Fednav Orders New Icebreaker from Japan

Fednav Orders New Icebreaker from Japan

Fednav and Canadian Royalties announce the signing of a long-term contract which provides for the transportation of nickel and copper concentrates from Canadian Royalties’ Nunavik Nickel Project in northern Quebec to customers in Europe as well as the import from Europe of mine supplies and equipment.

Speaking yesterday at the 5th Arctic Shipping North America Conference, Thomas Paterson, a Senior Vice-President of Fednav Limited, announced the placing of an order with Sumitomo Corporation and Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, Japan, for the design and construction of an ice-breaking bulk carrier with a design deadweight of 25,000 tonnes to service the transportation contract referred to above. The Polar Class 4 vessel will be built at Universal’s Tsu shipyard, and will be classed by Det Norske Veritas. The scheduled delivery date is December 2013.

Fednav already owns and operates two of the world’s most powerful ice-breaking commercial vessels, the MV Arctic and the MV Umiak I. Based in Montreal, the Fednav Group is the leading Canadian operator in the deep-sea bulk market, operates year-round in ice-covered waters, and has the world’s largest fleet of ice-class vessels.

Canadian Royalties Inc. is a mining company based in Quebec and owned by Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co. Ltd. of China through its Canadian subsidiary Jien Canada Mining Ltd. Canadian Royalties’ principal mining operations are in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, where it owns and operates the Nunavik Nickel Project, a group of poly-metallic mines feeding a central processing facility which produces nickel and copper concentrates with significant platinum group element by-products.

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Fednav, October 31, 2012