Algoma Bear keel laying set for mid June
Keel laying for Algoma Central Corp.’s newest vessel is scheduled for mid-June at China’s Yangzijiang (YZJ), with launching at the end of August and an optimistic delivery date of December 2023. She will replace the1979-built Algoma Transport, one of the oldest ships in the Algoma dry-bulk fleet. The 740-foot-long Equinox 2.0-class self-unloader will be named Algoma Bear. The new class vessel’s design will build on the original Equinox Class standards to offer increased deadweight capacity, better fuel efficiency and improved speed at lesser engine power.
Algoma Central Corp.
Planned harbor expansion could create new opportunities for Goderich
GODERICH, ON – The town of Goderich has a plan to expand the harbor to create more opportunities for the area. Mayor Myles Murdock said it is already a huge asset to the town and the planned expansion would be add significantly to that.
Murdock said the harbor currently provides income to the town and that reduces the tax burden. “The second thing is the in-filling where we wish to add 10 more acres,” he said. “If we’re able to do that the opportunity to bring even more revenues into town coffers would be significant. It’d be double again what we’re currently receiving.”
He added that would also open the door to bringing other materials through the harbor. Right now, aggregate is one thing they’re doing on the five acres they have, but it’s not a high-cost item compared to other materials.
The third possibility is the potential for a hydrogen energy project. “Which would involve using off-peak electrical energy to create hydrogen gas and then the hydrogen gas would be used to make ammonia,” said Murdock. “Then you have the ability to make fertilizers.”
He said that would be a real boom for the agricultural sector in Southwestern Ontario and it would also open up the opportunity to export some products that we currently import. Murdock pointed out that would also lower the price of those products for local producers.
CKNX
Find the Light at 30th Spring Lighthouse Festival
DOOR COUNTY, WI – Lighthouses may be the most recognizable symbols of Door County. Eleven dot the shoreline of the county, and three more stand guard for our neighbors to the south in Kewaunee County. They’re iconic and mysterious, and for more than a century, they have sparked the curiosity of nearly everyone who lays eyes on them.
This weekend offers rare opportunities to feed that curiosity during the 30th Door County Spring Lighthouse Festival.
This fundraising weekend includes air, land, boat and adventure tours that provide access to all 11 of the treasured lighthouses of Door County and three to the south. Many of the tour excursions are part of the Lighthouse Festival weekends only, providing visitors with exclusive access to structures that are not typically open to the public: Chambers Island, Plum Island and Sherwood Point. And there are tours for all levels of activity and accessibility.
Boat tours depart from a variety of locations around the peninsula, including Fish Creek, Gills Rock, Baileys Harbor and Sturgeon Bay. Some tours are already sold out, but opportunities remain for many others, such as the schooner cruise aboard the Edith M. Becker.
Participants will board a 19th-century tall ship to sail the shoreline and get a waterfront view of Eagle Bluff Lighthouse while learning about local lore and history with the crew of Sail Door County.
You can also feed your curiosity through a tour with Fish Creek Scenic Boat Tours to Chambers Island to hike and explore the Chambers Island Lighthouse with expert docents. The more adventurous can kayak to the Cana Island Lighthouse with Door County Adventure Center or take a bay-to-lake sightseeing cruise with Shoreline Scenic Boat Tours through the Sturgeon Bay ship canal. Learn Door County history, see stunning waterfront homes and get an up-close view of the Sturgeon Bay Pierhead lighthouse.
These are just a few of the many rare opportunities available to lighthouse lovers this weekend. Learn more at dcmm.org, and get tickets at doorcountytickets.com.
Lake Superior climate monitoring, maritime safety buoys deployed for season
MARQUETTE, MI – Three climate monitoring and maritime safety buoys have been deployed for the season from the south shore of Lake Superior.
According to a press release, the Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Conservancy (SWP) staff deployed the buoys on Saturday, June 3 with boat support provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The location of these buoys are near the shorelines of Marquette, Munising and Grand Marias.
The Marquette buoy is one half-mile northeast of Black Rocks of Presque Isle; the Munising buoy is five miles north of Miners Castle, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore; the Grand Marais buoy is four miles north of the harbor.
In 2021, the SWP received $47,786.80 in grant funding through the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) to purchase the new, buoys and SWP continues to deploy, maintain, and retrieve them yearly.
Each of the three monitoring buoys collect important navigation and climate planning data including wave height, wind speed, water temperature and more.
The live data provided by these buoys is critical for commercial and recreational boaters as well as the National Weather Service, Environment Canada and NOAA. In addition, the SWP uses buoy data for long-term climate adaptation planning with coastal communities in the Upper Peninsula. Data is transmitted and accessible via the GLOS Seagull website.
WLUC. Read the full story here:
Efforts underway to restore Pointe aux Barques Life Saving Station
Great Lakes historian and maritime artist Bob McGreevy thinks lighthouse keepers get a little too much credit and take up a little too much space in history books. It’s the members of the United States Life Saving Service that are unsung heroes, he said. Men like the six surfmen who lost their lives during a rescue attempt off the shore of Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse in April 1880.
“They were the original first responders,” McGreevy said.
Those heroic men were stationed at the Pointe aux Barques Life Saving Station, which originally sat about an eighth of a mile south of the lighthouse in what is now the Lighthouse County Park campground. The 146-year-old structure was moved to Huron City before being taken to its current location west of the lighthouse gift shop.
The importance of the station to the history and evolution of the Thumb can’t be overestimated, he added. “It runs like a thread through the history of shipping on the Great Lakes,” McGreevy said. “It’s a miracle the station has survived.”
The Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse Society is gearing up for a major fundraising effort to restore the historic United States Life Saving Station to its former glory.
Mimi Herrington, president of the PABL society, said her organization is putting the finishing touches on a Historic Structure Report, which details the building’s history and current condition. The report will also include a proposal for restoration. Once completed, the State Historic Preservation Office will review the report, and the lighthouse will make any necessary revisions before finalizing it.
That’s when the real work begins. Herrington said the society will then pursue grant opportunities from federal, state and private organizations. Since the Huron County Road Commission owns the building, it will need to give its blessing, as well. Herrington said the estimated cost of the planned restoration is around $1 million.
“Everybody’s going to be looking for money,” she said.
Read more here: https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/us-life-saving-station-point-aux-barques-18142127.php?fbclid=IwAR0YGBkAzoE3akl-rXYGQAQUeJE_yorzSA9XjdZF6pf08MmQIAIiUQrCDaM
