Canada Steamship Lines sells self-unloader for green recycling

After a long and productive 41-year career with the Canada Steamship Lines fleet, the 35,656 DWT self-unloader MV Salarium has been decommissioned.

The long-serving vessel reached the end of her usable life earlier this year and will be dismantled at a green ship recycling yard in accordance with local legislation, international conventions, CSL’s Ship Recycling Policy, and Green Marine’s new performance indicator for responsible ship recycling. This new performance indicator will be optional during the first year of assessment (for 2020) and will subsequently be mandatory to obtain Green Marine certification.

Originally named Nanticoke, the ship was built by CSL at Collingwood Shipyards, Ontario, and launched on December 18, 1979. The vessel was designed and built to be able to service coastal trades.

In April 2009, Nanticoke was chartered by Societé Québecoise d’Exploration Minière and renamed Salarium as a nod to the salt trades to which she would be primarily dedicated.

Until her retirement, Salarium mainly transported salt between the Magdalene Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and ports along the lower St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the East Coast of North America.

Between 2015 and 2020, the Salarium crew was involved in a whale sighting program in collaboration with the Marine Mammal Observation Network and Green Marine. The program aims to better understand the marine mammal distribution in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and protect and preserve this unique ecosystem.