Noteworthy Passages

The 426-foot-long, Portugese tanker Zea Lilian ((IMO 9318228) is on her first voyage into the Great Lakes, destination Sarnia, ON. As of Monday evening, she was anchored above Sarnia/Point Edward.  Another new visitor, the tanker EK-Stream, (IMO 9808261) was in the Welland Canal Monday night, also Sarnia-bound. She sails for Ektank AB of Göteborg, Sweden.

McKeil Marine’s Northern Venture arrived at Ontario Shipyards in Port Weller, ON, on April 11. She is positioned in Graving Dock #2 to undergo repairs on its controllable pitch propeller system, following issues earlier in the season

Crews from Duluth Cargo Connect were busy Thursday offloading the first of four large pieces of project cargo brought in Wednesday by tug Meredith Ashton and a 240-foot deck barge. This is the first vessel in decades to dock at the new northeast-facing Berth 10 on the Clure Terminal Expansion pier. The 667-foot berth, along with northwest-facing Berth 11, opened for use following a $10.5 million reconstruction project completed in March 2025.

David Schauer

APRIL 22 UPDATE: American Sprit left the Soo early on Wendesday for Two Harbors to load. Burns Harbor’s visit to BayShip was short, just one day.

ORIGINAL REPORT: On Friday, American Spirit became the first 1,000-footer to dock at the recently rebuilt Carbide Dock in the Soo. She appeared to be running on the starboard engine only and was escorted up the river by the tug Colorado. The Spirit was still there as of 5 p.m. Saturday.In unrelated news, fleetmate Burns Harbor arrived at BayShip, Sturgeon Bay, for unspecified mechanical issues.

David Kaye

High-speed cross-Lake Michigan ferry Lake Express completed a training run Wednesday from Milwaukee to Muskegon.  Daily round-trip service resumes May 1.

Capt. Danny Hecko

The first cruise ship of the year in the St. Lawrence Seaway is the Viking Polaris, which made a stopover Wednesday morning in Trois-Rivières, QC, en route to Toronto.

Alain Garceau – Shipspotting Québec

McKeil’s new laker Ontario Venture took the first load out of Parrish & Heimbecker’s newly-opened grain elevator at Picton, Ontario.  The load was a mix of wheat and soybeans.  It is headed to P&H’s terminal at Quebec City.

Wilfred Sykes took on stone at Calcite, MI, Friday, the first load of the season from that port. She later moved to Port Dolomite to load additional cargo.

James R. Barker made a rare trip to Conneaut, OH, Friday. After anchoring for weather Thursday, she pulled up to the dock early in the morning and began to unload her cargo of iron ore.

Sebastian Dunn