Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor celebrated the start of the 2026 international shipping season Saturday with the arrival of the Ocean7 Ranger. Operated by Germany’s Hammonia Reederei, the 10,500 dwt, Liberian-flagged general cargo vessel completed a 52-day voyage carrying equipment for facility improvements at U.S. Steel Gary Works, the largest integrated steel mill in North America. The 2026 opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway to ocean vessels marked one of the shortest winter closures in history, totaling just 69 days from Jan. 12 until March 22.

To commemorate the occasion, Burns Harbor Port Director Ryan McCoy presented the Ports of Indiana “Steel Stein” to Captain Ilia Kalachov on board the Ocean7 Ranger. The presentation celebrates the first ocean vessel’s arrival and Northwest Indiana’s role as “The Steel Capital of North America.”

“Our port operates year-round, handling barge, rail, and truck shipments, but the arrival of the year’s first ocean vessel is a signature moment,” McCoy said. “It represents Burns Harbor’s connection to the world and new global trade opportunities for local companies. This was also one of the shortest winter closures of the Seaway on record, which underscores the capability and opportunity to expand our shipping season. Adding new icebreakers and practical technologies to extend the shipping window for vessels like the Ocean7 Ranger will allow our Great Lakes economy to better compete in global markets.”

Ocean7 Ranger arrived at Indiana’s Lake Michigan port 52 days after departing from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, passing through the Pacific Ocean, Panama Canal, Atlantic Ocean, and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway.

The vessel delivered a 63-ton dewatering drum that is being transferred from ship to dock, and then to barge for transport across the lake to U.S. Steel. Stevedore Logistec executes the port’s heavy lift transfers with support by local workers from the International Longshoremen’s Association and International Union of Operating Engineers.

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI –

Traffic was steady on the St. Marys River Monday, but icebreaker assistance was still required, especially in the East Neebish Channel at the Stribling and Johnson’s Point turns. In the late afternoon, Soo Traffic closed the river above the locks between Light 26 and Whitefish Point due to NWs wind shifting large slabs of plate ice. Two salties were upbound on Monday, Federal Nagara and Ocean7 Ranger. Stewart J. Cort stopped for the night in the ice above Johnson’s Point. CCGS Samuel Risley was upbound for Thunder Bay in the early evening.

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – Establishing a commercial port in Sault Ste. Marie will create an opportunity to lay out a heavy industrial park in the city’s west end that will entice new manufacturers to town. City of Sault Ste. Marie CAO Tom Vair said that’s the thinking behind the business case for a proposed dock facility in the general vicinity of Algoma Steel’s Export Dock on the St. Marys River. On the opening week of a new Great Lakes shipping season, city staff and its consultants, HOPA Ports, provided councillors on March 23 with the first glimpse of their strategy and plans on a long-awaited business case for the first phase of a $200-million port facility. The municipality is negotiating a long-term lease with Algoma Steel to secure 216 acres of brownfield property with an option to add 950 acres down the road. For more than 120 years, the property had been a dumping ground for heaps of Algoma’s blast furnace slag. That’s all changed with the company’s transition to electric arc furnace steelmaking last fall. The land can be opened up and made ready for industrial tenants.

Vair is convinced a marine, road and rail-connected multimodal hub will be a magnet to bring new industrial players to the Sault to set up shop around a new and improved dock.

To help make it happen, the city and its economic development staff are leaning heavily on HOPA Ports. The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority manages multi-modal hubs in Hamilton, Oshawa and on the Niagara peninsula. The land and tenant companies they oversee move more than 11 million tonnes of cargo annually. The Sault would like to replicate what HOPA generated at the Port of Hamilton. “They showed us all the different businesses that have co-located on their property in order to utilize the port facilities,” said Vair. He added it’s not out of the question that HOPA could be the Sault’s port operator. “They bring a lot of expertise and experience to the table, a lot of credibility in port operations, so that’s the thought process.”

