Pochkhanawala, who also celebrated his birthday on December 29, and his 21-member Indian crew were welcomed to Vancouver by port commissioner Brian Wolfe and port representatives Mike Schiller, Callie DeBoer, David Page and Walter Griffith.
The Saga Fortune is the second in a series of eight vessels to be delivered from Japan and Korea between November 2012 and November 2013. The vessel is classified as an open hatch box hold that is capable of traveling worldwide.
In addition, the vessel has the ability to use shore side electrical power while at berth, minimizing air pollution. Advanced ballast water treatment systems were installed, and all fuel tanks were protected with cofferdams toward the sea to provide extra protection against fuel spills, among other sustainable features.
The Saga Fortune was built by Oshima Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. of Japan and launched on November 6, 2012. The vessel is 656 feet in length and has a deadweight capacity of 56,023 metric tons, one of the largest of its kind ever to dock at the Port of Vancouver. The vessel is owned by Saga Shipholding AS of Norway and operated by Saga Forest Carriers Intl. The agent for the vessel is ACGI Shipping.
Before docking at the Port of Vancouver, the Saga Fortune sailed from Kaohsiung, Taiwan to Ulsan, South Korea, then to Los Angeles and San Francisco to discharge steel. The ship unloaded 3,693 metric tons of steel products at the Port of Vancouver before making other Columbia River stops before ultimately traveling to Vancouver B.C. and onwards to Europe with bulk and break bulk products.
