Salvage vessels head to Tim S. Dool

The Océan Group team of tugs and barges is on its way to Chrysler Shoal where the Tim S. DOOL has been grounded since Nov. 23, with no success with refloating her.

Who’s assigned to the recovery team so far?

OCÉAN CATATUG 2 – A small catamaran tug built in 2016 by Industries Ocean Inc. for Le Groupe Océan. She’s usually used for dredging and construction projects. She will be used to move the barges around and keep them in place.

OCÉAN TUNDRA tug and OCÉAN AQUA tug – at the bow and stern of the barges.

OCÉAN BORROMÉ VERREAULT dredger/crane barge will be spudded down and hopper barges tied off her.

OCÉAN BARGES BIG 01 & 02 – these are big bulk cargo hopper barges – approximately 200′ long/36′ wide/13′ tall. Carrying capacity of 1750 MT.

Ship Junkies – Lakes, Locks & Rivers (LL&R)

Great Lakes Iron Ore Trade Down in November

CLEVELAND – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 4.3 million tons in November, a decrease of 4.7 percent from 2023. Shipments were below the month’s 5-year average by 3.5 percent.

Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 45.2 million tons, a decrease of 2.3 percent compared to the same point in 2023.

Through November iron ore loadings are 4.2 percent above their 5-year average for that timeframe.

Since 1880, Lake Carriers’ has represented the U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet, which today can move more than 90 million tons of cargos annually that are the foundation of American industry, infrastructure, and power: iron ore, stone, coal, cement, and other dry bulk materials such as grain, salt, and sand. 

[See Charts in gallery below]

Lake Carriers’ Association

Port of Thunder Bay enjoying ‘generational’ cargo records

THUNDER BAY, ON — With about one month still left in the shipping season, the Port of Thunder Bay is enjoying what port officials are describing as “generational” cargo volumes this year.

“We’re expecting a really good finish here,” said Chris Heikkinen, CEO of the port authority.

To the end of November, the port has established modern-era records for key cargoes including potash and phosphate fertilizer.

Fertilizer shipments, which are handled inbound at Keefer Terminal, have also contributed to the terminal seeing its highest annual cargo volume in decades.

Potash, shipped from the port’s dry bulk terminals, has doubled in tonnage from the same month last year, reaching a level last reported four decades ago.

The Thunder Bay Port Authority also reported Monday that grain volumes in November held strong in the wake of significant gains experienced over the previous two months, leaving the year-to-date volume more than 500,000 metric tons higher than the five-year average.

Heikkinen said that, overall, this is shaping up to be the best shipping season in over 25 years.

“It’s great to see increases especially in the diversity of the cargoes we’re having.  Every ton means more work for local people. So it’s our objective always to try to increase and diversify the marine cargoes coming through the port. Right now, we’re having some success, and that means more dollars for our local economy.”

The strong shipping season is reflected, as well, in the number of ships visiting Thunder Bay, with 432 vessels tying up by the end of last month, compared with only 388 a year ago.

According to the latest data provided by the port authority, activity in the port contributes $370 million to the city’s economy each year and is responsible for maintaining about 1,000 jobs.

Michigan Infrastructure Office Announces
Drummond Island Infrastructure Project

 LANSING, Mich.—On Monday, the Michigan Infrastructure Office announced the start of upgrades at the Drummond Dolomite facility on Drummond Island, a project designed to improve efficiency, enhance safety for vessel workers, and reduce delays caused by turbulent conditions.

Made possible by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), funding for these improvements will increase the annual volume of materials shipped by 20%. The $10,154,024 investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help modernize the facility and support more reliable operations.

The PIDP funds will enable the facility to serve larger vessels, reducing the number of trips required and supporting more sustainable operations. Planned enhancements will allow larger, more efficient freighters to transport materials, reducing the number of trips required. As a result, the investment will lower fuel consumption, decrease shipping costs, and minimize logistical challenges, bolstering Michigan’s steel and agricultural industries by ensuring consistent, cost-effective transport of essential materials.

Key components of the project include significant ship loader system improvements, such as installing a new, state-of-the-art ship loader with a longer boom and increased height to accommodate wider and taller vessels. Additionally, sea wall enhancements will involve demolishing a sunken vessel (Editor’s note: Earl W. Oglebay i), installing new sheet pile and tie-back structures, constructing a new mooring cell, adding bollards, and undertaking comprehensive repairs to address deficiencies identified in a 2019 inspection.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investment on Drummond Island highlights Michigan’s commitment to supporting critical industries like steel and agriculture,” said Zachary Kolodin, chief infrastructure officer and director of the Michigan Infrastructure Office. “By upgrading the freighter loading dock, we’re enabling more efficient transport of essential materials like dolomite, which strengthens steel for manufacturing and enriches soil for agricultural productivity. These upgrades will reduce costs, improve reliability, and support the industries that are vital to Michigan’s economy and the region’s success.”

