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Seaway Navigation remains on course in
Welland Canal 4/30 - St. Catharines, Ontario – The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) announced that navigation remains on course in the Welland Canal after an incident at Lock 6. At 5:16 PM Sunday, while raising a vessel, a valve malfunction at Lock 6 resulted in extra water being released into Lock 5. Subsequently, the surplus water spilled onto the Welland
Canal Parkway adjacent to the canal, resulting in the roadway being closed
between Glendale Avenue and Lock 7 to all traffic. No injuries were reported
as a result of the incident. |
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Port Reports - April 30 Rochester - Tom Brewer Milwaukee - John N. Vogel Quebec - Bruno Boissonneault Hamilton - Eric Holmes Twin Ports - Al Miller & Chris Mazzella Buffalo - Brian Wroblewski Alpena & Stoneport -
Ben & Chanda McClain Benton Harbor - Greg Barber Saginaw River - Todd Shorkey |
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More prizes added to BoatNerd Freighter Raffle Five new prizes have been added to the list of things you can win in the First Annual BoatNerd Freighter Trip Raffle. Three (3) Prizes of a 1-1/2 hour sightseeing cruise of Duluth-Superior for two (2) aboard the Vista Fleet. Five (5) prizes of Two (2) tickets for Diamond Jack's River Tours on the Detroit River, departing from downtown Detroit or Wyandotte. cruise for five (5) people on a two-hour tour of the St. Clair River aboard the Huron Lady II departing from their dock in Port Huron. A weekend for two (2) at the Prize: A weekend stay for two at the Inn at Lock 7 on the Welland Canal. Two (2) prizes of a DeTour Reef Lighthouse Tour Click here for all the details and to buy your raffle tickets now. Drawing will be held June 2, at 2 p.m. at the BoatNerd World Headquarters in Port Huron. |
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Updates - April 30 News Photo Gallery updated, and more News Photo Gallery Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. Make reservations for one of the BoatNerd Gatherings |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 30 The COASTAL DELEGATE, originally built in 1945, as a.) HICKORY COLL, was
converted from a cargo vessel to a cement carrier at Hoboken, New Jersey in
1945. The rebuilt vessel entered the Great Lakes via the Mississippi River and
Illinois River. Renamed c.) PAUL H TOWNSEND in 1951. Final assembly was
completed at Chicago in 1952, for the Huron Transportation Company. |
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Port Reports - April 29 Marinette - Dick Lund
Saginaw River - Todd Shorkey |
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Updates - April 29 News Photo Gallery updated Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. Make reservations for one of the BoatNerd Gatherings |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 29 On 29 April 1875, the wooden schooner CLARA BELL of Sandusky was wrecked in
a gale off Leamington, Ontario. Captain William Robinson was drowned. |
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Sichem Aneline Underway 4/28 - Montreal - The Sichem Aneline got underway late Wednesday from Montreal, Quebec. No damage was found to her hull after running aground two weeks ago in the St Lawrence river opposite Montreal, where she had loaded Benzene for delivery to Philadelphia Pa. before her mishap. The grounding was caused by faulty steering gear. Her steering was repaired and found fit to continue her voyage to Philadelphia, Pa., Sichem Aneline was off the Gaspe coast on Thursday evening near Les
Mechins, Quebec. |
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Mark W. Barker named President of Interlake Steamship Co. 4/28 - Richfield, OH - The Board of Directors of The Interlake
Steamship Company announced today that Mark W. Barker has been elected
President, effective immediately. He succeeds James R. Barker, who will remain
as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Interlake news release |
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Port Reports - April 28 Sandusky - Jim Spencer Goderich - Jacob Smith |
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How low will it go? 4/28 - Duluth - When a lake is more than 1,300 feet deep in spots, losing 18 inches of water doesn’t seem like much of a problem. But close to shore, especially in harbors and back bays, the lowest water levels in more than 80 years are causing headaches and hardship for boaters. And low water is causing concern for some natural resources. Low water levels are restricting access to Lake Superior for big recreational boats, especially sailboats that have 6- to 8-foot keels. It’s happening around the lake, from the Grand Marais city harbor through the Twin Ports and on to Ashland and Bayfield. “We’re getting them into the water, but I’m not sure they can all get into their slips,’’ said Joel Johnson, co-owner of Lakehead Boat Basin marina in Duluth. “It’s low. I’d say its 5 inches lower than last fall when we were taking them out.’’ Officially, the lake is about 18 inches below normal, and more than a foot below the level at this time last spring. In March, the lake came within a few inches of reaching the all-time record low set in 1926. As it does every April, the lake level is moving up. But it’s not going up as much as usual. It’s possible the lake could set monthly low records this summer if rainfall across the lake’s watershed doesn’t increase. Johnson said he’s got 6 to 7 feet of clearance, enough for most sailboats. He said the marina may be forced to dredge some spots, but has to wait until June because of regulations aimed at protecting spawning fish. The problem is worse for Park Point residents and others accustomed to tying up their boats at private docks on the bay side. There, as the water drops, it also moves farther away from shore, leaving some docks with just a few inches of water below them. On the lake side of Park Point, the low water has exposed wider sand beaches. On the bay side, in the Twin Ports harbor, sand bars and mud flats have been exposed for the first time in recent memory. It’s so shallow where the Duluth Rowing Club holds its races that their oars may hit bottom. “It’s the lowest I’ve seen it, and I’ve been here since we opened in 1980,’’ said Joe Radtke, general manager of Barker’s Island Marina in Superior. The largest marina on Lake Superior with 420 slips, Barker’s Island has a naturally deep harbor and floating docks that adjust to changing water levels. Even then, Radtke said, it may be a close call for bigger boats. “We usually say we guarantee 8 feet throughout the [marina]. But there are places where it’s shallower than that now,’’ he said. The lakers and salties are leaving the Twin Ports with lighter loads as well. That means more trips, more fuel and more boats to haul the same loads. For every inch below full draft that the lake drops, the boats lose between 50 tons and 270 tons of capacity, depending on the size of the vessel. Fred Shusterich, president of Midwest Energy in Superior, this week said 1,000-footers are leaving his dock with about 59,000 tons of coal, down even from last year’s low average of 62,000 tons and way down from high-water loads of 68,000 tons. Dredging channels would help, but those programs have diminished with funding cuts. Meanwhile, near Ashland, low water in the Kakagon Sloughs backwater connected to Lake Superior is causing concern over wild rice beds. While low water on inland lakes usually means good wild rice crops, low water in the sloughs has Bad River Ojibwe authorities concerned. Dry rice beds during the growing season could reduce this year’s crop over large portions of the sloughs, said Matt O’Claire, a game warden with Bad River’s Natural Resources Department. “I’ve talked to a lot of elders, and none of them can remember when it looked like this,” O’Claire said. “Some of them, they won’t even come out here because they don’t want to see it. It’s just too painful.” Tom Doolittle, a fish and wildlife biologist, calls the changes “catastrophic.” “A lot of the sample sites for wild rice are bone dry,” he said. Because wild rice seeds can lay dormant in the lake bottom for a decade or more, the problem probably will be solved when higher water returns. But the low water also could allow more non-native plants and weeds to take root, Doolittle said. Low water isn’t just a Lake Superior issue. Precipitation over the past 12 months remains below normal, and most lakes and streams from Duluth north in Northeastern Minnesota are very low, especially near the Ontario border. That area remains locked in an extreme drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center. From the Duluth News Tribune |
