American Steamship Company charters new articulated tug barge

2/3 - Chicago, Ill. - American Steamship Company (ASC) announced Thursday its charter of the newly constructed articulated tug barge Ken Boothe Sr. and Lakes Contender.

David W. Foster, president of ASC, said, “We are very pleased to add this new ATB, designed to transport dry-bulk commodities, to our fleet and look forward to commencing its operation on the Great Lakes during the upcoming sailing season. This U.S.-flagged 10,700 horsepower tug and 740 foot self-unloading barge with a cargo capacity of 34,000 tons, constructed by Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair of Erie, PA, will allow ASC to more efficiently serve our customers.”

Duluth Port Authority has plans for old Cargill dock

2/2 - Duluth, Minn. - Work will begin this year on a planned $14 million project to improve a dock the Duluth Seaway Port Authority bought more than 20 years ago.

The authority’s board voted Tuesday to accept a $2 million state transportation grant for the project. The authority will match the grant with $2 million to begin the phased redevelopment of the Garfield Dock D. The work will help make the dock more attractive for future development.

The first phase of the project will include dredging to a 28-foot depth, installing piling and bollards and performing site work to prevent the collapse of existing dock walls and to prepare for the redevelopment of the entire dock.

“It’s starting to deteriorate,” said Duluth Seaway Port Authority Executive Director Adolph Ojard. “At some point, we have to do something.”

Engineering contracts for the project probably will be let in March, with actual work to begin this summer, said John Kubow, the authority’s CFO. “This is the first phase of a multiphase project,” he said. “We’re not sure what Phase II is. It might be bringing a rail line in.”

Timing of future phases depends in part on the fate of an authority application for a $10 million federal transportation grant. The U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to award $500 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants. The current round of grants is known as TIGER IV, because it is the fourth time the grants have been available. The authority unsuccessfully applied each of the previous times.

The authority doesn’t have an immediate use or client in mind for the site. The plan is to first stabilize and upgrade the site, and then prepare it for a number of possible uses by installing rail lines, cranes and other equipment and facilities.

“We want to make it as flexible as possible,” Ojard said of the site. “We don’t want to limit its use.”

The authority bought Docks C and D from Cargill in 1989. “We bought it for a buck and we grossly overpaid,” Ojard said, since the authority ended up spending well over $1 million to demolish the grain elevators on the site.

The redevelopment project will displace one business, Great Lakes Towing Co. The tugboat service uses part of Dock D under a five-year lease running into 2015. The Authority’s board voted Tuesday to cancel the lease, which is allowed for with a 90-day notice. Great Lakes Towing Fleet Capt. Jeff Stabler didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

It is possible that Great Lakes Towing could continue to use the dock during the project by shifting to different spots along the dock as the project progresses, authority officials said.

Duluth News Tribune

Lake Erie ferry starting trips to Ohio island

2/2 - Put-In-Bay, Ohio – The Miller Boat Line, providing ferry service to the Bass Islands from Catawba Island Ohio on Lake Erie, after a unprecedented 19 day layup, resumed service. The M/V William Market departed the winter berth, in downtown Put-in-Bay, on a beautiful warm sunny morning and a ice free bay. During normal winters, the bay and lake is dotted with ice shanties and ice vehicles driving on top of the ice.

The ferry line says it's the first time in six years that it will be able to make winter-time trips. It plans on making four round trips per day except on Tuesdays, as long as it's not too windy or icy. In most winters, the only way to get to and from the Lake Erie island is by plane.

Associated Press

No steelmaking in Hamilton planned by U.S. Steel

2/2 - Hamilton, Ont. – U.S. Steel will remain a steelmaker in Hamilton in name only. Company chairman John Surma told industry analysts Monday there are no plans to restart the blast furnace and steelmaking shops of the former Stelco plant until there is a substantial improvement in the North American market.

That isn’t expected to happen this year if the economy slows later in the year as predicted, meaning the steelmaking operations so much a part of the city’s history will continue to sit idle for the foreseeable future. The blast furnace has been shut down since October 2010.

For 200 local workers, it also means a layoff notice is coming in March or April after the 26 weeks of work they were guaranteed under the October contract deal that settled the 11-month lockout of employees.

“We plan on running in the first quarter everything we have except Hamilton about as hard as we can,” Surma told analysts, adding the company needs to see a strong market recovery to justify the cost of bringing the Hamilton blast furnace back into production.

“We think about restarting Hamilton, but it’s quite a large step. There’s time and training and working capital. We’ve got to have a sense there’s some sustainability to allow us to get some return on an investment that would not be inconsequential,” he said. “So, we think about it but we haven’t decided to do it so far.”

While the Hamilton blast furnace remains idle, the company is operating its coke oven battery, cold mill and Z-Line coating operations, all to serve the needs of its steelmaking plants in the United States. Surma added the company is operating at about 84 per cent of its North American steel capacity and about 90 per cent of its U.S. capacity.

While the company won’t be making steel in Hamilton, Surma did have praise for the operations that remain in production.

“I was there not too long ago and the cold mill is going great,” he said. “It’s a terrific mill and the employees are terrific and glad to be back at work. It’s as clean as a whistle and running well.”

Industry analyst Chuck Bradford, who took part in the company conference call, said the decision to keep Hamilton on the steelmaking sidelines just reinforces the plant’s position as a second-string player on the U.S. Steel team — a role that’s unlikely to change without a major investment.

“It all gets back to the idea that, without a hot mill, Hamilton can only make steel slabs and the company can’t make use of any more slabs unless there’s a really good market,” he said. “If the company is operating at 90 per cent, then it doesn’t need any more slabs and that’s the whole problem with that mill.”

