Port Tour

This page gives a tour of the Port of Thunder Bay moving from north to south, outlining active port facilities and places that commemorate the history of the port, and describing the Port of Thunder Bay maritime community.

The Port of Thunder Bay was what began Port Arthur and Fort William, the founding communities of Thunder Bay. Commercial activity has been and continues to be the mainstay of the Port and a significant sector in the economy of Thunder Bay. Government activity regulates the various users of the Port. The Royal Canadian Navy is represented by the Naval Reserve Division HMCS GRIFFON. Recreational users derive a lot of benefit from the Port. What follows is a description of the Port and various maritime groups that are part of the Thunder Bay maritime community.

Grain elevators were built as the CPR railway was constructed, to transport grain from the prairies. A grain elevator stores grain and grain is loaded onto ships from the grain elevator. Thunder Bay grain elevators have been called hospital elevators in that they have the capability to clean and dry grain, which meets an export standard. Chaff adds weight and removing the chaff means more grain can be shipped at a lower cost. Damp grain may grow mold while in transit.

Small town elevators in the prairies are being replaced with regional elevators, which also can clean and dry grain. This grain can be loaded directly on a ship from a train such as at MobilEx.

Current River

Ontario Shipyard
The shipyard is currently Ontario Shipyard and was formerly the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company and Lakehead Industrial and Marine. Ontario Shipyards also own Port Weller Dry Dock, which is on the Welland Canal where it joins Lake Ontario.

The shipyard was opened in 1905 and the last ship was built there in 1985. It is the only dry dock on the Canadian side in the Upper Great Lakes.

Fun fact, a dry-dock is normally built on a north-south axis; it has to do with the magnetism that the ship acquires while in dry-dock.
www.onshipyards.com

Current River dock and boat launch – Commercial Fishers

Commercial fishing was one of the first activities in the port. It was strong prior to the coming of the sea lamprey with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1960.

Ten commercial fishing vessels fish Whitefish, Lake Trout and Herring from Thunder Bay to Hurkett. The fish are sold to Presteve Fisheries of Sault Ste. Marie and Kemp Fisheries of Duluth, which export the fish around the world. In Thunder Bay the commercial fishing vessels dock at the mouth of Current River. Some of these vessels are also in the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Current River Terminal

Current River Terminal is a grain elevator. It is owned by Richardson International.
www.richardson.ca

The picture is taken from the Current River dock, and in the foreground you can see a commercial fishing vessel, which is called a turtleback.

North of Prince Arthur’s Landing
To access this area, one takes the overpass at Cumberland and Water streets.

Richardson Main Terminal

This is a grain elevator. It is owned by Richardson International.
www.richardson.ca

HMCS GRIFFON and Boat Shed

HMCS GRIFFON is a Naval Reserve Division (unit) in the Royal Canadian Navy. GRIFFON’s purpose is to recruit and train people to augment the Navy. Sailors train one night a week and go away for summer training and work. Once people are qualified they can obtain short-term contracts for employment. GRIFFON is located at 125 Algoma St. N.

GRIFFON’s Boat Shed and the Lake Superior Sail Centre Boat shed are located on the waterfront north of the marina.

Lake Superior Sail Centre – Sea Cadets

The Lake Superior Sail Centre runs sail training programs for local Sea Cadet Corps: RCSCC Vindictive (Thunder Bay North); RCSCC Fort William (Thunder Bay South); and RCSCC Onondaga (Nipigon). The Sail Centre is co-located with HMCS GRIFFON’s boatshed on the Thunder Bay Harbour, just north of Marina Park. The Royal Canadian Sea Cadet programme is for young men and women ages 12 to 18. The Canadian Armed Forces, in partnership with the Navy League of Canada, run the programme.
www.cadets.ca

Prince Arthur’s Landing

The ANCHORAGE – Naval memorial

Located at the north end of the Marina, the Anchorage was dedicated June 1, 1997 as a place to meditate and enjoy.

The ANCHORAGE is a memorial to the navy and merchant navy ships and sailors who perished in the Second World War; see The Commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic. It is dedicated to the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Royal Canadian Navy Reserve (RCN(R)), Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR), Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS), and the Merchant Navy (MN), who volunteered and served with honour and distinction for freedom and country.