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Preservation group gets Toledo Harbor lighthouse deed 4/28 - Toledo - A nonprofit preservation group that wants to turn the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse into a tourist attraction has been granted the deed to the historic structure. Lucas County Recorder Jeanine Perry presented the deed to the Toledo Lighthouse Preservation Society last night during its meeting in the Maumee Bay State Park Lodge. The nonprofit organization’s application for ownership of the lighthouse, located about seven miles out on Lake Erie, was approved in October by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. After all the paperwork has been completed, the society’s fund-raising campaign to restore and preserve the 102-year-old lighthouse can move forward, said Sandy Bihn, president of the preservation society. She said the next step would be to build an access dock and a ramp for the lighthouse using grant money from the Lake Erie Protection Fund. The preservation society’s mission is to preserve, restore, maintain, and provide public access to the lighthouse. The process to acquire it took about a year. From the Toledo Blade |
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Buffalo Ethanol Plant update 4/28 - Buffalo - The RiverWright Ethanol Plant Project took a major step forward on Wednesday. The City of Buffalo Planning Board determined that no further environmental impact studies were required since developers supplied enough information in their initial review. The next day the Zoning Board OK'd a variance to allow for storage of up to 2.8 million gallons of flamable material on the site. The project will now go before the City Council on May 1st. Reported by Brian Wroblewski |
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Port board to consider taking over SS
Boyer 4/28 - Toledo - An ad hoc committee of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority's board of directors will review a proposal for the agency to take over the city-owned SS Willis B. Boyer museum ship, which city officials say they can no longer afford to maintain. "As of June 30, I am done. And without a director, the Boyer is done," Paul LaMarre III, executive director of the floating freighter museum in International Park, told the port board during its monthly meeting yesterday morning. Mr. LaMarre manages the ship under contract with the city and said it was "a serious, serious fight" just to keep the city job through June. Mr. LaMarre proposed a $100,000 budget for the ship, including $50,000 for his salary and other administrative costs, along with basic operational and maintenance expenses. An application for a $300,000 federal grant to pay for a hull survey, repairs, and painting awaits a pending Boyer designation as a National Historic Landmark, he said. William Carroll, the president of the port board, said the directors' action on the Boyer proposal will be "a very visible decision" before recommending that a special committee study the matter. After the board approved that idea, Mr. Carroll and board members A. Bailey Stanbery, Bruce Baumhower, Daniel Smith, Michael Frank, and Brian Bucher volunteered for the committee. Mr. Stanbery suggested that future meetings concerning the Boyer be held aboard the museum ship, which is docked at a Maumee River wharf where Mr. LaMarre said the ship took on its first cargo, a then-record shipment of coal, after being built in 1911. Launched as the Col. James M. Schoonmaker, the ship was the world's largest freighter at that time. Mr. LaMarre said the freighter, decommissioned in 1980, is a vital part of Toledo's heritage and, with some aggressive marketing, could become a valuable tourism draw. Asked why the city, which acquired it in 1986, can't preserve such a resource itself, Mr. LaMarre described the Boyer as a fiscal stepchild, a situation that has reached the breaking point with Toledo's current budget crisis. "The Boyer is an extra," said Don Moline, a city utilities commissioner who now oversees the Boyer, told the board. "It's a wonderful extra, but it's an extra. … Right now we're trying to keep police and fire." And Mark Sobczak, a Toledo councilman, said that while he's willing to join a campaign to rally charitable support from maritime-oriented businesses in Toledo, city money isn't there for the Boyer any more. "We're committed to it; we just don't have the resources," he said. Mr. Carroll encouraged Mr. Moline, Mr. Sobczak, and others interested in the Boyer's future to attend the ad hoc committee's meetings. No date for the first such meeting was announced. From the Toledo Blade |
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Canadian Institute of Marine Engineering announces round table discussion 4/28 - The Canadian Institute of Marine Engineering who are hosting the Mari-Tech 2007 Conference and Trade show May 30th - June 1st at the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel in Niagara Falls Ontario are please to announce the participants of the round table to take place on the afternoon May 31st at 13:00. Short Sea Shipping as a key component of a successful transportation network will be discussed by Mr. Lysander Lantain, Senior Policy Adviser Unit Maritime Shipping, Ministry of Transport, The Netherlands. The presentation will be followed by a Round Table on the Short Sea Shipping in the Great Lakes. For more information please visit http://www.cimare.org/
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Updates - April 28 News Photo Gallery updated Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. Make reservations for one of the BoatNerd Gatherings |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 28 On 28 April 1891, the whaleback barge 110 (steel barge, 265 foot, 1,296
gross tons) was launched by the American Steel Barge Co. in W. Superior,
Wisconsin. In 1907, she went to the Atlantic Coast and lasted until she
suffered an explosion, then sank after burning, near the dock of Cities
Service Export Oil Co., at St. Rose, Louisiana, on March 3, 1932. |
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Nindawayma and Windoc to be barges? 4/27 - Unconfirmed reports indicate that the former car ferry Nindawayma and the fire damaged bulker Windoc, could both become barges. It is alleged that the engines from Nindawayma will be removed, sent to China for rehabilitation, and installed in a new tug that is under construction for a Canadian company. The new tug will be mated with a new petroleum products barge similar to the Norman McLeod. Windoc is presently at IMS in Port Colborne and Nindawayma arrived at the Port Weller Drydock on Thursday. Reported by Kent Malo |
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Port Reports - April 27 Sandusky - Jim Spencer Milwaukee - John N. Vogel South Chicago - Brian Z. Soo - Jerry Masson |
