Interlake Steamship announces photo calendar winners

• Paul LaMarre III grabbed two wins for his unbeatable shots of our M/V Stewart J. Cort and our M/V Hon James L. Oberstar, both underway.
• David Schauer took the winning image of our M/V Paul R. Tregurtha arriving in the Twin Ports.
• Gus Schauer earned the top spot for his stunning photo of our M/V James R. Barker arriving in the Twin Ports.
• Bryan Howell netted his first-place finish with his impressive shot of our M/V Mesabi Miner.
• Adam Bjornberg captured our favorite image of our M/V Lee A. Tregurtha.
• Chuck Zentmeyer wowed with his spectacular capture of our M/V Kaye E. Barker coming through Green Bay.
• GLMA Cadet Logan Vasicek captured the winning photo of our Dorothy Ann-Pathfinder unloading.
• Mike Mishler won for his gorgeous capture of our M/V Herbert C. Jackson.
• Chris Franckowiak won for his fabulous shot of our Undaunted-Pere Marquette 41.

Congratulations again to all the winners and thank you to all who submitted their photos for the contest! Winners will receive an Interlake flag and all those who submitted photos (and their addresses) will receive a calendar as our thanks!

Interlake Steamship Co.

Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast becomes the 15th National Marine Sanctuary

Manitowoc, WI – Dave DeZeeuw has been exploring shipwrecks along the western coast of Lake Michigan for decades.

“I used to be a flight instructor here in Manitowoc back in the 1980s,” he said. “We used to see the shipwrecks down in the water. I thought everybody knew about them, but the people that are walking on the beach, they’d walk right by them and have no clue that they were there.”

This summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, designated the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast, a 962-square-mile area from Two Rivers to Port Washington, a National Marine Sanctuary this summer. NOAA will expand on the state’s 30-year stewardship of the historic sites, bringing new opportunities for research, resource protection, educational programming, and community engagement. In partnership with local communities, the sanctuary will provide a national stage for promoting heritage tourism and recreation.

“There’s a heritage here,” said DeZeeuw. “I think this marine sanctuary, now they call this ‘heritage recreation.’ This is something new that they’re trying to get people to come and see, that there is a maritime heritage in this area. There’s hundreds of years of shipping and ships that have been in this area.”

An estimated 122 shipwrecks sank along the coast, but there are only 36 ones that are known.

“There’s a lot out there yet to be discovered,” said Cathy Green, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. “They’re just so well preserved. The cold freshwater preserves wrecks here in the Great Lakes like nowhere else in the world. It’s like having time capsules on the bottom of the lake. From a museum and archaeological or historical perspective, that’s absolutely fantastic.”

The process of getting the Shipwreck Coast to be designated a National Marine Sanctuary was a decade-long process, said Green.

“The collection of wrecks that are out there really illustrate shipping here on the Great Lakes over 150-200 years,” she said. “It really is like having a catalog of these pieces, these vessels that really helped to build these communities, right at our fingertips.”

If you want to see the wrecks with your own eyes, you don’t need an airplane or fancy scuba gear; the wrecks range from 10 feet underwater to 400 feet, so there’s a lot to see from a kayak or boat. You can even just put a swimsuit on and grab some goggles, like DeZeeuw, if you can brace the cold water.

“It’s something that Manitowoc has a history of,” said DeZeeuw. “And it’s something that we can show and be proud of as citizens here.”

Retired lakers Manistee and St. Clair to be scrapped at Port Colborne

Port Colborne, ON – Marine Recycling Corp of Port Colborne, ON, has agreements to recycle both the Manistee and St Clair. Plans are to tow both vessels to Port Colborne this fall for recycling.

St. Clair was heavily damaged by fire Feb. 16, 2019, at Toledo, OH, and was declared a total loss. Manstee was built in 1943 at Great Lakes Engineering Works, River Rouge, MI, as Richard J. Reiss. She later sailed as Richard Reiss and received her current name in 2005. She was retired and laid up at Toledo in December 2015.

