The new Navbulgar vessel Stara Planina, which recently entered the St. Lawrence Seaway for the first time, bound for Oshawa, ON, will soon be followed by a sister ship, the Sredna Gora (IMO 1068906), bound for Johnstown, ON. She is expected to arrive there Nov. 17. This will be its first transit of the Seaway for the 624-foot-long vessel, which is named after a mountain range in Bulgaria. Photo credit: Navibulgar. The ship, built at Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co. in China, is the 14th of 15 bulk carriers ordered by Navigation Maritime Bulgare. Captain Ivan Todorov and engineer Rumen Aleksandrov are her first master and chief engineer accordingly. The last ship of this series, Stara Planina, is scheduled for delivery within 2026.

Rene Beauchamp and Navbulgar

TTOLEDO, OH – Captain Rick Brown, president of the International Ship Masters’ Association (ISMA) Toledo Lodge No. 9, has announced that one of the most prestigious maritime conventions will return to Toledo Jan. 28 – 31, 2027 when the city hosts the 137th Annual International Ship Masters’ Association’s Grand Lodge Convention at the Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel.

“This is the 13th time that Toledo will host the annual Grand Lodge convention,” said Capt. Paul LaMarre, director, Port of Monroe, and a board member of ISMA Toledo Lodge No. 9. LaMarre will be installed as ISMA Grand Lodge President in 2027.

The International Ship Masters’ Association is a voluntary organization of dues-paying licensed professional mariners and others associated with the maritime community of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Founded in 1886 as a benevolent organization, ISMA adapted its needs along the way to provide educational opportunities and to allow Great Lakes masters a voice in the formation of safety and navigational rules and regulations. With 16 active Lodges throughout the U.S. and Canada, the ISMA works together to help create a safer and more informed waterway system.

ISMA Toledo Lodge No. 9 was established on Feb. 24, 1892, with 27 founding members. Meetings were first held in the basement of the Waldorf Hotel. Other venues over the years included the Wine Cellar Restaurant, Bay View Yacht Club, the Toledo Lucas County Port Authority Offices, and most recently, Conference Room A at One Maritime Plaza. The Toledo Lodge No. 9 hosted its first convention in 1899 at the Boody House, and the last one was in 2018 at the Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel.

A kick-off reception will be held Thursday, Jan. 28, at the National Museum of the Great Lakes, a sponsor of this year’s convention. ISMA delegates and representatives will caucus at NMGL to discuss numerous maritime issues, setting the stage for weekend activities.

“This is a bona fide convention that will bring some 300 maritime professionals to Toledo putting us at the forefront of the maritime community,” said Capt. Brown. “The convention allows us to showcase in part Toledo’s rich maritime tradition, including the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Friday evening will include the ISMA Grand Ball with a formal dinner with music by Arctic Clam. In addition to several issues concerning the maritime industry, there will be an Educational Panel discussing maritime education and outreach.

“The most unanswered question we receive from parents is ‘how do I get my child involved in the maritime industry or where can they go to get educated on how to find work,’ said Capt. LaMarre. “We hope this event will go a long way to getting parents comfortable with directing their children to the lucrative jobs and careers the maritime community has to offer.”

Saturday evening will feature an informal dinner with a MASH television show theme.

As part of the weekend’s festivities, there will be a drawing for a freighter cruise on the Great Lakes vessel Hon. James L. Oberstar, good for the 2027 season.  Guests must be at least 18 years old and adhere to all company policies and procedures, as well as be flexible concerning ports of departure / return.  The drawing will be Sat. Jan. 30, 2027 at 10 p.m. at the Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel.  Donation – $10 each or six for $50.  The winner need not be present to win. Tickets cannot be redeemed for cash. To purchase tickets: Mail check made payable to ISMA Toledo Lodge 9 / P.O. Box 5218 / Toledo, OH 43611.

“Many people throughout Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan made their living on the Great Lakes,” said Capt. Brown, who will serve as event chairman. “Our membership not only includes licensed maritime professionals, but also memberships for retired maritime workers, as well as associate members for those who have other ties to the maritime industry.”

Sponsors include the Toledo Lucas County Port Authority, The Port of Monroe, and The National Museum of the Great Lakes. The Toledo Lodge will be seeking additional sponsorships for the event as well as recruiting new members both nationally and locally.

