WINTER 2015NEWSLETTER NO 12

Refloating in Trois-RivièresWe are convinced that the grounded tug in the Port of Trois-Rivières, on December 26th, was also discussed during the holiday season. Between “Is it one of your boats?” And “Come on, just rent a crane and pull it out of the water… “.

In reality, the refloating of the tug in question is complex and several Ocean companies are working together to get it out of its awkward position. We have broken down the operation in five major steps. At the time of writing this article, the first two steps are completed, being the manufacture of cranes by the NIR team and the installation of the barges and other OMW specialized equipment on the site. Ice contaminated by hydrocarbons was recovered and placed in sealed containers to be disposed of when the snowmelt will separate water and contaminants.

The divers inspected the tug to assess the damage and the amount of oil remaining on board. They proceeded to the pumping of 48,000 liters of fuel and welded plates to strengthen the hull. All equipment is in place for the refloating.

The ship will be lifted out of the water with the hoisting ropes. The operation will be difficult because the weakened structures must be constantly evaluated and pumping necessary to reduce environmental risks. To this end, the Coast Guard patrol boats perform, every day, a helicopter flight in order to ensure that there are no leaks.

Currently, all costs are borne by the “Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund “. Once refloated, the ship will be returned to its owner, Chaulk Air of Moncton, NB.

CARL PEPIN

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

WEST

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Photo: Alain St-PierreThis project is a great example of collaboration between companies

OCEAN INDUSTRIESFABRICATION NAVALE OCEANAND NAVAL AND INDUSTRIAL REPAIRS

The construction of tugs, Notigi (Manitoba Hydro) and Taiga is at nearly 50%. The fitting of the hulls is well under way. Painting, insulation and electricity are started. We expect the Notigi to leave the FNO workshop towards its namesake city in late March. The ship will be transported by road in 4 or 5 blocks. Several days will be needed to cover the distance of 3,400 kilometres. The Taiga will come out of the workshops in the same period; the team will wait for a favorable tide to bring out the imposing steel structure using new flotation compartments specifically designed for winter conditions.

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, FNO produced, in November, ten additional uniflotes for OMW.

New Constructions

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Before the holidays, we completed the regulatory dry dock of the MV Joseph-Savard. Upon inspection of the structure, we found a high level of wear of the hull and gunnels. The shipyard team called on the FNO and NIR workers for several additional steel works to be done in a short time. We also obtained the contract for the five-year dry dock NM Félix-Antoine Savard. The ship should be installed for the job in late March. This is the third consecutive contract obtained from the STQ.

Currently, the Saguenay Fjord of the Rio Tinto Alcan is on the ramp. We are carrying out the painting and the maintenance of the Rolls Royce propulsion system.

At Ocean Industries

The NRI team undertook the conversion of the pilot boat North Shore into a tug for Ocean Towing in Goderich, ON. A tow hook, push pad, dead lights, railings and protective tires were added to the ship. Access and navigation lights were changed and an emergency exit added to render the ship compliant with existing standards.

In January, five booms with a capacity of 125 tons were manufactured for the refloating in Trois-Rivières. The structures built from H beam are 18-foot high. They were mounted on the pivots to be bolted directly to the sectional barges on site. Each of the booms is equipped with a 5-wire cable, an inch and a half in diameter, to allow 70 000-pound winches to lift the ship by the bow first.

NIR

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OCEAN REMORQUAGE AND OCEAN NAVIGATION

Our towing services were greatly sought in recent weeks; several ships had to call on our tugs. On November 4th, the Anna Desgagnés was without power at the Port of Montréal and escorted to the dock by two tugs. Then, two tugs were needed to assist the Sundaisy E out of its awkward position in Trois-Rivières. During the same period, the Star Merlin was escorted to the Port of Québec. Just before the holidays, the American Fortitude suffered a generator failure at the Port of Montréal.

On January 8th, the Catherine Desgagnés had to be towed from Petite-Rivière-St-François, where she was caught in the ice. A few days later, our tugs were required for the North Montreal to reach the section 52 of the Port of Québec.

Assistance in demand

The collapse of the iron industry has not spared the Port of Sept-Îles in 2014 which recorded the first decline in business volume since the five years. The shutting down of Cliffs Natural Resources’ Scully Mine and the suspension of Labrador Iron Mines activities explain the decrease.

