11/18/2023
Harvest season grain gains lift Duluth-Superior tonnage
DULUTH, MN. — Boosted by an 18-month high for grain shipments, total maritime tonnage
through the Port of Duluth-Superior climbed 3.9% ahead of last season’s pace through Oct. 31,
2023.
More than 141,000 short tons of grain transited the port in October, as fall harvest season
ramped up throughout the Upper Midwest. Almost 92,000 ST sailed for export, including more
than 66,000 ST of durum wheat.
Iron ore, the port’s king cargo, also moved briskly in October, topping 2.2 million ST for the
month and 16.5 million ST for the season. That season-to-date total exceeded the 2022 pace by
15%.
“Despite the eight-day Seaway strike, October tonnage topped the September total and set the
stage for what should be a strong finish to the navigation season,” said Deb DeLuca, executive
director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “The Seaway Management Corporation set its
latest closing date ever – January 5 – so if the weather and markets cooperate, we could see
some later-than-usual oceangoing ships mingling with the lakers, which aim to continue sailing
until the Soo Locks close for the winter on January 15.”
More than 700 vessels and 30 million short tons of cargo move through the Port of Duluth-
Superior each year, making it the Great Lakes’ largest tonnage port and one of the nation’s top 20
The port supports more than 7,000 jobs and contributes $1.3 billion in business revenue to the regional economy. Learn more at DuluthPort.com
Environmentalists concerned over late St. Lawrence Seaway closure
CLAYTON, N.Y. –The St. Lawrence Seaway is preparing for its latest seasonal closing date in its
64-year history. Although the international waterway typically shuts down at the end of
December, U.S. and Canadian authorities have agreed to extend this year’s navigation season,
according to the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.
Officials said this is due to a strike of unionized Canadian Seaway workers that shut down the
Seaway for one week.
Weather permitting, the projected closing date for the Montreal/Lake Ontario section is
January 5, 2024, and for the Welland Canal section is January 7, 2024.
However, this has sparked concern among environmentalists along the St. Lawrence River.
“Every time that the closings get pushed later in the season, it increases the risk to the
environment, the risk to the river,” Save The River Executive Director John Peach expressed.
Save The River was a key player in stopping winter navigation in the late 1970s. The
organization specifically got its start following the infamous “Slick of ’76” incident, which
occurred after a vessel carrying oil went aground on the St. Lawrence River.
Peach emphasized that winter navigation is a major environmental threat because of the
products on board vessels. “There’s very little technology or experience in collecting any of the
chemicals or the oil that spilled in icing conditions,” Peach explained. “And if those chemicals or
if the oil were to get underneath ice on the shorelines, they could stay there all winter and it
could be an even bigger mess in the spring.”
All closing dates are weather permitting. GLS has confirmed that the extended season will not
impact ice control booms throughout the Seaway and officials will continue to monitor
conditions.
But Peach said an unprecedented accident could put many in danger. “If there ever was a
grounding or a fire on a ship or a shipboard incident, the first responders to that are going to be
our local first responders,” Peach added. “And for them to launch a boat in icing conditions is
when the shoreline is icy. When the docks are icy, it’s a very risky proposition. They could fall,
they could injure themselves. They could go into the water. The consequences could be
disastrous.”
All issues that he said span out of the St. Lawrence River into the entire Great Lakes system on
an issue Save The River thought was over. “I thought we were beyond this one, but extenuating
circumstances have brought it back,” Peach concluded.
An opening date for next season’s shipping season has not been announced.
GLS said that several factors will be considered to decide next season’s opening date. These
include vessel safety, emergency response capability and coordination, weather and
environmental conditions, water levels and water management, domestic and international
trade forecast models.
ACB 50
New buoys in Great Lakes will remain all winter, provide novel data on ice and fish
(FOX 2) – They aren’t just normal buoys that will remain in the Great Lakes this winter.
New technology has enabled scientists that study the region’s hydrology to do so during the harshest times of the year by allowing buoys to operate during the winter and even under the ice.
“These are smaller buoys that are very robust. They’re all encased in a plastic container. They can handle the icy conditions, we hope,” said Steve Ruberg, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told FOX Weather. “This is a first we’re trying to do this.”
The buoys are designed to survive sub-zero temperatures and withstand ice cover. They’re capable of measuring temperatures, wave height and direction. Meanwhile, there will be robots that can collect data underneath ice that forms over the lakes.
Ruberg, who works as a Great Lakes researcher for NOAA, says they’re going to put the buoys to the test in Lake Michigan this winter and plan on expanding the operation to Lake Erie next.
He said the data they collect will be helpful to the commercial shipping industry and the coast guard, which will be breaking ice.
The robots that will travel underwater will measure things like ice thickness, chlorophyll content, temperatures, fish, and zooplankton – all data points that until recently scientists could never study.