Those interested in becoming members of the International Ship Masters’ Association can e-mail Jim Byrne, Secretary / Treasurer, ISMA Lodge No. 9 Toledo, at ISMALodge9@gmail.com. See less

International Ship Masters’ Association

DULUTH, MN – The bottom of Lake Superior will be the latest laboratory for researchers hoping to learn more about neutrinos — also known as ghost particles. Neutrinos are tiny cosmic particles that have no electric charge, and they’re famously hard to find because of their extremely small mass. Despite that, they’re among the most abundant particles in the universe. They are called ghost particles because trillions of them move through people every second without interacting with them, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Now, researchers are conducting the Experimental Neutrino Detector, or END, project in Lake Superior. They want to distinguish a beam of neutrinos generated at the Illinois-based Fermi National Accelerator Lab, or Fermilab, from the tiny cosmic particles that already exist in the background.

The project is led by the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Alec Habig is the principal investigator on the project and a physics professor at UMD. “Neutrinos don’t go through everything totally. Some of them get really unlucky, trip over an atom. If that atom is in your detector, you get to see the particles that it knocks loose,” Habig explained at a press conference in Duluth.

The project is said to cost tens of millions of dollars. It will place underwater neutrino detectors on the bottom of the lake in the path of the Fermilab neutrino beam that passes through Lake Superior near Two Harbors.

Since 2005, Fermilab has aimed a beam of the tiny particles from Illinois toward the no longer operating Soudan Mine Underground Lab and the currently operating NOvA Far Detector Facility in Minnesota. Habig said that beam goes right under Wisconsin and eclipses Lake Superior near Two Harbors on its way to the labs in northern Minnesota. “The more neutrinos get unlucky, the more stuff you have to trip over them, right? Water is a lot of stuff, and so it’s a way to make a very big neutrino detector with Mother Nature supplying the parts,” Habig said. He noted University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Francis Halzen recently won a Nobel Prize in physics for his neutrino research in ice at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica. Scientists have long studied neutrinos using detectors in the ice, underground and underwater.

The detectors in the END project will use underwater photosensors developed by the KM3NeT collaboration where researchers have studied neutrinos deep under the Mediterranean Sea. Large metal frames mounted with photosensors that will observe neutrino interactions on the bottom of Lake Superior. Danielle Kaeding/WPR In the Mediterranean, sensors are deployed in long vertical strings. Metal frames mounted with sensors are being installed on the bed of Lake Superior. There are five 33-feet tall metal frames with 18 spherical neutrino detectors mounted to each frame. The neutrino detectors are about the size of a beach ball.

The 238-feet research vessel (R/V) Neil Armstrong from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts will transport the frames and mounted sensors several miles offshore Two Harbors, Minnesota. Kent Sheasley, one of the vessel’s captains, said the crew will use a crane to lower the frames, which each weigh about 8,000 pounds, about 689 feet down to the lakebed “There will also be a cable that will be attached as we set it down on the lake floor,” Sheasley said. “Then we’re going to run that cable back to just off of Two Harbors, where we’re going to pass it off to a barge. (Divers are) going to handle getting it actually onto the beach and attached as necessary.”

Habig said the first frame will be installed later this week, and researchers will start taking data from the sensors as soon as the fiber-optic cables are plugged in.

The vessel named for the first man to walk on the moon is helping scientists explore and answer fundamental questions, said Rob Munier, vice president of marine facilities and operations with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“What we’re doing here at the bottom of Lake Superior is nothing less than the exploration of the cosmos to help answer the question: Why do we live in a matter-dominated universe? Or put more simply, why are we here?” Munier said.

When the experiment is done, the sensors will be retrieved and sent back to Italy to be put in the Mediterranean Sea. But the cables will remain on the lakebed, and the university will put sensors on them to better understand what’s happening in Lake Superior.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Fermilab and Brookhaven National Lab are also collaborating on the effort.

Great Lakes Now – Wisconsin Public Radio
Read more here.

 

TORONTO, ON – The first of two new electric ferries commissioned by the City of Toronto has begun its journey across the Atlantic Ocean before its expected December arrival. The heavy-lift vessel Happy Ranger has left Istanbul for Canada with the ferry lashed to her deck. After stopping for fuel in Piraeus, Greece, they will head  to Canada. The crossing is estimated at approximately 16 days weather permitting.

A video showing the launch of the Lady of Quays ferry was posted by the city in late May, but there have been few updates on sea trials for the vessel since then. The city confirmed that the ferry, which has capacity for up to 650 passengers and 14 vehicles, was towed from a Romanian shipyard to Istanbul. General Manager of Fleet Services Abi Thomas said in an emailed statement the completed ferry will be loaded onto a ship in Istanbul and transported across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean and up the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario. Thomas said once it begins its journey, residents will be able to track the journey online (search for Happy Ranger on AIS).

