Patron to load grain

 1. Patron arrived at pier 28 last night.

With last night's sailing of Algoma Mariner, the grain berth at pier 27-28 was quickly occupied by another ship, this time it is Patron a Dutch flagged ship of a very different sort. A gearless multi-purpose carrier of 4,106 gross tons and 6,500 deadweight tons, it was built in 2008 for Canada Feeder Lines.
That company with its original roots in Canada in 2006, has dropped the emphasis on Canada and is now better known as CFL (not the Canadian Football League). It specializes in multi-purpose and project cargo ships of shallow draft and ice class. They are reputed to operate with lower emissions and lower fuel consumption than similar ships, but can maintain the same speed.
CFL intended to have a hub and spoke service to Canada, connecting with the now defunct Great Lakes Feeder Lines, but that has gone by the board, and the company is now a world trader. Their fleet of short sea ships were all built in the Netherlands by Peters Kampen Shipyard.
The current CFL fleet is being upgraded with new 10,000 deadweight ships, and so they are selling some off  some of their older ships. Such is the case for Patron which was originally CFL Patron until its sale earlier this year.
The ship still carries the distinctive green and white colour scheme, selected to emphasize the environmentally friendly ships, and their cleanliness and ice worthiness. The "CFL" letters still appear on the ships bows, but have been painted over, and today are coated with some frozen spray.

2. The letters "CFL" are still visible on the ship's bows.