Bulk Carrier CLAUDE A. DESGAGNÉS

"Quick & Dirty" Post Take 2!! Yes another hard working beauty that's been collecting dust for far too long in my "2Bdone" folder. Though they have only 18 ships in their liquid and dry bulk carrier fleet, it seems like a week can't go by without at least one  Groupe Desgagnés vessel motoring one way or the other along this end of the upper St. Lawrence River and Seaway. Though more often it's a Desgagnes tanker that we'll see, in these snaps, it's one of their larger dry bulk carriers, the downbound CLAUDE A. DESGAGNÉS that motored by us in Morrisburg, Ontario in June 2013.
Well she's actually called a "Heavy Lift Multi-purpose Dry Cargo" vessel, and just like all of her fleetmates, the dark blue hulled CLAUDE A., looked equally impressive with her standard mustard-yellow banner slashed near the bow and the flying company flag displayed on her stack which is also dark blue. Her superstructure of course is white like the others too along her crimson coloured deck equipment, foremast, hatches and her two monster 150 metric tonne carrying cranes.

By the way, Groupe Desgagnés has been in the shipping business since 1866 when Captain Zéphirin Desgagnés set sail from Les Éboulements on Quebec's Charlevoix region delivering goods on the little wooden schooner, MARY-ANN

When the 454.5' heavy lift-whatever was launched in 2011 in Jiangsu China, her name ELSBORG and was owned by Nordana Line of Soeholm, Denmark. Soon after the ELSBORG was purchased by Groupe Desgagnés of Quebec City and at her christening on July 24, 2012, she was given the name CLAUDE A. DESGAGNÉS in honour of Captain Claude Desgagnés who worked more than 50 years with the company, first as a captain and later as manager in both their marine transportation and stevedore sectors.

Just like her namesake, the CLAUDE A. DESGAGNÉS is a very flexible and versatile ship. Also known as a "Tweendecker", the CLAUDE A. has three decks which allows her to carry dry bulk, or stacked items on the retractable "tweendecks" below, while awkward cargos like wind turbines, pleasure craft, containers, or construction equipment can be lashed off to her upper or "weather" deck. By the way, the CLAUDE A. can also carry up to 665 TEU containers.  Again like all of her Transportation Desgagnés fleetmates, CLAUDE A. DESGAGNÉS has an ice strengthened bow which allows her to cut her way through iced over channels and harbours in the Arctic in the summer and  along Canada's Atlantic coastline during the winter months.

Though CLAUDE A. DESGAGNÉS is Canadian owned and flies Canada's flag when motoring in Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and Arctic waters, the CLAUDE A. she has been known to change her registry to Barbados so that she can operate more affordably when working deep-sea during the winter months. Though she's currently on her way to Diana Bay in near the tip of Norther Quebec, last winter the CLAUDE A. DESGAGNÉS was seen in Singapore, the Panama Canal and Port Everglades, Florida.

Oh-oh!! Looks like Tanner got tried waiting for me to play ball with him and decided to go take a dip in the St. Lawrence. EEEEE!! c):-El I hate it when he gives me one of those "it's not my fault, you know golden retrievers love the water, eh" looks :>b. I hear ya buddy but oh look, here comes another boat. It's the Algoma tanker ALGOSAR.....2Bdone soon!! c):-D