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Low Inventories = Slow March for Limestone 4/27 - Cleveland - The mild weather that prevailed in November and December of 2006 enabled Great Lakes limestone quarries to ship most of their current production and stockpiles. As a result, when the stone trade resumed in late March, there was little product to ship from inventories. Therefore, stone cargos totaled only 200,000 net tons, a significant decrease from a year ago and the month’s 5-year average. Year-to-date, the gap with 2006 is much smaller and the 445,000 tons loaded through March are essentially on par with the 5-year average for the first quarter. Source - Lake Carriers Association |
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Cliffs’ iron ore shipments dip in first quarter 4/27 - Duluth - Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. on Wednesday reported first-quarter iron ore shipments were down compared to 2006. However, company officials expect steel and iron ore demand to remain strong this year. In the first quarter this year, the Cleveland-based iron ore supplier shipped 2.6 million tons of iron ore from its North American mines, compared to 2.9 million tons during the same period last year. Iron ore pellet production at Hibbing Taconite slipped from 2 million tons in the first quarter of 2006 to 1.2 million tons in 2007 because its water supply froze, which forced the plant to shut down from mid-February to mid-March. Production at the Tilden Mine in Upper Michigan declined to 1.4 million tons from 1.7 million tons due to unscheduled equipment repairs. United Taconite production was up about 200,000 tons, to 1.2 million tons, compared to 2006, and Northshore Mining Co. produced 1.3 million tons, the same as in 2006. Total pellet production at the six mines was 7.4 million tons, compared to
8 million tons in the first quarter of 2006. Cliffs’ six mines are projected to produce more than 35 million tons of iron ore pellets in 2007, with Cliffs’ share of that at 22 million tons. Production at its Portman iron ore operation in Australia is expected to be 8.4 million tons. A settlement in world pellet prices for 2007 is projected to increase Cliffs’ average pellet sales by 63 cents a ton compared to 2006. As of March 31, Cliffs had $118.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $351.7 million on Dec. 31, 2006. In March, Cliffs acquired 30 percent interest in a Brazilian ore operation for an initial investment of $133 million. In 2007, Cliffs plans to spend $240 million on the project. Reported by Al Miller from the Duluth News-Tribune |
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Twin Ports coal shipping lags behind ’06 4/27 - Duluth - Twin Ports coal shipments are off to a slower start this year compared to 2006. During March 2007, the Midwest Energy Resources Co. terminal in Superior loaded 12 vessels with nearly 578,000 tons of coal, about nine percent less than the 635,000 tons of coal the same facility poured into 13 freighters during the same month last year. Fred Shusterich, Midwest’s president, said the market for coal remains strong but is slightly softer than last year, as most power plants are entering the spring with a decent inventory of coal on hand. He credited improved rail service and a relatively mild winter for the stronger coal supplies. But Shusterich said more coal would be moving on the lakes were it not for low water levels. Lake Superior is down about 18 inches from its historical average. Midwest is loading vessels about 3 percent to 5 percent lighter than last year due to low water levels, Shusterich said. He said shallow points in the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron — namely, the Rock and Mud cuts — are forcing lakers to reduce their loads. “The lack of adequate dredging has made the effects of the drought that much more pronounced,” Shusterich said. He said the average 1,000-footer now is taking about 59,000 tons of coal, as compared with about 62,000 tons last year. Given sufficient water depths, the same vessels could carry about 68,000 tons of coal. Midwest’s facility in Superior remains the busiest coal terminal on the Great Lakes. Other coal operations on the St. Lawrence Seaway have had an even weaker start to the shipping season. System-wide, coal shipments totaled 1.2 million tons in March — 28 percent less than during the same month in 2006. While Shusterich said Midwest may be hard pressed to match its performance in 2006, which was a record year for shipments, he remains confident this will be another solid year for the terminal. Reported by Al Miller from the Duluth News-Tribune |
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Zenith Tug sinks two Tugboats in the North Atlantic 4/27 - During the past two months, the Duluth-based Zenith Tugboat Company has scuttled a series of vessels in the waters off South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean. The sinkings are part of an on-going contract Zenith has had, to construct artificial reefs for fish habitat and sport diving along the East Coast. On March 19th, the 110-foot railroad tug Dalzell 3 took the final plunge to her grave, at the Betsy Ross reef site, 12 nautical miles southeast of Port Royal sound. The gigantic tug stood 3-stories tall above the waterline and had to be cut down to meet the height requirements for the reef. Crews from Zenith Tug cut and removed the two upper levels including the wheelhouse and set them on the aft deck to sink with the rest of the boat. Her 8400-pound smoke-stack, which stood two-stories tall, was cut off and sent down the road to a local scrap yard. On April 23rd, the 101-foot former Navy YTB-391, was put to rest on the Greenville reef 18 nautical miles southeast of Winyah Bay, near Georgetown, SC. This classic WW-II era Naval vessel is an exact twin to Gaelic Tug's Shannon, based in Detroit. After her military career, she was sold at auction and worked in civilian ownership as the Joey, and most recently the Eagle, before being arrested for crew wages and tied up in Charleston. Zenith Tug purchased the vessel as a parts source for Cleveland diesel parts and DC electrical components. She now serves as a giant condominium for multiple species of fish. All of the vessels sunk by Zenith are stripped of all useable parts for reuse on the company's operating tugs or re-sold to other tugboat companies. Most collectable items hit the eBay market and disappear quickly. Fuel is also filtered and sold into the local markets where the reef preparations are being made. Stripped to a hulk and cleaned spotless, these beautiful tugboats, now
simply referred to as "reef material" are towed out to the specified
coordinates by Zenith's ocean-going tug Victor J. Altman. After the vessel is
put on anchor, crews begin flooding the bow tanks with pumps on board the
Victor. After the bow is sinking nicely, two guys will enter the engine room,
bust the piping, open the sea chests, then quickly vacate the dark
dungeon-like space while water gushes in. Over the years, Zenith Tug has scuttled 12 vessels purposely as Underwater Preserve dive attractions or artificial reef construction. Sad as it is to see these old tugboats meet their demise, it is the opinion of many that vessels can be preserved underwater just as well as above. The reef material will be there for another 50 to 100 years for divers to enjoy, in roughly 80 to 90 feet of water. On the Great Lakes, intentional sinkings would last virtually forever, without the corrosive saltwater taking its toll. Zenith's contract will be completed successfully by mid-May with the sinking of two barges near the North Carolina boarder. Once complete, the Victor J. Altman will return to the Great Lakes, awaiting yet another round of reefing her former fleet-mates. |
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MSRA Resumes Search for Lost Airliner 4/27 - South Haven, MI - The search for Northwest Airlines flight
