Algoma Adds Second Seaway-Max Equinox Bulker

Canadian provider of marine transportation services Algoma Central Corporation has taken delivery of the Algoma Sault, its second seaway-max Equinox Class self-unloading bulk carrier, from Yangzijiang Shipyard in China.

The 48,200 cbm vessel departed the shipyard on February 3, 2018, and is expected to arrive in late March.

Algoma Sault will be available for service in the upcoming navigation season, Algoma said.

The Tuvalu-flagged ship will be the seventh Equinox Class vessel to join Algoma’s domestic dry bulk fleet, which now includes four gearless bulkers and three self-unloaders. Five additional vessels are under development contracts.

In 2017, the company added to its fleet the Algoma Niagara, the first vessel from the seaway-max Equinox Class batch.

“The addition of the Algoma Sault to our domestic fleet will further strengthen our position on the Great Lakes and we look forward to her arrival,” Ken Bloch Soerensen, President and CEO of Algoma, commented.

“The Algoma Sault is the second Equinox Class 740-foot self-unloader to be delivered and she will join her sister ship, the Algoma Niagara, in operations this spring,” Soerensen added.

In addition to the two new 740-foot self-unloaders, the Algoma Conveyer, which the company acquired in 2017 at auction from the failed Nantong Mingde shipyard, is undergoing refurbishment and final construction at the shipyard. The vessel is expected to be completed and delivered in early 2019.

Algoma Central Corporation operates a fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers on the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Waterway and also owns ocean self-unloading dry-bulk vessels operating in international markets. The company has begun an expansion into international short-sea markets through its 50% interest in NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers and NovaAlgoma Short-Sea Carriers.