Museum offering Fitzgerald Experience, unique tour discussing one of the most notable shipwrecks in Great Lakes history

Toledo, OH – The weekend of Saturday, November 11 and Sunday, November 12, the National Museum of the Great Lakes will honor the 48th Anniversary of the loss of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald by offering special tours. The Fitzgerald Experience is a guided tour of the Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship, using the lake freighter and its similarities to the Edmund Fitzgerald to discuss the events of November 10, 1975, theories surrounding the sinking and stories about the 29 crew members who were lost.

“The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald was a momentous moment in Great Lakes history,” explained Ellen Kennedy, the museum’s Education and Visitor Experience Director. “Guests will come away from these tours with a deeper understanding of the impact of that loss.”

Tickets for the 75-minute tour are $20 for members and $25 for non-members, which includes admission to the National Museum of the Great Lakes. Each tour will be limited to 8 people. Guests will also receive a museum store discount of 10% (non-members) / 20% (members) off in-store purchases. Advance registration is recommended.

Due to its historical accuracy, the Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship is not handicap or wheelchair accessible. Narrow, steep staircases are common throughout the Schoonmaker and may provide difficulties in accessibility for some. The Schoonmaker is also not heated and much of the tour is on uncovered decks. Guests are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather. If it is determined that the tours are impossible due to the weather, a refund of the ticket price (minus fees) will be provided. No make-up date is planned. You can process a refund (minus fees) and cancel your ticket up to 7 days before the event.

National Museum of the Great Lakes

Fraser Industries eyes expansion in Superior

SUPERIOR — Fraser Industries is working to expand opportunity at the 135-year-old shipyard.

After all, the 60-acre facility offers plenty of room for growth around Howard’s Bay.

Fraser Industries has been owned by Infrastructure Acquisition Partners, a joint venture of Cleaves Invest of Norway and Chicago-based Foundry Mountain Infrastructure Partners, since June 2021.

Since then, company officials have been working to turn the Fraser Industries around.

“We basically have 15 acres of operation on a 60-acre facility, so there’s lots of potential and lots of opportunities,” said Fraser CEO Patrick Kelly. “We have specific plans to roll out over the next three years. And the way growth usually takes place, one stage of growth will usually lead to the next … we think that will lead to other opportunities beyond that.”

The three-year plan wouldn’t use the entire 45 acres available for growth, Kelly said.

Fraser Industries includes Fraser Shipyards, the only full-service ship repair and maintenance yard west of Soo Locks; Lake Assault Boats, a manufacturer of aluminum vessels; Northern Engineering, to provide machining services for repair and renewal of power transmissions, propulsion systems and gear drives; and now Fraser Terminal.

The company has obtained a U.S. Coast Guard-approved Maritime Security and Safety Plan.

The size of the facility has allowed the company to recently add a terminal operation, Kelly said. He said if the port of Duluth is unable to handle the volume, Fraser is able to take it.

“It’s just a nice expansion of what we bring,” Kelly said.

The plan could invest up to $100 million now that Fraser Industries is an international public port entryway into Wisconsin, said John Jacobson, director of public affairs with Ruder Ware, which represents Fraser Industries. However, the terminal is not the only opportunity for growth.

“We’ve got several rail opportunities that are coming to us,” Kelly said. “The major rail operators in the region indicate they don’t have adequate repair capability — paint lining opportunities are a big deal — and just fleeting.”

The straight-away Fraser owns across the bay from the shipyard operation could provide sufficient space to store up to 250 rail cars, Kelly said.

Kelly said they are talking with rail groups about extending the rail spurs that currently run to the yard, which would make the shipyard a tri-modal facility serving freight movement by rail, truck and ship. The facility would include rail repair, liner coatings and fleeting services, he said.

“A lot of our customers tell us that’s exactly what they are looking for on the Superior side of the harbor complex,” Kelly said. “It’s a nice opportunity there. We’re building our customer interest now before we put the investment in the yard, but it’s coming.”

But Fraser Industries isn’t moving away from its roots.

Both the shipyard and Lake Assault Boats are building new vessels. Fraser is building vessels for the U.S. Navy and a ferry for the Beausoleil First Nations Tribe. Lake Assault Boats delivered its 200th aluminum vessel this year and has a five-year contract with the U.S. Navy and NATO members to supply up to 130 patrol boats.

