Boatnerd Discussion Forum

The Canadian Mariner will be Upper Lakes newest ship when it enters service next spring. It will be a Caribbean classed vessel as is the Algobay which is now on the St Lawrence R and east coast. So It's journeys to the lakes depends on how much of a work load there is for it on the coast.

Yes, It is already happening. The forebody intended for the stern of the algoport is going to have a new stern built onto it as a result of the algoport being lossed. Thus a totally new vessel.

With the tug and barges aside, the last freighter built was on the Canadian side in the mid 80s. This is the longest time in the history of Great Lakes shipping that there has not been any freighters built. I imagine the cost of building a new one is staggering and a very long contract commitment is needed to justify such a move. We'll most likely see more modernizations and changes to get extended life out of the existing boats. It'll be interesting to see how things go.

New boatnerd here.

Just curious, given crewing and other advantages, are any new vessels built for the lakes likely to be tug/barge units?

I guess another way of putting it: Will we ever see another Great Lakes ship built?