Constructing a public port has always been an in-again, off-again proposition since 1954. What’s often halted momentum has been lack of senior government buy-in. This time, Vair feels circumstances have changed. With Ottawa and Queen’s Park on the same page when it comes to rebuilding the Canadian economy by investing in large nation-building infrastructure and supply chain projects, Vair is confident they can secure as much as 80 per cent of the required funding to advance the project. The remainder would come from a combination of the city, HOPA and industrial park tenants. The business case presented boldly predicts that port-generated business will produce almost 2,500 direct and indirect local jobs within five years and create $343 million a year in economic activity. The construction jobs alone will range between 1,400 and 1,800 over a 24-month build-out.

There’s a sense of urgency to advance the port project this time. The city expects the port development will ease the sting of the community losing 1,000 jobs at Algoma Steel as layoffs began late last week. “Having that cluster of companies,” said Vair, “that would be utilizing and attracted to the port would make up that (employment loss) number and help to diversify the economy and be an engine for the future for the community.”

The preferred spot to build is the vicinity of Algoma Steel’s Export Dock, next to the main shipping channel in the St. Marys River. The dock is in dire need of an upgrade. A local towing company bought a retired lake freighter in the late 1980s and sunk it to create a dock face to moor vessels. Vair said making improvements there would speed up their entry into the market rather than building from scratch. The playbook calls for the dock walls to be refurbished and space cleared for cargo laydown area. Better lighting, security and safety systems would be installed along with a rail transload area constructed and a spur line running onto the property. There will be berthing space for two to three vessels. Any underwater dredging or blasting to deepen the approaches to the dock is the subject of an ongoing analysis, Vair said. “At this time, we believe we can get going with what’s there and have port operations commence in the near term.” Based on workshop sessions with various industrial players, Vair is convinced that there’s enough untapped regional business to be had that the Sault could have one of the busiest ports in Ontario within five years, behind Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Goderich and Windsor.

Of the 22 listed companies and organizations that support the port concept, including local steel pipe manufacturer Tenaris and North American cement and concrete producer Amrize (formerly Lafarge Canada), Vair said many of them have said they would use a modernized port. The mix of inbound and outbound cargoes could involve value-added steel products, salt and aggregate, corn and soybeans, fertilizer, forest products and mining-related equipment that could be staged in the Sault for transport to nearby gold mines in places like Dubreuilville and Wawa.

That would be of interest to the rail carriers servicing the Sault, namely the Huron Central Railway and Watco, who could play a project funding role if port-related cargoes result in more freight moved on their respective lines. “We have talked to them and there is a willingness to invest as the port develops,” said Vair.

Soo Today

Read more at this link: https://www.sootoday.com/local-business/after-decades-of-starts-and-stops-sault-ste-marie-says-conditions-are-right-to-build-a-commercial-port-12051080

CLEVELAND, OH – Iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes in March 2026 decreased 23.5 percent from a year ago. Loadings were also below the month’s 5-year average by 35.1 percent. The iron ore trade stands at 2.7 million tons, a decrease of 7.7 percent compared to 2025. For the first three months of the year, iron ore shipments are 21.2 percent below their 5-year average.

Lake Carriers Association

MILWAUKEE, WI – Port Milwaukee was excited to welcome the Marshall Islands-flagged Federal Nagara as the first vessel of the 2026 international season on Friday, April 3. The Federal Nagara arrived at the Logistec terminal to unload specialty steel products following its transit through the St. Lawrence Seaway from Spain and Belgium, where it was loaded. The St. Lawrence Seaway locks opened for the season on March 22, connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. The St. Lawrence Seaway is a binational system, with two American and 13 Canadian locks.

Port Milwaukee’s international season corresponds with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. For roughly nine months out of the year, the City of Milwaukee welcomes vessels hailing from around the world. In 2025, cargo moved through the Port was sourced from or destined for Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Direct access to world markets via Port Milwaukee supports farmers, producers, and manufacturers throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest. On Friday, Port Milwaukee staff went aboard the Federal Nagara to present Captain Laiquer Rahman with a plaque in honor and celebration of being the first vessel of the 2026 international season.

