25 years. All our instructions have been coming from Vancouver,” said Deinstadt.

The tugboat operator, whose head office is in Kitimat, services Ridley Island Coal Terminal, and had been fielding calls for some time concerning whether it would sell its interests in Prince Rupert.

The purchase process took a little longer than expected, as Smit needed to receive regulatory approval from the Canadian Transportation Agency and Canadian competition regulations. Smit’s intent to purchase was announced last March, but the finalization of the deal was not completed until eight months later.

The deal is meant to increase Smit’s holdings in Prince Rupert. The acquisition of Minette Bay fits in the company’s strategy for its harbour towage activities - worldwide growth by participations and acquisitions.

This is because of the more stable nature of this activity; Smit plans to expand this activity globally to help further improve the stability profile of the entire company.

Smit has four main activities: harbour towage, terminals, salvage and transport and heavy lift.
The company’s interest in purchasing Minette was in part because Smit already has an operation in Prince Rupert through Smit Marine Canada.

With this acquisition, the company will expand its activities by covering the coal terminal as well.