With the seasonal re-opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway last week, ships are already heading inland. First to go was the tanker Algoberta which sailed March 28 for Nanticoke, ON for another load of fuel for Imperial Oil.
Yesterday, March 31, the bulker Baie St.Paul arrived from Montreal to load at Gold Bond Gypsum. En route the ship took shelter for a time in St.Anne's Bay, Cape Breton while a storm front passed.
The ship is docked at Gold Bond's dock in Wright Cove, with its self-unloading boom swung out to give clearance for the traveling ship loader.
Normally it takes about 12 hours to load, but for some reason the ship remained in port all day today April 1. When it does leave it will be headed for the St. Lawrence Seaway, and likely Hamilton, ON.
The view across Bedford Basin from Rockingham shows the greatly depleted stockpile of gypsum. The stock is replenished daily with unit trains from Gold Bond's open pit mine in Milford, NS.
.