2501, which crashed into Lake Michigan in 1950, resumes this week in South
Haven. Holland-based Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates (MSRA) again will
be joined by a three man team from author Clive Cussler’s NUMA organization to
comb the big lake using side scan sonar equipment and a highly sensitive
marine magnetometer in an attempt to locate the wreckage. |
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Father-son team almost ready to return tugboat to service on the Saginaw River 4/27 - Bay City - The tugboat Capama-S has slept in its wooden cradle for 17 years, on dry ground, on Bay City's Middlegrounds island. But Scott Causley and his son, Chad, plan to put her back in the water in May - with a new purpose, new paint and a new name. ''It'll be called the Jill Marie, after my wife,'' Scott Causley said. ''She works hard. I'm hoping the boat will do the same.'' If the 40-ton vessel goes back on the water, the Jill Marie would become the oldest working tugboat on the Great Lakes, according to area marine historians. Workers built the boat as a fishing tug in 1891 in Cleveland. ''This tugboat is 21 years older than the Titanic, but don't use the word 'Titanic' because it makes people nervous,'' said Scott Causley, 51, of Bay City, owner of Causley Contracting, a marine-contracting business. The 62-foot-long Jill Marie, repainted in the Causley Contracting colors of red and black, will frequent the Saginaw River around Bay City, for now. ''We'll restrict the boat's travel to the Saginaw River for a year, just to get all the bugs worked out,'' Scott Causley said. While the boat originally came with a steam engine, workers updated it with a diesel engine decades later. ''That motor is a Cleveland Diesel engine out of a U.S. Navy World War II minesweeper,'' Scott Causley said. ''The engine probably weighs 10 tons, but it's real quiet and smooth, with low rpm.'' Bob Stender, 69, of Bay City, would agree. ''When that big engine runs, it purrs like a kitten. Even now,'' said Stender, who worked on the Capama-S in the 1960s when his uncle, the late William Stender, owned the tugboat. The tug still sits at William W. Stender Inc., a marine-contracting business owned by William W. Stender Jr. of Monitor Township. Both Bob Stender and William Stender Jr., his cousin, spent nights on the tug in decades past, sleeping in one of four beds in the boat's galley. ''I also spent a lot of days, and some nights, in the engine room,'' Bob Stender said. ''We went to Oscoda and Grand Haven, and other places, on jobs. My dad (the late Floyd Stender Sr.) and I were the engineers.'' William Stender Jr., 67, said the tugboat, originally named the Cisco and built for Booth Fisheries in Chicago, has done work on all five Great Lakes. A check of more than 200 tugboats listed in Greenwood's and Dills' Lake Boats 2002 - a guide to commercial vessels on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway - shows no tugboats as old as the one owned by the Causleys. After William Stender bought the tug in the early 1950s, he changed its name to Capama-S, according to his son. ''We had to come up with a name that would mention my three sisters, so the 'CA' stood for Claire Ann, the 'PA' stood for Patricia and the 'MA' was for Marilyn, my twin sister,'' William Stender Jr. said. ''The 'S' stood for Stender.'' William Stender Jr. pulled the boat out of the water in 1990, resting it on a wooden cradle so prospective buyers could view the vessel's hull. After a few years, a buyer purchased it, but never returned it to the water. William Stender Jr., though, let the boat remain at his family business on the Middlegrounds. Scott Causley bought the tug last year, sandblasting and painting the hull, and firming up the hull with new metal panels. The Causleys plan to leave the tugboat's 4-foot-high wood-and-brass wheel in place. A ''Weather Bulletin'' chalkboard in the boat's pilothouse - allowing captains to list storm warnings and lake conditions - may have come with the original boat, according to Scott Causley. Chad Causley, 27, of Bay City, said he plans to obtain his captain's license this summer to pilot the vessel, but his father will guide the tug until then. The Causleys plan to show off their vessel to large crowds along the Saginaw River this summer. ''We'll try to get her downtown for Bay City's fireworks so people can see her,'' Scott Causley said. The Stender clan - Bill Stender Jr., his son, William Stender III, and
grandson, William Stender IV - will keep their eyes on the tug's return. ''I
knew she'd probably go back on the lakes, but I didn't think it would be
around here,'' William Stender Jr. said. ''Now I can tell my grandson 'Hey,
your great-grandfather had that tug.''' |
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More prizes added to BoatNerd Freighter Raffle 4/25 - Four new prizes have been added to the list of things you can
win in the First Annual BoatNerd Freighter Trip Raffle. |
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Still Time to make your Badger BoatNerd Gathering
Reservations May 25-26 - Boatnerd Badger Gathering - A round-trip crossing of Lake Michigan from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin on Saturday, May 26, 2007, aboard the Lake Michigan Carferry SS Badger. Stay aboard the Badger on Friday night. Some rooms still available. Optional Wisconsin Shoreline Cruise on Saturday. April 30 is the extended deadline for reservations Go to the Boatnerd Gatherings page for all the details and reservation forms. |
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Updates - April 27 News Photo Gallery updated and more News Photo Gallery Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. Make reservations for one of the BoatNerd Gatherings |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 27 In 1912, the CHARLES S PRICE became the first boat to deliver a cargo of
iron ore at the new Pennsylvania ore dock in the Cleveland outer harbor. The
504-foot PRICE was lost on Lake Huron during the Big Storm of November 9 Ð 13,
1913. |
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Nindawayma tow continues 4/26 - 10:00am Update - The tow is in Lock One at this time. 4/26 - The tow of the Nindawayma is off Port Weller at 6:30 am Thursday. The tow is schedule to arrive at Lock One at 8:15am. |
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Fire damages combat ship 4/26 - MARINETTE -- A fire Wednesday morning damaged the mess hall on Littoral Combat Ship 1, Freedom, which is under construction for the U.S. Navy at Marinette Marine Corp. A spokesperson for Lockheed-Martin, the company that heads the construction team building the first-in-class, 377- foot, coastal water combat ship, said the cause of the fire is under investigation and the extent of the damage is being assessed. The fire was discovered by Marinette Marine employees shortly before 5:30 a.m. They immediately called the Marinette Fire Department. Two workers, who initially responded to the fire, suffered smoke inhalation. They were taken to Bay Area Medical Center where they were treated and released later in the morning. Firefighters from Marinette and Menominee encountered moderate smoke coming from one of the ship's hatchways, Interim Fire Chief Gary Guenette reported. The smoke was present throughout the ship's second and lower decks. The fire was located in the ship's 30-by-30 foot mess hall, about mid-ship on the first floor below the ship's deck. Firefighters entered the ship and attacked the fire with a hose line. "The interior of the mess hall (was burning)," Guenette said. "Everything -- the wall lining, plastics, wiring -- everything that could possibly light, lit." It took about an hour for firefighters to take control of the fire and extinguish it totally. Fire damage was confined to the mess