The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

MARINE NEWS 2. The auto and passenger ferry ONTARIO NO. 1, the former SKUDENES, is reported to have left a Norwegian port at 9:00 a. m. on Thursday, March 9th, on the first leg of her delivery voyage to Canada. She was hound for Halifax but had to make a stop in the Azores, as she apparently did not have sufficient bunker capacity to make it all the way across the North Atlantic without re fuelling. Incidentally, we should note that our list of the ferry's previous names, as reported last issue, was not complete. It would seem that, at the time of her sale to Norwegian owners in 1987, her name was briefly changed from MANX VIKING to just MANX before she became SKUDENES. And while we are on the subject of names, the Ontario Northland has decided to hold a contest to choose a n a m e for the new Manitoulin Island ferry. When the purchase of the vessel was first announced, Ontario government officials had indicated that they had names under consideration, and that a contest (such as was held before CHI-CHEEMAUN was christened) would not be held. There seems to have been a change of heart, and it will be interesting to see what name is given to the ferry when she is commissioned in early summer. Ontario government officials recently released a drawing of the ferry which will be built for the Pelee Island service. She is to be 200 feet in length and 46 feet in the beam, and will carry 400 passengers. She will have aca pacity of 40 automobiles, or two maximum-sized transports and 25 autos.The boat will have loading facilities at both ends, with a lifting visor at the bow and a ramp in the transom-style stern. She will have twin funnels at ei ther side amidships, and will be propelled by twin screws with a normal ser vice speed of 12. 5 knots. There will be three passenger decks. In short, she will look rather like a little version of CHI-CHEEMAUN... In the February issue, we confirmed that the former lakers CONSUMERS POWER and JOHN T. HUTCHINSON arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on October 2, 1988. The World Ship Society has reported that the buyers of the two steamers were the Li Chong Steel & Iron Works Co. L t d . The dismantling of CONSUMERS POWER be gan on October 14th, while cutting began aboard the HUTCHINSON on October 15th. The same source also has confirmed the identity of the firm to which BIRCHGLEN was sold for scrapping at Sydney, Nova Scotia. The company is the Universal Metal Co. (Nova Scotia) Ltd. Other sources have indicated that the scrapping of OAKGLEN began at Aliaga, Turkey, during the week of February 20. Two issues ago, we commented upon the upcoming conversion to a self-unloader of the Canada Steamship Lines straight-decker PRAIRIE HARVEST, which was built in 1984 at Collingwood. The motorship is wintering at Port Weller, and her conversion at the shipyard will follow the conversion of Algoma Central's ALGOMARINE. PRAIRIE HARVEST was the last straight-decker built for C. S. L. (and the first since 1 9 6 7 ), but the prospects for the grain trade which led to her construction are no longer so rosy, while the demand for self-unload ers, particularly for off-lakes service, has grown steadily. It is now un derstood that, once the conversion is complete, PRAIRIE HARVEST will be re named (b) ATLANTIC ONTARIO, and will be sent to salt water for service. When she goes deep-sea, the 1980-built NANTICOKE will be brought back into the lakes as a "replacement" here. Dofasco Inc., which operates a large steel mill at Hamilton, and which last year acquired control of the Algoma Steel Corporation Ltd. and its plant at the Soo, announced recently that it will close two mines in Northern Ontario in March of 1990. The Sherman Mine at Temagami and the Adams Mine at Kirk land Lake have both been unprofitable to operate. To replace them, Dofasco has acquired a 25% interest in the Quebec Cartier Mine, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, from the USX Corp., while Elders Resources North America has purchased the remaining 75% of the mine. In the 1990 navigation season, Dofasco will begin to ship from the Quebec Cartier Mine into the la kes an additional 2, 000, 000 tons of iron ore pellets each year, which should mean a significant increase in ore tonnage through the Seaway. Ever since Dofasco began shipping ore into Hamilton, the majority of the cargoes have, traditionally, been carried in Upper Lakes Shipping vessels.