A hot mill for Hamilton, he added, would cost about $500 million.

University of Toronto steel expert Peter Warrian, in an email exchange, said he wasn’t surprised by the company’s action. He noted steel production across North America is up about 10 per cent over last year. “But everyone is expecting a slowdown in 2012 as economic growth falls from 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent or worse. Unfortunately, it confirms the picture of Hamilton Works as a standby steelmaking facility, even though their furnaces are younger than Lake Erie’s. It will take a substantial pickup in steel demand to get Hamilton to resuming steelmaking.”

The Hamilton Spectator

Photo from space shows lack of ice on Lake Michigan, Lake Superior

2/2 - An image of a nearly ice-free Lake Michigan and Lake Superior -- a rare sight in late January -- was captured Friday by a high-resolution satellite distributed by the National Weather Service.

"It's an incredible lack of ice this winter," the National Weather Service in Gaylord said.

"This is very unusual. Even Lake Superior is nearly ice free," said John Kowaleski, NWS meteorologist in Grand Rapids. The bright white at the tip of Lake Superior shows where ice has formed, he said.

Meanwhile, there is little ice on Lake Superior's Whitefish Bay, while ice in Lake Michigan's Green Bay was breaking up from last week's warmup. "If you squint at Green Bay, you see ice there, because it's more protected. Areas with less wave action ice up first," he said.

Even though ice around the Straits of Mackinac is relatively thin, on Saturday the U.S. Coast Guard freed two ships trapped by ice there: a 678-foot bulk carrier named the Manistee and the 90-foot ferry, Huron, with 68 people aboard.

The coloration along Michigan's west coast is sediment that comes off the rivers, Kowaleski said. There has been a few feet of ice building on the Lake Michigan shore in West Michigan, but before the satellite picks that up, it would need to stretch at least a half mile, he said.

The open water also leaves Michigan wide open for lake effect snow in February, whenever an arctic blast moves across the lake, forecasters say.

"If cold air moves in, we could get pretty significant lake effect snows. Sometimes we can even tap a little moisture and energy from Lake Superior, with the energy comes from the warmth of water," Kowaleski said.

Water temps are still around 40 degrees in southern Lake Michigan, he said. "We're not going to freeze anytime soon."

Lake Michigan last iced over completely during a winter in the late 1980s. It also happened in 1978, he said.     Click here to view the image

Water level plan is widely endorsed

2/2 - Brockville, Ont. – A draft plan to control water levels in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River earned the wide support of Canadian and U.S. groups after Monday's release of the report by the International Joint Commission (IJC).

"(The new) plan will begin to reverse damage caused by years of destructive regulation," said Jennifer Caddick, executive director of Save The River, in a prepared statement.

Save The River is a 1,400- member strong organization with almost equal representation from Canadians and Americans who are dedicated to protecting the ecology of the upper St. Lawrence River. That organization and other stakeholders received an early look at the draft plan last fall and Save The River continues to support the new objectives after viewing the entire document, said Caddick.

The proposal, titled Plan BV7 because it is the seventh version of a popular 'B' plan originally considered in 2007, aims to restore a more natural flow to the river and address environmental concerns as a priority.

Caddick said the plan will enrich the quality of life for river residents who will benefit from improvements for recreational boating opportunities, as well as hunting and fishing endeavours. Moreover, the plan strikes a balance that will also appeal to commercial shippers and hydro-electric producers, she said, adding Save The River urges residents and governments on both sides of the border to support the adoption of the proposal.

Statements of support were also released Monday by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada, and the central and western New York State chapter of the Nature Conservancy.

During an IJC teleconference Monday announcing the release of the draft report, public affairs officer Frank Bevacqua said the impact of the proposed plan would be felt mostly in the Lake Ontario-Upper St. Lawrence River part of the international waterway.

Any changes in the lower St. Lawrence around Montreal and Lake St. Louis should be minimal, said Bevacqua. For instance, the minimum level of Lake Ontario waters under the proposed plan is about four inches less than the current depth minimum of 242 feet, said Bevacqua.

Simlarly, the maximum level will be about 2.4 inches higher than the current maximum of 248.3 feet, he said.

On the upper St. Lawrence River, water levels near Ogdensburg and Alexandria Bay, N.Y. are projected to closely resemble current patterns, except during drought or heavy rain conditions, said Bevacqua.

In times of dry weather, water levels may run lower than allowed under the existing control plan, he said. On the other hand, the existing routine of drawing water out of the upper St. Lawrence in late summer and early fall will not continue, allowing for a longer recreational boating season, he added. "The important thing to remember is the magnitude and direction of the change is more important than the precise numbers," he told the teleconference.

Bevacqua said the proposed plan should result in a 40 per cent increase in wetland meadows vital to fish and wildlife species, reversing a 50 per cent decline under the current control plan established in 1952.

He said public consultations will begin this spring at dates to be announced, with a goal of implementing the plan late this year or in 2013. The plan also calls for ongoing monitoring by participants on both sides of the border, led by Environment Canada and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to ensure the objectives are being achieved, he said.

Brockville Recorder and Times

On February 2, 1981, the ARTHUR SIMARD grounded in the St. Lawrence River on her way from Montreal to Sept Iles, Quebec, with a cargo of diesel oil and suffered extensive bottom damage.

The SAMUEL MATHER, a.) PILOT KNOB (Hull#522) had her keel laid February 2, 1942, at Ashtabula, Ohio, by Great Lakes Engineering Works.

February 2, 1939 - The CHIEF WAWATAM went to the shipyard to have a new forward shaft and propeller placed.

Data from: Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series.