“Basically, when the U.S.S. Cole was bombed in Yemen, the Department of Defense and the Navy put out a request saying basically that all of these big ships we have around the globe don’t have any protection, so any small boat can come up and blow up the side of our ships,” Jacobson said. “Fraser was one of the businesses that won the bids. They’ve built these really neat boats, these really versatile, tactical patrol and assault boats to protect the Navy fleet.”

And the shipyard is still focused on repairs. With more than a mile of dock wall and two of the four dry docks on the Great Lakes, repairs and inspections remain an important part of the business.

In addition to structural work, the shipyard does engine repair, vibration analysis and anything that has rotating equipment, Fraser has experts that will fix it, Kelly said. He said ship owners often take advantage of their Jones Act inspections, required every five years, to open things up and get them fixed before they go back out in the spring.

“We pride ourselves in getting every boat that’s in for winter work out by March 15,” Kelly said. “That’s the start of the spring season, and it’s really important to owners that that boat be back in service. Everything takes on urgency in the wintertime.”

Superior Telegram

St. Lawrence Seaway workers vote in favour of strike

The St. Lawrence Seaway’s unionized workers in Canada have voted in favour of a strike as renegotiation of their contracts continues with an Oct. 21 strike deadline approaching.

Unifor locals 4212, 4323, and 4320 represent St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. employees whose contracts expired on March 31. The union and management met for bargaining dates on June 19-20, and Sept. 25-29, with the assistance of a conciliator. There are three more days of bargaining scheduled for next week, Oct. 17-19, but Unifor announced the results of the locals’ strike votes Thursday, saying 99 per cent of those who cast ballots voted to strike on Oct. 21 if a deal isn’t reached.

The three locals represent employees at the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.’s headquarters in Cornwall, along with operational and maintenance staff members based along the seaway in Ontario and Quebec. These contracts are not in play for the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. employees who work at the seaway’s two locks near Massena, N.Y.

A statement from Unifor quoting national president Lana Payne suggested wages were one of the issues yet to be resolved, as she called on the seaway and federal government to meet the unions’ wage expectations. The statement didn’t indicate what the union is seeking in the next contract.

The wage scales included in the locals’ contracts that expired in 2021 covered a range from $56,700 to $86,590 a year.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. and the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. issued a joint notification on Thursday regarding bargaining with the Canadian unionized employees, indicating the SLSMC remains confident a deal can be reached. If not, contingency planning is underway and the notification also included a warning to mariners.

Click here for full article

Montreal Gazette

Fraser CEO shares details on plans to expand, add jobs in Superior

Fraser Industries CEO Patrick Kelly projects his company will more than double its gross revenue and add 100 employees by 2025 as the Superior commercial and military shipbuilder expands operations.

Kelly tells WisBusiness.com he’s using his past experience at companies such as Amoco and BP raising capital and then working for private equity firms turning dwindling companies into more profitable ventures. He expects to finalize all the remaining formalities to secure investments needed to expand the shipyard and other operations before the end of the year.

Fraser also projects its headcount in Superior will grow up to 375 from a little more than 200 in 2022 in order to meet demands, according to documents exclusively provided to WisBusiness.com.

“Today, we have over a three-year — up to a four-year — backlog of boats to be built,” Kelly said, using boats to define everything from commercial ships to 30 foot Lake Assault Boats. “And so this [expansion] recognizes that and says, as we build additional floor space, I fill it immediately.”

The 133-year-old private company has a 600-foot drydock and another 800-foot drdock in Superior, facilitating major repairs and shipbuilding projects that might otherwise need to take place on the West Coast or East Coast.

Fraser projects gross revenue to grow to $102.4 million by 2025 from $42.5 million reported in 2022.

Expanding train and rail operations while making Fraser a public port — opening up 7,500 square feet of dock space — are some of the ways Kelly and his partners are bringing in more business.

The company’s Superior shipyard previously only used about 15 acres of the 60-acre property. But that extra land is now generating revenue since Fraser opened up a cargo terminal, looked to add railroad spur lines and started doing rail repair and paint services.