With the announcement of the closure of the mines of Pointe-Noire and Bloom Lake in December, we decided to remove the OCEAN YVAN DESGAGNES from Sept-Îles. The tug and crew were transferred to the Port of Québec.

Three ships are always positioned on the North Shore to meet demand.

Océan Remorquage Côte-Nord

We recently signed an agreement with Algoma Central Corporation for port towage services in the Port of Goderich, Ontario.

Algoma is responsible for transporting salt products of the Sifto mine. The number of operations performed annually is estimated at 200. However, several other owners operate at the Port of Goderich, which is the only deep water port on the eastern shore of Lake Huron.

To provide docking and undocking services at a competitive price, the pilot boat Côte-Nord was converted into a tug. The OCEAN NORTH SHORE has a reinforced shell for ice and a bollard pull of 10.8 tonnes.

Ocean at Goderich in Ontario

Sundaisy E

OCEAN MARINE WORKS AND OCEAN DREDGING

Winter is particularly busy for OMW. Nearly 250 barges are still mobilized on the Hebron site, the Champlain Bridge, the Northfield Bridge and the Pont des Allumettes. This is a first for OWM which usually suffers a sharp decline in rentals during the winter season.

At the same time, the team is working on several new opportunities for 2015.

The latter proposed, among others, various solutions to consortia which will bid on the construction project of the new Champlain Bridge. We will know if our efforts are successful in the spring.

Current projects

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We got a contract for the repair of the submersible barge DB MTL-Vancouver from the insurer of Hamel Construction Company.

Last December, bad weather caused the grounding of the barge on the breakwater at the Paspébiac harbor entrance. The equipment having been heavily damaged by the collision, a team had to be sent to seal the leaks and repair the barge. The Pugwash was transported to the site to be used as a working platform for welders.

A second barge, the OKA, was also grounded during the same storm. Given its condition, we decided to abandon it. It is now the responsibility of the insurer of Hamel Construction.

Submersible

The dredging contract for the expansion of a dock cruise in the British Virgin Islands had a few surprises in store. The consistency of the material to be extracted being superior to what was presented in the Technical Package, it was impossible to complete the suction dredging in the agreed time. The mechanical dredging specialists are still on site to help them complete the excavation of a rocky section.

Following this contract, the OTN left towards Itabo in the Dominican Republic. Approximately 45,000 m3 of sand were extracted from the power generating thermal plant dock, in order to be transported to two nautical miles offshore.

Following the dredging in the port of La Romana, DR last year, a new project is underway at this location.

Dredging

MIREILLE BÉRUBÉ

DIRECTORCONTINUOUS

IMPROVEMENT AND ENTERPRISE RESOURCE

PLANNING

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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)In our last communication on IMS last summer, our analysis team was busy defining contract specifications. The latter has been completed and submitted to six potential companies last December; four of them have submitted an application.

We invited four companies to present themselves. Aware that these suppliers would present us with reports, screens and functions which we had previously only imagined, we asked them to restrict their demonstration to a brief overview; three of them were selected.

Afterwards, in order to complete the analysis of applications, we developed an assessment grid based on the following selection criteria:

GENERAL• Quality of proposition• Quality of references• Ease of use of the integrator

SPECIFIC• Finance and accounting• Human Resources• Towing, equipment rental, dredging, construction and naval repair • Maintenance• Technology• Implementation plan• Total Cost

Work in progress...

Update

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TEAMSELECTION COMMITTEE- Carole Goudreault- Charleen Bouchard- Karl-Éric Malouin- Manon St-Onge- Martin Plante- Mireille Bérubé

STEERING COMMITTEE- François Lessard- Jean-François Dion - Jean-Philippe Brunet- Manon Lavoie- Réjean Verreault

ACCOMPANIED BYGILLES MARCOUX CONSULTANT OF FUJITSU

During the year, we were faced with a major dilemma; choose a solution based on international best practices and delivered almost ready to use or a system more adjustable to our business processes. Applying best practices is a hot topic in Ocean; we thought it would be appropriate to take advantage of a management system that integrates these features. We would be able to deploy aspects with which we feel comfortable at the moment and when we have gained a better understanding of the system and established our processes, to move forward and meet our new needs.