Community group pondering role in salvage of former Canadian Miner off Nova Scotia coast

2/1 - The ongoing crisis surrounding a wrecked bulk carrier stranded off Cape Breton has local community members getting involved in the salvage process.

The Main-a-Dieu Community Development Association, a nonprofit organization representing communities in Cape Breton, hosted an emergency meeting Monday night to discuss how to salvage the MV Miner, which ran aground off Scaterie Island on Sept. 20. The island is a provincially-designated wilderness management area.

Fishermen, MLAs, city councillors and officials from Nova Scotia‚s environment and natural resources departments were among the 100 people who attended the meeting in Louisbourg, N.S., reported the Cape Breton Post. Some community members suggested local input would help salvage companies do a better job

Arivina Navigation, which owns the Miner, entered into a joint venture with salvage companies Bennington Group and Armada Offshore. They will visit Scaterie Island in mid-February to assess the wreck, the Post said.

Local politicians and organizations have been lobbying the federal government to create a plan to quickly and safely remove the Miner to minimize environmental damage from leaking fuel and waste water.

“This is the responsibility of the federal government,” Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter said in October. “They at least need to engage us on the manner in which it’s going to be dealt with and that’s not happening.”

The cost of removing the 230-metre-long carrier could hit $24 million because it would have to be cut up into pieces to be salvaged, Dexter added. The Miner was being towed from Montreal to a scrap yard in Turkey when it broke free in rough seas and got stranded on a shoal.

Toronto Star

Owen Sound, Ont.
Algomarine departed Owen Sound at 11 a.m. Tuesday for Goderich to load salt.

Detroit, Mich. - Ken Borg
Calumet was unloading salt at Morton Dock on Rouge River below Fort Street in Detroit on a nice winter Tuesday.

Quebec City
A freshly-painted Spruceglen has entered winter layup at pier 28-29 in Quebec City. With the help of the tugs of Group Ocean, Spruceglen slid into its birth behind the Atlantic Erie.

Feds propose a fuel exemption for steamships that switch to diesel engines

2/1 - The EPA is dangling a carrot in front of Great Lakes steamship owners to phase out engines that emit high levels of pollutants. The federal agency is proposing steamships that convert from steam to diesel engines be allowed to use residual fuel through 2025, a fuel high in sulfur.

Great Lakes steamships are already exempt from sulfur limits coming this August to the Great Lakes. Their old engines can’t handle the lower sulfur fuels. But if they switch to the cleaner burning diesel engines, they would no longer be steamships. They’d lose their exemption.

So the feds hope that continuing to let them use cheap, higher sulfur fuel will offset the costs of switching to the diesel engines. The environment would benefit because the EPA says steam engines use 30 to 50 percent more fuel than diesel engines, leading to higher sulfur dioxide and particulate matter emissions.

While residual fuel use is declining in the U.S., its use has remained steady in transportation, mostly used in ships.

There are 13 U.S. steamships in the Great Lakes, all built between 1942 and 1960. Operating in freshwater rather than in the corrosive salt of the oceans allows them to continue to operate at an advanced age with old technology.

Twelve of the Great Lakes steam vessels burn residual fuel and another burns coal to produce the steam that rotates their propellers.

The agency estimates that sulfur dioxide emissions would drop about 34 percent for steamships that switched to diesel engines even if they stayed on residual fuel. But after 2025, the EPA estimates the repowered ships’ emissions would reduce by 97 percent when the low sulfur fuel requirements would kick in.

Some costs of switching engines can be recovered through fuel savings and efficiency but with more stringent sulfur emission standards on the way, the compliant fuels will be more expensive.

Some ship owners are already there. The Interlake Steamship Co. has converted the Hon. James L. Oberstar to diesel engines and replaced the original diesel engines in the Paul R. Tregurtha.

“The ships were getting older so we looked at long term maintenance, and the cost and ability of us to maintain them,” said Mark Barker, president of Interlake Steamship Co. “And we decided to move forward with the switch.”

There were no federal incentives to repower the ships, Barker said. He wouldn’t speak to fuel savings or the costs of repowering. But the company is converting yet another steamship to diesel.

The switch isn’t cheap – approximately $15 to $20 million, which is about 20 percent of a new ship’s cost. Steam engines are a prominent part of the ship and the hull has to be cut away. Barker said workers cut a hole in the top of the Interlake boats to get to the engine room.

The most infamous steamship, the S.S. Badger, is the one using coal. It doesn’t seem the proposal will affect the Badger as conversion apparently isn’t under consideration

Lake Michigan Carferry is seeking a permit to keep the Badger operating on coal.

“We’re working with the EPA to get an individual permit … it would allow us a timeline of five years to continue using best available technology,” said Lynda Matson, vice president of customer service and marketing for Lake Michigan Carferry. “And hopefully in those five years we could come up with a solution.”

It is unclear if the feds’ offer appeals to other Great Lakes steamship owners. They couldn’t be reached for comment.

The public can submit comments on the proposal until Feb. 17.

Great Lakes Echo

Auctioneer to settle Oakville refinery claims

2/1 - Hamilton, Ont. – After six years in limbo on a Port of Hamilton wharf, an auctioneer’s virtual hammer will ring down later this year to end an ill-fated plan to move a Canadian oil refinery to Pakistan.

The online auction by a firm in Texas will sell what remains of the former Petro-Canada Oakville refinery to pay Hamilton-based Great Lakes Stevedoring for loading the assortment of pipes, drums and other components onto ships.

“The material was bought for shipment, some of it went out and then the owners got into financial difficulty and never came to get the rest,” said Montreal lawyer John O’Connor of the firm Langlois Gaudreau O’Connor. “There were promises to pay and then they just disappeared.”

One auction of material was held just before Christmas and another is planned, likely this spring.