hall. Guenette said the fire did not appear to warp the ship's steel structure. Smoke damage was moderate to heavy in the area of the fire. "There are multiple compartments on the port side of the ship that have been affected," said Dean Nolden, the vice president of finance for Manitowoc Company, the parent company of Marinette Marine. "It's still too early to determine the dollar amount of the damage or (construction) schedule impact." The cause of the fire is under investigation. Guenette said it was probably ignited by "hot work" -- a worker welding, grinding or using some other heat producing tool. Except for the two smoke inhalation victims, there were no other injuries. "All people were accounted for early in the morning," Nolden said. Firefighters were on board the ship until just before noon. All off-duty Marinette firefighters were called in and the Peshtigo Fire Department was called to provide additional manpower and cover any other fire calls that might have come in. Local rescue squads were also asked to respond to the scene. The construction of LCS 1, Freedom, has been plagued by a cost overrun estimated at anywhere from $130 to $155 million above its original $220 million price tag. It was the primary reason why the Navy this month canceled construction of an identical ship, LCS 3, at the Bollinger shipyards in Louisiana. LCS 1 Freedom is about 80 percent complete. From the Marinette Eagle-Herald |
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Port Reports - April 26 Lorain - C. Mackin Goderich - Dale Baechler Saginaw River - Todd
Shorkey |
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Leader floats plan to assist Boyer; 4/26 - Toledo - The SS Willis B. Boyer museum ship is looking for safe harbor, and it has until June 30 to get there. Paul LaMarre III, the executive director of the floating freighter museum at International Park, will make a pitch Thursday to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board of directors to take over ownership from the cash-strapped city of Toledo. Mr. LaMarre's goal is to have the ship placed under the port authority's control and then leased, for $1 a year, to a nonprofit board of maritime enthusiasts and historians who would raise money and provide volunteer labor. "We are building a board of maritime professionals, marine historians, as well as people who have a direct interest in Toledo's history and future," Mr. LaMarre said. Until 2004, the ship was run by a nonprofit group, International Park of Greater Toledo Inc., the successor of the nonprofit Toledo-A-Float, which was formed to run the ship after it was acquired by the city in 1986. Former Mayor Jack Ford had a falling out with the nonprofit board and took the ship under city control. Since then, it has been through a succession of directors. Mr. LaMarre said instability under the city's ownership and the lack of coordination with a base of volunteers who would be willing to help maintain the ship are threatening its future. His contract as a seasonal city employee to maintain and operate the floating museum ends June 30. "If the Boyer loses a director or permanent direction, we will lose the Boyer," Mr. LaMarre said. "It will be transformed from a museum ship to a derelict ship sitting on Toledo's waterfront," he said. He contends that the port authority, with its interest in the maritime industry, is the logical owner of the Boyer. Mr. LaMarre tried last fall to steer the ship's finances into calmer waters. He held a meeting to try to launch a fund-raising drive to provide an operating budget of $100,000 a year, and $261,000 in capital improvements. City officials have credited Mr. LaMarre with making needed repairs to the ship. Some of those repairs included pumping out its hull and re-floating the ship after it had sunk into the muck below the Maumee. James Hartung, president of the port authority, said he is sympathetic to Mr. LaMarre, but whether the port authority can take over ownership is up to the board, not him. "I'm a very passionate supporter of preserving the Boyer and the legacy of what that ship symbolizes. But this is the port authority. We operate on board affirmation of any proposal," he said. He said the big question for the board, which could be referred to a committee or for him to investigate, is how much of a financial liability the museum would become. Don Moline, a city utilities commissioner who is overseeing the Boyer project, said he hopes the port authority agrees to take over the ship. He said the city can't afford it anymore. "The Boyer has never been adequately funded to keep it going," he said. "It's time to be taken over by someone who can take better care of it than us." Mr. LaMarre said the Boyer is the most historic ship floating on the Great Lakes. When launched in 1911, under the name Col. James M. Schoonmaker, it was the largest bulk freighter in the world. The former freighter is tied up in International Park and is open for tours. From the Toledo Blade |
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First Coal Cargo Comes Up Way Short 4/26 - Cleveland - If the first coal cargo of the 2007 shipping season
is any indication of the months ahead, the dredging crisis and low water
levels will take a major toll on the trade. |
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S.S. Badger Adds Themed Cruises, 4/26 - Ludington, Mich. –As the 2007 sailing season gets underway on May 11, passengers on the S.S. Badger car ferry will discover new activities and amenities that reflect Lake Michigan Carferry’s “Big Ship, More Fun!” philosophy. Improvements to the ship itself will also be apparent as the Badger begins its’ fifty-fourth year of reliable service. During summer sailings (June 8-September 3), the Badger will be featuring themed cruises, with an emphasis on family entertainment. The special themes will include “Pirate Ship”, “Christmas in July”, and “Badger Beach Party”. Activities coordinators will be present during day sailings to guide theme-related children’s activities in designated areas. “Parents will be able to relax with confidence, knowing their children are having a unique and fun-filled experience aboard the Badger” stated Magee Johnson, Director of Media Relations. “Badger Buddies meals for kids are also new this season.” “We have learned from our customer comment cards that passengers of all ages would enjoy a greater variety of both food and entertainment options, and we are happy to oblige,” said Johnson. An expanded menu will be available this year as well as new games and music. The Badger’s upper aft-end lounge has undergone a complete transformation and has a fresh new look and name. The Cabana Room features a revamped color scheme, new flooring and furniture and a casual “beach” feel. “The laid-back and tranquil ambiance makes the Cabana Room the perfect place to unwind, read a book, or have coffee and conversation all while enjoying the beautiful view of Lake Michigan,” said Johnson. The Badger can accommodate 620 passengers and 180 vehicles including RV’s, motorcycles, group tour coaches and trucks. Special discounts for groups of 25 or more are available. The 410-foot S.S. Badger, the largest car ferry on Lake Michigan, continues to offer a wide range of amenities for passengers of all ages, including spacious outside deck areas for strolling, relaxing in the fresh air, or walking laps for fitness (six laps equals one mile). It also boasts four main lounges with a variety of seating and table space, two restaurants, two bar areas, a children’s play room, video arcade, private staterooms, free movies, bingo and satellite television. Free Wi-Fi is available at both terminals. For sailing schedule and fare information visit www.ssbadger.com. S/S Badger news release |