For this reason, our choice was made on two finalists. We sent them a scenario so that they could prepare a set demonstration for the expanded selection committee. The tests are performed during the weeks of February 9th and 16th. Each provider has one week to promote different aspects of the solution.

Subsequently, the selection committee will have a week to discuss and present its final recommendation to the steering committee on February 27th.

With the approval of the committee, we will begin negotiations for the contract terms and the selected firm will have a month to provide a proof of concept. The latter is a summary version of the system to demonstrate its feasibility.

For many of you, the approach may seem long and complex, but it is a system that requires substantial investments. We must be vigilant in order to choose the solution that will meet our current needs, support our growth and provide us with opportunities for improvement. Please note that initially planned deadlines are always met.

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$There are three major categories of integrated management system (IMS). It is possible to illustrate this distribution as a pyramid in which the higher we go, more expensive are the proposed solutions.

As with cars, the higher up the pyramid, the more popular components are included in the basic package instead of optional.

Our current system (Virtuo) is at the bottom of the second level.

The solutions we are currently considering are at the lower end of the first rank.

- Virtuo

- System considered

OUR WORLDNEWS

The Services et Maintenance Océan team conducted a consumption study on the OCEAN ROSS GAUDREAULT which demonstrated that the addition of Cetane Booster to the fuel improved combustion and resulted in savings of up to nearly 5%.

In addition, FTP emission tests (Federal Test Procedure) of the US Environmental Protection Agency show that the addition of Cetane Booster generates a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the order of 14 % for hydrocarbons (HC), 1% for the nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 7% for the carbon monoxide (CO). A great initiative of the team!

Environmental Initiative

The St. Lawrence Ship operators (SLS) announced on December 15th the appointment of Jean-Philippe Brunet as Chairman of its Board of Directors. He succeeds Daniel Bélisle from Oceanex, who chaired the board since 2012.

Since 1936, the St. Lawrence Ship operators represent the interests of its members, the Canadian ship owners. The association has 14 active members, representing a fleet of over 130 ships, and about 85 associate members and service providers to the maritime industry. The SLS work on several priority issues, including the promotion of short sea shipping, tracking regulatory change, protection of the environment and issues related to labor in the marine industry.

New President of the Ship operators

On January 1st, the Eastern Canada Tug Owners Association, known by the acronym ECTOA, has updated its conditions. To do so, it relied on UK Standard Towing Conditions and Other Services (Revised 1986), which are recognized and used worldwide.

Every Ocean Towing company is a member of this association and thereby subject to the terms and current conditions of the latter.

The Association also has a new www.ectoa.ca website to promote itself better. Its 17 active members have 85 tugboats in Eastern Canada.

ECTOA

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OUR WORLDNEWS

Ocean is the main sponsor of the 34th National Shotokan Karate Championship to be held from May 15th to 17th at the Amphitheatre at Laval University.

To this end, the organization, Shotokan Dojo Québec, offers pairs of tickets for the competitions held on the 16th and the 17th, and also the opportunity to take advantage of a series of courses over a period of 14 weeks for you and your family. Sessions begin in May and September at 265, boul. René-Lévesque in the City of Québec.

For pairs of tickets and/or courses for you and/or your family, contact Vicky Boivin at vicky.boivin@groupocean.com

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For several years, Ocean supports, in collaboration with the Port of Quebec, an ice canoe team. The Ocean/Port of Québec team participates in the seven competitions of the annual circuit that takes place between January 24th and March 7th.

Once the annual season completed, the team invites us to an outing on the Ocean/Port of Québec ice canoe as a thank you for our support.

The activity will be held on March 14th between 8 a.m. and 11 am. To participate, contact Vicky Boivin at vicky.boivin@groupocean.com

Ice canoe outing

The second edition of the children’s drawings took place last November. The winning design is used to illustrate the holiday greeting card sent to our customers.

We received over fifty drawings, each more beautiful than the other. The task of selecting a winner was not easy, that is why the management decided to reward each artist by offering a participation prize.

The grand prize, an iPad mini, was won by Indy Robitaille, son of Martin Robitaille, Technician - Maintenance at OMW. He is seen here with its price and festive card.

Contest winner

Karate Shotokan ISKF

OUR WORLDNEWS

We thank all of you for giving so generously to the 2014 Québec and Chaudière-Appalaches United Way campaign. Your donations totaled over $6,791.75, amount superior to the previous year.

