Oceanex takes delivery of Connaigra

Oceanex Conaigra leaving its German builders

Today, Canada’s newest Canadian flagged cargo ship left its builders at Flensburger, in Germany, bound for Newfoundland and an excited crowd. The Oceanex Connaigra is owned and operated by St John’s based Oceanex. Oceanex operates the Oceanex Avalon, Cabot, Oceanex Sanderling and the Connaigra will join its fleetmates of RO/LOs serving the drop trailer, container service to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Lori Caines, Spokesperson for Oceanex, states the ship is expected to arrive St. John’s, on or around the 5th of October. 

We are hoping to having an official welcome to Canada, on October 8th following which the vessel will then depart St. John’s to enter our weekly service. 

A little more about the ship, from Oceanex’s press release on the delivery of the new ship…

The Oceanex Connaigra is designed to carry containers varying in size from 20′ to 53′ as well as trucks, trailers, cars, and over dimensional cargo with a total of 13,700 square metres of available space and a deadweight of 19,300 tons. Other custom features include movable vehicle decks and a wide, reinforced side ramp, thereby improving the versatility of the vessel. For crew comfort and cargo safety, the ice-class Oceanex Connaigra has been outfitted with anti-roll stability tanks and a gyro controlled active fin stabilizer system, which ensures a stable platform and performance reliability. Classed by DNV as a “clean ship”, the Oceanex Connaigra already meets stricter environmental regulations taking effect in 2015.

In welcoming the new Oceanex Connaigra, I just uploaded a series of pictures of the Oceanex Avalon. I was offered a tour of the engine room by a peer back in 2008, when I was in Montreal. Of course I did not hesitate to take him up on the offer.

The Oceanex Avalon is also a German built ship; one ship with very few equals when it comes to condition, and quality, especially in Canada. The modern engine room was roomy, logically designed, and with the latest equipment. Engineers had access to an abundance of appropriate spares and modern tools which were indicative of a well run organization in my book. The engine room was one thing, but the whole ship – its comfortable accommodations, crew and work spaces were maintained in obvious high standards and a pleasure to visit.

You can view pictures from my tour of the Oceanex Avalon’s Engine Room over on the Seafarer Media website.Here is a media story on the Connaigra.

Oceanex Avalon’s massive main engine MAN 9L48/60