Click here for full article

WisBusiness

Historic Marblehead Lighthouse Fresnel lens nearly turned to scrap

Thanks to Bob Boytim and other village employees, people attending the Marblehead Lighthouse Festival on Saturday, Oct. 14 will have the opportunity to view an historic piece of local history that was nearly lost to the scrap heap. Boytim was responsible for preserving the Paris-made Marblehead Lighthouse Fresnel lens, which is on permanent display in the Keeper’s House Museum located at Marblehead Lighthouse State Park.

The Fresnel lens, which featured 128 prisms, guided ships to safety from the time it was installed in the Marblehead Lighthouse in 1903 until it was removed in 1969, according to Marblehead Lighthouse Historical Society President Tom Hartman.

“When they took the lens out, I went to the top of the light and begged them not to take it, but they said they had to,” Boytim said. “They put it on a truck and took it to a warehouse in Detroit. They were going to put it in a dumpster. I wrote to my congressmen asking if I could bring it back to Marblehead.”

Robert Bird, who was mayor of Marblehead at that time, also sent an official request for the lens. Marblehead Lighthouse Historical Society Historian, Lorrie Halblaub, said Robert received a letter from the U.S. Coast Guard giving permission for the village to retrieve the lens.

K.A. Long, who was then the Commander and U.S. Coast Guard Chief of the Comptroller Division of the Ninth Coast Guard District, wrote the letter. Robert’s daughter, current Marblehead Mayor Jacqueline Bird, still owns a copy of the letter which was dated April 6, 1970.

The letter granted permission for “Mr. Robert Boytim and Mr. Franklin Merrill, village employees, to pick up the 3½ Order Lens that is being donated to the Village of Marblehead.”

The letter noted that the lens was located at the Coast Guard base in Detroit, and Long suggested the men bring “sufficient packing material.”

At the time, Boytim was serving on the Board of Public Affairs and Merrill was Waterworks Superintendent. The two men, along with Village Councilman Jim Meiner, drove a water plant truck to Detroit to retrieve the 300-pound lens.

“We packed it with straw, rugs, blankets – anything to protect the prisms,” Boytim said. “It wasn’t a difficult journey, but it was a slow one.”

The lens was first displayed at the Marblehead Town Hall and then at the Coast Guard station before being moved to the Keeper’s House Museum. Boytim has lifelong ties to the light. He grew up down the road from the lighthouse and built a house within sight of the light in 1955. He still lives there.

“When I was a kid, they kept the lighthouse open, and I could go up anytime,” he said. Now, thanks to Boytim, the public can view the historic Fresnel lens anytime the museum is open.

The Keeper’s House Museum will be open during the Saturday, Oct. 14 Lighthouse Festival and then will close for the winter season.

The Beacon

End-of-season “Authors & Artists” show this weekend at Great Lakes Maritime Center

The Great Lakes Maritime Center is hosting its end-of-season “Authors & Artists” show this Saturday, October 14, in Port Huron, MI. See the gallery at the end of this post for a flyer with more information.

Boatnerd

Cleveland-Cliffs building multimillion-dollar hydrogen pipeline to East Chicago blast furnace

Integrated steelmakers like those along Northwest Indiana’s lakeshore in Northwest Indiana have faced mounting international pressure to curb carbon emissions as the world reckons with climate change.

Now a new technological breakthrough might help the Region’s steel mills clean up their act.

Cleveland-Cliffs is building a multimillion-dollar pipeline to pump hydrogen to Blast Furnace No. 7 at Indiana Harbor Works in East Chicago, said Traci Forrester, executive vice president of environmental and sustainability for Cleveland-Cliffs.

The steelmaker is looking to cut back its carbon footprint.

“We’re an industry leader in clean hydrogen as a foundation of advanced steelmaking,” Forrester said at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond. “We’re proud of the progress we have made, achieving a 32% reduction in emissions compared to a 2017 baseline.”

For centuries, blast furnaces have been fed with coke, a purified form of coal that’s burned to make the liquid iron that’s turned into steel for cars, appliances, buildings, bridges and many other end products. But now Cleveland-Cliffs is looking at burning carbon-free hydrogen as an alternative to coke.

