Double in the Night: A Salty Laker and a Very Dusty, African Bound Saltie

An unusual duo for the Canal, Canadian laker Algoma Conveyor arriving with salt, and the Dutch saltie Eemsborg departing with beet pulp and plumes of dust coming off her deck! The two ships were in the Canal about a half hour apart from each other, although the Lift Bridge didn’t stay down for very long, going right back up after clearing traffic from the Conveyor and staying up around 15-20 minutes for the saltie, which seemed a bit excessive but it did seem to take her an unusually long time to get up to speed after leaving the dock so maybe they assumed she’d be there quicker.

Algoma Conveyor started construction in 2015 in China as the lead ship of her class, measuring 740ft long with a capacity of 37,400 tons, intended to be the first self unloading capable Equinox type laker. Unlike most lakers, all the drama in her career so far has happened before she ever sailed. During construction the shipyard building her went bankrupt, and the facility and all the ships within it were confiscated by other parties, including Algoma Conveyor and her straight decked fleetmate Algoma Strongfield. Algoma was forced to buy both ships back at auction, only to discover the Conveyor’s unloading boom, sections of hull and part of her pilothouse had been scrapped during the wait. She was towed to another shipyard, the hull and pilothouse completed enough to sail her across the ocean to Canada and finished fitting out there. The ship finally entered service in 2019 as the third ship of the class, after sister ships Niagara and Sault. Today she is a very active and versatile ship, regularly hauling grain, salt, coal, stone, ore and other products.

The saltie Eemsborg measures 452ft long, can carry 11,800 tons and was built in 2009. She is a multi-purpose vessel able to carry nearly any non-liquid cargo to almost anywhere on Earth, her small size allowing her into rivers and a tough hull capable of handling rough ocean conditions and even Arctic water despite her small dimentions. While her fleetmates are a common sight in the port, this is the first time I’ve seen this particular vessel! While she has no incidents on record, salties do not have the easily available detailed histories like lakers do, so will keep looking! She departed with Beet Pulp intended for livestock food, delivering to Jorms Lasfar, Morocco in NW Africa, a destination I’ve never seen out of Duluth!

Hope you enjoy!