Erected jointly by the Naval Officers Association of Canada (NOAC) Thunder Bay Branch, the Thunder Bay Naval Association (RCNA), and with the help of many friends who care and remember.

Marina

Situated in beautiful Marina Park on the shores of Lake Superior, the Marina can be accessed off Water Street in the north core of the City. The Marina is open May 15 through October 15 annually and offers 271 slips for City residents and visitors. Also available are water moorings and dry land storage facilities. Services include washrooms, laundry and shower facilities, pumpouts and fuel (gasoline and diesel). Attendants are on duty 9 am to 9 pm all season.

On-site security is available from 9 pm to 9 am. Boat launch ramps are available for use by the public on a user fee basis.

Sail Superior

Sail Superior is a locally operated business providing sailing and zodiac tours on Lake Superior. Sail Superior’s fleet consists of two 40ft sailboats and one 30ft Zodiac. Passengers can choose from a variety of tour options including a wine and cheese sail, Sail and Hike the Giant, Zodiac Harbour tour, and many more. Sail Superior aims to provide a comfortable and enjoyable experience for all who wish to explore Lake Superior. All our tour options are available for booking at sailsuperior.com or for custom tours.
www.sailsuperior.com

Temple Reef Sailing Club

Temple Reef sailing Club is a not for profit volunteer run boating club in Thunder Bay. Their primary focus is to promote one-design sailboat racing.
www.templereefsailing.com

Sail Thunder Bay

Sail Thunder Bay offers learn to sail programs for children and adults at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. NEW CANSail Programs and Race Coaching are taught by our knowledgeable and well trained certified Sail Canada Instructors.

Sail Thunder Bay is a non-profit sailing school operated by a group of devoted sailors and volunteers from the Temple Reef Sailing Club.

They are located at the end of Pier One in Prince Arthur’s Landing Marina Park and are open from June to September for all local sail instruction.
www.sailthunderbay.com

Thunder Bay Cruise Ship Terminal

The Thunder Bay Cruise Ship Terminal opened in July 2009 and it is operated by the City of Thunder Bay. It is located south of the Prince Arthur’s Landing Marina and is the site of the former Saskatchewan Pool 6 elevator. Clelia II is pictured here in July 2009.

Alexander Henry Museum Ship – Lakehead Transportation Museum Society

The Alexander Henry, berthed beside the Cruise Ship Terminal, is the former Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker and buoy tender– which had been built in Thunder Bay in 1958 but had been a museum ship in Kingston since 1985 — faced either being sunk or scrapped when the museum’s property has been sold. That’s when the Lakehead Transportation Museum Society (LTMS) took on the major project of saving the Henry and bringing her back home to Thunder Bay.

Launched on July 18, 1958 at the former Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd in Thunder Bay, she entered service in 1958 for the Canadian Government’s Department of Transport Marine Service and transferred in 1962 to the newly-formed Canadian Coast Guard. After 26 years of service, she was de-commissioned in 1984 and a year later became a museum ship in Kingston. When the museum’s leased property was sold in 2016, the museum had to move out and Henry’s fate became uncertain.

After LTMS reached a deal with Kingston and funds were raised for towing costs, the Alexander Henry arrived back home a year ago in June after a 1,000-mile journey through the Great Lakes. Then after almost five months of further negotiations, Henry was towed on November 23, 2017 to her permanent waterfront site at Pier 6 at Marina Park. Restoration work, cleaning and painting has been ongoing by board and volunteers since spring to get the Henry ready to open for the public in June. Saving the Henry was phase one of LTMS’s goal of establishing a transportation museum in Thunder Bay.

A special rededication and re-christening ceremony for the Alexander Henry was held on July 18, 2018 on the 60th anniversary of her launch at the shipyards in 1958.
www.ltms.ca

Intercity

Midcontinent Terminal

Midcontinent Terminal is located on the site of the former Northern Wood Preservers and the ore dock.

Presently the Terminal is used as a layby berth. Repairs to a ship may be done at a layby berth. When the ship may ice up, making it more unsafe for inspectors to board the ship, the ship comes alongside at a ‘layby berth’ for inspection as per Transport Canada regulations.

