Canadian Great Lakes operator Algoma Central Corporation on Thursday said it has an agreement to buy four lakers from New York-based American Steamship Company.
The quartet of vessels – MV Buffalo, MV Adam E Cornelius, SS American Valor and SS American Victory – will be re-registered from American flag to Canadian flag and will serve in the Great Lakes-St Lawrence Waterway trade.
Algoma, based in St Catharines, Ontario, did not reveal the price of the acquisitions.
These four ships are quite remarkable in their way. The SS “American Victory”, if I am not mistaken, began life in 1943 as a T3 tanker, was rebuilt as a Lakes bulker in 1958 after a collision and was one of the first ships to use the St Lawrence Seaway. when it opened in 1959. How many other 74 year old bulk carriers are there?
The SS “American Valor” is nine years younger. The MV “Adam E Cornelius” was built in 1973 whilst the MV “Buffalo is a whippersnapper” built in 1978,
They do things differently in the Lakes.