A first time tanker caller in Halifax anchored in the lower harbour today to wait its turn at Imperial Oil. The Wicky Spirit is a member of the McKeil Tankers Ltd fleet that usually serves the Great Lakes and St.Lawrence region.
Better known for its tugs and barges, McKeil Marine has expanded into dry cargo and tankers in recent years. The company, based in Burlington, ON was founded by a Nova Scotian, Evans McKeil, and passed to his son Blair McKeil. In 2016, the venture capital firm TorQuest Partners made a major investment in the company allowing it to broaden its interests. In November 2023 the Greenwich, CT based Astatine Investment Partners added McKeil Marine to its portfolio with the intention of making further expansion.
The Wicky Spirit is a 8,660 gt, 13,947 dwt chemical /product tanker built in 2008 by Gisan Gemi in Istanbul. An ABS Ice Class 1A twin screw ship it can carry clean or dirty product and carries its own nitrogen generator for inerting, and deck mounted tanks for tank washing slops. It was built under the name Turqoise-T and was renamed Turquoise I for a time in 2019 before it was sold to McKeil and renamed.
The Wicky Spirit is named for Robert Wickens an NTT Indycar racer sponsored by Petro-Canada Lubricants. McKeil has a sister ship named Hinch Spirit (ex Topaz-I, ex Topaz-T) , named for another NTT Indycar racer, James Hinchcliffe. McKeil Tankers carries Petro-Canada product and thus promotes its relationship with Petro-Canada.
The Wicky Spirit was in Europe from October 2023 to March 2024 at the Gryfia Shipyard in Szczecin, Poland and on return to Canada loaded in Nanticoke, ON and Sarnia, ON then headed for Halifax.
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