Oil Tanker LALANDIA SWAN

The 455' Danish tanker LALANDIA SWAN was moving along pretty fast as I snapped her heading downbound at the Old Windmill Park near Prescott, Ontario last August. When she was launched in 1991 in Pula, Croatia, her name was TELSI. After a couple years of nurturing, she became a swan. First the EURO SWAN in 2001 and then the LALANDIA SWAN in 2011. With her belly or rather, her holds, filled to the max this refined oil from Nanticoke, Ontario, the SWAN glided along carefree past Seaway channel marker buoys and then like the beautiful water bird that's showcased on her bow and funnel, she delicately slipped through Iroquois Lock with pride and eloquence. Obviously she hadn't yet received the memo of her doomed fate.  

Memo, what memo? That would be the one that outlined that the LALANDIA SWAN was to be purchased by Rand Logistics of New York and then converted into a Great Lakes self unloading bulk carrier for Lower Lakes Towing of Port Dover, Ontario. YIKES!! c):-()
The bad news being that the aft section on the proud SWAN will be removed and attached to a new fore-body at the Chengxi Shipyards in Jiangyin, China. c):-(

Former tanker and now 662'9" forward mounted self unloader MANITOULIN approaching Iroquois Lock on June 24, 2021.

 MANITOULIN with a new logo on her stack glides by Prescott on October 26, 2026

The good news being that when all was said and done, the once black hulled 'ugly duckling' was given a new life in 2015 motoring only the fresh inland seas as a state of the art 'River-class' self unloader in the Lower Lakes fleet, named MANITOULIN, which in Ojibwe means Island Spirit. Along with the removal of her grimy oil and chemicals tanks, this new SWAN will grace the lakes in Lower Lakes traditional hull colours of white and light grey with a narrow red trim, and a commanding look on her stack showing a silhouette of a brave First Nations warrior on a ship's wheel. Though a tad rough look from rubbing too many Seaway and Welland Canal locks in her travels, the 11 year old unique looking beauty continues to show her worth hauling stone and grain throughout the system but now with a new emblem on her stack when acquired by McKeil Marine during the early winter of 2026.