Drummond Island, located one mile east of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula across Lake Huron’s De Tour Passage, has underlying limestone rock with high magnesium and calcium carbonate content that is mined at Drummond Dolomite’s quarry. The magnesium-rich limestone, known as dolomite, produced from this facility is primarily used in the steel, agricultural, and construction industries. The project, led by the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation in partnership with Drummond Dolomite, will advance ongoing efforts to meet the large and growing product demand.

Ships taking extra caution after recent seiche
exposes parts of the Detroit River’s bank

When Windsor Harbour Master Peter Berry looked at the Detroit River earlier Friday, he saw things he hadn’t seen in more than a decade.  “We haven’t seen the bottom of the river since 2010, 2011. They’re now exposed,” Berry told CBC Windsor. 

“Fish habitats we installed years ago that were under water are now exposed. The root balls and root wads, we can now see them.”

The culprit is a seiche that has taken the river and Lake Erie by storm. It’s a natural phenomenon that happens when strong winds push water from one end of a basin to another.

In this case, water in Lake Erie and the Detroit River are being forced into the northeastern basin by a strong, sustained southwest wind — all in a very short amount of time.

Berry says they lost about three-and-a-half to four feet of water in roughly a 24-hour period, which is why the water level is so low and parts of the riverbank are exposed.

That water loss, coupled with the strong winds, is a concern for shippers, according to Berry.

“Certainly, it’s something that mariners are keeping watch of,” said the chief operating officer of the Windsor Port Authority. “They’ve got to go look at those depths, those approaches to the docks.”

“Three, four feet, you know, a metre coming into a dock when you’re fully loaded could be a problem.”

Although three to four feet of water may not seem like much, Berry says navigating that difference in water levels takes extra effort.

“The depth on your vessels, your draft is everything,” he said, adding that mariners also have to consider where their load line is, where they’re sitting in the water, and the attitude of the vessel itself.

Prior to the seiche, Berry said the Detroit River was experiencing low water levels, especially when compared to previous years.  “We’re still slightly above the mean average, but we’re [lower] than we were this time last year by 20, 30 centimetres,” he said. 

The water decline isn’t necessarily a bad thing — Berry says it’s part of “a natural cycle of the Great Lakes” due to evaporation, water temperatures and climate change.

“[But] what we saw this season of decline, it went rather quickly,” he said. “We didn’t get a lot of rain in the later part of the summer and the fall, what normally would replenish those water stocks and keep us higher.”

“So we went down rather quickly from where we thought we would be.”

These lower levels mean vessels can’t carry as much cargo on board, according to Berry. And if the ships aren’t carrying a lot of cargo, the vessels are “basically a scrap of paper floating down the road.”

That makes it risky to put a ship out in anchorage, as the strong winds turn them into “mylar balloons.”

“We don’t want those anchors dragging as well because we do have fuel lines, we do have natural gas lines and liquid propane lines that travel underneath the river,” he said.

“As much as they’re buried, an anchor … being dragged starts to dig in deeper, and we definitely don’t want that.”

Nevertheless, Berry says they have to keep the economy going, so they can’t stop moving cargo to and from the port. They just do it with extra caution.

“We sail every day of the week, 365 [days]. We’ve got to move that cargo,” he said. “The only thing that stops a ship early is heavy ice, which we’ve not seen in the Great Lakes for several years.”

Berry says it’s uncommon for these strong winds to last weeks. He hopes the seiche will have slowed down by Sunday, though he knows Mother Nature sometimes has her own plans. “I’ve been here for 15 years and I’ve watched the river. She has her own attitude and her own response to things,” he said.

He says a seiche like this one can “absolutely” happen again — maybe more often due to climate change.

CBC

Tim S. Dool lightering to begin this week

The process to lighter and refloat the grounded Tim S. Dool reached a benchmark on Saturday after plans were accepted and Algoma contracted with Ocean Group for equipment/tugs.

On Monday, equipment will be inspected to determine agricultural requirements are met since it is grain that is being unloaded. This is expected to occur in Sorel. Once inspections are completed and clearance is given then the fleet will begin upbound. Expect for midweek arrival on scene and the process beginning soon after. There are expected to be a number of vessels onsite throughout the process.

