There's plenty new under the Port's sun
Green Ladies and other vessels show the vitality of the maritime industry
Canada Steamship Line's Rt. Honorable Paul J. Martin made her maiden
voyage to the Port of Duluth-Superior on April 24.
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The Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin on her maiden voyage. Photo courtesy of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center |
She visited Superior's Burlington Northern Taconite Facility for 27,814 metric tons of iron ore destined for Hamilton, Ont. Delivered this spring from the Port Weller Dry Docks, the Martin is the second of three ships in CSL's $100-million hull replacement program. The vessel has a completely new hull that was joined to the engine room portion of the H.M Griffith.
Another CSL vessel, CSL Niagara, has called on the Port twice.
Delivered from the Port Weller Dry Docks during the summer of 1999, the
Niagara's new hull was attached to the engine room of the J.W.
McGiffin.
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The Maria Green passes under Duluth's famed Aerial Lift Bridge |
Several Green Ladies have been visiting the Port of late. They are namesakes
of women who were born into the Smits family (not the Green family —
but note the color of the vessel.) The late Marinus Smits was an important
shipping figure in Holland. He named four Greenfleet ships after family
members Marion, Maria, Makiri and Margaretha. Four more sister
ships will also soon be built in China for Greenfleet's manager, GenChart,
Rotter-dam. The Maria Green stopped at Superior's Cenex-Harvest
States facility in August to load wheat for Italy.
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The Andromeda bears a name from ancient Greece, though she was built in the Netherlands. Photo by Tim Slattery |
Another new vessel paying a call to the Port of Duluth-Superior was the
Andromeda, a 389-foot bulk carrier named for the mythological Greek
daughter of Cassiopeia
and Cepheus. She is one of several such ships recently ordered by her owner,
B.V. Kustvaartbedrijf Moerman, Ridderker, Netherlands. Built in 1999 at
Bodewes Hoogezand Shipyard, Netherlands, the Andromeda was in town
in May to discharge five 62-74 metric ton boiler machinery parts and a superheater
for use in a waste heat recovery project in Medicine Hat, Alberta. She then
shifted to Duluth's Hallett Dock for bentonite clay destined for Italy.
The Andromeda's
design is similar to eight new vessels ordered in 1999-2000 by Wagenborg
Shipping, Delfzijl, Netherlands, from an adjacent shipyard, Bodewes Scheepswerf
"Volharding", Netherlands. The Wagenborg vessels have been frequent
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The Kroonborg called in June. Photo by Kenneth Newhams, Duluth Shipping News |
New FedNav ships, eight of which are being built specifically for Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway trade, are also frequent Port callers. FedNav
received six new vessels from Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, China, during
1996 and 1997. The Federal Asahi and sister ship Federal Rideau
were delivered from a Japanese shipyard in January.
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The Federal Asahi made her maiden trip into the Great Lakes to load wheat for Europe from Duluth's AGP Grain Limited.Photo by Kenneth Newhams, Duluth Shipping News |
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The Sabina , built at the Bodewes Hoogezand Shipyard and flying the Swiss flag, called on Duluth-Superior in August. Photo by Tim Slattery |
The Swiss-flag Sabina, another
vessel built at the Bodewes Hoogezand Shipyard, made its inaugural trip
into the Great Lakes in August. Owned by Carisbrooke Shipping Ltd, England,
the vessel stopped at Hallett Dock for a partial load of bentonite clay
destined for Europe. She was making an additional stop in Thunder Bay
to fill two holds with peas, also for Europe,