“The owners had debts and couldn’t pay them,” he said. “Whoever buys this will get clear and clean title and sometime in 2012 this whole story will disappear.”

Until 2005 the piles of metal were a working refinery on the border between Oakville and Burlington where 350 workers turned crude oil into gasoline and other products. That ended when Petro-Canada decided the $300-million cost of meeting new environmental standards was too high.

The plant was sold to a pair of Middle Eastern oil firms — PSI Energy (BSC) and PSI (Middle East) LLC, based in Bahrain and Dubai. The refinery was carefully dismantled, its 100,000 cubic metres of components were labeled and numbered and moved to the port of Hamilton where they were to be shipped to Pakistan.

Oakville-based Convoy Logistics Providers was given a contract worth up to $20 million to arrange that shipping. At the time, CLP owner Dona Asciak Fletcher estimated the project would require up to eight ships and take as long as two years.

By June of 2007 at least three shipments had been completed, amounting to about 65 per cent of the material, but then the owners stopped paying their bills, leaving components on two continents that, by themselves, were nothing more than piles of spare parts and scrap metal.

Hamilton Spectator

Report proposes dividing Great Lakes, Mississippi

2/1 - Groups representing states and cities in the Great Lakes region on Tuesday proposed spending up to $9.5 billion on a massive engineering project to separate the lakes from the Mississippi River watershed in the Chicago area, describing it as the only sure way to protect both aquatic systems from invasions by destructive species such as Asian carp.

The organizations issued a report suggesting three alternatives for severing an artificial link between the two drainage basins that was constructed more than a century ago. Scientists say it has already provided a pathway for exotic species and is the likeliest route through which menacing carp could reach the lakes, where they could destabilize food webs and threaten a valuable fishing industry.

"We simply can't afford to risk that," said Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission, which sponsored the study with the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. "The Great Lakes have suffered immensely because of invasive species. We have to put a stop to this."

The report's release is sure to ramp up pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is conducting its own study of how to close off 18 potential pathways between the two systems, including the Chicago waterways. The corps plans to release its findings in late 2015, a timetable it says is necessary because of the job's complexity and regulatory requirements. A pending federal lawsuit by five states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania — demands quicker action.

"This study shows that hydrological separation is both technically and economically feasible," said Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican.

A spokeswoman said the corps would not comment until it could review the report.

The project that linked the two drainage basins began in the 1890s when engineers reversed the flow of the Chicago River to flush sewage away from the city and into a newly built, 28-mile-long canal that created a connection between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi. It is now a network of rivers, locks and canals.

In their report, the two groups call for placing barriers at key points to cut off the flow of water between the two drainage basins by 2029.

One alternative would put barriers in five locations near Lake Michigan. Another would erect a single barrier in the ship canal before it branches off into connecting waterways. A third plan would use four barriers.

The report does not express a preference but says the four-barrier plan would cost less than the others — between $3.26 billion and $4.27 billion. That plan, the report says, would cause less disruption of waterborne commerce and fewer problems with flood and stormwater control, all of which opponents contend would result from dividing the two systems. It also comes closest to restoring the natural divide between the watersheds, said David Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

The report doesn't make a detailed proposal for covering the costs but says the four-barrier plan could be done if the average household in the Great Lakes basin paid about $1 a month through 2059.

The five-barrier and single-barrier plans' price tags could reach about $9.5 billion.

Despite the high cost, the report's sponsors said the project would save money in the long run by shielding both systems from species invasions. Zebra and quagga mussels and sea lamprey already have exacted a heavy toll on the Great Lakes economy, and the region's leaders fear the Asian carp could make things much worse.

"Yes, it's expensive. But the cost of doing nothing is greater," Ullrich said.

Asian carp escaped from Southern fish farms and sewage treatment plants decades ago and migrated up the Mississippi and its tributaries, gobbling up plankton that is essential for other nourishing other fish.

The study, commissioned by the two groups and developed by a private engineering firm, will make the idea of separation easier for people in the region to grasp, said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a Chicago-based environmental group.

"It's a natural, practical, on-the-ground map of how to get it done," Brammeier said.

Mark Biel, chairman of an Illinois business coalition called UnLock Our Jobs that opposes separating the watersheds, said the Great Lakes groups' proposals would take many years to carry out and would devastate cargo shipping and pleasure boating in the Chicago area while doing nothing to prevent species invasions elsewhere.

"Calling this a solution is ludicrous," Biel said.

But the report's authors said their plan envisions upgrades to docks and other infrastructure that, in the long run, would boost water commerce while improving water quality and flood protection. The barriers themselves would make up just 3 percent of the total cost.

The Army Corps of Engineers contends an electric barrier in the shipping canal is preventing Asian carp and other fish from swimming upstream toward Lake Michigan, although carp DNA has been found beyond the device. Eder said the barrier is a good temporary measure, but not a permanent solution.

"It's kind of like the old Clint Eastwood adage, 'How lucky do you feel?'" he said. "We can take chances that the electric barrier and other measures will work, but I don't think we should."

Associated Press

Michigan DNR seeks volunteer lighthouse keepers for Tawas Point

2/1 - If you're ever had thoughts of living the dream of a more romantic era as a lighthouse keeper, perhaps your dreams can come true.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is looking for people who want to work a couple of weeks as the lighthouse keeper for the Tawas Point Lighthouse this year.

This opportunity is on a volunteer basis.

Actually, you would have to pay $250 each week to use the living quarters, which includes 2 bedrooms and an updated kitchen and bath. But, you would have the chance to take care of the lighthouse, the museum gift shop and give tours.

About the only restrictions to become part of this program are that you have to be at least 18 years old and physically capable of giving the tours and performing the duties, which include some maintenance and looking after the lawn. The program accepts singles and couples.