MRC is no stranger to scrapping large ships: 35 years ago the company recycled the Arthur B. Homer, the longest laker yet to be recycled at 826 feet long. St Clair is the widest ship to be recycled on the lakes at 92 feet wide, 770 feet long and 50 feet moulded depth. The Homer was the largest ship to date ever in Port Colborne harbor and the St Clair will be the widest. Both are too long, and the St. Clair is too wide to enter the Welland Canal and locks. Both ships have been locked in the upper lakes since built.

Wayne Elliott, Marine Recycling Corp

                                House  committee funds key Great Lakes projects, including new icebreaker

Cleveland, OH – The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday approved $1 billion for U.S. Coast Guard shore side infrastructure nationwide and $350 million for a heavy Great Lakes icebreaker as part of its budget reconciliation bill, an action that the Great Lake Maritime Task Force (GLMTF) called “great news for the Great Lakes.”

The GLMTF described the heavy Great Lakes icebreaker as desperately needed and expects that a portion of the infrastructure funds will go to good use replacing and repairing crumbling Great Lakes search and rescue stations and other USCG facilities that are used to protect Great Lakes ports and waterways.

The GLMTF views a new heavy Great Lakes icebreaker as a step in the right direction for correcting years of economic devastation when commercial vessels have been trapped in ice for days and unable to deliver critical cargoes vital to the nation’s economic security. The icebreaker is also the most valuable tool to combating ice jam flooding on rivers in the Great Lakes region. Unfortunately, too late for residents in the Detroit area who suffered catastrophic damage in February 2021 while the USCG’s only heavy Great Lakes icebreaker was in a maintenance period and unable to respond.

Great Lake Maritime Task Force

New lives may be ahead for old tugs W.N. Twolan, Escorte

A pair of elderly tugs appear to have been sold, or at least are in the process of being sold for further service.

The older of the two tugs is the W.N. Twolan, built by G.T.Davie + Sons Ltd, Lauzon, QC in 1962. A twin-screw tug of 1520 bhp, it is powered by Werkspoor engines. It was considered to be a very powerful tug for its day, and even twin-screw tugs were something of a rarity.

It was built to operate in the Port of Churchill, MB on Hudson Bay, to assist bulk carriers into the port to load grain. It was ice strengthened so it could continue to assist ships at the beginning and end in the short July to October season. There were facilities for minor maintenance in Churchill, but the tug sailed south in 1966-67 and again in the 1970s for five-year surveys and refits.

When in barge service with McKeil a small “birdhouse” was installed above the wheelhouse for improved visibility. The tug was replaced in 1986 and passed through McKeil and Dufresne/McAllister ownership until 1995 when it was acquired Buchanan Forest Products of Thunder Bay, ON. They used it to push a lumber barge on Lake Superior. In 2011 it was chartered to push a grain barge but has been laid up in Toronto since about 2013.

Its AIS signal has reappeared in recent weeks in the area of Toronto Dry Dock Co, where it seems likely to be refitted for service. That company has successfully operated the veterans Salvage Monarch (1959) and Radium Yellowknife (1948) in recent years.

Another old tug destined for a new career is the Escorte, presently reported in Kingston, ON undergoing re-certification. Built in 1967 by Jakobson, Oyster Bay, NY for the US Navy as  Menasha YTM-773 and later YTM-761 it was (along with a sister tug Mascouta) the first Voith Schneider tugs built in the United States. As Menasha it worked for the St.Lawrence Seaway Authority for a time in the late 1980s until acquired by Groupe Océan. It worked with Océan’s dredging fleet for several years until moving to Goderich, ON for ship berthing duties.

The tug worked in Goderich, ON until April 2021. It then moved to Hamilton, ON in April, Oshawa, ON in May and Kingston. It has been idle at Kingston since mid-August in refit. It is rated at 1,000 bhp, (1300 ihp) 13 ton bollard pull from two GM 12V-71 engines and two V-S units mounted forward – a true tractor tug

Read the post on Mac Mackay’s Tugfax blog here: https://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2021/09/new-life-for-old-tugs.html?fbclid=IwAR0rC9u5JaYxkx2kCe6zNx71W-liFwWibK1Rzt1LB3BNx9Cnk_Os8RkEmzU

J.W. Westcott, Detroit River mail service, hosts first wedding in 147-year history

Detroit, MI – Weddings are always significant occasions but the ceremony performed on the Detroit River Sunday was something special. Or in the words of the groom, “today was awesome.”

