Port Weller Dry Docks

Last updated

Port Weller Dry Docks was a shipbuilder located on the Welland Canal at the Lake Ontario entrance. The shipbuilder was founded in 1946 and the site was initially owned by the Government of Canada for storage purchases. The shipyard expanded to include ship repair, and reconstruction work. In 1956, the drydock was sold to the Upper Lakes Shipping Company, which began the construction of vessels at the site. The shipyard twice went insolvent, most recently in 2015. Port Weller Dry Docks was used to build, refit and repair cargo vessels.

Contents

Port Weller Drydocks 2010.JPG
Port Weller Dry Docks viewed from across the Welland Canal

History

Following the boom of shipbuilding on the Great Lakes during the Second World War, the Muir Dry Dock was closed down at Port Dalhousie, Ontario and operations were moved to the east side of the Welland Canal at Port Weller, Ontario in 1946. The drydock, opened in 1947, was initially owned by the Government of Canada and was used to store gates, lock valves, and gate-lifting vessels. The new site was considered an improvement over the Muir Dry Dock due to its location above Lock 1, which eliminated the need for pumps to fill or empty the dry dock. The yard was expanded to include ship repair and reconstruction work and employed 500 by 1950. In 1956, the yard was sold to the Upper Lakes Shipping Company. Under their management, the shipyard began to construct vessels of different types, such as bulk carriers, tankers, tugboats, scows, barges, car ferries and icebreakers. The Port Weller Dry Docks expanded its activities with the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in the late 1950s. By the 1990s, the Port Weller Dry Docks was the lone Great Lakes shipyard in operation in Canada. [1] [2]

It was sold to Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd. but later became insolvent. The shipyard was reacquired by Upper Lakes Group in 2007, along with a dockyard in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The company reorganized the shipyards, and other endeavours located in Hamilton and Port Colborne, Ontario into a new division named Seaway Marine & Industrial Incorporated. [3] They renamed the facility Seaway Marine and Industrial Limited, but the firm went bankrupt in 2013, resulting in the closure of the shipyard and loss of jobs. [4] The yard was used briefly in 2015 by Algoma Central to perform maintenance work on self-unloading bulk carrier Algoma Enterprise and was leased by Saint Lawrence Seaway (current owner of the facility). [5] The site is operated by Heddle Marine on behalf of St. Lawrence Seaway. [6] In 2017, Cuyahoga arrived to overwinter at the site. [7]

Ships

Leadale at Port Weller Dry Docks in 1975 Port Weller drydock 1975 b 06sm.jpg
Leadale at Port Weller Dry Docks in 1975

Ships built at this facility include:

  1. CCGS Des Groseilliers icebreaker for Canadian Coast Guard
  2. Holiday Island for Canadian National Railway
  3. Vacationland for Canadian National Railway
  4. Windsolite Imperial Oil tanker [ citation needed ]
  5. Canadian Progress - 1968 - largest self-unloading bulk carrier on the Great Lakes at launch
  6. Dal-housie City a local passenger vessel
  7. Saskadoc - large bulk carrier
  8. Bruce Hudson - oil tanker
  9. Makaweli - tanker
  10. Wellandoc (Brampton) - bauxite carrier during World War II
  11. Handy Boy - floating steam crane
  12. John A. France 1960 - Great Lakes bulk carrier - renamed Algoriver in 1994 by Algoma Central and scrapped in Turkey 2003
  13. Coalfax - converted self-loader
  14. Soreldoc - laker
  15. Bayanna - self-loading steamer
  16. C.H. Houson 1929 - canaller
  17. Ralph S. Misener 1968 - bulk carrier and named for President of Scott Misner Steamships Limited was built in Montreal and now renamed Gordan C Leitch
  18. Norman B. Macpherson - former canal bulk carrier Loadmaster
  19. Lt. John Misener - bulk laker built as Scott Misner and renamed 1954
  20. Texaco Brave - oil tanker
  21. Blue Cross
  22. Blue River
  23. Transtream - tanker
  24. Translate
  25. Clevelander
  26. Governor - tug
  27. Is-obel and Sidney Mac - dredgers
  28. The Inland (Transinland) - canallers
  29. Milverton (Clary Foran)
  30. Imperial Whitby (self-unloader George S. Gleet) - tanker
  31. Texaco Warrior - oil tanker
  32. Scott Misener 1951 - bulker laker and renamed John E F Misner 1954
  33. John O. McKellar 1952 - laker
  34. Rocky River - tug
  35. Black River and Pic River - diesel driven bulkers
  36. Robert Woods
  37. Albion - steamer
  38. Captain C.D. Secord - steamer
  39. Grey Beaver - bulk carrier
  40. C.A. Ansell (Fairlake and Ralph S. Misener)
  41. Chicago Tribune - newsprinter carrier (came to Port Weller)
  42. Jiimaan (1992), ferry servicing Pelee, Ontario