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Canadian seal hunters trapped by ice 4/26 - St. John's, Newfoundland - Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers smashed through a massive expanse of ice off Newfoundland's northeast coast Wednesday in a bid to free about 100 seal hunt vessels. About 15 vessels were in danger of having the Atlantic ice pierce their hulls, said Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesman Phil Jenkins. The thick, moving ice poses the danger of sandwiching and cracking the boats. "There's an onshore wind that is compacting the ice," Jenkins said. "These boats are on their way back from sealing and then got stuck in the ice. One crew had to abandon their vessel and got picked up by the coast guard." The Newfoundland part of Canada's controversial seal hunt is the third and largest stage of the hunt. The total quota for all three phases is 270,000 animals. Fishermen sell seal pelts mostly for the fashion industry in Norway, Russia and China, as well as blubber for oil, earning about $78 per seal. The hunt has drawn widespread criticism, including from celebrities such as Paul McCartney and French actress Brigitte Bardot. The United States has banned Canadian seal products since 1972 and the European Union banned the white pelts of baby seals in 1983. Brian Penney, a superintendent with the Coast Guard in Newfoundland and Labrador, said helicopters could be called in to rescue stranded crews as a northeast wind continues to jam the ice floes together. Fishermen say it's rare when ice conditions are this bad. "Ice conditions are some of the most severe we've seen in 25 to 30 years," said Frank Pinhorn, executive director of the Canadian Sealers Association. "I've talked to a lot of sealers and they've got holes punched in their new boats and they're taking on water." The coast guard is trying to get supplies to those vessels that are "in most dire straits," said Penney, who added that fuel and supplies are running low. Penney said many of the crews are reluctant to abandon their vessels as most sealers consider that option a last resort. From MSNBC |
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Updates - April 26 News Photo Gallery updated Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. Make reservations for one of the BoatNerd Gatherings |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 26 On 26 April 1859, the wooden schooner A SCOTT was carrying limestone blocks
for a large Presbyterian church being built at Vermilion, Ohio. The vessel was
driven ashore near Vermilion by a gale and was quickly pounded to pieces. Her
insurance had expired about ten days earlier. No lives were lost. |
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Port Reports - April 25 Twin Ports - Al Miller Soo - Bonnee Srigley |
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Nindawayma tow 9:30am - 4/25 Update - The tow is on the move again at 9:30 am. They have an ETA of 1:00pm Wednesday for C.I.P. Cross Over Island.
It remains there at 8:00am Wednesday morning with no ETA for the next check-in point. |
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Updates - April 25 News Photo Gallery updated Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 25 On a cold, overcast morning in 1959, 25 vessels were lined up below the St.
Lambert lock waiting for the Seaway to open. At 8:50am, the Canadian
icebreaker DÕIBERVILLE entered the lock followed by the Canadian icebreaker
MONTCALM. These two boats were followed by the Canadian canaller SIMCOE, the
PRESCODOC, and the PRINS WILLEM GEORGE FREDERIK (the first salty). The
HUMBERDOC became the first vessel to completely transit the new Seaway in the
downbound direction. |
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Nindawayma tow underway 4/24 - 9 a.m. Update - Tuesday morning the tow is moving again. There was a lull in the traffic and the weather is very calm so they have good conditions in which to travel. Reported by Kent Malo 4/23 - 11 p.m. Update - The tow remains secured at the Port of Valleyfield, Quebec, with no ETA for the next CIP listed. No other information is available. 4/23 - Montreal - The Nindawayma tow stopped at Beauharnois after leaving Cote Ste Catherines early Sunday morning. A tug position change was made. The Commodore Straights moved to the front as the lead tug, and Radium Yellowknife took her new position at the rear behind Nindawayma. This arrangement apparently did not work out. At the St. Louis bridge, the Nindawayma started to swing violently on the approach. They were about to turn back when the Isolda, who was checking her speed, was close to the bridge and went through the bridge first, as would be the norm here with the East bound current, and met the tow in the canal. The tow stopped on Sunday, at Valleyfield, Quebec, to make the tow more stable. The tow was still stopped at 11 p.m. on Sunday. Earlier reports had the work boat Ours Polaire (Radium
Yellowknife towed to Montreal) was reported with the upbound tow, was not seen. |
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Port Reports - April 24 Lorain - C. Mackin Alpena - Ben & Chanda McClain Milwaukee -
Paul Erspamer St. Clair
River - Stewart R. Mac Donald Ryerson
Watch |
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Coast Guard cutter needs fix 4/24 - Duluth - The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alder could soon be leaving its dock, hopefully under its own power. The federal government Friday awarded a contract to a Chesapeake, Va., diving company to repair the cutter in the water at its dock. The craft is an important part of Duluth’s fleet, responsible for icebreaking, search and rescue and aids to navigation duties. “They are supposed to be up here around Thursday to start taking a look at us,” said Lt. J.G. Kenny Pepper, the Alder’s spokesman. The Alder has remained at its dock since March with a boom floating behind its stern to contain any hydraulic fluid leaking though a bad seal in the ship's controllable pitch propeller system. The problem with the Alder was discovered during machinery trials on March 8. An examination determined that a seal at the base of one of the propeller's four blades was leaking. Initial efforts to repair the leak were unsuccessful. “I haven’t heard of any of the other cutters having this problem,” said Chief Robert Lanier, spokesmen with the Coast Guard’s district offices in Cleveland. Operating the Alder with the leak could result in a release of oil and damage to the propeller. To avoid that, icebreaking duties in the harbor fell upon the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Biscayne Bay, based in St. Ignace, Mich. Repairing the problem will require workers to loosen blade, replacing the seal and retightening the bolts that hold the blade in place. If divers are unable to accomplish the task, the Alder will have to go into dry dock. The Coast Guard considered putting the Alder in dry dock before deciding to try divers first. In deciding how to repair the Alder, Coast Guard officials had to consider what qualified shipyards wanted the job, how soon they could do the job and how much it would cost. “Those three factors played into where we were looking to get the repairs done, in answering ‘Are we are going to go to a dry dock or can we get it done by divers?’” said Lanier said. “Our main goal is to get the ship repaired, back to 100 percent, and get it out on the water,” Lanier said. “But we have to be stewards of the public’s money. So we want to make sure that it’s done properly but no money is wasted.” Officials with Fraser Shipyards talked to the Coast Guard, but did not put in a bid to repair the Alder, Gene Walroos, Fraser's general superintendent, said. The Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation Team has begun placing navigational buoys in the Twin Ports using their 49–foot boat. The Alder isn’t responsible for buoys in the harbor, although it will help place and remove them, Pepper said. “Our buoys are out on the lake and in Lake Michigan,” he said. The 225–foot, 2,000–ton Alder was launched in 2004 in Marinette, Wis. It was stationed in Duluth to replace the World War II–era Sundew. According to the Alder’s Web site, the Juniper Class Seagoing Buoy Tender is capable of performing icebreaking, search and rescue, aids to navigation, security and law enforcement duties. It is also equipped with an oil–skimming system to help clean up oil spills. Reported by Al Miller from the Duluth News Tribune |
