It was on December 7, 1976, that the Government of British Columbia passenger and auto ferry SUNSHINE COAST QUEEN, (a) VACATIONLAND, (b) JACK DALTON, (c) PERE NOUVEL, made her last trip on the Horseshoe Bay - Langdale route that she had served since 1967. She has laid idle ever since her retirement, although there had been rumours that she might return to the lakes for the proposed ferry service between Manitoulin Island and DeTour. (She was originally built for the State of Michigan and ran across the Straits of Mackinac until the opening of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957.) But now comes word that she has been sold for $1,300,000 to the Quesnel Redi-Mix Cement Company Ltd. which submitted the highest of six public tenders. What the new owner will do with the ship has not been revealed, but her chances of returning to passenger service seem to have diminished considerably.

On November 6, 1981, Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. will launch its Hull 222, built to the order of Canada Steamship Lines Ltd. The most interesting feature of the event is that only the 600-foot after section of the vessel is being built at Collingwood. This portion of the 730-foot motorship will be towed to Thunder Bay where it will be joined to the vessel's 130-foot bow section, which is being built at the Lakehead by Port Arthur Shipyards Ltd. Although U.S. shipyards have frequently used this technique in building larger lakers, this is the first time in recent years that Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. has used different shipyards to construct the bow and stern sections of one vessel. Hull 222 is being built in this manner in order to allow the Collingwood yard to free its ways for an early start on its next new ship.

Upper Lakes Shipping's deep-sea self-unloader CANADIAN HIGHLANDER made an unusual voyage during August from Tampa to Vancouver with a cargo of phosphate rock. An unloading delay was encountered with Vancouver longshoremen, unfamiliar with Great Lakes type self-unloaders, refused to allow the HIGHLANDER'S crew to operate her unloading gear, but the problem was resolved.

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