Refits

Port Weller Dry Docks also refitted existing ships. In 1980, the Upper Lakes Group had their bulk carrier St. Lawrence Navigator extensively rebuilt by the shipyard, giving the vessel a new bow section, a new bow thruster and expanding the vessel to seawaymax dimensions. [8] [9] In 2003, the yard refitted the museum ship HMCS Haida. In 2012–2013, the refits of the Canadian Coast Guard ship CCGS Amundsen and the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan were also done by the yard. [10]

Related Research Articles

Saint Lawrence Seaway Locks & canals in the USA and Canada

The Saint Lawrence Seaway is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland as Duluth, Minnesota at the western end of Lake Superior. The seaway is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which flows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Legally, the seaway extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Lake Erie and includes the Welland Canal.

Welland Canal ship canal in Canada

The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines to Port Colborne, it enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and bypass Niagara Falls. The name currently refers to the fourth such canal, three earlier and much smaller canals servicing the same route are also known as the Welland.

Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) is a shipping company with headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The business has been operating for well over a century and a half.

Lake freighter Ship type

Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.

Algoma Central

The Algoma Central Corporation is the result of a reorganization of the Algoma Central Railway in 1990. The company claims assets in excess of $400 million and revenue of $280 million. Corporate headquarters is located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

<i>Algoma Montrealais</i>

Montrealais was a lake freighter launched in 1961. Constructed in two parts, the vessel was completed in 1962 and registered in Canada. Utilized as a bulk carrier, the vessel served on the Great Lakes until 2015. Montrealais was sold three times between 1962 and 2012, when the freighter was acquired by Algoma Central Corp. and renamed Algoma Montrealais. The bulk carrier continued in service until 2015, when the vessel was renamed Mont and sold for scrap. Mont was taken to Aliağa, Turkey and broken up beginning on 10 July 2015.

MV <i>Algoma Mariner</i>

Algoma Mariner is a Canadian lake freighter delivered to Algoma Central on 31 May 2011. The bulk carrier was the first new Canadian-flagged vessel on the Great Lakes in 25 years. Algoma Mariner is a Seawaymax vessel, designed to carry dry bulk through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes. The vessel was constructed at the Chengxi Shipyard in China and is currently in service.

MV <i>Tim S. Dool</i>

MV Tim S. Dool is an Algoma Central-owned seawaymax lake freighter built in 1967, by the Saint John Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in Saint John, New Brunswick. She initially entered service as Senneville when she sailed as part of the fleet of Mohawk Navigation Company. Senneville was the second lake freighter constructed with a single superstructure at the stern. In 1981, the ship was sold to Pioneer Shipping. That company sold the vessel to Algoma Central in 1994 who renamed the ship Algoville. The bulk carrier got her current name in 2008. Tim S. Dool is currently in active service on the Great Lakes of North America.

