A late report indicates that the Soo River Company has decided against any major reconstruction or repowering of SOO RIVER TRADER. Instead, a contract has been let to Herb Fraser and Associates for the repair of her damaged boiler, and the steamer was upbound in the Welland Canal en route to Port Colborne, for the necessary work, on the evening of April 28th in tow of three McKeil tugs. The decision to provide only makeshift repairs for SOO RIVER TRADER more or less confirms that this elderly ship does not figure in the long-range plans of the company.

Indications are that, when the next group of idle tinstackers is sold for dismantling, probably at Duluth, EUGENE W. PARGNY will be included in the sale. This seems a bit surprising in that PARGNY, although built in 1917, was repowered in 1951 and was the first Steel Trust upper lake bulk carrier to be driven by a diesel engine.

The Straits of Mackinac carferry CHIEF WAWATAM was placed on the Michigan State Register of Historic Sites during March. The designation is honourary only and does not assure the continued operation of the 70-year-old ferry.

Later this year, Eurolakes Tanker Line will take delivery from a Split shipyard of the 27,000-ton chemical tankers LAKE ANINA and LAKE ANNE for service into the lakes. They are apparently being built to replace the familiar red-hulled tankers LAKE ANJA and LAKE ANIARA.

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