On July 24, 2002, Algoma Central Corp., St. Catharines, ON announced an agreement to construct a double-hulled OPA-90 compliant petroleum-product/chemical tanker at an approximate cost of $47 million (CN). In keeping with Algoma’s program of replacing its single-hull tankers with vessels of double-hull construction, their single-hulled tanker Algofax would be retired when this new vessel entered service. The keel for this new tanker was laid on June 29, 2003 at Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China as their hull # H2291.

Written by Roger LeLievre.