This idea has worked well in the past for those looking to take a different kind of vacation. You have the opportunity to view Lake Huron from a beautiful and unique perspective. Dates available usually fall between April until Christmas.

The lighthouse is located at the Tawas Pointe State Park and the recreation supervisor at the park, Chuck Allen, says, "The lighthouse has been in operation since 1876 and is one of only nine lighthouses on the Great Lakes with a working Fresnel lens and still an active aid to navigation."

You can get an application and find out more at: www.michigan.gov/tawaslighthouse ,or, by calling (989) 362-5658

WXYZ Detroit

Updates -  February 1

New Video on our YouTube Channel
 

On 01 February 1871, the SKYLARK (wooden propeller steamer, 90 tons, built in 1857) was purchased by the Goodrich Transportation Company from Thomas L. Parker for $6,000.

On February 1, 1990, the U.S.C.G.C. MESQUITE was officially decommissioned.

The steamer R. J. GORDON was sold to M. K. Muir of Detroit on 1 February 1883.

In 1904, the ANN ARBOR NO. 1 found the rest of the fleet stuck in the ice outside Manitowoc. She made several attempts to break them loose, she became stuck there herself with the others for 29 days.

In 1917, the ANN ARBOR NO 6 (later ARTHUR K. ATKINSON) arrived Frankfort, Michigan, on her maiden voyage.

On 1 February 1886, Captain Henry Hackett died in Amherstburg, Ontario, at the age of 65. He and his brother, J. H. Hackett, organized the Northwestern Transportation Company in 1869.

In 1972, the ENDERS M. VOORHEES locked through the Poe Lock downbound, closing the Soo Locks for the season.

Data from: Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Father Dowling Collection, Brian Bernard, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series.

Algoma Central signs agreement to install exhaust gas scrubbers

1/31 - Toronto, Ont. - Algoma Central Corp has signed an agreement to have a Finnish company install freshwater exhaust gas scrubbers on six new Equinox Class vessels for US$12 million. Algoma said Monday that the scrubbers being supplied by Wartsila Ship Power are designed to remove 97 per cent of sulphur oxides emissions generated by vessel engines.

Algoma, a shipping, ship repair and marine engineering company, will be the first customer for Wartsila's new scrubber design.

"The installation of scrubber units on our Equinox Class vessels fits with our stated strategic objective of improving the efficiency of our fleet while at the same time reducing our environmental footprint," said president and CEO Greg Wight.

The Equinox Class vessels are designed for service in the Great Lakes. The first delivery will arrive in Canada in the first half of 2013, Algoma said. Wartsila will also supply a main engine, shafting and propeller, auxiliary generators, oily bilge water treatment systems and bow thrusters for the Equinox Class vessels.

The Canadian Press

Sturgeon Bay, Wis. - Wendell Wilke
Wilfred Sykes arrived at Bay Shipbuilding via the Sturgeon Bay Ship Channel Monday morning for winter layup. She was assisted into the yard by Selvick tugs around 7 a.m.

Erie, Pa. - Jeff Benson
Robert S. Pierson remains in the graving dock at Donjon Ship building; she is currently being sandblasted and painted. Work continues on the new barge Lakes Contender. The boom looks to be complete, but no belts have been placed on the boom as yet. Work has started on Presque Isle and Edgar B. Speer, but it appears to be inside work so far.

Plans progressing for replacement Detroit River rail tunnel

1/31 - Detroit, Mich. – The Detroit River Tunnel Partnership has applied for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build a replacement railroad tunnel under the Detroit River. The organization is a partnership of Borealis Infrastructure Trust and Canadian Pacific Railway.

The proposed single-track tunnel will be built about 100 feet southwest of the existing pair of tunnels that opened to rail traffic in 1910. The new tunnel will be slightly longer and deeper than the existing bores, with an inside diameter of roughly 27 feet and a length of almost 2 miles. Westbound trains will climb a 2.15 percent grade exiting the tunnel while the eastbound grade will be 1.75 percent.

The project proposes to use a tunnel boring machine to dig the tunnel from Canada to the U.S., with all excavated material to be disposed of on the Canadian side of the border. This method of construction should cause little disruption to marine traffic. The original tunnel was built by sinking prefabricated sections into a dredged trench.

The Corps of Engineers permit is one of about 60 that will be required for the new tunnel. Information released in 2010 stated that the existing tunnels carry about 350,000 rail cars per year and that the construction cost for the new tunnel would be roughly $400 million US dollars.

The Corps of Engineers is accepting public comment on the proposed project until February 11, 2012.

MichiganRailroads.com & Tom Hynes

Updates -  January 31

Weekly Website Updates
New Videos on our YouTube Channel

MANZZUTTI was launched January 31, 1903, as a.) J S KEEFE (Hull#203) at Buffalo, New York by the Buffalo Dry Dock Co.

January 31, 1930 - While the Grand Trunk carferry MADISON was leading the way across Lake Michigan to Grand Haven, she was struck from behind by her sister ship GRAND RAPIDS.

Data from: Max Hanley, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series.

Happy birthday: Canadian Coast Guard celebrates 50th

1/30 - Sarnia, Ont. – They laid the first transatlantic fiber optic cable, performed ice rescues on the St. Clair River and provided aid during Hurricane Katrina.

The men and women of the Canadian Coast Guard were saluted during the local kickoff of its 50th anniversary golden jubilee at the Sarnia government dock Thursday. Schoolchildren sang Happy Birthday and a ceremonial flag was unveiled on an upper deck of the CCGS Griffon.

The Regional Operations Centre located on Christina Street is in charge of all the operations in the Central and Arctic Region, a fact that still surprises many.

