Canada’s Algoma Central Corporation, which operates the largest fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers operating on the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Waterway, has reached an agreement with Croatia’s 3Maj shipyard under which Algoma will acquire a new Equinox Class 650-foot self-unloading bulk carrier from the yard after the ship is completed in the third quarter of this year.
The vessel in question is one of two ordered by Algoma but left only partially completed when the 3Maj yard entered an extended period of financial difficulties in 2017.
The first ship of the series, Algoma Innovator, was delivered last year but Algoma then cancelled the contract for the second vessel as a result of the shipyard’s difficulties.
Under the most recent agreement 3Maj will complete the self-unloader with financing provided by the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development while Algoma will pay the agreed price of the ship at delivery, subject to penalties for late delivery, including a cancellation right if delivery is delayed again beyond the agreed date.