Algoma Central Corporation has announced that it has contracts in place, made effective overnight, to build two 740 foot self-unloading bulkers to join the company’s Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Waterway dry-bulk fleet.

The new Equinox Class vessels, which have a designed carrying capacity of 29,300 tonnes, will be built by China’s Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.

“Our search for a shipyard in China to replace the now-bankrupt Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries led us to Yangzijiang,” said Ken Bloch Soerensen, president and ceo of Algoma.

The new order brings the company’s total Equinox Class vessels under construction to seven. In total, Algoma expects to invest approximately $450m in this phase of its fleet renewal program. With the addition of these new ship orders, the company is also reviewing its fleet plan and considering the retirement of certain older vessels.