The 2025-2026 winter layup list is now up and running at; https://www.boatnerd.com/winter-lay-up-list-2025-2026/
Post Your Christmas, Holiday cards on Boatnerd
Feel free to share your boat-themed Christmas and holiday cards by posting them in this thread. Attachments must be under 2 MB.
https://newsearch.boatnerd.com/viewtopic.php?t=178409
Breaking the Ice: Inside the Soo Locks Ice Mitigation Project
This past spring, ice caused significant delays at the Soo Locks. One vessel, Interlake’s M/V James R. Barker, was held up for nearly 10 hours. For Great Lakes shipping, those delays ripple across the entire system. That’s why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has long sought an innovative solution to tackle the problem head-on.
Interlake’s Vice President of Operations, Paul Christensen, and captains Brad Newland and Mike King recently traveled to Massachusetts with a team of stakeholders, including Mollie Mahoney, who leads the New Lock Project, and several USACE engineers, to offer their navigation expertise and observe this groundbreaking research in action.
The Challenge
Every spring, brackish ice flows into the lock chambers, slowing vessel traffic and increasing strain on the system. While it doesn’t damage ships, it forces the locks to cycle more often, adding wear and tear and creating costly delays.
“We’ve all spent more than our fair share of time stuck in ice—either waiting for someone to get through the lock or being the one trying to make it through,” says Captain Brad Newland.
“Anything we can do to save time is a win, not just for Interlake but for the entire industry.”
This comprehensive study includes the entire Soo Locks facility, and the resulting recommendations will benefit both the Poe Lock and the New Lock at the Soo. According to Mahoney, “including the entire facility in the study allows for implementation of the most efficient and effective ice mitigation solutions. Our focus is on reducing the volume of ice entering the Poe and New Lock, preventing ice from forming in the chambers, and effectively flushing ice that does end up in the chambers.”
Building The Solution
To find answers, USACE partnered with Arcadis Bergman, working with Verdantas Flow Labs, an engineering firm, and a specialized lab in Holden, Massachusetts, to build a 1:32 scale model of the Soo Locks—complete with 10,000 pounds of synthetic ice that mimics real ice’s buoyancy and movement. They even used a model freighter based on the M/V Paul R. Tregurtha to run tests.
Captain Mike King was impressed by the scope of the project. “The amount of thought and detail put into this project exceeded anyone’s expectations. Having all these people in one room, striving for the same goal, meant everyone’s input mattered. It was an honor to be involved and exchange information with such a great group of people.”
Over 40 days of testing, engineers will trial various mitigation strategies, including ice booms and barriers to prevent ice from entering the lock chambers. Before testing began, Great Lakes captains helped verify vessel approach angles and course lines to ensure accuracy.
Why It Matters
This project is about efficiency and collaboration. By reducing ice-related delays, commerce will continue flowing through the Locks, and critical infrastructure will be protected. The USACE’s willingness to involve industry stakeholders such as Interlake demonstrates its commitment to practical, industry-focused solutions that benefit the entire Great Lakes shipping network.
“It is always a privilege to work with the Army Corps of Engineers and be a part of making the Soo locks even safer, more reliable, and efficient,” Christensen says.
Captain Newland adds: “Over the years, some of our suggestions have saved millions of dollars and made meaningful changes that will improve efficiency.”
He even found a moment of humor during testing: “I got a kick out of watching operators try to maneuver a model of a thousand-foot ship into the lock by hand. The guy was struggling, and I couldn’t resist saying, ‘Now you know what I feel like!’ They were thrilled to see the model behave just like the real ships.”
[Interlake Steamship Co.]