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Officials see container cargo as boon to port 4/24 - Cleveland - The relentless growth of ship-borne container cargo on the East and West coasts could be a boon to Cleveland's port, officials say. Within five years, Cleveland could capture a chunk of the container-cargo traffic that threatens to overwhelm roads and rail lines at ports like New York and Los Angeles, says Stephen Pfeiffer, head of maritime operations for the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. Cleveland's underused port handles iron ore, stone and steel but none of the containerized goods -- from auto parts and clothing to patio furniture and beer -- that pours around the clock from Europe and Asia into North America's big coastal ports. Pfeiffer and others who yearn for more shipping on the Great Lakes believe containers are coming. The Port Authority's plans should include investments in land and machinery to handle containers, they say. It's one reason new Port Authority Director Adam Wasserman has put the brakes on an $850,000 study to relocate the port, originally due in February. The city's lakefront master plan shows the port moving its operations east of the river to the west, freeing up prime real estate north and west of Cleveland Browns Stadium for development. The port's move west would be accommodated by using Cuyahoga River dredgings to build an island outside the breakwall, the master plan shows. The costly move, decades in the making, is not written in stone. The port's consultant is reviewing seven sites, including land near Burke Lakefront Airport. As part of the relocation study, Wasserman wants expert opinion on Cleveland's prospects for increased trade within the Great Lakes, called short-sea shipping. "The question is, do we want to be a significant maritime port or not," Wasserman said. Some critics have accused the Port Authority of letting maritime business slip while focusing on financial development. The port has signed dozens of business-development deals since the mid-1990s. A potential boon to the port's maritime fortunes has been in the works for years. The port spent some $1 million to study and pursue a Cleveland-to-Canada ferry that would move trucks and tourists. That project still awaits approval and funding on the Canadian side. A growing crisis at North America's big ports could work in Cleveland's favor, too. Container cargo - borne by massive, ocean-going freighters - is increasing at 8 percent a year and has been doubling every nine years. Moving containers to the country's interior could soon outstrip the capacity of roads and rails leading out of the big ports, officials say. To relieve the congestion, smaller freighters could shuttle containers
bound for the heartland by steaming down the St. Lawrence Seaway and into
Great Lakes ports, like Cleveland. "It's going to happen," says Terry
Johnston, administrator of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. Short-sea merchants face hurdles in competing with trucks and trains,
including the federal harbor-maintenance tax, assessed on cargo transported
between U.S. ports and other countries. Locally, the Cleveland port would need 60 more acres and specialized cranes to handle a steady stream of container cargo, the port's Pfeiffer said. It could be among myriad future ventures the Port Authority board considers while sizing up its next tax request. The current 0.13-mill levy, generating some $3 million a year, expires in 2008. The port has the ability to ask voters for up to 1 mill, or about $32 million a year. Container cargo at the Cleveland port would be another link to the global market and a competitive advantage, Pfeiffer said. "Cleveland is searching for a way to separate itself from other cities its size," he said. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer |
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Ban ocean vessels in lakes? Some are
floating the idea 4/24 - Milwaukee - The idea of banning oceangoing vessels from the Great Lakes to halt the onslaught of invasive species would have been universally dismissed as nonsense just a few years ago. Not anymore. Frustrated with ocean freighters dumping invasive species that are ravaging native fisheries, despoiling prized beaches and costing water-dependent industries billions of dollars, the conservation group Great Lakes United proposed an overseas-freighter ban in late March, the day before the St. Lawrence Seaway was rousted from its winter slumber for its 49th season. The group argues that the idea of slamming shut the Seaway to oceangoing "salties" has become an environmental and economic no-brainer, like padlocking a struggling little factory that is ruining life for everyone in town because it won't fix its oversize smokestack. The concept is fraught with legal issues, not the least of which is the fact that the United States must coordinate any such decision with Canada, co-owner of the Seaway. But it is also picking up steam - on both sides of the political aisle. "Three years ago, I'd have said, 'That's a little radical.' Now it's probably more realistic," says Patty Birkholz, a Michigan Republican state senator who has pushed for greater ballast regulation. The overseas shipping industry acknowledges there is a problem and says it's time to pass a new federal law to phase in ballast treatment systems. But the industry is burning much of the lingering sympathy it has enjoyed by suing the State of Michigan over its efforts to address the ballast problem on its own with a new law restricting contaminated discharges. Great Lakes United isn't proposing a permanent ban on oceangoing vessels. But it has taken the extreme position that the ships should be blocked from the Great Lakes until they are equipped with sterilization systems for their ballast tanks, something the shipping industry says will take time to develop. "I'd personally be very much for outlawing the salties," says Racine Mayor Gary Becker, vice chairman of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Becker says he'd welcome the boats back once they figure out how to stop polluting the lakes. He makes it clear he is not speaking for the binational coalition of Great Lakes mayors, but says many colleagues agree that continuing to allow oceangoing traffic at this point "just doesn't make a lot of sense." More than shipping Recreational boating, in fact, might well be the most important industry floating on the big lakes, according to a draft study by the Army Corps of Engineers. Following a directive from Congress in 1999, the Army Corps has finally come up with a figure that recreational boat owners have been wondering about for more than a decade. The agency known for its focus on big engineering projects for commercial navigation says those little boats are a $5.5 billion business in the Great Lakes. The report says the eight Great Lakes states are home to 4.3 million private boats, about a third of the U.S. total. Nearly a quarter of them are owned by individuals who live in counties along the Great Lakes shoreline. The average owner spends about $3,600 per year on boating. Yet commercial navigation clearly remains the Army Corps' priority. Just a few years ago, the corps suggested looking at a $10 billion expansion of the Seaway to accommodate