Thunder Bay upbound out of Lock 2 of the Welland Canal
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History | |
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Name | Thunder Bay |
Operator | Canada Steamship Lines |
Port of registry | Canada |
Builder | Chengxi shipyard, Jiangyin |
Yard number | 9302 |
Completed | 13 May 2013 |
Identification | IMO number: 9601039 |
Status | in active service |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Trillium-class freighter |
Tonnage | |
Length | 225.5 m (739 ft 10 in) |
Beam | 23.76 m (77 ft 11 in) |
Draught | 9 m (29 ft 6 in) |
Installed power | 1 x IMO Tier III MAN B&W 6S50ME diesel engine, 8,750 kW (11,730 hp) |
Propulsion | 1 shaft |
Thunder Bay is a Trillium-class lake freighter cargo vessel, built and launched in China in 2013.[1][2] The ship is owned, and operated on the Great Lakes, by the Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). Like her three sister ships in CSL's Trillium class, Baie St. Paul, Baie Comeau, and Whitefish Bay, the vessel is a self-unloading bulk carrier, with a conveyor belt on a long boom that can be deployed over port or starboard sides.
According to the Miramar Ship Index Whitefish Bay has a gross tonnage (GT) of 24,430 and a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 37,690 tons.[3] However, on the CSL website, the ship is stated as measuring 24,430 GT and 34,500 DWT.[4]
Thunder Bay is 225.5 metres (739 ft 10 in) long overall with a beam of 23.76 metres (77 ft 11 in).[3] Thunder Bay has a maximum draught of 9 metres (29 ft 6 in). The ship is powered by one IMO Tier III MAN B&W 6S50ME diesel engine driving one shaft creating 8,750 kilowatts (11,730 hp).[5]
The ship is equipped with five holds and has a net hold capacity of 41,917.96 cubic metres (1,480,319 cu ft). The vessel has an average unloading rate of 5,450 tonnes (5,360 long tons; 6,010 short tons) per hour.[4] CSL asserts that the new vessels will be more efficient than existing vessels, and will leave less pollution.[6]
She was launched on 13 May 2013 and made her first transit of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in July 2013, and visited her namesake port, Thunder Bay, Ontario, on 27 September 2013.[7][8] Louis Martel, President of CSL, Vance Badawey, mayor of Port Colborne, and Rick Dykstra, Member of Parliament for nearby St. Catharines, Ontario, presided over a celebration of the vessel's first cargo, on 8 August 2013, when she passed through Port Colborne, bound for Quebec City with a shipment of iron ore pellets from Escanaba, Michigan.
Canada Steamship Lines says its second new Trillium Class Laker is named the Thunder Bay as part of the revival of the trusty 'Bay' series in the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes fleet, and in honour of the Port of Thunder Bay. CSL's first Thunder Bay was a bulk carrier built in 1952 at Port Arthur Shipyard. She was converted into a self-unloader in 1969 and renamed the Stadacona.
The Thunder Bay is the third of four new Trillium Class vessels to join CSL's Great Lakes fleet. Conceived and built as part of CSL's ambitious fleet renewal program, Trillium ships are equipped with the most advanced, sustainable and safe technologies available on the market today.
After the ceremony, which saw St. Catharines Conservative MP Rick Dykstra, Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey and Martel speak — and all greeted by blasts of Thunder Bay's horn, the vessel was headed to Quebec City to discharge its load of iron ore pellets that were loaded in Escanaba, Mich.