<i>Sauniere</i> (ship)

Sauniere was a self-unloading bulk carrier operated by Algoma Central. Laid down as Bulknes, before launching the vessel's name was changed to Brooknes. The ship was constructed and completed in 1970 and was initially owned by the Swedish company Kristian Jebsens Rederi A/S. In 1974, Algoma Central purchased the vessel, registered the ship in Germany and renamed it Algosea. The ship was sent to Swan Hunter in England to be lengthened. Emerging in 1976, Algosea sailed for Canada for conversion to a self-unloading bulk carrier at Herb Fraser and Associates in Port Colborne, Ontario. Algosea, which transported road salt between ports in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes suffered three collisions and two groundings during its career. The vessel was renamed Sauniere in 1982 and continued in service until 2009 when the bulk carrier was sold for scrap and broken up in Turkey in 2010.

<i>Algoma Equinox</i>

Algoma Equinox is a lake freighter and lead ship of her class built for Algoma Central, a Canadian shipping company. The vessel was built to a new design by Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries at their shipyard in Tongzhou, China in 2013. The ship entered service in December 2013, operating in the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway.

<i>English River</i> (ship) Canadian lake freighter and bulk carrier, launched in 1961

English River is a Canadian lake freighter and bulk carrier, launched in 1961. In her initial years she carried bulk cargoes and deck cargoes to smaller ports on the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River watershed and estuary. Her cargo capacity is about a quarter that of most of the Great Lakes fleet, she is slightly more than half the length, and her draught is about two-thirds that of larger vessels.

<i>Algoma Progress</i>

Algoma Progress was a self-unloading lake freighter and bulk carrier operating on the North American Great Lakes, owned by Algoma Central. Launched in 1968, the ship was originally named Canadian Progress and operated by the Upper Lakes Shipping. At launch, the ship was the largest self-unloading vessel on the Great Lakes. Canadian Progress was used to transport coal, iron ore, barley and road salt on the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway. Canadian Progress ran aground twice, the first in 1985 and then again in 1988. In 2011, Upper Lakes Shipping sold its entire fleet to Algoma Central, which renamed the vessel Algoma Progress. In 2014, Algoma Progress was sold for scrap and broken up at Port Colborne, Ontario.

<i>Pineglen</i>

Pineglen was a bulk carrier owned and operated by Canada Steamship Lines. She was built at the Collingwood Shipyards, in Collingwood, Ontario in 1985, to a single superstructure lake freighter design. Initially named Paterson, the vessel was sold to Canada Steamship Lines in 2002 and renamed. Unlike more modern lake freighters she was built to a "straight-deck" design – i.e. she was not equipped with a self-unloading boom. The vessel was sold for scrap in 2017.

Algoma Navigator was a Canadian bulk carrier operated by Algoma Central. Like other bulk carriers her potential cargoes included: coal/coke, aggregates, slag, iron ore/oxides, salt, fertilizers, grain products, gypsum, quartzite, or sand. The vessel was constructed by John Readhead & Sons in the United Kingdom in 1967 for the Cambay Steamship Company and launched as Demeterton. The vessel was enlarged in 1967 and sold in 1975 to the Upper Lakes Group which renamed the ship St. Lawrence Navigator. In 1979, the vessel was renamed Canadian Navigator after a rebuild and in 2016, renamed Navi before being sold for scrap and broken up in 2016.

Algogulf was the third and last name of a bulk carrier launched in 1961, laid-up in 1999, and scrapped in 2002. The ship began her career in 1961 as J.N. McWatters, the second vessel of that name operated by the Misener Shipping Company. The bulk carrier was used to transport primarily grain and iron ore in the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes. In 1991, the vessel was renamed Scott Misener by the company, the fourth of that name. In 1994, the ship was acquired by Algoma Central and renamed Algogulf, the second vessel of the name. The ship was laid up in 1999 and sold for scrapping in 2002.

Trillium-class freighter

The Trillium class is a series of freighters owned by Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). The class is divided into three subclasses; the self-discharging lake freighters, the lake bulk carriers, and the Panamax self-discharging bulk carriers. Initially a nine-ship building program, six are operated by Canada Steamship Lines for use on the Great Lakes, while three are operated by CSL Americas for international trade. Two more ships were acquired later for use by CSL Americas.

