Kathryn Spirit was built as Swedish-flag Holmsund in 1967 by AB Lindholmens Varv at Gothenburg, Sweden for SCA Transport, later SCA Transforest, the shipping arm of Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget.
In 1997 Holmsund was sold to a Norwegian operator for service between the Great Lakes and Europe, and renamed Menominee [REF].