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MARINE NEWS 2 . The official closing date for the St. Mary's Falls Canal at Sault Ste. Marie was Saturday, January 15th, but the last commercial transit of the season was made the day before. The LEE A. TREGURTHA departed the Poe Lock at 4: 37 p. m. on Friday, the 14th, upbound for winter lay-up at Superior, Wisconsin. Winter refurbishing work will be done on the MacArthur Lock during the win­ ter, and the canal is scheduled to reopen on March 25th. The St. Lawrence Canals closed for the season on Christmas Day. The last commercial transit was made by CSL NIAGARA, which was upbound on December 25th, bound for Hamilton in ballast. The last downbound transit was made on the 24th by MILLENIUM MAJESTIC, which had been the second-last salt-water ship downbound at the Soo on the 21st, and the last saltie downbound at the Welland Canal on the 23rd. As reported last issue, the last commercial tran­ sit of the Welland Canal was made by ALGOGULF, bound for lay-up at Hamilton. As predicted in our January issue, the American Steamship Company has, indeed, renamed its self-unloading stemwinder CHARLES E. WILSON. In early January, while in lay-up at Superior, the WILSON was renamed (b) JOHN J. BOLAND (IV). The official rechristening of the ship reportedly will be done at a Lake Erie port in the spring. The motorvessel was built at Sturgeon Bay in 1973 and is 666 x 78 x 45, 13862 Gross and 9712 Net. The new name honours John J. Boland, Sr., who went into partnership with Adam E. Cornelius, Sr., in 1904. Together they formed the American Steamship Company in 1907. In recent issues, we have commented upon the status of the 1931-built rail­ road carferry steamer CITY OF MILWAUKEE, which latterly had been lying at Elberta, Michigan. It will be recalled that Elberta had not welcomed the ferry, and plans to open her as a museum did not come to fruition there. The preservation society which owns the ferry was under a court order to move her from Elberta by February 14th. Voters in nearby Frankfort had approved a move of the ferry to their shore, but the Frankfort city council had made certain demands, as a result of which it had been planned that CITY OF MIL­ WAUKEE would be anchored for the winter in the middle of Betsie Bay. On Ja­ nuary 11th, Andrie tugs arrived to pull the CITY OF MILWAUKEE away from shore. Difficulties must have been encountered in establishing an anchorage, however, for on Friday, January 14th, the tugs, led by MARIBETH ANDRIE on the bow, towed CITY OF MILWAUKEE into Manistee, Michigan. She should have a safe berth there for the winter. It was announced late in January that CSL Group Inc. has signed a letter of intent to purchase Upper Lakes Group's 50 percent share of Marbulk Canada Inc., which operates eight seIf-unloaders in deep-sea bulk trades. The deal is subject to approval by the board of directors and by industry regulators. The remaining 50 percent share of Marbulk will continue to be owned by the Algoma Central Corporation. CSL International Inc., a subsidiary of CSL Group Inc., also owns self-unloaders on salt water, most of which are opera­ ted in a pool with the Egon Oldendorff interests of Germany. It apparently is intended that the Marbulk operations will be combined with the pool and managed together from the CSL International office in Massachusetts. This would appear to mean that the ULS Corporation has decided to withdraw com­ pletely from deep-sea trade, something in which it has dabbled since the 1960s. It also seems to represent a significant show of strength by CSL. Meanwhile, there are changes in the works for the pools operating the lake bulk carriers and self-unloaders owned by ULS and by Algoma Central. It was announced in the press on January 13th that Seaway Self-Unloaders, of St. Catharines, and Seaway Bulk Carriers, of Winnipeg, are merging to form a single marketing and operational organization for the fleets' 21 self-unloaders and 22 bulk carriers. The new operating company will be known as Seaway Marine Transport; it will be headquartered in St. Catharines, and only a small grain marketing office will be maintained in Winnipeg. In addition to achieving operation efficiencies, one of the main tasks of the new organiza­ tion will be to bolster demand for the straight-deck bulk carriers, many of