In addition to Ocean equipment, it’s likely there will be equipment from Picton’s Doornekamp operation.  Offloaded grain will be moved to Quebec.

Once the ship is determined to be at a point of removal from the shoal, crews will pull it free and the ship will then move to anchorage for further inspection

St. Lawrence Seaway Shipwatchers Network

Federal Yoshino damaged at Thunder Bay

On Sunday, the Fednav vessel Federal Yoshina sustained serious damage to her rudder after backing into part of the Lafarge dock while attempting to leave Thunder Bay Terminals. She was towed over to Keefer Terminal. Waterfront reports indicate the new Federal Michigan is going up to tie up alongside to unload her cargo.

OBITUARY: Capt. Don Langlois  1937 – 2024

Langlois, Donald (Captain Don), passed peacefully with his family at his side on December 6th, 2024 at the St. Catharines General Hospital in his 87th year.

Don commenced his seafaring career in 1953 and worked his way through the ranks to Captain. He joined the Great Lakes Pilotage Authority in 1972 as a Marine Pilot and retired in 2002. He served on the board of directors of the Pilotage Authority from 1996 to 2007. Don was a member and past president of the Corporation of Professional Great Lakes Pilots, member of the International Shipmasters Association and former member of the Canadian Marine Pilots and Canadian Merchant Service Guild.

Beloved husband of Carole for 63 years. Loving father of sons Danny (Laurie), Kerry (Julie), Terry (Joan). Loving grandpa to Linda, Tyler (Melody), Luke (Bobbie), Wayne (Amber), Jesse (Lindsey), Amy (Richard). Great Grandpapa to Landon, Ava, William and Ellie. Survived by his sisters Gladys and Loraine. Predeceased by his loving wife, his parents Alfred and Dinah, brothers Andrew, Leo, Dawson and sister Elsie.

Don was a loving father, grandfather and great grandpapa. He cherished nothing more than watching his grandchildren and great grandchildren play hockey or figure skate. Both Don and Carole could always be found at games or events, cheering enthusiastically. Don was known for his generosity, often offering a little extra for every goal scored or assist made.

Family and friends will be received at George Darte Funeral Chapel, 585 Carlton Street, St. Catharines on Thursday, December 12 from 2:00 – 4:00 and 6:00 – 8:00pm with prayers beginning at 3:00pm. Funeral Mass to be celebrated at St. Alfred Roman Catholic Church, 272 Vine St., St. Catharines on Friday, December 13 at 11:00am followed by Rite of Committal at Victoria Lawn Cemetery. Donations may be made to the Cancer, Heart and Stroke Foundation or charity of your choice.

Seaway investing millions into Welland Canal infrastructure

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. is investing $180 million in maintaining and upgrading locks and bridges along the Welland Canal over the next three years.

The investment also includes improving energy infrastructure and upgrading mechanical and structural systems to extend the lifespan of its critical assets, said a seaway news release.

It’s also investing more than $170 million in the Montreal to Lake Ontario section of the St. Lawrence Seaway System to carry out the same work to enhance critical infrastructure, ensure strong supply chain links and provide reliable transportation for goods.

“This investment reflects our commitment to providing a resilient and sustainable supply chain for Canadians,” said Jim Athanasiou, seaway president and chief executive officer.

He said by enhancing the reliability of the seaway’s infrastructure, it’s also highlighting its vital role in ensuring goods reach their destinations efficiently while supporting innovation and sustainability in marine transportation.

While the seaway announced the investment, which spans from this past April until March 31, 2027, it also set closing dates for the 2024 shipping season.

Nicole Giroux-Laplante, the seaway’s manager of media relations and communications, said the canal closes Jan. 10 and the Montreal to Lake Ontario section Jan. 5.

The 2023 shipping season on the eight-lock, 43-kilometre-long waterway between lakes Ontario and Erie closed Jan. 7, ending a five-year pilot program to stay open longer.

“Incremental adjustments like this help ensure predictability for our users. Major maintenance work is conducted during the winter, outside of the navigation season, to keep the system reliable and sustainable,” she said in an email.

Bruce Burrows, Chamber of Marine Commerce president and chief executive officer, said the temporary closure of seaway operations does create a valuable and predictable opportunity for ship operators to conduct maintenance on their vessels.

He said the later closing date is beneficial for shippers who utilize the seaway to move vital commodities, as additional days mean there are more opportunities to move cargo.

