M.V. CSL Welland was the first vessel to arrive in the Port of Thunder Bay to start the 2018 navigation season.
As part of the traditional Top Hat ceremony, CSL Welland Captain Wilson Walters and Chief Engineer Jean-Louis Girard received welcoming remarks and tokens of appreciation for opening up the navigation season from the Port of Thunder Bay, the City of Thunder Bay, and the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.
The ship arrived in the western Lake Superior port on March 27, berthing at noon at G3 elevator. The vessel is taking on a load of grain.
The CSL Welland holds the record for the largest single shipment of grain loaded in the Port of Thunder Bay. On August 16, 2016, the vessel departed the port with 31,064 tonnes of grain. Built in 2014, the CSL Welland is one of dozens of new ships transiting the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway System thanks to a wave of fleet re-investment by Canadian shipping companies in recent years.
The shipping season on the upper Great Lakes started March 25 with the annual spring opening of Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The federal canal, run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, undergoes a regular maintenance shut down from mid-January to mid-March.
