Algoma Spirit flies Canadian flag

1. Algoma Spirit displays her new port of registry as she is secured at pier 25-26.

2. The ship uses her own power, and is assisted by tugs as she backs into the camber.

3. Algoma Spirit at pier 31 on Saturday.

The third and last of the Algoma bulkers has now raised the Canadian flag. Algoma Spirit arrived in Halifax October 27 and was registered in St.Catharines, ON on the 28th.

Built in 1986 at the 3 Maj yard in Rijeka (now Croatia) as the Yugoslavian Petka, the ship operated under the Yugoslavian and later Maltese and Croatian flags until 2000 when she was sold to Viken ships of Norway and renamed Sandviken (Bahamas flag). Unlike her two sisters, now Algoma Discovery and Algoma Guardian, she rarely visited Halifax. She did put in to Halifax in March of 2006 for repairs to ice damage on a trip from Port Alfred (LaBaie) QC to Trombetas, Brazil.

A 23,271 gross tons vessel, she was built for ocean trading, but her dimensions allow her to use the St.Lawrence Seaway. It is expected that, like her sisters, she will enter domestic Great Lakes and St.Lawrence trades in season, and possibly go to sea in winter. She was built with four cargo cranes, but these have now been removed, so that she will be engaged almost exclusively in carrying bulk cargoes.

On arrival in Halifax she tied up at pier 31 for work in her holds and on deck, but this afternoon she moved to pier 25-26 to allow the Saudi Tabuk to use pier 31.

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