“Generally lighter ice conditions in the seaway system in recent years was one factor in enabling the seaway to explore later closing dates to benefit users of the system.”

However, Burrows said it would be helpful to establish firm opening and closing dates as early as possible in the year — during the pilot project, dates for extended operations were announced in November — and to have those dates incorporate what was learned about successfully extending operations in prior years.

“Variable season opening and closing dates for the seaway can make it difficult to engage in optimal cargo planning and vessel scheduling, and therefore prevent companies from fully benefiting from season extension.”

Burrows said U.S. federal regulations on navigation and navigable waters sets March 25 as the opening date and Jan. 15 as the closing date for the Sault Ste. Marie (Soo) lock operating season.

The U.S. lock allows vessels to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.

“These dates are fixed, other than in the event of an emergency, as decided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Adopting a similar approach with confirmed start and end dates in other areas of the seaway would be most beneficial,” said Burrows.

Ship Chasing Photographer Now
Sails Aboard the Wilfred Sykes

Mike Novak’s maritime roots are deep. His grandfather sailed on the Edmund Fitzgerald from 1961-64 before being drafted to Vietnam. His great-uncle sailed the Great Lakes for many years for Columbia Transportation before retiring in 2008.

From the title of his photography page “Don’t Slow Down”, one can deduce he is a man of many passions: 50k races, hunting, photography, cycling, now sailing the Great Lakes aboard the Wilfred Sykes. “This is my first ship and my first ship job,” Mike states, adding “I came on as a wiper with the intent to work my way up.”

Read Mike’s story and see his amazing photos at https://destinationduluth.org/shipchasing-photographer-now-sails-aboard-the-wilfred-sykes/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHClRNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQPkCNCdszIZrYy-pPvsParOxvrjE2BmsHI0BDwNP1HLc4x5S_Qje3bqOQ_aem_2mG2NOoUmbUiQgCfvQTxlQ

Tallest lighthouse on Great Lakes looking for 2025 volunteer keepers

EMMET COUNTY, MI –  There’s two open positions on the most remote, tallest lighthouse on Lake Michigan. An ideal applicant has more than just a great sense of adventure if they’re going to make it at White Shoal Lighthouse.

Are you good with open waters? Your 90-minute commute will likely have sea spray, but the big lake is your backyard. How about heights − does the thought of climbing off a boat onto a 22-foot vertical ladder make you queasy or excited? Don’t forget the stairs. Lots of stairs. You’ll be regularly climbing 143 steps from the boathouse to the lantern room, and then some.

If you’re checking all these boxes then read on for a unique mission.

The White Shoal Lighthouse Preservation Society is looking for a first and second assistant lighthouse keeper for weeklong spots May to September 2025.

The candy-cane striped lighthouse is perched in the waters of the Mackinac Straits some 20 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge. Standing at 125 feet tall, White Shoal is the tallest lighthouse in the Great Lakes.

Volunteers are responsible for meals, repairs and maintenance during their time at the lighthouse. They’ll also be present for overnight guests in August and September.

Applications will open on Jan. 1, 2025 and remain open for one month. The volunteer fee is $250. Additionally, volunteers are given a grocery list of items to bring to White Shoal during their assigned rotation.

If you’re interested in visiting or volunteering at White Shoal Lighthouse visit preservewhiteshoal.org.

Read more at this M Live link: https://www.mlive.com/life/2024/12/tallest-lighthouse-on-great-lakes-looking-for-2025-volunteer-keepers.html

Ship still stuck in St. Lawrence River near Morrisburg

MORRISBURG — Grounded for over a week, the Algoma Central ship – Tim S. Dool – remained lodged on a shoal near Crysler Marina, east of Morrisburg, on Friday.

The nearly 60-year-old grain ship hit the shoal around lunchtime on Nov. 23. Since then, recovery efforts have seen water levels on Lake St. Lawrence temporarily raised to see if the ship would dislodge itself. A second salvage effort involving three tugboats also failed to budge the ship.

A new plan is underway to transfer some of the grain off the ship to other ships, so that the ship may become more buoyant and release from the bottom. All salvage plans must be approved by Transport Canada.

Nicole Giroux-Laplante with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. said in a statement that a lightering plan in the works.