The city’s strategic communications division declined multiple interview requests to provide more details. No details were provided on the status of construction of the second vessel commissioned by the city, named Toronto Islander, which is due for delivery sometime in early 2027.

Once each vessel arrives in the city, lake trials and crew training will need to be completed before passengers will be able to hop aboard. It’s unclear how long the testing period will take. About 1.4 million passengers are carried across the city’s inner harbour by the current fleet of ferries, but all four are between 61 to 90 years old.

Although the procurement process to acquire new ferries began more than a decade ago, there have been several delays due to council changing its mind over the design. In 2018, council voted in favour of swapping the ferries to a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system, but in 2022 it changed course again to fully electric models.

More than a year after a contract was signed with Dutch shipbuilding company Damen, councillors learned city staff hadn’t accounted for charging infrastructure at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. The discovery ended up seeing oversight of the city’s ferries shift to its fleet management division from parks and recreation.

When the vessels arrive, they will replace two of its current ferries, including the William Inglis, which struck a wharf in 2023 after it lost propulsion, injuring a crew member.

In 2022, the Sam McBride also crashed, injuring several passengers and lead to the Transportation Safety Board ruling the City of Toronto’s safety protocols had been lacking at the time of the incident.

Global News

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI – The Florida-based owner of the Mackinac Island ferries is a monopoly that needs to be checked and broken up, the Michigan Attorney General has said. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed an antitrust lawsuit Thursday, Nov. 12, against the Hoffmann Family of Companies, the private equity firm founded by billionaire David Hoffmann, that has bought up the ferry lines in recent years. The ferries are currently operating under the names Arnold Transit Company and Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry.

The company has a “stranglehold” on the island, has sought to raise prices and threatened to suspend ferry services – the main way to and from the island – if it didn’t get its way in a fight with the city of Mackinac Island, Nessel said in an online press conference Thursday after the lawsuit was filed in Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court.

In the lawsuit, she says the owners are using their power to hold the Island, its residents and its economy “hostage.” It’s “as plain and obvious an antitrust case as one I’ve ever filed,” Nessel said. A representative from the Hoffmann Family of Companies could not immediately be reached for comment.

Beyond owning the ferry services, which also deliver food and medical supplies to residents on the island, the Hoffmann companies own accompanying parking lots, both newspapers that cover the island and numerous other companies and parcels, according to the lawsuit. State attorneys will seek a court-ordered divestiture of some of the ferry operations, along with perhaps its accompanying parking lots, said Jonathan Comish, assistant attorney general, during the press conference. The lawsuit also seeks damages, that the companies give up profits from an illegal maneuver, and an injunction to get them to stop.

In making the announcement, Nessel called on the next class of state legislators to act to improve Michigan’s antitrust protections with requirements for pre-acquisition notices for business transactions. The state is far behind other states when it comes to antitrust matters, she argued. She also said that the incoming attorney general for the state, Eli Savit, is aware, on board and supportive of the lawsuit.

The city of Mackinac Island has fought with the Hoffmann companies for several years as the ferry operator sought to raise fares several dollars, charge for what was previously free parking, add other fees and cut back on benefits tied to the services. The operators sued the city in federal court back in 2025 arguing that the city had no authority over the matters. That matter remains pending, but the city did lose a counterclaim on antitrust grounds, according to Nessel’s office.

The state is in a better position to levy such a claim, officials said.

The Detroit News

Read the story here.

The top 12 photographs highlighting Detroit District projects on the Great Lakes, such as the Soo Locks, Duluth Ship Canal, piers, breakwaters or federal harbors and channels will earn a spot in the 2027 downloadable calendar. The entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. November 13, with winners determined by public voting on Facebook.

Photos must be submitted by email to LREphotocontest@usace.army.mil in a JPEG(.jpg) format, with a minimum file size of 2 MB and maximum file size of 12 MB.

The Soo Locks Visitors Center Association will award the top three photographers a plaque featuring their winning photo.

Corps of Engineers officials will upload digital photo submissions to an album on the Detroit District Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/USACEDetroitDistrict/ November 16, and tally public voting through ‘likes’ until 9:00 a.m. November 23.

By entering the contest, participants agree to abide by official contest instructions and rules, found at: https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/77985.