Construction is already underway on the pipeline, Forrester said.

Click here for full article

NWI

UPDATE: Norisle completes final voyage to scrapyard

At 07:00 on the morning of Thursday, October 12, Norisle arrived the MRC scrapyard in Port Colborne, ON, under tow of McKeil Marine’s tug Ecosse. McKeil fleetmate Vac was on hand to assist in bringing the retired ferry alongside the berthing dock. According to MRC owner Wayne Elliott, Norisle will be rolled ashore for scrapping once dismantling of the barge Joseph H. Thompson is complete. Tecumseh is also on the property waiting in line for the torch.

Norisle was built at Collingwood, ON, in 1946 and shuttled people and vehicles between Tobermory, ON, and Manitoulin Island from 1947 to 1974 before being replaced by the current ferry Chi-Cheemaun. She was used as a floating museum in Manitowaning, ON, since the Township of Assiginack purchased it for $1 in 1975. Various efforts to preserve the vessel were unsuccessful.

Boatnerd

After 100 years, shipwreck hunters find steel freighter Huronton at bottom of Lake Superior

The story of the crew’s rescue was known, but where the ship sank wasn’t — until recently.

The Huronton that sank to the bottom of Lake Superior 100 years ago was discovered this summer by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

The recently announced discovery tells the tale of misfortune and bravery of the crews of two freighters that collided in 1923 amid heavy fog and forest fire smoke.

“Finding any shipwreck is exciting,” society executive director Bruce Lynn said Wednesday. “But to think that we’re the first human eyes to look at this vessel 100 years after it sank, not many people have the opportunity to do that.”

The society, founded in 1978 at Whitefish Point, systematically trolls the lake depths with sonar to find shipwrecks.

Back in 1923, the swift actions of one of the ship’s captains saved the sinking vessel’s crew, and the selflessness of the first mate saved the ship’s mascot, a bulldog that got left behind as the others scrambled to safety.

According to the historical society:

The 238-foot-long Huronton and the 416-foot-long Cetus were traveling too fast and collided. The bow of the Cetus ripped a hole in the port side of the Huronton. The two ships locked together.

But the captain of the Cetus kept moving forward, which had the effect of plugging the hole in the Huronton long enough for its crew to escape. The mascot, a bulldog, was left onboard.

The first mate, however, rescued it, risking his own life to run into the sinking ship’s flooding section, untie the dog and carry it back to the Cetus, just as the Huronton sank, 800 feet below the Great Lake’s surface.

Lynn said the discovery of shipwrecks is exciting, not just because they haven’t been seen for decades, but because they are “a part of our past,” time capsules of what life was like a century — or more — ago.

The Sault News

Norisle Scrap Tow Resumes After Weather Delay

After a layover at Windsor, ON, for high winds, the Norisle scrap tow to Port Colborne, ON, scrapyard has resumed. Tuesday late evening they were approaching Lake Erie’s Pelee Passage. Rack them on AIS by searching for her tug, Ecosse.

Norisle was built at Collingwood, ON, in 1946 and shuttled people and vehicles between Tobermory and Manitoulin Island from 1947 to 1974 before being replaced by the current ferry Chi-Cheemaun. She was used as a floating museum in Manitowaning, ON, since the Township of Assiginack purchased it for $1 in 1975. Various efforts to preserve the vessel were unsuccessful.

McKeil’s New Northern Venture Unloads First Cargo

McKeil Marine’s newest addition to its fleet (and its first self-unloader) Northern Venture has entered service after a successful delivery trip from Japan. Her first unload is blast furnace slag from Japan which she was unloading at Picton, ON, Tuesday.

Tug John Purves to go to dry dock this winter

Surgeon Bay, WI – You only will have a couple of more weeks to check out the Tug John Purves before it heads across the bay for some much-needed tender, loving care. The Door County Maritime Museum, which began offering tours of the tug boat in 2008, secured the last piece of funding needed to make a number of repairs to the vessel’s hull among other improvements. Deputy Director and Development Manager Sam Perlman says it is important for the Tug John Purves to be preserved for future generations to tour, something over 70,000 people have already been able to experience.

