Algoma Navigator

April 14, 1980 saw the St. Lawrence Navigator renamed as the Canadian Navigator following an additional lengthening with the installation of a new bow and cargo section including a 1,000 horsepower bow thruster completed at Port Weller Dry Docks, St. Catherines, ON. The Canadian Navigator has 15 hatches feeding into 3 holds where she can carry 25,500 tons at maximum Seaway draft of 26 feet and is capable of carrying 31,600 tons at her maximum mid-summer draft of 29 feet 8 inches. Port Weller Dry Docks installed her self-unloader in 1997. This self-unloading equipment consists of a single belt gravity system with a single loop belt elevator feeding a 260 foot discharge boom that can swing 90 degrees to port or starboard and discharge at a rate up to 4,000 tons per hour.

Under the ownership of Upper Lakes Group, the Canadian Navigator was operated and managed by Seaway Marine Transport (partnership of Algoma Central and Upper Lakes Group). Her cargo could consist of coal/coke, aggregates, slag, iron ore/oxides, salt, fertilizers, grain products, gypsum, quartzite, or sand.

On February 25, 2011, a formal statement was issued announcing the sale of the privately owned Upper Lakes Shipping fleet and their associated interest in Seaway Marine Transport to Algoma Central Corporation. Former Upper Lakes Chairman of the Board, company spokesman and owner John D. (“Jack”) Leitch stated “It is with some regret and sadness that I tell you that we have decided to sell the vessels of Upper Lakes Shipping and our interest in Seaway Marine Transport to Algoma Central Corporation. A definitive agreement has been signed and the deal is anticipated to close in about a month. By the end of this season the proud logo on the funnels of Upper Lakes vessels will no longer be seen on the Great Lakes or along the St. Lawrence River.” Jack further states “For 80 years we have been a part of the Canadian landscape and of the fabric of the Canadian economy.” The Upper Lakes Shipping fleet will takes its place in modern Canadian Great Lakes history as having been a prominent player in the economic development of the regions served by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system. On April 15, 2011, Algoma announced that the Canadian Navigator will be renamed Algoma Navigator.