Canada Maritime Newbuildings Make Progress

With the recent keel laying of the first ship and the cutting of steel for the second taking place today, Canada Maritime's latest newbuilding program is making progress. The names for the vessels have also been released. The keel laying of the Canmar Venture, the first of the two vessels being built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Heavy Machinery in South Korea, took place on October 14th. This has been followed today by the cutting of the first steel for the Canmar Spirit. Canmar Venture is on schedule to be delivered in early June 2003 and Canmar Spirit in late July 2003. The ships will each be 294 metres long, 32.2 metres wide and have a draught of 10.78 metres. Their nominal capacity is 4100 teu, with a service speed of 22 knots. The Canmar Venture and Canmar Spirit are two of three ships ordered to operate in Canada Maritime's Northern Service. This offers three routings which all operate weekly through the Montreal Gateway. Route 1 links Montreal with Thamesport, Antwerp and Le Havre; Route 2 links Montreal with Antwerp and Hamburg and Route 3 links Montreal with Liverpool. A third vessel has been ordered by OOCL, Canada Maritime's long-standing partner in the St. Lawrence Co-ordinated Service (SLCS). Co-incidentally, SLCS comes of age and celebrates 21 years of operation this year. Canada Maritime and OOCL will continue to market their services independently as competitors. These newbuildings will mark the third time in eight years that new tonnage has been introduced into Canada Maritime's Northern Service. The first ships of 2200 teu capacity entered service in 1996, followed by 2800 teu ships in 1998. "We are very much looking forward to seeing these new ships enter service next year," said Terry Burrows, Senior Vice President, CP Ships with overall responsibility for Canada Maritime. "They are a further demonstration of our ongoing commitment to this key regional market, and evidence of our ongoing investment in a quality service product that keeps us ahead of our competitors." This is the second time that the Canmar Spirit and Canmar Venture names have been used in the Canada Maritime fleet. The earlier Spirit and Venture were retired last year after many years of reliable service.