“Most people in the Sarnia area don’t realize that we use the office to control operations in the Arctic,” said Wade Spurrell, assistant commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard.

The anniversary comes at a time when the coast guard’s fleet is set to grow. The region will welcome its first Hero class mid-shore patrol vessel later this summer. These vessels will conduct security patrols of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

As the coast guard moves forward, the Harper government is committed to funding it properly, Chatham-Kent-Essex MP Dave Van Kesteren told crews in attendance Thursday.

The federal government has invested more than $1.4 billion to modernize the fleet and provide proper tools and training. That includes new fishery science vessels that allow for research in Canadian waters.

“My own riding of Chatham-Kent-Essex includes a sizable portion of the north shore of Lake Erie,” Van Kesteren told the crowd. “The commercial fishery, recreational boating and sport fishing all contribute to the health and economy of our province.”

The Canadian Coast Guard is also a sizable employer. To date, more than 4,000 Canadians are employed by the agency. Half operate the fleet of 116 vessels that provide round-the-clock service.

In the summer of 2010, members of the Central and Arctic Region were tested when back-to-back ship groundings happened in the arctic. Cruise ship passengers had to be evacuated and the scene monitored for pollution.

Sarnia’s Regional Operations Centre had to work hand-in-hand with radio officers in Iqaluit to coordinate fleet efforts.

“These are just a few of the many proud accomplishments of the men and women of Central and Arctic Region,” Spurrell told the crowd. “On this special occasion of our 50th anniversary, we honour our personnel, both past and present, at sea and ashore for their significant contributions toward making our waterways a safer place for all.”

Public events to mark the golden jubilee are slated throughout the year.

The Sarnia Observer

Reward for help with finding originator of false distress calls in Lake Erie

1/30 - Cleveland, Ohio – The Coast Guard Investigative Service, in partnership with Crime Stoppers of Michigan, are offering a reward of up to $3,500 for information leading to the identification and conviction of the person(s) responsible for communicating a series of false distress calls to the Coast Guard.

The series of false distress or "mayday" calls have been transmitted over marine band radio, VHF-FM Channel 16, the international hailing and distress frequency, since 2010. The calls, which feature a person or persons claiming to be in distress on a plane or boat in Lake Erie, are believed to have originated from the Bolles Harbor region south of Monroe, Mich.

The following .MP3 files are being made available, which contain portions of the false distress calls. Authorities hope someone will recognize the voice on the audio clips.

Click the below links to play the audio samples, in .MP3 format:
Sample Audio 1    Sample Audio 2

"The Coast Guard and other emergency response organizations must take all distress calls seriously — the maritime environment can be far too dangerous to do otherwise," said Chief Petty Officer Gabriel Settel, Coast Guard Sector Detroit Command Center supervisor.

"False distress calls are dangerous because they put those mariners who are actually in danger at added risk because crews are preoccupied with needless searches," said Settel. "Additionally, the maritime environment is inherently dangerous, so false distress calls put emergency responders at unnecessary risk. Finally, these hoax calls waste taxpayer dollars."

Anyone with information concerning these false distress calls are urged to contact the U.S. Coast Guard at 313-568-9560 or Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-SPEAKUP.

Seaway carriers grappling with sluggish freight demand

1/30 - Montreal, Que. – For both the inland and ocean carriers, there were a few bright spots during the 2011 navigation season on the St. Lawrence Seaway but the overall volume of activity was a disappointment.

According to preliminary estimates, total cargo on the waterway advanced just over 1% to 37 million tonnes, despite substantial new business in coal exports to Europe and healthy increases in Canadian grain and petroleum shipments. Observers expect little improvement in 2012 in light of a looming recession in Europe and slow growth in the United States and Canada.

There was a double-digit upswing of traffic on the Seaway in 2010, in the wake of a sharp recession-related decline in 2009, and Terence Bowles, president of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, had last March forecast a cargo increase of 7% to 39 million tonnes in 2011. But big drops in iron ore and US grain tonnage undercut total throughput.

The shipments of coal, which totaled nearly 3.4 million tonnes at the end of November, were bolstered by the Seaway being increasingly chosen by shippers as a viable transportation route for exporting low-sulfur coal to European markets.

For instance, between mid-summer and mid-October, Canada Steamship Lines carried more than 300,000 tonnes of coal from Superior, Wisconsin to the Port of Quebec for transshipment onto ocean vessels destined for Europe. From ports like Rotterdam, the coal is distributed to European utilities.

"What we are attempting to do, basically, is to promote the northern corridor to take coal out of the United States for Europe," said Tom Brodeur, CSL's Vice-President of Marketing and Customer Service.

With the U.S. exporting 100 million tonnes of coal annually, Brodeur pointed out that congestion is taking place at US East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports and railway networks are strained.

In an interview, he hinted that the CSL coal shipments from Superior could go up significantly in 2012 - to between 1.5 million tonnes and 2 million tonnes.

Wayne Smith, senior vice-president, commercial of Algoma Central Corporation, which operates the largest domestic fleet, said that "demand has been stronger than anticipated, although the risks remain over the strength of the economic recovery. It was a good year for Canadian grain, and we moved a lot of salt (Sisco) out of Goderich where there was a tornado. The product tankers which had lagged the recession have been quite busy."

At Montreal-based Fednav Ltd., the largest ocean-going user of the North American waterway, co-CEO Paul Pathy underlines a priority "to keep the fleet as flexible as possible during times of economic uncertainty and market volatility. Generally, we were slightly up in 2011 from 2010, even though often we can't tell what is coming on steel or grain."