Mike Slusne and Julie Warner tied the knot aboard the J.W. Westcott Sunday afternoon – the first-ever officiated on the historic boat.  “We’re right in the middle of the heart of the riverfront,” said Slusne. “You can’t ask for anything more than that.”

The J.W. Westcott has been around for more than a century, delivering mail to the passing freighters on the Detroit River. But in its 147-year history, neither the vessel nor its captain had overseen a union. But for a lifelong boater like Slusne, he couldn’t have imagined it any different. “I said ‘let’s do something unique’ and they put it together for us,” he said.

The owner, Jim Hogan, says his family has run the business for five generations. “Going way back Captain J.W. Westcott, who was my great grandfather started in a rowboat on the river here,” Hogan said. “You gotta remember that in 1874, the president of the United States was Ulysses S. Grant.”

Then, in 1948, the boat gained official U.S. Postal Service status, which also granted it a zip code – the only floating one in the country. With a new wedding aboard the ship, the captains hope to add another dimension to the boat’s history.

“We kinda figured we have a great area here so wanted to start a venue for events and share the riverfront with everybody,” said James Hogan, the vice president. “Not just be down here but be a part of revitalizing Detroit.”

See the news report here:

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/j-w-westcott-historic-detroit-river-mail-service-hosts-first-wedding-in-147-year-history?fbclid=IwAR0QAlhM4cYKd56UxibW3PZozgd79Lc5u7osBKfCMH0KJCck5J4Hd_ZcdN8

Fednav’s Pathy named 2021 Man of the Year

Sault Ste. Marie, MI – Fednav chairman Laurence G. Pathy was indicted into the Marine Hall of Fame housed at the Valley Camp marine museum in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, in a virtual ceremony on Sept. 10.

Pathy also served as president and CEO of the company from 1972 to 2010. He has represented the company and the industry as a founding co-chair of the Green Marine Program, a voluntary environmental certification program for the North American marine industry. He was awarded a Medal of Merit by the Association of Canadian Port Authorities in 2007 for his outstanding contribution to the Canadian shipping industry.

Sault Historic Sites

Cruise ships set to sail into Port Colborne next year

Port Colborne, ON ­– Starting next spring, Port Colborne will play host to some pretty big ships. The Niagara region city, located on the northeast shore of Lake Erie at the southern end of the Welland Canal, is the newest docking site for several Great Lakes cruise lines.

The City of Port Colborne announced earlier it will become a port of call for several of the Great Lakes lines that are gearing up for a comeback next year as more Canadians get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.

The additional cruise ship activity will begin in the city next May, officials say, and it’s expected to bring with it an influx of tourists and economic benefits. Great Lakes cruise ships typically carry between 180 and 420 passengers.

In an earlier press release, Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele said, “the cruise industry has broadly accepted the logistics of using Port Colborne as a docking location to visit the Niagara region. Few ports, if any, on the Great Lakes have such a captive audience. It is fair to say that every ship visiting Niagara on the Great Lakes will eventually arrive on the doorstep of Port Colborne.”

Guests on arriving cruise ships can explore beaches, beautiful greenspaces and the Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum, officials say. The city is also working to develop the waterfront and Welland Canal lands in an effort to leave a better impression on visitors.

“We are working with experts in Great Lakes cruising and the St. Lawrence Seaway to prepare for this increase in activity and utilize the opportunity it provides to bring tourists closer to local businesses and the community,” said Steele.

Growth in Great Lakes cruises is expected to continue beyond 2025, City officials say, positioning Port Colborne to benefit greatly from that trend.

Inniagara

Lake Superior hits average water levels for the first time in 7 years

For the first time in seven years, water levels on Lake Superior are on par with the lake’s long-term average after witnessing record highs in recent years.

In August, the average water levels on Lake Superior dropped less than an inch to 602.17 feet — matching its long-term average for the first time since April 2014. The lake was nearly a foot below water levels in August last year, falling 11 inches.

The decline has been driven by abnormally dry to extreme drought conditions across the Lake Superior basin.

