Algoway (2)

Her cargoes consisted of coal/coke, aggregates, slag, iron ore/oxides, salt, fertilizers, grain products, gypsum, quartzite, or sand. Similar in size to her former fleetmates Agawa Canyon and Algorail, the Algoway could visit smaller ports that were not as accessible to larger carriers.

She was powered by four Fairbanks Morse 1,666 horsepower 10-cylinder diesel engines as well as three V-12 cylinder 700 horsepower auxiliary diesel engines made by Caterpillar. Two of the three auxiliary engines could be connected to the main power train, giving the Algoway a rated speed of 17 m.p.h. The combined total output of the 6 driving engines was 6,662 horsepower. She was also equipped with a 600 horsepower bow thruster. The Algoway’s 17 hatches fed into 4 holds where she could carry 20,750 tons at maximum Seaway draft of 26 feet and was capable of carrying 24,000 tons at her maximum mid-summer draft of 29 feet 2 inches. Her bow-mounted self-unloading equipment consisted of a three-belt gravity system with two cleated steel chord belt elevators feeding a 250-foot discharge boom that could be swung 105 degrees to port or starboard. The system could discharge at a rate of up to 3,810 tons per hour.

On April 9, 1999, the ship’s captain was awarded the traditional top hat for being the first vessel of the 1999 navigation season into the port of Goderich, Ont.