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Marine News - c o n t 1d . 4. The De sga gne s group of companies recently acquired another vessel, this one a tanker. She is the 1976-built RIO ORINOCO, (a) J O A S L A (79), (b) ORINOCO (82). Des ga gn es took poss e s s i o n of this asphalt carrier after sa l v a g i n g her as a w re ck from the shore of A n t i c o s t i Island, and during May and June, and well into July, she was at the shipyard at Lauzon, Quebec, where she was r e ce iv in g a ge neral r e f u r b i s h i n g as well as e x t r e m e l y extens ive bottom repairs. She has been renamed (d) T H A L A S S A DESGAGNES, but it is not yet e v i dent whether, once her new owner has c o m m i s s i o n e d her, she will see any se r vice into the Great Lakes. After almost a decade of service in Great Lakes waters, the Fi nnish tanker KI I S L A fi na l l y has de parted the lakes. Built in 1974 by Valmet Oy H e l s i n g i n Telakka, of H e l s i n k i / H e l s i n g f o r s , and owned by Neste O/Y, of Naantali, Finland, K I I S L A is 4 0 5 . 6 x 57 . 8 x 2 6 . 3, 4681 Gross and 2634 Net, classed by Lloyd's "Ice Class 1A Super". W i t h her black hull and lime -green s u p e r s t r u c ture, she first came into the lakes during 1984, and s u b s e quently saw much service in ice condi t i o n s with w h i c h lake tankers ba r e l y could cope. Running n o r ma ll y from Sarnia to Chicago, K I I S L A at first was picketed by Canadia n S . I . U. me mb er s who prot ested her lake service with a Finn i s h crew and r e g i s try, but she g r a d u a l l y came to be a c c epted as part of the y e a r - r o u n d scene at Sarnia. She made her final d e p a r t u r e from Sarnia on June 16, 1993, with a chemical cargo bound from Imperial Oil's Sarnia r e f inery for Rotterdam, and she was d o w n b o u n d in the St. L a w r e n c e canals on June 18th. Wh ile the C a n a d i a n lake grain trade has been a n y thing but succ essful in 1993, the se lf - u n l o a d e r o perations of the ULS C o r p o r a t i o n and Algoma Central Marine have be en somewhat better than in 1992. Accord ingly, the two firms, who also have been involved in a joint o p e r a t i o n of their straight-deckers, rec en tly a n n o u n c e d the for m a t i o n of another consortium, known as Seaway S e l f - U n l o a d i n g Bulk Carriers, of St. Catharines. A c c o r d i n g to Peter R. Cresswell, Pre sident and C . E . O. of Algoma Ce ntral Corporation, each of the compan ies "will still own, operate and crew their ships within the p a r t n e r ship". This n e w ope r a t i n g arrangement, w h i c h is e x p ected to lead to more fl ex ib i l i t y and e f f i c i e n c y in the ru nning of the self-unloaders, must be app ro ved by two regul a t o r y bodies, na m e l y the C o m p e t i t i o n s Bureau and the Nationa l T r a n s p o r t a t i o n Association. At long last, the Purvis Marine cra n e s h i p Y A N K C A N U C K is back in service this summer as a s e l f - p r o p e l l e d carrier. She is not on the lakes, however, but rather do ing summer supply service to the Arctic, under a 75-day bareboat charter to Tr a n s p o r t Igloolik. Early in June, Y A N K C A N U C K was towed up to Thu nder Bay, wh ere the Port A r t h u r S h i p b u i l d i n g C o m p a n y yard was to r e f u r bish the ship, w h i c h had been used as a barge in 1991, the year Purvis bought her, but lay idle in 1992. Un f o r t u n a t e l y , the c ompletion of the work by Portshi p was p r e v e n t e d by the pic k e t i n g of the yard by u n e m p l o y e d S . I. U. sailors, who we re ant i c i p a t i n g that the charter of the ship would a llow the use of n o n - u n i o n crewmembers, and who thought that S . I. U. men should sail her instead beca u s e she was a u n i o n ship back when she was operated by A l goma Steel. As a result, Y A N K C A N U C K was brought back to the Soo and the work was co mpl ete d at the Governme nt Wharf there. Early in July, Y A N K C A N U C K set out under her own power for Montreal, but her downbound passage, p a r t i c u l a r l y in the canals, was ma r k e d by S . I. U. protests. Y A N K C A N U C K did, however, reach M o n t r e a l safely, and by m i d - J u l y was en route to the Arctic. It will be i n t e r e s t i n g to see w h e t h e r she ever returns to lake service. During 1993, Purvis Marine has been u sing both of its barges, CHIEF WAWA T A M and PML SALVAGER, to carry steel products out of the Algoma Steel plant at the Soo. The L i b e r i a n - r e g i s t e r e d FedNav salty FEDE R A L ST. LA URENT ran into a spot of trouble in the upper St. Mary's River at about 5: 00 p . m. on Friday, July 9. D o w nb ou nd wi th a cargo of grain, the ship mi s s e d a turn in the channel and grounde d in the v i c i n i t y of R o u n d Island. The Great Lakes Towing Company sent its tugs MISSOURI and N ORTH DAK O T A to the scene but they were unable to