“The Lake Superior basin in particular has been very dry for really this whole summer and actually even back into late springtime,” said Deanna Apps, physical scientist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit. “We’ve just seen more persistent dry conditions in that area of the basin.”

The change is a significant shift for people living around the lake, said Lauren Fry, physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab.

“Since the beginning of 2013 up until the past couple years, we’ve had a lot of water coming into the system — not just on Lake Superior, but all of the Great Lakes,” said Fry.

Lake Superior witnessed a record-setting rise in water levels from 2013 to 2014 as levels surged across the Great Lakes, eroding shorelines and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure along coastal communities.

Just two years ago, Lake Superior was 13 inches higher in September, marking the lake’s highest monthly average on record. The Lake Superior basin saw 73 percent of its average rainfall in August at 2.29 inches. All other lakes saw slightly above average precipitation.

“The Lake Superior basin has been a little bit of an anomaly, I’d say, this summer where we have seen wetter conditions across the other lake basins, especially in August and in July,” said Apps. “It’s been wetter in the other parts of the Great Lakes region.”

Even so, the Great Lakes basin as a whole has witnessed less than average rainfall over the last year, according to the Army Corps. While Lake Ontario rose about 2 inches, water levels are also below the lake’s long-term average.

The lakes experience seasonal fluctuations and peak in the late spring and summer before entering a period of decline in late summer and early fall. The Great Lakes are expected to remain below record high water levels seen in recent years over the next six months.

Lakeshore communities along Lake Superior are likely to see some relief from erosion and flooding as water levels are expected to hover near average. But Apps noted storms could bring variability in water levels.

“Those could still be a concern, but with the water levels coming back to near average that will definitely lessen impacts across the shoreline,” she said.

Beyond the next six months, water levels on the Great Lakes are more difficult to predict due to a “tug-of-war” between precipitation and evaporation, which can be impacted by climate change. Prior to early 2013, the lakes had seen water levels well below average since the late 1990s. Lake Superior has set monthly records in September for high and low water levels over the past two decades.

Read the story here: https://www.wpr.org/lake-superior-hits-average-water-levels-first-time-7-years.

Obituary: Wallace Rohn

Age 91; Beloved husband of 68 years to Patricia (nee Gentry); loving father of Margaret Kaschube (Tim), Mark (Donna), Martha Davis (Mike), and Marian Vasuta (John). Devoted Grandfather of 13. Great Grandfather of 13. Wallace was a Korean War U.S Air Force veteran and spent over 40 years working in the Great Lakes maritime industry, much of that for the Cleveland-Cliffs fleet. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Bethany Lutheran Church, 6041 Ridge Rd., Parma, OH 44129, or Cypress Hospice, 2 Berea Commons, Berea, OH 44017.

Lake Superior drops below normal water level for first time since 2014

Duluth, MN  – Severe drought on Lake Superior’s western shores brought the big lake’s water level down in August, dropping below the normal seasonal average for the first time in more than seven years.

Lake Superior dropped 1.2 inches in August, when it goes up by about a half-inch on average, according to the International Lake Superior Board of Control.

That left the lake nearly a half-inch below normal Sept. 1 and 10.2 inches below the level at this time in 2020.

The last time Lake Superior was below normal was April 2014, said Charles Sidick, analyst for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit.

The seven-year high-water period, while not historically the longest since accurate records have been kept starting in 1918, saw some historic high-water marks. Lake Superior set monthly high-water records in July, August and September 2019, but fell just shy of the all-time high mark set in October 1985.

The recent streak of high water was also the root cause of millions of dollars in damage along the western tip of Lake Superior. The combination of high water during high-wind storm events caused erosion of clay banks on Wisconsin’s South Shore and of sand along Duluth’s Park Point. They also trashed Duluth’s Brighton Beach and sent waves rising up to smash Duluth’s Lakewalk trails and flood Canal Park streets.

The summer drought in northern Minnesota saw some of Lake Superior’s tributaries dry to just a trickle, with some streams not running at all. The St. Louis River, the largest U.S. tributary to Lake Superior, was running last month at just 10% of its normal August flow.

