CWB Marquis, new laker, will make as many as 18 trips to Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay had a brand new laker in port on Tuesday morning — a sight its captain said means good news for the city.

Seann O'Donoughue, captain of the CWB Marquis, said the five-month-old, state-of-the-art ship could make as many as 18 trips a year to the northwestern Ontario city.

"It's good for the local economy to see all this wheat moving through," he said. "And the wheat board's moving a lot of wheat down to the coast, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

CWB Marquis is the first vessel to be owned by the former Canadian Wheat Board, which is now known as CWB and is transitioning into a commercial, grain-handling company. 

The ship is named for the Marquis variety of wheat, which was bred specifically for the short Canadian growing season. Like the wheat, the ship is pronounced "MAR-kwiss."

Thunder Bay Port Authority CEO Tim Heney presented O'Donoughue with a wood carving of the Sleeping Giant to welcome the ship to port. It's scheduled to take 30,000 metric tons of wheat from Mission Terminal to Trois-Rivières, Que.

The laker was built specially for transporting grain from Thunder Bay to the St. Lawrence River. On its return trips, it will transport iron ore from the east back to Great Lakes ports.

The previous generation of lakers is now 50 years old and due to be replaced, the captain said. 

O'Donoughue said the ship is the largest, fastest, most fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly laker ever built. The ship has an exhaust scrubbing system designed to remove 97 per cent of sulphur oxide emissions.

The ship hit a snag earlier this month, striking a large floe of ice about 35 kilometres south of Montreal and delaying its journey briefly.