ULS
Re: ULS
It's a combination of two things, and this goes for all of the Canadian fleets but especially Algoma and ULS. The Seaway grain trade out of Canadian ports has been dwindling since the late 1980s and has recently stabilized at levels far below those that existed in the 1960s - early 1980s when most Canadian lakers were built. The Seaway grain trade out of U.S. ports has fallen off dramatically since around 2002. Recently many Canadian ships which once primarily carried grain were kept busy by a robust iron ore trade from 2005 - 2008, but then that tonnage fell off sharply as well. There is simply less demand for cargo to be carried these days than back in the 1980s and 1990s.
On top of that most Canadian lakers are coming to an end of their usable life spans, or already have. The costs of the repairs necessary to keep them in service for, say, the next 5 years are exceeding the amount of money they're likely to make sailing in that time span, especially considering the dwindling demand for cargo mentioned above.
Building new vessels in Canada is either prohibitively expensive these days, or according to the Canadian shipping companies, not even really possible anymore. The Canadian government's 25% import tariff on overseas-built vessels makes buying new ships from shipbuilding leaders like China and Japan very expensive as well. Ottawa was apparently close to repealing that tariff but now has delayed making such a decision. So the Canadian fleets are stuck having to retire worn-out ships but not wanting to commit to building new ones until they know whether the new ship import tariff will be repealed.
On top of that most Canadian lakers are coming to an end of their usable life spans, or already have. The costs of the repairs necessary to keep them in service for, say, the next 5 years are exceeding the amount of money they're likely to make sailing in that time span, especially considering the dwindling demand for cargo mentioned above.
Building new vessels in Canada is either prohibitively expensive these days, or according to the Canadian shipping companies, not even really possible anymore. The Canadian government's 25% import tariff on overseas-built vessels makes buying new ships from shipbuilding leaders like China and Japan very expensive as well. Ottawa was apparently close to repealing that tariff but now has delayed making such a decision. So the Canadian fleets are stuck having to retire worn-out ships but not wanting to commit to building new ones until they know whether the new ship import tariff will be repealed.
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Southdown
Re: ULS
Not quite sure what you're saying but both Montrealais and James Norris are running. And ULS is buying the new Canadian Mariner, under construction in China.FSL wrote:Why did ULS start less fleets? Seem Canadian Rangers, Montrealais, and James Norris don't use for shipping. Will ULS buy another new ships?