Port of Milwaukee

Lee A Tregurtha departed Duluth Friday for sea trials after having engine work done at Fraser Shipyards. Not far off the piers the laker became beset in thick ice and had to wait for USCGC Spar WLB-206 to arrive from Superior to cut a path out to open water. After a quick spin in the lake, Lee returned to load ore at CN, a change from its original orders to load at Marquette. Out in the lake two Canada Steamship Lines vessels, Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin and CSL Laurentien, wait to load ore at BNSF in Superior.

David Schauer

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Coast Guard crews continue ice-breaking operations for Sector Northern Great Lakes’ Operation Taconite on the upper Great Lakes and St. Marys River in support of the Great Lakes commercial shipping season, April 3, 2026. Since the opening of the Soo Locks, the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards have assisted 23 upbound and 20 downbound commercial vessels to transit the St. Marys River.

U.S. Coast Guard cutters Mackinaw (WLBB 30), SPAR (WLB 206), Neah Bay (WTGB 105), Katmai Bay (WTGB 101), Biscayne Bay (WTGB 104), Mobile Bay (WTGB 103) and Bristol Bay (WTGB 102) are assigned to the ice-breaking operations for Operation Taconite. These U.S. Coast Guard cutters are working in conjunction with the Canadian Coast Guard ships Vincent Massey and Judy LaMarsh to keep waterways open and navigable.

All available U.S. Coast Guard cutters within the Great Lakes District are supporting ice-breaking operations for Operation Taconite. Approximately 750 underway hours have been worked collectively since the opening of the Soo Locks. This portion of Operation Taconite, known as Spring Breakout within the U.S. Coast Guard, has been affected by colder-than-average water temperatures and higher-than-average snowfall in specific regions.

Operation Taconite is the largest of its kind and represents the most extensive domestic ice-breaking effort in the United States. Shipping by water remains the only practical way to move large quantities of iron ore from the mines at the Head of the Lakes to meet the needs of steel mills along Lakes Erie and Michigan.

This operation plays a critical role in ensuring that these shipments continue safely and efficiently despite the severe winter conditions of the upper Great Lakes.

USCG Press Release

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MONDAY 10 A.M. UPDATE: Icebreakers were busy Monday morning assisting upbound vessels through the troublesome upbound (East Neebish) channel. Joyce L. VanEnkevort was leading the convoy, with Federal Nagara and Ocean7 Ranger stopped behind them until the VanEnkevort can get around Stribling Point. Stewart J. Cort was in Mud Lake, with James R. Barker and Algoma Guardian stopped above DeTour. Algoma Strongfield was approaching the locks downbound at 10 a.m., with Dirk S. Van Enkevort and Baie St. Paul stopped off Waiska Bay. Spruceglen, CSL Niagara, Algoma DIscovery, Hon. James L. Oberstar, Lee A, Tregurtha and Edwin H Gott were behind them. and will proced as ice and traffic conditions permit. CCGS Samuel Risley was upbound below DeTour with her AIS showing a destination of Thunder Bay.

ORIGINAL REPORT: Traffic was moving steadily on the St. Marys River over the weekend, although assistance from U.S. and Canadian icebreakers was still required. Sunday evening most river traffic was at a standstill due to wind warnings and ice, however American Mariner was on the move in the lower river bound for Toledo. Stewart J. Cort and Federal Nagara were anchored above DeTour, with the saltie Ocean7 Ranger headed in that direction, bound for Duluth. Ocean7 Ranger is a newcomer to the Great Lakes.

R.G. Pearce, a new tug for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was on her to her Sault Ste. Marie home port Easter Sunday. The 76-foot-long tug arrived on the lakes a few months ago from her builder, Conrad Shipyard, Morgan City, LA, and has been moored at the Corps’ Ecorse dock near Detroit. Her name honors a 35-year Soo Locks veteran with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A sister tug, H.J. Lawson, has yet to arrive on the lakes.’

Robert Phillips