With the lake now down more than a foot since the highest levels in 2019, that’s billions of gallons less water across Lake Superior’s 31,700 square miles. Not only does the lake drop vertically, but the water’s edge pulls farther out from shore, creating noticeably wider beaches and offering more buffer when storms occur.

“More damage occurs during high-water periods, definitely,’’ Sidick said.

Sidick said that communities and residents along the lake should continue to take action to “build resilience” against the next round of high water, whenever that might occur.

“We will never be able to control the water levels to the extent that some people would like us to, so the answer is resilience,’’ Sidick said.

Forecasters say there’s little chance of another high-water period coming anytime soon. The six-month forecast for Lake Superior heading into winter is for near average water levels, said Deanna Apps, lead forecaster for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit.

The seven years of above-normal water levels came after an unusually long below-normal period that lasted from about 1998 to 2014, bottoming out with record monthly low water levels in fall 2007, when Great Lakes freighters were having a hard time accessing some ports, with some running at reduced capacity.

Lake Superior generally rises from April through August and then slowly drops from September to March.

Meanwhile, the Lakes Michigan-Huron watershed saw higher than normal rainfall in August and dropped less than its usual amount. The lakes now sit 17.7 inches above the long-term average for Sept. 1, but are 15.7 inches below the record-high level set Sept. 1, 2021.

Duluth News Tribune

Toledo Lighthouse Festival back this weekend after one-year pandemic hiatus

Toledo, OH –The 17th Toledo Lighthouse Waterfront Festival this weekend at Maumee Bay State Park is an event that aims to stimulate interest in preserving one of western Lake Erie’s most historic landmarks.

Visiting the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse itself involves a $35 boat ride, but there also will be shoreside events for landlubbers.

Weather permitting, the boat rides from the park will take lighthouse-lookers on a five-mile trip out to the building next to the Toledo Harbor Channel, where they can see new second-floor windows and shutters installed just this year. Reservations may be made by sending a text to 419-367-1691 or an email to sandylakeerie@aol.com.

Events at Maumee Bay itself will be free of charge, although organizers said they will welcome $5 donations.

The festival, which is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, will feature live music, food trucks, arts and crafts, a silent auction, gift cards, and more. The closing act, as has happened in the past, will be a performance by a steel drum troupe from the Toledo School for the Arts. Many of the activities will take place along the shores of the park’s inland pond.

About $2.5 million of work remains for new plumbing, electricity, and other costs associated with rehabbing the 4,000-square-foot lighthouse, which was built in 1904 and was last staffed in 1966.

The society’s goal is to restore it enough so four to five people can live out there at a time between May and October of each year. The plan is to have them give tours and serve as “Keepers” for other visitors. Unlike the shoreside Marblehead Lighthouse, the Toledo Harbor Light is out in the lake and accessible only by boat.

Read more here: https://www.toledoblade.com/local/community-events/2021/09/09/toledo-lighthouse-festival-back-this-weekend-after-one-year-pandemic-hiatus/stories/20210908127?fbclid=IwAR3NHIzyOmEisRI34-h80kI9VrjT6xGasKHOY_GxxGqDJvPBfc2T48bhQko

Fednav signs agreement for 10 new lakers

Montreal, QC – Fednav Limited, Canada’s largest dry bulk shipping group, has signed an agreement with Sumisho Marine Co., Ltd. (Sumitomo Corporation Group) and Oshima Shipbuilding to build 10 new ocean-going lakers. The ships will be built at Oshima shipyard in Japan, with the first vessel expected to be delivered in mid-2023.

The new Fednav-Oshima designed super-eco lakers will emit 33% less carbon emissions than the vessels they will replace, including a nitrogen oxides (NOx) footprint at least 87% smaller. They will be delivered equipped with the latest technology, including Tier III engines and the capability of burning biofuels.

The new lakers will support Fednav’s sustainability goals, making them an essential asset for the future. “We are delighted to include these new vessels to our fleet to support the shipping industry and reinforce our commitment to the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway,” said Paul Pathy, President and CEO of Fednav. “These new vessels are aligned with our long-term strategy to invest in our future and support our transition toward more sustainable shipping.”