bigger vessels. The agency backed off after a public outcry. Costly proposition Yet, because of invasive species, some see these navigation projects as being at cross purposes with the interests of the recreational boating industry. "The federal government is putting all the resources and emphasis on the wrong industry," says Ned Dikmen, chairman of Great Lakes Boating Federation, a recreational boating group. Dikmen contends that the recreational industry is likely worth much more than the estimates in the draft report. Commercial navigation on the Great Lakes generates about $3.4 billion in business revenue a year in the U.S., according to the Army Corps. Often lost in that big number is the fact that the vast majority of Great Lakes shipping is just that - ships sailing solely within the Great Lakes, moving low-value bulk cargoes such as iron ore and coal from one regional port to another. These "lakers" never leave the Great Lakes. They are not responsible for introducing unwanted species from foreign ports. Salties are the problem. Yet those ships - which have been able to access the Great Lakes only since the St. Lawrence Seaway builders punched a deep-draft shipping channel into the heart of the continent in 1959 - account for less than 7% of the total cargo moved on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, according to the Army Corps. And their cargo is not high-value goods such as flat-screen televisions, basketball shoes and imported cars. The ships typically arrive with loads of foreign steel and depart with Midwest grain. It is a relatively small amount of both, largely because of the Seaway's outdated, undersized locks and the fact that they shut down each winter because of ice. One widely cited estimate of the annual transportation savings associated with overseas traffic in the Great Lakes is a skimpy $55 million. The estimated price to date just for dealing with zebra and quagga mussels since they were first discovered in the lakes: $2 billion. Steaming into court The new rules, passed in 2005, kick in this year, but Michigan has provided a grace period by allowing ships to discharge untreated ballast during this shipping season, provided ship operators provide samples of what they are dumping to the state. The shippers balked, suing last month to block the new law. Bill author Birkholz says she was flabbergasted. If anything, she says, it should be the State of Michigan suing the shippers for bringing in so many unwanted organisms. Steve Fisher, executive director of the American Great Lakes Ports Association, says the shipping industry embraces the idea of new laws to regulate ballast discharges, but he says it should be done at the federal level so ship operators are not stuck trying to navigate a patchwork of state laws. At the same time, he says the Michigan law will do no environmental good because the few freighters that do discharge ballast in state water will simply take their cargoes to nearby out-of-state ports on the same waterways that Michigan is trying to protect. Is plan unconstitutional? "We tried to do ballast legislation last session, and it didn't get through," says Scott Hassett, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. "But I'll take another run at it, and I'm confident something will happen this time." Some environmental groups, including the National Wildlife Federation and the Alliance for the Great Lakes, have joined the State of Michigan as defendants in the shipping industry's lawsuit. "In some ways I feel like the environmental community is doing the shippers a huge favor," says Cameron Davis, executive director of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. "By delaying solutions to this enormous economic and ecological problem, the oceangoing shipping industry is its own worst enemy. It's innovate or die." 'Not anti-shipping' New U.S. Seaway boss Terry Johnson calls Nalbone's pitch to kick the ships off the lakes "a nice political statement but ... completely impractical and impossible" and points to the two countries' joint ownership of the Seaway and their treaty governing its operation as a big reason why. Federal ballast law supporter and U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) isn't so dismissive. "It's certainly a serious proposal," he says. "It's stimulating some thought among large groups . . . and if they get a lot of support, people are going to start looking at it." Nalbone says she too prefers a federal law that will make the ships operate in a manner that protects the lakes, but she says she's done waiting. "It's all talk. People talk a good talk. But nothing is happening," Nalbone says. "You can talk about it for another five or six years. Fine. As long as you don't bring in the ships." U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is also pushing for a federal ballast law. Similar federal bills have gone nowhere for the past several years, but he is confident a Democrat-controlled Congress can get something done. Oberstar is in a tough spot trying to balance the needs of the
shipping-dependent city of Duluth that he represents against an industry he
has said is "destroying" the Great Lakes. He stops short of endorsing an
outright prohibition on oceangoing vessels until treatment systems are onboard
the ships. But he harbors sympathy for those who do. "I welcome . . . their
impatience, and their zeal," he says. "I think it's terrific." |
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Updates - April 24 News Photo Gallery updated Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 24 On 24 April 1872, the 3-mast wooden schooner JENNIE GRAHAM was sailing up
Lake Huron to pick up a load of lumber. She was light and at full sail when a
sudden squall caused her to capsize. Two crew members were trapped below decks
and died. Captain Duncan Graham was washed away and drowned. The remaining
seven crew members clung to the overturned hull for about an hour and then the
vessel unexpectedly turned upwards and lay on one side. The crew was then able
to cut away a lifeboat and get in it. They were later picked up by the
schooner SWEEPSTAKES. The GRAHAM was salvaged and taken to Port Huron for
repairs. |
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Nindawayma not an easy tow 4/23 - 9:00am Update - The tow remains secured at Valleyfield with no ETA for the next CIP listed. 4/23 - Montreal - The Nindawayma tow stopped at Beauharnois after leaving Cote Ste Catherines early Sunday morning. A tug position change was made. The Commodore Straights moved to the front as the lead tug, and Radium Yellowknife took her new position at the rear behind Nindawayma. This arrangement apparently did not work out. At the St. Louis bridge, the Nindawayma started to swing violently on the approach. They were about to turn back when the Isolda, who was checking her speed, was close to the bridge and went through the bridge first, as would be the norm here with the East bound current, and met the tow in the canal. The tow stopped on Sunday, at Valleyfield, Quebec, to make the tow more stable. The tow was still stopped at 11 p.m. on Sunday. Earlier reports had the work boat Ours Polaire (Radium
Yellowknife towed to Montreal) was reported with the upbound tow, was not seen. |
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Port Reports - April 23 Toronto - Charlie Gibbons |
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Updates - April 23 News Photo Gallery updated Win a Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter Public Photo Gallery updated. |
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Today in Great Lakes History - April 23 The first radar equipment for commercial marine service on the Great Lakes
was installed on a freighter at Buffalo in 1946. The first boat to be equipped
was the JOHN T HUTCHINSON of the Buckeye Steamship fleet. |