Algoma’s newest vessel leaving China mid-april
Vessel to begin trading on Great Lakes in June after crossing Pacific
A new bulk carrier will join Algoma Central Corp.’s fleet after a Chinese shipyard recently delivered the vessel to the St. Catharines-based company.
The Captain Henry Jackman will begin her voyage to Canada from Jiangsu Yangzi-mitsui Shipbuilding Co. on the Yangtze River, about 150 kilometres west of Shanghai, in mid-april.
The vessel, the fifth Equinox Class gearless dry-bulk carrier and 10th in the Equinox fleet, will cross the Pacific Ocean near the equator, transit through the Panama Canal, and from there will make her way to Canada.
A gearless dry-bulk carrier is one without cranes or conveyors on board, and relies on shore-based equipment for loading and discharging cargo.
Algoma said Captain Henry Jackman, the second vessel to carry the name in the company fleet, is expected to begin trading on the Great Lakes in late June.
The previous Capt. Henry Jackman, seen frequently on the Welland Canal, was a selfunloading vessel that laid up in Montreal at the end of the 2018 shipping season. It was towed to Aliaga, Turkey, in 2019 to be cut up for scrap.
Company president and chief executive officer Gregg Ruhl in a release said the domestic drybulk segment has been the company’s core business for more than 100 years, and more than $500 million has been invested to sustain that business since the launch of the Equinox Class fleet renewal plan in 2010.
Algoma said the vessel is the most efficient in its domestic fleet and describes it as Equinox 3.0.
The company said it’s an evolution of the original Equinox Class, designed to optimize fuel efficiency and operating performance to minimize its environmental impact.
The new Captain Henry Jackman includes innovations that include lighter weight aluminum hatch covers and an improved twin rudder design.
The rudder design helps the vessel achieve increased cargo capacity without an increase in power and fuel consumption.