Fednav

906 Express ferry sinks at St. Ignace

St. Ignace, MI – The 906 Express, a 28 foot vessel owned by the Arnold Freight Co. in St. Ignace, had to be pulled out of the water after it sank on Tuesday.

When a boat sinks, it usually has to be retrieved fast before gasoline pollutes the water. The 906 Express, a commercial vessel, was going through some maintenance on Monday night, but when the morning came, it was found submerged.

The owners had to act fast when they made the discovery and quickly called an excavator to get the boat out of the water.

Marine Science Technician 2nd Class with the Coast Guard, James Himes said they usually respond immediately, but this time, the situation was taken care of before they even arrived. “The owner did a great job taking care of it and taking the potential of pollution out of the environment so we want to commend them for taking swift action and getting the boat out as quickly as possible,” he said.

Himes added they looked at the site and found no evidence gasoline leaked into the water.

9&10 News

Great Lakes iron ore, limestone trades up percent in August

Cleveland, OH – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 5.6 million tons in August, an increase of 55.9 percent compared to a year ago.  Shipments were also above the month’s 5-year average by 1.5 percent.

Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 32 million tons, an increase of 31.8 percent compared to the same point in 2020. Through August iron shipments are 4.45 percent above their 5-year average for eight months of the year.

Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.7 million tons in August, an increase of 1.9 percent from 2020.  Limestone cargos were below the month’s 5-year average by 5.1 percent. Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 3 million tons, an increase of 5.7 percent compared to a year ago.  Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 636,327 tons, a decrease of 12.8 percent.

Year-to-date the lakes limestone trade stands at 17.4 million tons, an increase of 8.8 percent compared to a year ago.  Loadings from Michigan and Ohio quarries total 13.5 million tons, an increase of 6.5 percent.  Shipments from Ontario quarries total 3.9 million tons, an increase of 17.9 percent.

Lake Carriers’ Association

Eisenhower Lock visitors’ center closes for season on Labor Day

The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) has announced that public access to its Visitors’ Center observation deck at the U.S. Eisenhower Lock ends at 6 p.m. on Labor Day, September 6.

There are several ways to obtain up-to-date information on estimated vessel transit times:

Call 315-769-2422, for a voice recording of that day’s projected lockage schedule.

Review the Great Lakes-Seaway binational website at bit.ly/NavigatingTheSeawayMap, which updates every 15 minutes with details on ships currently in transit within the Seaway System.

Review lock-specific information at bit.ly/LockOrderOfTurn, which offers real-time information on vessels preparing to enter any of the locks (by pulling down the Order of Turn Information).

Paul LaMarre has transformed Port of Monroe against all odds

Monroe, MI – In eight years, Paul C. LaMarre III has transformed the Port of Monroe from a virtually dead place, used just to dump off coal for a utility company to one of the fastest growing and most vibrant ports on all the Great Lakes.

He’s opened new docks on the River Raisin leading to Lake Erie, built railroad spurs, and brought in vast amounts of new business — and won award after award for doing so.

The most expensive single item ever shipped on the Great Lakes, a huge, $60 million part for a generator for the Fermi II nuclear power plant, came in via his port in 2019.

But he’s done it all with one hand tied behind his back. For some reason, the Detroit office of CBP, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, does not allow the port to accept shipments of international maritime containers — a rule that applies to no other port in any other state. Technically, it also applies to the port in Detroit, but that port is really controlled by the Moroun family, who also own the Ambassador Bridge and a vast trucking empire.

CBP provides technical aid to the Moroun-controlled port, but nothing to Monroe. When Mr. LaMarre went to Washington to meet with Trump administration officials, other sources at that meeting indicated they were anything but helpful.

But there is a new administration now, Democrats control the U.S. Senate — and Michigan’s newly re­elected U.S. Sen. Gary Peters gets it. Like Mr. LaMarre, he is a former officer in the U.S. Navy.

He also is outraged about the way Monroe’s port has been treated. On Aug. 16, he came to visit the Port of Monroe and brought the acting commissioner of CBP, Troy Miller, and also a grant for $770,983 to help the port upgrade its cargo screening infrastructure.