Fednav vessels, he noted, were bringing in coke but a lot less finished steel to the Great Lakes - "and there is a greater diversity of cargoes in and out of Hamilton."

Like other Canadian Great Lakes shipping executives, Pathy professed optimism over the long-term future of the Lakes trade and added that such optimism was underscored by new ships coming on stream.

Between now and 2013, Fednav, Canada Steamship Lines and Algoma Central Corporation are all expanding their fleets with new, 'greener' and more fuel-efficient vessels.

Chief catalyst for the sudden, multi-billion dollar renewal of the Canadian fleet was the federal government announcement in October 2010 of the removal of a long-standing, 25% import duty on foreign-built ships.

Canadian Transportation and Logistics

Ship postcard book brings Great Lakes history to life

1/30 - Long before people shared their travels instantly through e-mail, Facebook and smartphone photos, they sent postcards – which in the heyday of Great Lakes passenger vessels were available on just about every ship. Today, those postcards are little pieces of history.

Assembled in a new book, "Arrived on This Ship" (111 pages, Thunder Bay Press, $19.95), the postcards and commentary by collector and author Hudson Keenan of Mt. Pleasant, Mich., offer a fascinating look at a bygone era in travel.

"There were hardly any roads," said Keenan, 79 and 20 years retired from a long career teaching earth science at Mt. Pleasant High School. "If you wanted to go somewhere, you went by train or you went by boat."

Those boats carried thousands of people each year to Great Lakes ports, including Detroit, about two dozen other Michigan cities along the waterway and Mackinac Island. Passengers picked up postcards showing their vessel, the dock or, in some cases, news-style photographs of events on the lakes. Keenan's book, subtitled "Great Lakes Postcards from the Early Twentieth Century," includes cards sold by photographers after the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago, in which the lakes steamer rolled over at its dock, killing 836 people.

There's also a page devoted to the ferry steamer Omar D. Conger, which traveled between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario, starting in the 1880s. The ship was damaged by a fire in 1901, rebuilt, and then destroyed by a boiler explosion that killed four crew members in 1922. But the blast, Keenan notes, came just a few minutes before the ferry would have been filled with passengers for its afternoon crossing.

In choosing about 100 postcards to include in the small, coffee-table book, Keenan said he "tried to pick those that show the different aspects of Great Lakes travel at the time and the progression of the vessels."

The book includes popular day-trip ships, such as the Tashmoo, a fixture on the Detroit and St. Clair rivers for nearly four decades, and the steamer Pleasure, which ferried people between mainland Detroit and Belle Isle and across the Detroit River in the days before the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

In an interview last week, Keenan said he first began collecting postcards that showed scenes from Mt. Pleasant.

"As I'd hunt for these things, going to postcard shows and such, I came across these cards from the lakes vessels, and they were very interesting and in some cases quite striking, quite artistic," he said. "I'd get the card and then start doing research on the ship."

The short commentaries Keenan wrote to accompany each postcard often include sources from which readers with a particular interest in a vessel can learn more. The postcards show, in many cases, not just images of the boats but glimpses of the way people dressed and how port cities looked at the time.

"It's a pretty easy read. I didn't want to bog anybody down," Keenan said. "You can read a few and come back to it. But it isn't just a picture book. It's a history book."

And for anyone who marvels at the enormous vessels that glide so majestically across the lakes today, "Arrived on this Ship" is a way to experience the Great Lakes of another time, when they were busy with boats carrying people for pleasure and for purpose, a time we will not likely see again.

Free Press

Names at Bay Shipbuilding tell many tales

1/30 - Sturgeon Bay, Wis. – Few things in Door County intrigue as does the winter arrival of the big lake freighters to Sturgeon Bay. The current collection of 14 vessels contains some of the most significant boats currently working on the Great Lakes.

Included in the mix is the largest vessel on the lakes, the first 1,000-footer ever built and perhaps the most famous of the entire Great Lakes fleet.

Visually, the most captivating arrival came early last week when the Paul R. Tregurtha arrived and tested the configuration of the city's downtown bridges to the fullest. Bestowed with the title "Queen of the Lakes" for being the longest boat in operation, the Tregurtha measures 1,013 feet. Its measurement may have something to do with the fact that she was the last of the 13 1,000-footers constructed and allowed her to surpass five other boats that measure 1,004 feet. She has retained her royal status longer than any boat in history, claiming the title upon her christening in 1981.

Her arrival in Sturgeon Bay took on the appearance of a royal procession as the gigantic boat maneuvered through the reconfigured channel, permitting it to effectively line up a direct route through the two bridges. With her extensive length, the Tregurtha effectively closed down both bridges as she more than spanned the 600 feet between the two.

Although the Tregurtha wasn't built in Sturgeon Bay, she undertook one of the most significant repowering jobs on the lakes two years ago at Bay Shipbuilding. While on the surface, the addition of new diesel engines may not appear particularly newsworthy, the fact that they can be equipped to run primarily on natural gas adds a futurist twist to her story.

If you spin past Bay Ship and see the Lee A. Tregurtha docked next to the Paul R. Tregurtha, it would be more than fitting. Formerly the William Clay Ford, the Lee A. Tregurtha is named for Mrs. Dorothy Lee Anderson Tregurtha, wife of Paul.

Originally built as an ocean-going oil tanker during World War II, the USS Chiwawa (as the Lee was known when acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1942) received a Battle Star for her services as part of an Atlantic convoy that came under attach by a significant German U-boat wolf pack.

The Paul R. Tregurtha's history is also directly tied to one of the other 1,000-footers docked at the local yard this winter. Oct. 29, 1986, the Tregurtha (then known under is original name William J. De Lancey) rendered assistance to her fleet mate, the James R. Barker, which had suffered an engine room fire while upbound on lower Lake Huron. The two vessels were lashed together side-by-side and then proceeded for the long trip to this same Sturgeon Bay yard, where the Barker was left for repairs four days later.

