Algoma Olympic

The Great Lakes self-unloading bulk carrier Algoma Olympic was built at a cost of $30 million by Port Weller Dry Docks, St. Catherines, ON and was float-launched to the fit-out berth on May 24, 1976 for the Algoma Central Corporation, St. Catharines, ON. She was named in recognition of the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal, PQ. The Algoma Olympic is powered by two MAN 8-cylinder 5,000 horsepower diesel engines driving a controllable pitch propeller giving her a rated service speed of 13 knots and is equipped with a 1,000 horsepower bow thruster. Her 22 hatches feed into one large hold where she can carry 26,650 tons at maximum Seaway draft of 26 feet and is capable of carrying 35,100 tons at her maximum mid-summer draft of 30-feet 1-inch. Her self-unloading equipment consists of a single belt gravity system with a reclaiming machine feeding a stern-mounted loop belt elevator to a 250-foot discharge boom that can be swung 100 degrees to port or starboard and unload at a rate of up to 6,096 tons/hour. This loop belt unloading system was the most efficient system developed at the time as it reduced spillage in the tunnel while unloading.