<i>Radcliffe R. Latimer</i>

Radcliffe R. Latimer is a lake freighter launched in 1978. The vessel is owned by Algoma Central but operated under charter to Canada Steamship Lines from 1994 to 1997. As Algobay, the bulk carrier was involved in a collision with another lake freighter in 1980. In 2009 the vessel was rebuilt in China for service in the Caribbean Sea. The vessel is currently in service.

Roy A. Jodrey was a bulk carrier owned by Algoma Central Railway. The ship was launched and entered service in 1965, one of four ships constructed for the company to access ports on the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway too small for use by the larger lake freighters. On 20 November 1974, Roy A. Jodrey struck Pullman Shoal in the St. Lawrence River in Alexandria Bay, New York. The vessel made it to the United States Coast Guard Station at Wellesley Island and tied up. At 03:00, the bulk carrier sank in 77 metres (254 ft) of water, with its entire crew reaching safety. No attempt to salvage the ship was made, but Algoma did try to salvage the vessel's cargo of iron ore, which led to the death of a diver. Roy A. Jodrey became a technical scuba diving site, whose difficulty has led to the deaths of a some of those who have attempted it.

<i>Algoma Provider</i> bulk carrier built in 1963

Algoma Provider was a Canadian lake freighter, which operated from 1963 to 2013 under the flag of several shipping lines. She was built to seawaymax dimensions at the Collingwood Shipyards in Collingwood, Ontario for Canada Steamship Lines. She was powered by a steam turbine, and was the company's last steam-powered vessel. Initially named Murray Bay, the ship was sold in 1994 to Upper Lakes Shipping, which renamed the vessel Canadian Provider. In 2011, Upper Lakes Shipping sold its entire fleet to Algoma Central, which renamed the lake freighter Algoma Provider. The vessel continued in service until 2013, when she was sold to be broken up for scrap. The ship was renamed Ovi for her journey to the scrapyard in Turkey. During her career, the ship carried bulk cargoes to destinations along the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes.

<i>Algosoo</i> (1974 ship)

Algosoo was the name of several vessels built by Algoma Central. The second Algosoo, commissioned in late 1974, was the last lake freighter built in the traditional design, where the bridge topped a superstructure right in the ship's bow, and a second superstructure topped her engines, right in the stern.

References

  1. ↑ Jackson, John N. (1997). The Welland Canals and Their Communities: Engineering, Industrial and Urban Transportation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 333–334, 383, 481. ISBN   0-8020-0933-6.
  2. ↑ Smith, Maurice D. (2005). Steamboats on the Lakes: Two Centuries of Steamboat Travel Through Ontario's Waterways. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company. p. 59. ISBN   1-55028-885-7.
  3. ↑ "New hope as company buys Port Weller Dry Docks". niagarathisweek.com. 9 March 2007. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  4. ↑ LaFleche, Grant (23 July 2013). "Ship yards go bankrupt". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Fraser, Don (8 January 2015). "Dry docks get short lease for Algoma work". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  6. ↑ Benner, Allan (15 December 2017). "No details on Port Weller future". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Benner, Allan (20 December 2017). "Ship sailing in for Port Weller". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Marine Engineering/Log". Vol. 85. New York City: Simmons-Boardman Publishing Company. 1980. p. 231. ISSN   0732-5460. OCLC   4972147.Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  9. ↑ Wharton, George (2011). "Algoma Navigator – (Demeterton 1967 – 1975; St. Lawrence Navigator 1975 – 1980, Canadian Navigator 1980 – 2011)". boatnerd . Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "Port Weller Shipyard tries not to sink". CHCH News. 24 July 2013. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.

Coordinates: 43°12′58″N79°12′29″W / 43.21616°N 79.20806°W / 43.21616; -79.20806

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.