Page 52: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 1999)

A traditional maritime country with 3,000 km of waterways — including the St. Lawrence Seaway — and a vast array of ports located along the Canadian coastline, the Canadian Maritime Industry continues to offer techno- logical and operational innovation.

The second largest country in the world, the

Canadian coastline stretches out 243,791 km. Aside from the St. Lawrence Seaway, port activity remains high in Thunder Bay, Toronto and Vancou- ver with a merchant marine of 60 ships, including chemical and oil tankers, and passenger and RoRo ferries totaling 775,391 DWT.

Canada is not only bustling with exporting ships carrying timber, crude petroleum, natural gas and aluminum, the country is also home to a variety of companies that provide the means to allow these vessels to run smoothly and efficiently. In St.

Catherine's, Ontario, Canada, Port Weller Dry- docks is known for its extensive knowledge of engi- neering connecting the design, installation and test- ing aspects of inter-disciplinary projects. Port

Weller and its parent company, Canadian Ship- building & Engineering are equipped to perform both the conversion and construction of vessels while still adhering to the capability of the full-ser- vice repair facility.

A $5.5 million project to enhance the company's steel-cutting, welding and fabrication capabilities was established this November. Consisting of a

Plasma Arc Cutting Machine with Bevelling Capac- ity, Robotic Profile Cutting and Welding Lines and

Semi-Automatic Panel Production Line, these upgraded components will be further enhanced by a newly-designed material flow inside Port Weller's steel workshops. The dock credits its most recent project to be the $100 million hull replacement pro- gram of Canada Steamship Lines former J.W.

McGriffin.

Since entering the maritime scene in 1977,

Ontario-based Thordon Bearings installed its first composite bearings in a river boat strut and stern tube more than 15 years ago. The secret of Thor- don's success — the inner lining of the GM2401 polymer alloy, fused to a high strength polymer outer jacket, providing the utmost stability.

As an exhibitor last September at the SMM Exhi- bition in Hamburg, Germany, Thordon showed its

SeaLion marine mechanical face seals. Constructed as a necessary part of the company's stern tube bearing systems, the SeaLion is able to function via water or Thor-Lube lubrication. The system also features a rotating carbon-graphite face, supporting the protection of lubricating liquid loss.

Providing leak free performance, the SeaLion guarantees for complete elimination of stern tube oil pollution.

Princess Cruises can thank Thordon for the devel- opment of its new COMPAC system. The pollen- free water lubricated propeller shaft bearing system is installed on the line's Grand Princess. Using sea- water as lubrication, and built to fit shaft liners mea- suring in diameters of 642 mm and 607 mm, COM-

PAC allows for bearing removal without shaft pulling.

In Vancouver, the joint venture between maritime application developer Rydex and global mobile communications company ICO exhibits Canada's advanced technological base. Effective March I, the two signed a memo of understanding enabling

ICO's maritime distributors access to services across a variety of market areas. Rydex, responsible for maritime communication operations including automatic data communication, e-mail and ship- board IT support, is currently engineering a satellite service for availability in the year 2000. The hand- sets, which can easily be slipped into a pocket, per- mit for roaming between ICO and any mobile net- work. No cellular network availability? — provid- ing unrestricted mobility, ICO's satellite network will search until one is located.

Multi-network international mobile satellite ser- vice provider, Ottawa-based Stratos will be at the forefront this August as first global provider of the new Inmarsat M4 service. Delivering high quality voice, fax and a variety of data services via portable terminals the size of a laptop computer, the M4 will be introduced this August.

A product currently available from Stratos is its new Iridium World Page Service. Offered either by 52 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News