For more details, contact Detroit District Public Affairs at LREphotocontest@usace.army.mil. See less

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District

MARQUETTE, MI –  It’s a vital part of the Great Lakes region’s economy, but it’s easy to forget about the freighters that pass silently by us on Lake Superior. At the Holiday Inn in Marquette on Monday evening, the Economic Club of Marquette County hosted a speaker from Interlake Maritime Services who wants to bring shipping to the front of your mind.

IMS Chief Operating Officer Brendan O’Connor hopes attendees at Monday’s meeting take away a recognition that shipping and the industrial base in the Great Lakes are necessary for both national and financial security.

“Most people don’t realize that Michigan would have somewhere like a 22% or 23% unemployment rate if the locks at Sault Ste. Marie were to close,” O’Connor said. “There’s no more environmentally responsible way, in the major cargo moving options, than aboard a ship. We can move a ton of cargo more than 600 miles on one gallon of fuel.”

O’Connor says it would take 2,800 trucks to move what one 1000-foot ship can carry in a single voyage.

WLUC

Watch a video of this story here.

 

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The Great Lakes Maritime Academy held its 51st annual Mariner’s Memorial today to honor men and women lost at sea. The ceremony featured the ceremonial ringing of a bell 29 times in tribute to the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. The annual memorial serves as a solemn tribute to mariners across Great Lakes and ocean fleets, connecting current maritime cadets with the traditions and risks of their profession.

Among those remembered during the roll call was Cadet David E. Weiss, a Great Lakes Maritime Academy student who was aboard the SS Edmund Fitzgerald when it foundered.

Kyle Johnstone, a cadet at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy who serves as president of the Propeller Club and acted as master of ceremonies for the 51st annual event, emphasized the importance of remembering historical maritime losses. “Regardless if you are pursuing a career on the lakes or you’re pursuing a career on the oceans. The lessons of those who have sacrificed before us are essential for us to be successful in our careers,” Johnstone said.

He described the atmosphere during the reading of the roll call and how the ceremony connects attendees directly to the fallen mariners. “The wind kind of picked up behind me and it almost feels like those names are there behind you. That’s exactly what these memorials should be invoking. For those of us, the cadets, the families, the communities…. they’re still there,” Johnstone said.

Johnstone also highlighted the personal connection between the academy and the Great Lakes shipping industry, pointing specifically to the loss of a student aboard the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. “We’re directly tied to every part of the Great Lakes fleet. We had a cadet David Wiess, who went down on the Fitzgerald. The connections are just fairly bound and tied between the academy,” Johnstone said.

Jerry Achenback, a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer and rear admiral in the U.S. Maritime Service, delivered the memorial address to open the ceremony. “We stand here today, a tradition is older to remember and to honor the men and women who went down to the sea and ships and never returned to port,” Achenback said. “We stand here today, a tradition is older to remember and to honor the men and women who went down to the sea and ships and never returned to port,” he added.

Achenback addressed the attending cadets directly, reminding them that their daily training and uniforms represent a commitment to carry forward the legacy of past mariners. “You cadets standing alongside us, look closely at the legacy that left behind the uniform you wear. The training you undergo are not merely routine. They are your preparation to carry forward the responsibility that those who came before you upheld so faithfully,” Achenback said.

River Farrow, a second-year cadet and engineering midshipman at the academy, spoke about the gravity of standing at the front of the memorial service. “It’s definitely not something to take lightly. Being front and center for a memorial, that’s a big deal, We’re honoring those we’ve lost. So it’s not something to take lightly,” Farrow said. “The biggest importance is remembering it wasn’t just a ship it was 29 souls and 29 families impacted.”

He also added, “it’s not only important to remember those lives, but the service is a reminder to those families that the maritime community remember.”

Farrow noted that the central ritual of ringing the bell 29 times for the Fitzgerald crew carries significant emotional weight for everyone present. He added that the ceremony serves as a reminder of the inherent dangers of working on the water and the service merchant mariners provide to the broader public. “Today kind of brings to light that there are sacrifices that people make, for most people at the time, but some sailors did pay, the ultimate price,” Farrow said.

The ceremony concluded with the official vessel roll call for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, honoring command deck officers, engineering department personnel, deck crew watchmen, engine room maintenance workers and Weiss. The annual memorial service concluded with a pledge by academy speakers to carry the memory of fallen mariners on every future voyage and maintain the professional standards of the maritime craft.

9 & 10 News

Read more and view a video here.

