Algoma-Equinox

A Canadian shipping firm is looking to make its national competitors green with envy after taking delivery of the first in a line of groundbreaking, eco-friendly freighters. Showcased at the Port of Toronto, Algoma Central Corp.’s new M.V. Algoma Equinox dry-bulk carrier promises to be the greenest—and one of the largest—in the country when it takes to the St. Lawrence Seaway to deliver iron ore and grain in Canada and the United States. Part of a $300-million fleet renewal by St. Catharines, Ont.-based Algoma Central, the Chinese-built Algoma Equinox gearless bulker is the first of eight Equinox Class vessels manufactured by Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. to operate in and around the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, which help make up the more than 3,700-kilometre St. Lawrence Seaway. The massive ship—the vessel is 740 feet long, or about the height of Toronto’s 56-floor TD Bank Tower—has 14 per cent more cargo capacity in its holds and moves 17 per cent faster than traditional domestic dry-bulk freighters, but burns less fuel and produces less emissions than its predecessors.

DECEMBER 13, 2013 — Algoma Central Corporation's brand new ship – the Algoma Equinox – made her way into the Port of Duluth-Superior on Wednesday to load iron ore for Cleveland Cliffs at the BNSF Railway Dock in Superior. This marked the ship's first full transit of the entire Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway since arriving in the system last week, MarineLog reports. The gearless bulker is the first in a series of eight Equinox Class next generation Great Lakes -Seaway vessels being built at China's Nantong Mingde shipyard. Algoma will own six of the series, including two gearless bulkers and four self-unloading vessels. CWB, formerly the Canadian Wheat Board, will own the other two gearless bulkers, which will be operated and managed by Algoma. Delivery of the remaining vessels in the series is scheduled at approximately three month intervals through 2014-2015. http://www.marinelog.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=5986:algoma-equinox-completes-first-full-lakes-seaway-transit&Itemid=230

The first of a new class of dry-bulk ship is on its way to Canada from China. The Algoma Central Corp. announced Tuesday that the Algoma Equinox has set sail from the Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries shipyard in Nantong, China. The voyage will take about eight weeks. Construction of the Algoma Equinox began in 2011. Seven additional Equinox-class vessels are expected to join the Algoma fleet by the end of 2014. Algoma will own six of the ships; operating the other two for CWB Inc. At 740 feet long, the Equinox ships are “Seawaymax” vessels — the largest that can fit through the canal locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The ships, which cost about $50 million each, have the latest engine technology and hull design to decrease air pollution and increase fuel efficiency. Algoma Central Corp. estimates its Equinox vessels will be 45 percent more energy-efficient than its current fleet average.