The St. 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 St. 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. Ships from the Atlantic Ocean are able to reach ports in all five of the Great Lakes, via the Great Lakes Waterway.
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 freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.
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.
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.
Algorail was a lake freighter owned and operated by Algoma Central. The ship was built by Collingwood Shipyards in Collingwood, Ontario and was launched in 1967. The ship sailed on the North American Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway delivering coal/coke, aggregates, slag, iron ore/oxides, salt, fertilizers, grain products, gypsum, quartzite, or sand. The ship was laid up in 2016 and sold for scrap in 2018.
Baie St. Paul is a Trillium-class lake freighter operated on the Great Lakes by the Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). The ship entered service in 2012.
English River was a lake freighter and bulk carrier, launched in 1961 by Collingwood Shipyards of Collingwood, Ontario. 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. In 1973, the vessel was converted into a cement carrier and carried mainly raw cement for the construction industry. The ship continued to operate until English River was removed from service and sold for scrap.
The lake freighter MV Saginaw was launched as John J. Boland in 1953, the third vessel to bear that name. John J. Boland was owned and operated by the American Steamship Company and constructed by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1999, the ship was sold to Lower Lakes Towing and renamed Saginaw. The ship is currently in service.
CSL Tecumseh is a self-unloading Panamax bulk carrier that entered service with Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) in 2013. The ship is currently registered in Nassau, Bahamas.
Thunder Bay is a Trillium-class lake freighter cargo vessel, built and launched in China in 2013. The ship is owned, and operated on the Great Lakes, by the Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). Like her three sister ships in CSL's Trillium class, Baie St. Paul, Baie Comeau, and Whitefish Bay, the vessel is a self-unloading bulk carrier, with a conveyor belt on a long boom that can be deployed over port or starboard sides.
Baie Comeau is the fourth and last self-unloading lake freighter in Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) Trillium class. Like her sister ships, Baie St. Paul, Thunder Bay, and Whitefish Bay she was built in China, being launched in 2012 and entered service in 2013.
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. In 2011, the ship was sold to Algoma and became Algoma Navigator. In 2016, the bulk carrier was renamed Navi before being sold for scrap and broken up in 2016.
CSL Tadoussac is a lake freighter currently operated by Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) on the Great Lakes. She was launched in 1969. Initially named Tadoussac, following her refit in 2001, she was renamed CSL Tadoussac She was the last freighter built for CSL in the traditional two superstructure design, which puts her bridge up in the ship's bow. The vessel primarily transports iron ore and coal.
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.
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.
Augustus B. Wolvin was a 560 ft (170 m) long Great Lakes freighter that had a 63-year career on the Great Lakes. Augustus B. Wolvin was a product of the American Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland, Ohio. She was built for the Acme Steamship Company of Duluth, Minnesota.
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.
Algoma Sault, which entered service in 2018, is the third freighter Algoma Central named after Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She is a self-unloading bulk carrier, built for carrying cargoes like ore, grain, or coal, on the North American Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. She is the seventh vessel of the Equinox class, and like her sister ships she was built in China.
Canada 
