First into Montreal gets Gold-Headed Cane

The President and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority (MPA), M me Sylvie Vachon, today presented the Gold-Headed Cane to the shipping agent Denis Blondeau SMK Tanker Agency for the captain Danel Ju. Mr. Danel Ju of South Korean nationality and is the commander of Chem Sirius , going vessel to enter the Port of Montreal without a stopover in 2017.

The Chem Sirius left the port of Antwerp, Belgium, on 19 December. He spent the limits of the Port of Montreal on 1 st January to March h 16. M me Sylvie Vachon turned to the audience saying: "Just arrived in Antwerp, Belgium, Captain Ju had to start the same day to Charleston, South Carolina, on the vessel Chem Sirius . This time, when he returns home in March, it will be with the honor of winning the Cane Gold-Headed, evocative of a long tradition own port in Montreal. He will join as well, by the same fact, a select group of 177 other sailors who have traveled or still travel the world, marked by Montreal, destination port and tradition."
 
Several representatives of the shipping industry, the business community of Montreal and the policy community attended the ceremony of the 178 th delivery of the Cane Gold-Headed. We are among those invited, MP Montarville, Michel Picard, representing the Honourable Marc Garneau, Canada's Minister of Transport, the Minister for Maritime Affairs of Quebec, Mr. Jean D'Amour, and the mayor of the City of Montreal, Denis Coderre.

At its introduction in 1840, the ceremony marked the arrival of the first ocean vessel that had managed to cross the ice to reach the Port of Montreal in the spring. Today it reminds us that the Port of Montreal is open year round since 1964.

Celebrations 2017
This maritime tradition is special this year, given the celebration of 375th anniversary of the City of Montreal and the 150 th anniversary of Canada's Confederation. For this purpose, M me Sylvie Vachon said: "The Port of Montreal is at the heart of these anniversaries, and I am sure that our partners feel equally challenged by history, for maritime trade has played a key role plan in the development of the city and the country.

The Port was a founding member of the City and a motor for economic and ethno-cultural development. In addition, the port facilities in Montreal are at the heart of the settlement and development of the industrial era in Canada. Today, the delivery of the Gold-Headed Cane takes on added value, stronger this appointment with history, strong that represents the Port of Montreal, actor of the past and the present and resolutely turned the future for the benefit of all. "