The other of the three 1,000-footers in the yard this year is the Stewart J. Cort, the first 1,000-footer to ply the Great Lakes. According to the popular Great Lakes website boatnerd.com, the Cort looks different from the other 1,000-foot vessels because it is the only one with a pilothouse on the bow.

Perhaps the most famous ship in the yard is the Arthur M. Anderson, because of its part in the most famous sinking on the Great Lakes. Those with a deeper understanding of Great Lakes history are aware of the heroic roll the crew of Anderson played in the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November 1975. Capt. Jesse Cooper of the Anderson and Capt. Ernest McSorley of the ill-fated Fitzgerald maintained radio contact during that stormy night and were close enough to maintain visual contact as well. The Anderson reported it missing, conducted an initial search before being forced to seek shelter and later reversed course to again assist in the search for survivors.

Yes, Bay Shipbuilding can be a particularly interesting place this time of year.

Door County Advocate

Updates -  January 30

Weekly Website Updates
News Photo Gallery
Lay-up list updated
New Video on our YouTube Channel - 1984 trip on the William Clay Ford, a 1 hour narrated program.
Historical Perspectives Gallery updated - new pictures in the Soo Harbor in 1904 gallery
 

The ELMDALE was launched in 1909, as a.) CLIFFORD F. MOLL (Hull#56) at Ecorse, Michigan by the Great Lakes Engineering Works.

The CHIEF WAWATAM was held up in the ice for a period of three weeks. On January 30, 1927, she went aground at North Graham Shoal in the Straits. She was later dry-docked at Great Lakes Engineering Works in Detroit where her forward propeller and after port wheel were replaced.

January 30, 1911 - The second PERE MARQUETTE 18 arrived Ludington, Michigan on her maiden voyage.

On 30 January 1881, ST. ALBANS (wooden propeller passenger/package freight vessel, 135 foot, 435 tons, built in 1869, at Cleveland, Ohio) was carrying general merchandise, flour, cattle and 22 passengers in Lake Michigan. She rammed a cake of ice that filled the hole it made in her hull. She rushed for shore, but as the ice melted, the vessel filled with water. She sank 8 miles from Milwaukee. The crew and passengers made it to safety in the lifeboats. Her loss was valued at $35,000.

On 30 January 2000, crew began the removal of the four Hulett ore unloaders on Whiskey Island in Cleveland.

Data from: Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Father Dowling Collection, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series.

Biscayne Bay assists in the Straits

1/29 - The crew of a Coast Guard cutter came to the aid of two vessels that became beset by ice in the Straits of Mackinac Friday night and Saturday morning.

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug homeported in St. Ignace, Mich., aided the vessels while engaged in Operation Taconite, the Coast Guard's largest domestic ice-breaking operation, which began in December.

At 4:40 p.m. Friday, the watchstander at Coast Guard Sault Ste. Marie Vessel Traffic Service, was contacted by the crew of the ferry Huron, who reported they had become beset by ice with 68 people aboard while transiting from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island. There were no reports of injury or other medical concerns and the master of the ferry felt the 90-foot vessel was not in danger of running aground.

The crew of Biscayne Bay arrived at 6:20 p.m. and was able to free the ferry without incident. After the ferry safely entered Mackinac Island Harbor, the crew of Biscayne Bay remained close by as the ferry offloaded their passengers and onloaded more.

Due to the fact that ice was reportedly building at Round Island Passage, the crew of Biscayne Bay remained with the ferry Huron for its return trip to St. Ignace. At 8:25 p.m. both the Huron and the Biscayne Bay were safely moored in St. Ignace.

Early Saturday morning, the crew of Biscayne Bay was called on again to assist a vessel in the Straits of Mackinac.

The crew of the Manistee, a 676-foot bulk carrier, had contacted the Coast Guard Sault VTS at 5:18 a.m., reporting the ship had become beset by ice with 18 people aboard about 10 nautical miles west of the Mackinac Bridge.

For a time, the crew of Manistee was able to free the vessel, but could only operate at low speeds, due to the icy conditions. The crew of Biscayne Bay was on scene at 8:50 a.m. and was able to safely free the motor vessel and escort it through the Round Island Passage and into the open waters of Lake Huron.

In support of Operation Taconite this year, the crew of Biscayne Bay has broken ice throughout Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, but aiding vessels close the cutter's homeport is particularly special for the crew.

"We don't get many opportunities to assist our local community, right here in St. Ignace," said Lt. Matthew Walter, commanding officer of Biscayne Bay.

"Any time we can meet the needs of industry here in the straits and take care of our neighbors, it gives us an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to our unit motto of the "Sentinel of the Straits."

The BUCKEYE was launched January 29, 1910, as the straight decker a.) LEONARD B MILLER (Hull#447) at Cleveland, Ohio by the American Ship Building Co.

JOHN P. REISS (Hull#377) was also launched this date in 1910, at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co.

January 29, 1987 - The BADGER almost capsized at her dock due to a broken water intake pipe.

In 1953, RICHARD M. MARSHALL (steel propeller freighter, 643 foot, 10,606 gross tons) was launched in Bay City, Michigan, at Defoe's shipyard (Hull #424). Later she was named JOSEPH S. WOOD in 1957, JOHN DYKSTRA in 1966, and BENSON FORD in 1983. She was scrapped in 1987 at Recife, Brazil.

Data from: Max Hanley, Joe Barr, Dave Swayze, Ahoy & Farewell II and the Great Lakes Ships We Remember series.