The ore dock was once connected to a train trestle, and iron ore from the mine in Atikokan was loaded onto ships.         www.midcontinentterminal.com

Canada Malting

Canada Malting makes malt.
www.canadamalting.com

Viterra A & B

Viterra A & B are grain elevators.

Thunder Bay Tug Services Ltd

Family owned and operated for over 50 years by the Dawson family. The company began as Thunder Bay Marine Services Limited in 1959, by Elliott and Wealthy Dawson. They operated a “bum boat”, or floating store, selling dry goods to vessels at anchor. Son, Gerry purchased it in 1983. Thunder Bay Tug Services was established in 1989 with a leased tug, but then purchased the tug Point Valour in 1993, which towed the James Whalen from Quebec to Thunder Bay. The tug Glenada from Sarnia, was added in 1995 to help with the increase in “ship assist” work in Thunder Bay. The tug Miseford was purchased in Port Maitland and sailed here in September 2004. Robert W. and Rosalee D. are also vessels of Thunder Bay Tug Services.

Thunder Bay Tug Services Ltd. is locally owned and operated by Captain Gerry Dawson. Its primary business is ‘ship assist’ work in the Thunder Bay Harbour, and the Glenada has also towed barges to Isle Royale.

The Tug Glenada and crew rescued two men from the propellorless Grampa Woo, off Thunder Cape in 15 foot waves in October 1996. Captain Gerry Dawson, engineer John Olson and deckhand Jim Harding were awarded Medals of Bravery by the Governor General in Ottawa in 1997 for this rescue.
www.thunderbaytugservices.ca

Thunder Bay Port Authority & Keefer Terminal

The Port of Thunder Bay is 8th on the total tonnage list of annual shipments for all Canadian Port Authorities. The Port counted 6 operating grain elevators and a malt house which directly employed more than 400 operating and management personnel supported by a further 105 persons engaged in inspection, sampling and weighing. The 2nd and 3rd largest commodity movements through the port are coal and potash. Other cargoes are salt, steel, aggregates, petroleum and liquid chemical products, and general cargo.

It operates Keefer Terminal, which includes warehouse facilities and railway marshalling yards, and administers Harbour Park subdivision. Keefer Terminal sees about 17 ships a year bringing in structural steel, wind mills and fertilizer. It is a transportation hub for the west.

Under the provisions of the Canada Marine Act, the Thunder Bay Port Authority is responsible for the operation of the Port including ice breaking, maintenance of aids to navigation and the breakwater, and dredging.
www.portofthunderbay.com

Canadian Coast Guard

The Coast Guard delivers the following programs:

  • Icebreaking
  • Boating Safety
  • Search & Rescue
  • Aids to Navigation
  • Navigable Waters Protection
  • Environmental Protection & Response

The Base at Keefer Terminal houses the maintenance center and the CCGS CAPE CHALLION crew quarters.

The lifeboat, CCGS CAPE CHALLION built in 2003, has a crew of four, twin diesels and a speed of 26 knots.
www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca

Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary

Volunteers Saving lives on the water” The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to Search and Rescue (SAR) and safe boating activities. Its mission is to provide a permanent day and night search and rescue service to cover marine requirements in Canada and prevent the loss of life and injury. To fulfill this mission, its objectives are to:

  • Save 100% of lives at risk;
  • Reduce the number and severity of SAR incidents;
  • Promote marine safety;
  • Support the Canadian Coast Guard;
  • Provide a humanitarian service;
  • Maintain the highest professional standards;
  • Promote dedication and pride of membership.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary is comprised of members who use their privately owned vessels in a volunteer capacity. The Auxiliary supplements the full-time Coast Guard, which is particularly important in areas where a Coast Guard Life Boat such as the CAPE CHALLION is not stationed.

Fort William Historical Marker

Shown here is the monument on McNaughton St., in Fort William’s East End commemorating the original site for Fort William. Beyond the railway cars is the Kaministiquia River.

Fort William Historical Park is a provincially-funded historic site operated by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism.  Through its living history program, the Fort depicts the fur trade activities of the North West Company at Fort William Historical Park, inland headquarters and site of the Company’s annual Rendezvous from 1803 – 1821. It has been rebuilt on its present location, further upstream from its original location.
www.fwhp.ca

McKellar and Mission Islands

Thunder Bay Terminals

Thunder Bay Terminals (TBT) is located at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River on McKellar Island. It is a continuous loading facility, the rail cars discharge their cargo onto a conveyor belt, and the cargo is loaded directly onto the ship. Potash and coal is shipped from TBT. Potash is a fertilizer and is mined in Saskatchewan.