The documentary “The Edmund Fitzgerald & The Inland Seas,” a part of the Culture Quest series with host Ian Grant, is now available to watch on YouTube and Facebook prior to a January release on PBS. The documentary features interviews with Fitzgerald family members, John U. Bacon (author of the New York Times best-selling book “Gales of November”)’ Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum Director Bruce Lynn, Jerry Eliason (a well-known wreck hunter on the Great Lakes), Soo Locks Park Ranger Ed Cook and Great Lakes sailor Adam VonReidel (wheelsman on the Lee A. Tregurtha). Some of the music featured is by Meredith Moon (Gordon Lightfoot’s daughter).

Watch it here on YouTube.
Watch it here on Facebook (partial show only, no ads).

DETROIT, MI – It wasn’t just the hat that earned Edmund Fitzgerald crew member David Weiss his nickname “Cowboy.” It was his friend and Great Lakes Maritime Academy classmate David James, who had just watched Frank Zappa’s 1971 movie “200 Motels” featuring the character Lonesome Cowboy Burt. When James saw Weiss standing outside a classroom dressed in black and wearing a cowboy hat, the nickname came easily.”He looked a little different,” James said. Weiss was less “bummy” than the rest of their classmates, who dressed to emulate the sailors they were training to join. The day they met, James gave Weiss his nickname “Cowboy Burt.”

DuMouchelles auction house in downtown Detroit is selling letters written by a man killed in the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking in Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975. The letters were written by David Weiss while he was on the Fitzgerald.

The friendship between Weiss and James is chronicled in a series of letters they exchanged while out on the inland seas in 1975, when Weiss was on the Edmund Fitzgerald and James on the Walter A. Sterling. The last was sent Oct. 30, about two weeks before Weiss went down with the Edmund Fitzgerald during a storm in Lake Superior. Twenty-eight crewmates perished along with him. The letters Weiss sent James that year are up for auction at DuMouchelles auction house in downtown Detroit along with photos, a postcard and other memorabilia, such as a letter Weiss’s mom wrote to James after Weiss’s death. The items are up for bid beginning Nov. 13 with a starting bid of $3,750. James approached the auction house early this year with an interest in selling the letters and memorabilia, Dumouchelles President and Auctioneer Joe Walker said. James was afraid the letters would be tossed when he passed away and wants them to go to someone who sees their value, Walker said. James has had the letters stored in a frame for about 30 years. James will be at DuMouchelles, 409 E. Jefferson Ave. in Detroit, from 6-6:30 p.m. on Nov. 10 to speak about the letters, his friendship with Weiss and the Great Lakes maritime industry with Joel Stone, sailor and former senior curator at the Detroit Historical Soceity’s Dossin Great Lakes Museum. An auction preview will take place from 5-7 p.m. The event is free to attend but people must register at rsvp@dumoart.com before 4 p.m.

DuMouchelles last year auctioned an Edmund Fitzgerald life ring that had been found by a man walking a Lake Superior beach shortly after the Fitzgerald sank in 1975.

James admits the letters he and Weiss exchanged are less than Shakespearean in an interview with Walker uploaded online. Weiss describes the difficulties of life as a young cadet dealing with older crew members who have “astounding” attitudes and his dreams for the commercial shipping off-season. “I need a lady, a bottle of wine and some tranquility,” Weiss wrote to James. “Beyond that, my mental health is par. I really don’t believe you could have it any worse, so I assume all has to be copacetic.”

Weiss was outspoken and determined to finish the season. He had “a lot of spirit,” James told Walker, the auctioneer.

James, while working on the Sterling, experienced the same November storm that caused the Fitzgerald to sink on Nov. 10, 1975. The Sterling was in western Lake Superior on its way to Silver Bay, Minnesota and was more protected from the storm because it was closer to shore. It had passed the Fitzgerald that day but their crews didn’t communicate. The storm was “a good one,” James told Walker, the auctioneer.

“It was a regular night except it was very, very rough,” he said. “Like I said, if it was rough for us since we were going into it, for them, I can’t imagine what it would become the farther east they got.”

James said he didn’t learn about the Fitzgerald’s sinking for about two days. The news stopped him in his tracks. He abandoned his dinner tray and walked up to the ship’s pilot house to see U.S. Coast Guard helicopters flying above, searching for debris. James isn’t grieving, exactly. He feels sentimental for his lost friend. “We never had an argument,” he told Walker. “It was all positive; there’s nothing I lament, there’s no feeling of remorse. There’s no grief here. There’s just happiness that I knew him.”

Carol Thompson – The Detroit News
Read the story here.