“A lightering plan is being finalized and is expected to be submitted for review shortly,” she said. “Once the plan is finalized, operations are not anticipated to begin until next week.”Tug Robinson Bay departs Massena for shipyard work

The Tug Robinson Bay has left the GLS Marine Base in Massena, NY, for the last time Friday morning. A Great Lakes Maritime Academy crew is underway to Cleveland, Ohio (with a stop in Clayton, NY) with her to receive a shipyard maintenance period and removal of the upper pilot house this winter. Next spring when put back in the water she will travel to her new home in Traverse City, MI, to allow maritime cadets to learn towing, ship handling and engineering processes onboard the historic vessel.

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

Great Lakes region hit hard by steel
industry pollution, report finds

By Great Lakes Echo 
 By Joshua Kim

Pollution from coal-based steel production causes hundreds of premature deaths each year, with people in  the Great Lakes region bearing much of the burden, according to a recent report.

The nonprofit research group Industrious Labs looked at 17 coal-based steel plants and coke facilities operating in the United States and the health and environmental problems they cause in surrounding communities.

Emissions from these facilities include pollutants linked to significant health and environmental problems, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, fine particulate matter and lead.

Together their pollution is responsible for as many as 892 premature deaths per year, according to Industrious Labs. Those emissions also trigger around 250,000 cases of asthma symptoms annually, are linked to cancer rates 12% to 26% higher than the national average and result in up to $13.2 billion in annual health care costs, the report says.

The group based its results on an Environmental Protection Agency computer model that uses self-reported industry data.

“Communities don’t have access to this type of information,” said Hilary Lewis, the steel director at Industrious Labs. “By doing this report, we are giving people who live closest to these facilities, who are most impacted, who are most likely to be experiencing these health harms, a tool in advocating for cleaner alternatives.”

All but one of the country’s coke plants and all of its operating coal-based steel plants are located in Great Lakes states, according to the report. Coke is a fuel derived from coal that is used in steelmaking.

That includes U.S. Steel’s Gary Works, the largest steel processing plant in the country. Pollution from the facility puts residents of Gary, Indiana, among the 10% of Americans who are most at risk of developing asthma and low life expectancy, according to the report.

“The steel mills dominate what goes on here,” said Carolyn McCrady, a member of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, a local environmental advocacy group. “They are still pumping out all that stuff into our air, our water, and our land and so that is a huge issue that we have to deal with.”

Residents cannot plant gardens in their yards, swim in Lake Michigan or fish in certain parts of the lake because of the toxic substances released by Gary Works into the surrounding areas, McCrady said.

Despite these challenges, McCrady said Gary residents remain optimistic about their city’s future.

She said she hopes that Nippon Steel, which agreed in 2023 to purchase U.S. Steel, will be more open to joining the industry’s transition to “green” steelmaking. President-elect Donald Trump, however, has threatened to block the Japanese company’s acquisition of U.S. Steel.

One of the biggest changes in the industry is the decreasing use of coke-burning blast furnaces, Lewis said. Instead, some facilities are switching to direct reduced iron technology that operates at lower temperatures and can run on natural gas or hydrogen. The latter fuel can be produced with renewable energy sources.

In an emailed statement, U.S. Steel media relations representative Andrew Fulton said the company “is aware of the study and is still reviewing the information contained in it.”

Fulton said U.S. Steel employees work to make steelmaking as environmentally conscious as possible and that the company is on track to working to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Tug Robinson Bay departs Massena for shipyard work

The Tug Robinson Bay has left the GLS Marine Base in Massena, NY, for the last time Friday morning. A Great Lakes Maritime Academy crew is underway to Cleveland, Ohio (with a stop in Clayton, NY) with her to receive a shipyard maintenance period and removal of the upper pilot house this winter. Next spring when put back in the water she will travel to her new home in Traverse City, MI, to allow maritime cadets to learn towing, ship handling and engineering processes onboard the historic vessel.

St. Lawrence Seaway Ship Watchers Network – Nathan Jarvis

There were a total of 27 commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River during the month of November 2024, with 13 different docks receiving 40 separate deliveries of product, accounting for split cargos delivered to more than one dock. This represents seven more vessel passages than recorded during November 2023, and it is more than all of the long term averages, with the 5-year average at 21 passages for November, the 10-year average at 18 passages, the 15-year average at 17 passages, and the 20-year average of 19 commercial vessel passages for the month of November.

For the total number of commercial vessel passages for the year-to-date, there have been 189. This is 33 more passages than last year at this point. Looking at the averages, the 189 passages for the year to date are more than the 5-year average of 173, the 10-year average of 152 passages, the 15-year average of 144 passages, and the 20-year average of 167 vessel passages.