Algoma Central tanker Algonorth sold
The Algoma Central Corp. tanker Algonorth has been sold to Furetank. She is currently on her way to Kalundborg, Denmark. Next, she will be drydocked, reflagged and given her new name.
Algonorth was built in 2008 at Tuzla Shipbuilding in Turkey as Ramira. Algoma Central Corp. purchased her in 2019 and was named in an employee “Name that Tanker” company contest.
This was the second vessel with the name Algonorth. The first one, a bulk carrier, was scrapped in 2013 in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. Algoma Central Corp. and Furetank established a 50/50 joint venture named Furebear in August 2022
Build Great Lakes icebreaker in a decade? Port, industry leaders demand it sooner
Advocates for adding another heavy icebreaker on the Great Lakes celebrated last month when
Congress authorized $350 million for such a vessel but are now chafing at the U.S. Coast
Guard’s timeline for delivering it: 10 years after funding is received.
They note it took only eight years to put a man on the moon. The massive new Soo Lock is
supposed to be completed in 10 years, and the Navy built the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier
in about seven years.
“I mean, we’re not talking about putting somebody on the moon here. We’re talking about brute
force of breaking ice. These (ships) haven’t changed in, gosh, 60 years,” said Eric Peace, vice
president of the Lake Carriers’ Association that represents U.S.-flag vessel operators on the
lakes.
“It’s absolutely foolishness that we’re going to have to wait another 10 years and suffer another
$2 billion of economic impact, another 10,000 jobs.”
The Great Lakes maritime industry and its allies have lobbied for years to expand the Coast
Guard’s icebreaking fleet on the lakes by adding a second icebreaker capable of breaking up
heavy ice.
They argue the current fleet of U.S. icebreakers ― the 240-foot cutter Mackinaw, six
icebreaking Bay-class tugboats and two buoy tenders ― isn’t enough during a harsh winter to
keep shipping lanes clear of ice and respond to coastal flooding. The Canadian Coast Guard
helps but has even fewer icebreakers.
Ice delays cost the U.S-flag ship industry the equivalent of a month (680 hours) last winter,
according to the Lake Carriers’ Association. Icebreaking is also essential to flood mitigation in
ports and communities susceptible to flooding due to ice jams.
Flooding due to packed ice on the St. Clair River is a “constant worry” in the winters for Justin
Westmiller, emergency manager for St. Clair County, who said another icebreaking platform on
the lakes would allow for an icebreaker to work closer to the area more regularly.
“Let me be precise and say we absolutely appreciate the service from the U.S. and Canadian
Coast Guards,” Westmiller said. “But my priority as the emergency manager for St. Clair County
is we need more help when we need more help, and they have to figure out a way to provide it at
a national level.”
Over the last five years, the Port of Monroe on “numerous occasions” has had to rely on private
icebreaking tugs to avert “catastrophic” flooding events from the River Raisin when assets from
the U.S. or Canadian Coast Guards weren’t available, said Capt. Paul LaMarre III, the port’s
director.
“I find the 11-year timeline to be an insult to American ingenuity,” said LaMarre, noting there
are already two successful models for a Great Lakes heavy icebreaker, including the current
Mackinaw.
“The Great Lakes maritime industry ― the vessel operators, the ports and cargo owners ― have
advocated for this funding for years, and while we are humbly appreciative that the funding has
been authorized, the need for additional icebreaking assets is now.”
Read the rest of the article on the Detroit News Website
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