Atlantic Freighter RIP

 A ship that once operated in freight only service between North Sydney and Argentia for CN Marine and Marine Atlantic arrived at Aliaga, Turkey November 19 to be scrapped.

Stena Grecia / Atlantic Freighter

Alongside at North Sydney, the Stena Grecia, future Atlantic Freighter, loads cargo in its first season with CN Marine.

CN Marine needed a freight only ship and they again turned to Stena in 1986, chartering Stena Grecia. A 5465 grt RoRo with capacity of 75 drop trailers/ 110 TEU , it was built for Tor Line as Tor Felicia by Hyundai, Ulsan in 1978 and ran for Merzario Line as Merzario Grecia from 1978 to 1983 until acquired by Stena Gulf Line Ltd. CN Marine chartered the ship for 150 days from April 1986 for its drop trailer service. (Drivers did not travel with their trucks, and CN Marine's work force drove the trailers on and off the ship.) 

 With Marine Atlantic's funnel mark, and renamed, the ship sits out most of the winter season in North Sydney. Other ships can carry the traffic until the busy summer tourist season. However the ship was brought out of layup from time to time in winter to clear backlogs.

During the charter CN Marine became Marine Atlantic, and at the end of the charter Marine Atlantic purchased the ship renaming it Atlantic Freighter. Although it had capacity for 12 passengers, it did not normally carry any.
In December 1990 the ship was chartered to the US Military Sealift for Persian Gulf war service. It was returned to Marine Atlantic in April 1991 having made only one trip, spending the rest of the time on standby in Italy.
Marine Atlantic had been planning to replace the ship since 1998, but the ship was kept in service. During the winter of 2007-2008 it underwent an asbestos removal process, then refitted at Halifax Shipyard.
It was finally sold in 2010 and renamed Pelagitis first for Panamanian, then Greek owners Ainaftis Shipping. It appears to have  been sold earlier this year to Togo Cargo Ferries and renamed Storno under the Togo flag. The ship was apparently laid up in Piraeus, Greece and never saw service under the last name.

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