Perlman says the plan right now is for the Tug John Purves to be towed by Roen Salvage across the bay to Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding where it will be put in dry dock for its repairs as other visiting vessels come to Sturgeon Bay for the winter fleet. The tug will return to its rightful spot by the Door County Maritime Museum in time for the start of the 2024 season in May.

Dorr County Daily News

$31M deep-water port under construction at Soo

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – A major maritime shoreline revitalization project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula will bring both economic and climate benefits when it expectedly reopens to the public next summer.

The multi-million-dollar project involves repairs at the old Union Carbide Dock seawall in Sault Ste. Marie, cleanup of legacy pollution from calcium carbide manufacturing, improvement of mooring and bulk storage abilities, and the reopening of a community park and boardwalk with public access to the St. Marys River.

Work remains underway on the $31 million project and when finished in July 2024, the upgraded site will provide a valuable deep-water port on the lower St. Marys River for freighters or cruise ships within walking distance of the Soo’s downtown.

There will be an improved seawall and mooring space to accommodate boats and ships from pleasure craft to 1,000-foot bulk freighters. The dock will be open for vessel maintenance, refueling, and dumping wastewater.

Read more at this MLive link: https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2023/10/31m-deep-water-port-in-the-works-on-sault-ste-marie-waterfront.html?fbclid=IwAR3yJMQ2IUwJRF83TwuJvFgONE7BcWkXqmiiHKbNzwYYkpyVKZm_E3anqQA

Authors, Artists Saturday at Port Huron Maritime Center

Featuring
Roger LeLievre – “Know Your Ships”  + the new Extra Magazine
Roger P. Hulett – Author of “A Lot More To Do,”the story of his friend Frank Mays’ Survival of the tragic Carl D. Bradley sinking and Frank’s remarkable life

Plus
Artist Harry McTaggart
Photographer Mary Truchan

See the flier below for details.

Norisle scrap tow passes Port Huron

The Norisle scrap tow passed downbound at Port Huron/Sarnia just before dusk Thursday. The former Georgia Bay passenger and auto ferry was being towed to the scrapyard at Port Colborne, ON, by the tug Ecosse. Friday morning they were moored at Windsor.

Norisle was built in Collingwood, ON, in 1946 and shuttled people and vehicles between Tobermory and Manitoulin Island from 1947 to 1974 before being replaced by the current ferry Chi-Cheemaun.

Norisle has been used as a floating museum in Manitowaning, ON, since the Township of Assiginack purchased it for $1 in 1975. Various efforts to preserve the vessel were unsuccessful.

Northern Venture Expected at Montreal Oct. 8

McKeil Marine’s newest addition to its fleet (and its first self-unloader) Northern Venture will arrive at Montreal Oct. 8 estimated ETA 0500. The time expected to change as they will lose speed transiting the Seaway. She is traveling with a load of blast furnace slag from Japan bound for Picton, ON.

Gallery photo courtesy Bill Sly, AB onboard Northern Venture

Lakes Limestone Trade Down 2.6 Percent in September

CLEVELAND, OH – Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.4 million tons in September, a decrease of 2.6 percent compared to a year ago.  Limestone cargos were below the month’s 5-year average by 5.5 percent.

Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 2.8 million tons, a decrease of 2.4 percent from 2022.  Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 651,520 tons, a decrease of 3.5 percent.

Year-to-date the limestone trade stands at 19.7 million tons, a decrease of 6.6 percent compared to a year ago.  Loadings from Michigan and Ohio quarries total 15.9 million tons, a decrease of 4.6 percent.  Shipments from Ontario quarries total 3.8 million tons, a decrease of 13.8 percent.

Lake Carriers’ Association

LSMMA Gales of November on the horizon

The Lake Superior Marine Museum Association’s annual Gales of November event will be taking place on November 10–11, 2023, in Duluth, MN. Click here for more details and to register.

LSMMA

Cuyahoga Back in Service After Fire

The M/V Cuyahoga, which suffered a serious engine room fire while on Lake Erie in late May, was bound for Calcite, MI, to load on Wednesday after sea trials were successfully completed Tuesday night. She was repaired at Ashtabula, OH.

The Cuyahoga is the oldest Canadian-registered lake boat still in active service and the sole survivor of the A1-class of World War II-era Maritimers.