The dash is on. It's mid December and if all goes well, the Seaway and Welland Canal will be closed for the season just as the ball is dropping in Time Square in New York City. It'll be a nice change from last year when a deep freeze Russian blast from over the top hung over the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway near the end of December causing the seaway channels and most Great Lakes to ice over much quicker than normal. As a result of the untimely "Polar Vortex"the Montreal-based bulk carrier
FEDERAL BISCAY got herself jammed in the ice at the entrance to Snell Lock and remained there for almost a week before finally being freed. It was almost another week before the
BISCAY and the four other ships that were blocked in the system behind her to clear St. Lambert Lock across from Montreal on January 11.
Laden with grain from Duluth, the 492'
NAREW continues to approach my lookout beneath the Windmill Point Lighthouse just east of Prescott, Ontario with the 443' Groupe Desgagnes tanker
MIA DESGAGNES about 5 miles to her stern.
Built in 2012 at Sanfu Shipbuilding in Jiangsu, China, the
NAREW flies the flag of Liberia though she's actually owned by the Polsteam, short for the Polish Steamship Company of Szczecin, Poland.
At 492' the "handy-size class"
NAREW is slightly smaller than the first Polsteam bulk carrier I came across, the 489'
NOGAT (
http://carlzboats.blogspot.com/2013/01/bulk-carrier-nogat.html) in Havana harbour almost 6 years ago, but is smaller than the
IRMA (
https://carlzboats.blogspot.com/2013/07/bulk-carrier-irma.html) which is just under 656'.
With all the buoys and bends on the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes behind her, regardless of what old man winter drops or blows our way from now until the end of 2018, it will be of no concern to the crew of the
NAREW as the little big ship continues to make her way toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then to Gibraltar with her belly full of wheat from America's midwest.
On probably my last post of the year, I just want to say thanks for reading Carlz Boats and may I wish you all a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Great 2019. c):-D
