The last of Canada Steamship Lines’ six Trillium Class Great Lakes vessels, the 36,363 DWT bulk carrier CSL St-Laurent, docked in the Port of Montreal at 22:11 EST on February 12, 2015, completing her maiden voyage that began in China in December 2014. The vessel’s arrival marks the final step in CSL’s monumental newbuild program that produced a total of 11 state-of-the-art self-unloaders and bulk carriers for CSL’s Canadian and Americas fleets in the last three years.
This is a truly historic moment for CSL and our customers within the Great Lakes. CSL St-Laurent and all Trillium Class ships represent the labour and ingenuity of a vast number of employees, partners and suppliers who saw CSL’s newbuild program through from design to delivery, as well as the support of the Canadian and Quebec governments. This investment by CSL represents major gains in shipping efficiencies and environmental responsibility in the Great Lakes, along with hundreds of high paying sailing jobs for decades to come.
Allister Paterson, President of Canada Steamship Lines
The successful completion and integration of the six Trillium Class ships establishes CSL as operating the most modern fleet on the Great Lakes.
Equipped with leading-edge technology, Trillium Class vessels offer outstanding operational and environmental performance that reflects CSL’s ongoing commitment to its customers, the environment and the communities in which it operates. Innovations include the latest engine technology and hull design to increase fuel efficiency and reduce air emissions, as well as state-of-the-art cargo handling systems to minimize dust and cargo residue.
CSL St-Laurent is joining her sister bulk carrier, CSL Welland, that arrived earlier this year and four Trillium Class self-unloading Lakers (Baie St. Paul, Baie Comeau, Thunder Bay and Whitefish Bay), all dedicated to Lakes trades. The two bulkers are expected to serve the agricultural commodities market when they enter service at the start of the 2015 shipping season.
CSL’s Trillium newbuild program also produced three Panamax self-unloaders for CSL Americas (Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin, CSL Tecumseh and CSL Tacoma) and two other vessels of the same class and design for Norway-based Torvald Klaveness.
CSL St-Laurent was commanded by Captain Kevin Crouse and Chief Engineer Paul Beaudet on her 61-day maiden voyage that took her across the East China Sea and Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal and up North America’s East Coast. She will now undergo alterations to remove the temporary reinforcing structures that made her ocean passage possible.
