Port Weller Dry Docks
Port Weller Dry Docks was a
shipbuilder on the Welland Canal at the Lake Ontario entrance. The shipbuilder was founded in 1946 and the site was initially owned by the Government of Canada for storage purchases. The shipyard expanded to include ship repair, and reconstruction work. In 1956, the drydock was sold to the Upper Lakes Shipping Company
, which began the construction of vessels at the site. The shipyard twice went insolvent, most recently in 2015. Port Weller Dry Docks was used to build, refit and repair cargo vessels.
History
Following the boom of shipbuilding on the
Saint Lawrence Seaway in the late 1950s. By the 1990s, the Port Weller Dry Docks was the lone Great Lakes shipyard in operation in Canada.[1][2]
It was sold to Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd. but later became
Port Colborne, Ontario into a new division named Seaway Marine & Industrial Incorporated.[3] They renamed the facility Seaway Marine and Industrial Limited, but the firm went bankrupt in 2013, resulting in the closure of the shipyard and loss of jobs.[4] The yard was used briefly in 2015 by Algoma Central to perform maintenance work on self-unloading bulk carrier Algoma Enterprise and was leased by Saint Lawrence Seaway (current owner of the facility).[5] The site is operated by Heddle Marine (now Ontario Shipyards) on behalf of St. Lawrence Seaway.[6] In 2017, Cuyahoga arrived to overwinter at the site.[7]
Ships
Ships built at this facility include:
- CCGS Des Groseilliers icebreaker for Canadian Coast Guard
- Holiday Island for Canadian National Railway (scrapped 2023)
- Vacationland for Canadian National Railway
- Windsolite Imperial Oil tanker [citation needed]
- Canadian Progress - 1968 - largest self-unloading bulk carrier on the Great Lakes at launch (broken up 2014)
- Dal-housie City a local passenger vessel
- Saskadoc - large bulk carrier
- Bruce Hudson - oil tanker
- Makaweli - tanker
- Wellandoc (Brampton) - bauxite carrier during World War II
- Handy Boy - floating steam crane
- John A. France 1960 - Great Lakes bulk carrier - renamed Algoriver in 1994 by Algoma Central and scrapped in Turkey 2003
- Coalfax - converted self-loader
- Soreldoc - laker
- Bayanna - self-loading steamer
- C.H. Houson 1929 - canaller
- Ralph S. Misener 1968 - bulk carrier and named for President of Scott Misner Steamships Limited was built in Montreal and now renamed Gordan C Leitch
- Norman B. Macpherson - former canal bulk carrier Loadmaster
- Lt. John Misener - bulk laker built as Scott Misner and renamed 1954
- Texaco Brave - oil tanker
- Blue Cross
- Blue River
- Transtream - tanker
- Translate
- Clevelander
- Governor - tug
- Is-obel and Sidney Mac - dredgers
- The Inland (Transinland) - canallers
- Milverton (Clary Foran)
- Imperial Whitby (self-unloader George S. Gleet) - tanker
- Texaco Warrior - oil tanker
- Scott Misener 1951 - bulker laker and renamed John E F Misner 1954
- John O. McKellar 1952 - laker
- Rocky River - tug
- Black River and Pic River - diesel driven bulkers
- Robert Woods
- Albion - steamer
- Captain C.D. Secord - steamer
- Grey Beaver - bulk carrier
- C.A. Ansell (Fairlake and Ralph S. Misener)
- Chicago Tribune - newsprinter carrier (came to Port Weller)
- Jiimaan (1992), ferry servicing Pelee, Ontario
Refits
Port Weller Dry Docks also refitted existing ships. In 1980, the
bow thruster and expanding the vessel to seawaymax dimensions.[8][9] In 2003, the yard refitted the museum ship HMCS Haida. In 2012–2013, the refits of the Canadian Coast Guard ship CCGS Amundsen and the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan were also done by the yard.[10]
References
- ISBN 0-8020-0933-6.
- ISBN 1-55028-885-7.
- ^ "New hope as company buys Port Weller Dry Docks". niagarathisweek.com. 9 March 2007. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
- ^ LaFleche, Grant (23 July 2013). "Ship yards go bankrupt". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ Fraser, Don (8 January 2015). "Dry docks get short lease for Algoma work". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ Benner, Allan (15 December 2017). "No details on Port Weller future". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ Benner, Allan (20 December 2017). "Ship sailing in for Port Weller". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- )
- ^ Wharton, George (2011). "Algoma Navigator – (Demeterton 1967 – 1975; St. Lawrence Navigator 1975 – 1980, Canadian Navigator 1980 – 2011)". boatnerd. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
- ^ "Port Weller Shipyard tries not to sink". CHCH News. 24 July 2013. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.