James Whalen Tug Boat - (File Photo/Acadia Broadcasting)
A provisional decision has been made on the future of the James Whalen Tug Boat.
After much debate city council has approved city administration’s initial suggestion to fully scrap the boat.
The scrapping of the boat has already gone to tender, with the city receiving bids to do the work.
The lowest tender received for the project was $589,811 (without tax).
Last September, administration recommended recycling the James Whalen Tug while preserving select portions of the boat.
Ultimately, the project cost more than expected, and it was determined that it was not possible to negotiate a long-term extension of the Pool 6 land use licence during the tender process.
This led to the administration recommendation to proceed with recycling the entire vessel without retaining any pieces or components.
“If we learn anything from this, and hopefully we learn from all this because this has turned out to be a terrible, terrible situation, we need people who are experts like the transportation museum to help us along,” said Northwood Ward Councillor Dominic Pasqualino. “I believe that if they were on board with this ship 10-15 years ago then we wouldn’t be where we are and I’m not here to condemn anybody, but they are important asset, and let’s face it, we’ve got other issues we’re going to have to deal with.”
“So there’s a locomotive, and a caboose, and they are going to cost money to get strapped too, unless we’re able to use the assets of the Transportation Museum. Their asset really isn’t financial, but it is passion and his dedication and it’s work. But anyways, I feel it’s important that we have the experts take care of the things that we really don’t know how to take care of.”
The funds for the project are coming from the 2025 Parks Renewal Capital Budget and existing 2024 carry-forward funds.
A decision on the matter was previously expected but a discussion at a late March Committee of the Whole meeting led to the suggestion that Harbour Metals was willing to perform salvage work at no charge.
The suggestion was faulty, with no official offer ever being made leading to city administration returning to their original recommendation.
At Monday night’s meeting, At-Large Councillor Rajni Agarwal and Current River Councillor Andrew Foulds both proposed amendments to try and save portions of the boat, but council opted to vote against them.
The Thunder Bay Transportation Museum also provided a deputation trying to advocate for saving any of the boat, if possible, for use at the museum, to no avail.
The decision still needs to be ratified at next Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
Prior to the discussion on the tugs’ future in September, the boat had been sitting idle since being recovered from the Kam River after sinking in September 2022.
