by hausen » March 15, 2022, 3:58 pm
The "will believe it when we see it" philosophy is a good way to approach subjects such as the Ryerson. Not much to add except this observation:
The location where the Ryerson is spending the winter (in the "frog pond" at Fraser Shipyards) does not appear to be conducive to the possibility that any significant work might be happening that is somehow flying under the radar. She's oriented so that most of her hull is angled well away from the nearest dock face & the concordant possibility of easy dockside crane access. She has one narrow gangway linking the dock pad with her main deck aft near her stern, so any equipment or personnel going on and off the ship could theoretically be easily noticed by people driving by the yard or otherwise paying a bit of attention.
So without commenting on rumors or the likelihood of her returning to service this season, it can be said that if any significant preliminary work were to commence in preparation for an eventual dry-docking and return to service, the Ryerson would probably first have to be moved to a different berth at Fraser Shipyards, something that would catch the attention of local observers. Or, more obviously, she could be moved straight into the graving dock there & go dry, which would be a very strong sign that things are happening. Photographs and/or discussions of either of those possible scenarios would be all over social media and this fine website if they were to occur.
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On a more speculative note: two factors to look for that might influence the Ryerson's prospects as a viable carrier in certain iron ore pellet trades:
- Whether/when the two ships that have been carrying a lot of iron ore pellets from Lake Superior to Hamilton/Quebec City in recent years, Algoma Discovery & Algoma Guardian, end up being retired.
- Whether there's strong demand for grain movement on the Lakes/Seaway, which could occupy other 740' x 78' / 225.5m x 23.8m gearless bulk carriers (such as Algoma Equinox or CSL St-Laurent) which tend to dip into the Welland/Seaway iron ore pellet moves when the grain trade is soft.
The "will believe it when we see it" philosophy is a good way to approach subjects such as the [i]Ryerson[/i]. Not much to add except this observation:
The location where the [i]Ryerson[/i] is spending the winter (in the "frog pond" at Fraser Shipyards) does not appear to be conducive to the possibility that any significant work might be happening that is somehow flying under the radar. She's oriented so that most of her hull is angled well away from the nearest dock face & the concordant possibility of easy dockside crane access. She has one narrow gangway linking the dock pad with her main deck aft near her stern, so any equipment or personnel going on and off the ship could theoretically be easily noticed by people driving by the yard or otherwise paying a bit of attention.
So without commenting on rumors or the likelihood of her returning to service this season, it can be said that if any significant preliminary work were to commence in preparation for an eventual dry-docking and return to service, the [i]Ryerson[/i] would probably first have to be moved to a different berth at Fraser Shipyards, something that would catch the attention of local observers. Or, more obviously, she could be moved straight into the graving dock there & go dry, which would be a very strong sign that things are happening. Photographs and/or discussions of either of those possible scenarios would be all over social media and this fine website if they were to occur.
-----
On a more speculative note: two factors to look for that might influence the [i]Ryerson's [/i] prospects as a viable carrier in certain iron ore pellet trades:
- Whether/when the two ships that have been carrying a lot of iron ore pellets from Lake Superior to Hamilton/Quebec City in recent years, [i]Algoma Discovery[/i] & [i]Algoma Guardian[/i], end up being retired.
- Whether there's strong demand for grain movement on the Lakes/Seaway, which could occupy other 740' x 78' / 225.5m x 23.8m gearless bulk carriers (such as [i]Algoma Equinox[/i] or [i]CSL St-Laurent[/i]) which tend to dip into the Welland/Seaway iron ore pellet moves when the grain trade is soft.