Also, for a second year, Ocean decided to donate to the agency an amount equal to the sum of employee contributions. In addition, our shareholders made a generous donation for a total of $18,583.50 to the organization.

A special thank you to our volunteers, Catherine Gagné, Kim Tremblay, Caroline Marcotte and Rose-Marie Haché, and all those who participated in the weekly draws, without which the campaign would not have been such a success.

United Way

On December 4th, a few courageous employees braved the bitter cold to attend the 14th edition of the Media Food Drive in order to raise non-perishable food and cash donations to help the poor.

Between 7 am and 9 am, the Ocean team was positioned at the corner of Dalhousie and de la Montagne Streets to collect donations from passersby who have shown great generosity. Some 40 collection points were organized in the City of Québec; together they collected $270,798 worth of food and money.

Thank you to our courageous employees and all those of you who have contributed to the success of the campaign, essential for more than 30,000 people who, each month, are in need of food aid.

Media Food Drive

The Children’s Xmas at the Mega Parc of the Galeries de la Capitale took place on December 14th. 148 children took advantage of the festive occasion to enjoy the amusement park rides and make their last request to Santa.

Elves were also on hand to hand out candy and small surprises to the participants while Santa Claus’s assistant was busy taking pictures of them. These photographs are available in the following directory on the computer server: G: \ IMAGES-VIDEOS \ General Photos \ Christmas Child 2014

Thank you to the elves, Caroline Marcotte and Elizabeth Auger, who made themselves available for this event.

Children’s Xmas

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XMAS PARTYThe party was in full swing at the Cruise Terminal during the Christmas party on December 12th.

Nearly 200 employees were gathered for the event during which Jacques Tanguay made a humorous return on 2014. He was then taken by surprise as all did, with an address specially concocted by his partner Gordon Bain. The evening continued with the service of the meal and dance ... with the unique performance of the Ocean Towing team. You will find all the photographs of this beautiful evening filled with fun in the following directory: G: \ IMAGES-VIDEOS \ General Photos \ Christmas 2014

If you have comments or suggestions for improving the newsletter, please let us know!

Contact : vicky.boivin@groupocean.com orrose-marie.hache@groupocean.com

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EXCELLENCE IN HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTOUR PRIORITYYou are our most valuable asset.

As such, the preservation of your health, safety and the environment is a priority for us.

Meetings with members of upper management under the theme «PREVENTION MEETINGS» will take place in our business locations.

We invite you to actively participate in these meetings by identifying the hazards in your workplace and helping to reduce them.

HOURS OF MEETINGSWILL BE DISPLAYED ON BOARDS IN THE NEAR FUTURE

OPPORTUNITIESICE CANOE OUTINGDATE AND TIME: Saturday March 14th, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.LOCATION : Estuary of the St. Charles River

KARATE SHOTOKANDETAILS : 14-week session (adults and/or kids) starting in May or September ($190 value)LOCATION : Dojo Québec Shotokan - 235 René-Lévesque West Boulevard, Québec

Contact vicky.boivin@groupocean.com to take advantage of these opportunities.

OUR POSITIONSTUG CAPTAINQUÉBEC AND SOREL

PILOT BOAT CAPTAINSOREL

PROJECT MANAGER - OMWQUÉBEC

HR CONSULTANT/PAYBAS-CARAQUET

PRODUCTION MANAGERBAS-CARAQUET

STOREKEEPER/PURCHASERBAS-CARAQUET

MECHANIC OF SMALL VESSELSQUÉBEC

2ND CLASS ENGINEERQUÉBEC

3RD CLASS ENGINEERMONTRÉAL AND TROIS-RIVIÈRES

4TH CLASS ENGINEERMONTRÉAL

WELDERS-FITTERSQUÉBEC, ISLE-AUX-COUDRES ANDBAS-CARAQUET

NAVAL ARCHITECTURE TECHNICIANSQUÉBEC AND/OR ISLE-AU-COUDRES

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNICIANQUÉBEC OR ISLE-AU-COUDRES

VISIT THE OCEAN WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION

DO YOU KNOW A TRUSTWORTHY PERSON LOOKING FOR A JOB?

INVITE HIM/HER TO SEND AN APPLICATION, COMPLETE THE FORM AVAILABLE ON INTRANET AND YOU MAY RECEIVE A CASH BONUS.