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3. M arine News - c o n t 'd . The spectre of cr os s - l a k e pas s e n g e r service be tween To ronto and St. C a t h arines was r e v i v e d just before Chri stmas when it was a n n o u n c e d that federal au th or i t i e s had a p p r o v e d a contract p e r m i t t i n g TNR Corp. do cking priv i l e g e s at Port D a l ho us ie for a service to begin July 1st. The contract a l l e g e d l y m a y allow TNR to ob tain f i n a n c i n g n e c e s s a r y to obtain three c a tamar ans from their N o r w e g i a n builder. The boats pre s e n t l y are in Va n c o u v e r after the failure of their run be tween V a n c o u v e r and the Island in 1993. Only time will tell about the Lake On tario service... Service of the Ontario gove r n m e n t ferry J I I M A A N to Sandusky, Ohio, has been thre at en ed by U . S. l e g i s l a t i o n to impose a $ 6 . 50 customs fee for trav ellers arriv i n g from Ca nada and Me x i c o to replace revenue lost through the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of the North A m e r i c a n Free Trade Agreement. The new "head tax" has cause d Sa nd us ky city o f f icials to put a hold on plans to let contracts for $ 8 0 0 , 000 in i m p r o v e m e n t s to J I IM AAN's dock faci lities at the port. Mu ch to the p l e asure of ship fans around the lakes, Purvis Marine r e a c t i va ted its c r a n e s h i p Y A N K C A N U C K during the late autumn. Late in October, she was dr y d o c k e d at S t u r g e o n Bay after r e t urning from her summer Arctic supply charter, but she was not fully laid up on her return to the Soo on No vember 30th. On Dec em be r 17th, she m o v e d up to the Al g o m a Steel plant to load steel for Windsor, and on the 20th she set out under her own power on the d o w n bo und voyage. It was h oped that several such trips could be made before the close of nav igation. We earlier r e p o r t e d the towing of the idle R I C H E L I E U from Th under Bay to W ind sor for grain storage use there. We now learn that w hen she pa s s e d down the third (Davis) lock at the Soo on November 22nd, with A V E N G E R IV on her bow and A N G L I A N LADY at her stern, R I C H E L I E U was carry i n g 8 , 500 tons of granola. It was her light draft that pe r m i t t e d the un usual use of the Davis Lock. The re m a i n d e r of her stora ge cargo was to be loaded on her ar rival at her destination. D riv ers in the Well a n d Canal area will face road chaos this winter, as both the Lak es ho re Road (Lock 1) and Glendale Avenue (Bridge 5, M erritton) bridge s over the canal will be closed for m a i n t e n a n c e thro ughout the winter. Then, on D e c em be r 21, the Se a w a y A u t h o r i t y made good on its threat to close the Peter Street bridge over the ra ilway tracks at the head of Lock 7, a n n o u n c i n g that the bridge w o u l d close on J a n u a r y 6 due to poor condition. The news gr ea t l y upset Thorold, St. C a tharines and Niagara Region a u t h o r i ties, particularly as Thorold thought a deal had been wo r k e d out to take over the br idge and a c o n n e c t i n g stretch of Government Road, a long the canal, in re tu rn for a piece of canal-side land. The Seaway then did a quick b a c k t r a c k in the face of the ho stile reaction, and on the 24th stated that the bridge w ou ld stay open, for one- w a y s o uthbound traffic only, p e n d i n g the outcom e of c o n t i n u e d n e g o t i a t i o n s wit h the local municipa lities. There has been a major r e o r g a n i z a t i o n of the deep-sea s e l f - u n l o a d e r o p e r a tions of CSL In te rnational. The CSL Group has entered into a p o o l i n g a r range men t wi t h the Egon O l d e n d o r f f firm of Lubeck, Germany. The first vessel to be in vo lv ed is the 1981- b u i l t CSL INNOVATOR, (a) PACIFIC PEACE (86), (b) A T L A N T I C H U R O N (I)(86), w hich was renamed (d) C H R I S T O F F E R O L D E N D O R F F at H a lifax on N o v e m b e r 8th, and r e r e g i s t e r e d Liberian. She is sold by CSL to Old endorff, but will be t i m e - c h a r t e r e d back, along with the German fleet's YE O M A N BROOK, w h i c h is rena m e d B E R N H A R D OLDENDORFF. The earnings of the two ships will be pooled, a long w i t h those of the B r a z i l i a n - b u i l t CSL ATLAS, and split be tw ee n the two companies. The pool will not affect CSL's o p e r a t i o n of its lake-built A T L A N T I C SUPERIOR, A T L ANTIC H U R O N (II) and A T L ANTIC ERIE. * * * Ed. N o t e : Our space for Marine News in this issue is s e v erely limited by the size of our Ship of the M onth feature. We will try to catch up on the News in the F e b r u a r y issue. * * * * *