Thunder Bay is the only port that ships potash in the Great Lakes.

Lakehead Tugboats

Lakehead Tugboats is locally owned and operated by Paul Lecuyer. It operates the tugs: George N. Carleton, Robert John, and Teclutsa.
www.lakeheadtugs.com

Suncor Energy

Suncor Energy is a tank frame, located on McKellar Island

Tanker vessels and railcards bring petroleum products to Suncor Energy for storage. From here, petroleum products are delivered to customers in the Thunder Bay and area.

Thunder Bay Yacht Club

The Thunder Bay Yacht Club boat yard is located on McKellar Island.

The club was founded in August 1945 with the goal to further boating in the area. It offers members such privileges as:

  • Launch and haul facilities complete with carry lift and crane and fenced winter storage  for added security on the Mission Island property;
  • Complete sail racing program with long distance and round-the-buoys races;
  • Year round social events;
  • Education and boating safety programs;
  • Youth sailing, learn to sail programs;
  • Active participants in tourism and land use planning on behalf of its members and the boating public at large; and
  • Regular newsletters.

www.tbyc.on.ca

Kam River Heritage Park
The Park celebrates the heritage of the river that Fort William was built up on. Fort William was originally located in what is now called the East End and a memorial cairn on McNaughton St. marks the location. Small lake vessels berthed along the river near Simpson St. The warehouses on Simpson Street bear witness to the past shipping activity of the region. The opening of Keefer Terminal in 1960 meant the closing of these wharfs beside Simpson St..

Sailor’s Memorial Park

The Sailors’ Memorial Park at the Kaministiquia River Park helps us to remember local merchant sailors lost in the Battle of the Atlantic in World War 2. The memorial was originally located on the N. M. Paterson & Sons property off James St. by the Kaministiquia River swing bridge.

  1. M. Paterson & Sons Ltd was a Thunder Bay shipping company. Norman McLeod Paterson purchased his first grain elevator in Fort William in 1912. His company grew to include elevators in Thunder Bay and the prairies and a marine division. The marine division closed in 2005. During World War 2, twenty of Paterson’s canellers, small ships that could transit the locks at Montreal, transported war materials. Their routes were the bauxite shuttle from the Caribbean, along the Eastern seaboard as far north as Greenland and the convoys to England. The ships lost were:
  • Kenordoc Shelled by German submarine, U-48, and sunk 15 September 1940; seven men were lost.
  • Portadoc Torpedoed by U-124, 7 April 1941; one man lost.
  • Collinddoc Sunk by a mine, 13 July 1941.
  • Mondoc Hit submerged object, sank 5 Oct 1941.
  • Sarniadoc Torpedoed by U-161 15 March 1942; all hands were lost.
  • Torondoc Torpedoed by U-69, 20 May 1942; all hands were lost.
  • Troisdoc Torpedoed by U-558, 21 May 1942; entire crew survived.
  • Prescodoc Torpedoed by U-160 29 July 1942; there were 5 survivors.
  • Hamildoc Foundered in heavy seas, 1 January 1943; all survived.
  • Soreldoc Torpedoed by U-1302, 28 February 1945; 15 lives were lost and there were 21 survivors.

Taken from The Ships of the Paterson Fleet by Gene Onchulenko and Skip Gillham, 1996 Riverbank Traders

Thunder Bay Rowing Club

The Rowing Club is located on the Kaministiquia River south west of the park. 
www.thunderbayrowingclub.com

South End
These facilities are located on the south shore of the Mission River.

Superior Elevator

Superior Elevator ships grain. It is owned by Cargill and Parrish & Heinbecker.

G3 Thunder Bay

G3 ships grain.

In the picture you can see a barge with a crane and the tug Glenda dredging the berth at G3.

www.g3.ca

MobilEx

MobilEx is a continuous loading facility, and potash and grain is shipped from there. MobilEx was formerly Valley Camp.

www.mobilexterminal.com