That, Mr. Peters said, should be enough for the CBP commissioner in Detroit to drop the restrictions against Monroe, which, he noted, “undermines Michigan’s economic competitiveness.”

For years, Mr. Peters has pressed CBP for answers as to why Monroe is being held to a different set of standards. But things are markedly different now: In January, the senator became chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security.

“Wouldn’t every state like to have one of their senators as head of Homeland Security?” the 40-year Mr. LaMarre said. He added that the CBP official in charge of the Detroit office had never visited the Port of Monroe once in eight years. After the senator and the head of customs visited, “he was here twice in one week.”

“Look. This is a non­partisan issue. The port is apolitical. We need to be apolitical,” Mr.

LaMarre said. “Everything we do here is and needs to be in the best interests of the citizens, especially of Monroe.”

Indeed, those who know him say Paul LaMarre would much rather be clambering on board a freighter to check out cargo than sitting in a conference room. But when the senator and the head of Customs and Border Protection came to visit, he didn’t mince words.

“It is my goal today to ensure that the Port of Monroe and the state of Michigan receive fair and consistent treatment, and the semantics of whether a wood crate is a container are not an [excuse] for withholding fair and equitable treatment to the public we both serve,” Mr. LaMarre said.

Monroe is not a wealthy city, he noted — far from it. “We are a distressed community. You cannot compare a private border crossing owned by a multi-billionaire [the Moroun family] to a public terminal that is relentlessly trying to revive economic activity for the benefit of the citizens just beyond our gates. And yet [Customs] provides nearly every resource at its disposal with the state of Michigan to serve the operation of the for-profit billionaire at the taxpayers’ expense while treating a public port as second class.”

He said that as “a former naval officer, I understand the necessity of protecting our nation,” but said the port was already doing every­thing it can to minimize the risks.

There’s little doubt that Mr. LaMarre has not only revitalized Monroe’s port, which was created in 1932, but has taken it to levels never-before imagined. The St. Lawrence Seaway awards an annual pacesetter award to one of the many ports it serves; Monroe has won six out of the last eight years. The largest windmill manufacturer in the nation has made Monroe its main port.

What’s frustrating, however, is that the Monroe area lost $14.3 million in economic activity on one deal alone “because CBP suddenly claimed a crate is a container. The idea that every crate coming into the Port must have a hole cut into its side upon arrival so customs officers can look inside is inconsistent with the screening and inspection of crated break­bulk cargo anywhere else in the world.”

Few can match Mr. LaMarre’s knowledge of ports or the Great Lakes. He grew up in a maritime family; both his father and grandfather had careers on the lakes.

Prior to taking the Monroe job, he was manager of maritime affairs for the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.

Before that, he applied for the vacant position of executive director of the Willis B. Boyer, an ancient freighter that was a neglected and closed museum ship in Toledo. Naturally, he restored it. When he took the job as port director in Monroe, it had been vacant for 34 years. “I must love a challenge,” he said.

No one would deny that. He admits, however, that he wishes the U.S. government wouldn’t give him quite so hard a time.

Jack Lessenberry – Toledo Blade

Museum offering Labor Day free admission to union members

Toledo, OH – The National Museum of the Great Lakes will open its doors FREE on Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 6) to all union members and union retirees.

“The museum recognizes the importance of honoring the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements o the United States,” says the museum’s Executive Director Chris Gillcrist.

Labor Day is also the last day of the museum’s temporary exhibit Jim Hoffman: The Photographic Life of Toledo’s Original Boatnerd and the final day of Freighter Golf—a putt-putt hole-in-one challenge aboard the Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship. Both the temporary exhibit and putt-putt challenge are included with museum ship admission.

Tickets can be purchased ahead of time online at nmgl.org, however reservations are not required. Proof of union membership will be requested upon arrival.

ADMISSION
FREE: Current & Retired Union Members (with proper identification)
$17.00 (Museum & Ship) / $11.00 (Museum Only) – Adults (18-64)
$16.00 (Museum & Ship) / $10.00 (Museum Only) – Seniors (65+)
$14.00 (Museum & Ship) / $8.00 (Museum Only) – Youth (6-17)
FREE – Children 5 and under, GLHS/NMGL Members