The Trillium class is a series of freighters owned by

Canada Steamship Lines 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. Beginnings CSL had humble beginnings in Canada East in 1845, operating river ...

(CSL). The class is divided into three subclasses; the self-discharging

lake freighter Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carriers operating on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. Freighters typically have a long, narrow hull, a raised pilothouse, and the ...

s, the lake

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

s, and the

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships traveling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

self-discharging bulk carriers. Initially a nine-ship building program, six are operated by Canada Steamship Lines for use on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

, while three are operated by CSL Americas for international trade. Two more ships were acquired later for use by CSL Americas.

Background

In the early 2000s, Canada Steamship Lines enquired at several shipyards concerning the availability of shipyard space for the construction of several self-discharging vessels. They were turned down by yards in China, Japan, Korea and Europe due to high demand for conventional designs. In 2008, due to the strong

Canadian dollar The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; ) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used f ...

and yard availability in China, Canada Steamship Lines began the design of the class for the eventual order to be placed in 2010. These orders were placed after the Canadian government had repealed taxes on ship construction outside of Canada. The construction of the Trillium class, along with

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 ...

's , is the largest addition of new vessels to fleets that work the

Saint Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway () is a system of rivers, locks, canals and channels in Eastern Canada and Northern United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland ...

since its opening in 1959.

Trillium Laker

Lake freighter

Four Trillium-class self-discharging

s and two

bulk carriers A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic f ...

were ordered in 2010 as part of a nine-ship program. The lake freighters were constructed by Chengxi shipyard in

Jiangyin Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. It is administered by the Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is an important transport hub on the Yangtze River and one of the most developed counties ...

, China. They were designed for environmental and operational efficiency. The Trillium self-discharging lakers have a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

(GT) of 24,430 tons. According to the Miramar Ship Index the vessels have a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

(DWT) of 37,690 tons. However, on the CSL website, the vessels are stated as having a GT of 24,430 and DWT of 34,500 tons. According to the Miramar Ship Index ''Baie Comeau'' has a gross tonnage (GT) of 32,000 tons. The ships are long overall with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of . They have a maximum draught of . The vessels are powered by one IMO Tier II MAN B&W 6S50ME

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

driving one shaft creating . They have fixed pitch thrusters in the bow and stern. The lake freighters are equipped with five holds and have a net hold capacity of . The vessels have an average unloading rate of per hour. CSL asserts that the new vessels will be more efficient than existing vessels, and will leave less pollution. ''Baie St. Paul'' was the first of the four lakers to be delivered in 2012. The ship was given an industry award shortly after delivery. For her ocean transit to North America, ''Baie St. Paul'' was fitted with temporary structures within the ship that were removed upon arrival at

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. ''Whitefish Bay'' was the second ship in the class to be delivered. ''Thunder Bay'' was delivered to CSL on 16 May 2013. She was the third of the class to join the Great Lakes fleet. ''Baie Comeau'' was the final ship in the class to be delivered.

Bulk carrier

Two Trillium-class bulk carriers were ordered as part of a nine-ship building program started 2010, both were completed for CSL in 2014. Classified as LR 100A1 Great Lakes Bulk Carrier, the ships have a gross tonnage of 22,579 tons. ''CSL St-Laurent'' has a deadweight tonnage of 36,363 tons and ''CSL Welland'' has a deadweight tonnage of 36,417 tons. The ships are long overall with a beam of . ''CSL Welland'' has a maximum draught of . Both ships have five holds. ''CSL Welland'' and ''CSL St-Laurent'' were constructed by Yangfan Shipyard in

Zhoushan Zhoushan is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of Hangzhou Bay off the mainland c ...

, China. ''CSL Welland'' was named for the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, and part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. The canal traverses the Niagara Peninsula between Port Weller, Ontario, Port Weller on Lake Ontario, and Port Colborne on Lak ...

. The ship departed China on 5 November 2014 for Montreal. ''CSL St-Laurent'' transports minerals from

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (Region 09) (, ; ) is an List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Quebec, on the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, Canada. The region runs along the St. Lawrence River and then the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ...

, Quebec and grains from Western Canada.

Trillium Panamax

Three Panamax self-discharging bulk carriers were ordered as part of the 2010 nine-ship building program by Canada Steamship Lines. The three vessels were constructed at Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangyin, China along with two others of the same design constructed for Torvald Klaveness of Norway under CSL supervision. The vessels have a GT of 43,691 tons and a DWT of 71,319 tons. The ships are long overall with a beam of . They have a maximum draught of and a depth of . The bulk carriers have a hold capacity of and an boom for self-discharging. ''Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin'' sailed on her maiden voyage on 5 October 2012 from China to Port Sechelt,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Background

Trillium Laker

Lake freighter

Bulk carrier

Trillium Panamax

Ships in class

References

External links