Great Lakes iron ore trade up 38.8 percent in September
Cleveland, OH – Shipments of iron ore from U.S. ports on the Great Lakes totaled 5.4 million tons in September, an increase of 38.8 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments were a near match to the month’s 5-year average.
Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 37.4 million tons, an increase of nearly 32.8 percent compared to the same point in 2020. Through September iron ore loadings were 3.9 percent above their 5-year average for the first three quarters.
Lake Carriers Association
Hollyhock leaves Port Huron for Duluth mission
Port Huron, MI – Visitors to Pine Grove Park might notice a regular fixture missing — but it’s only temporary. This week, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock departed to work the waterways in Duluth, Minnesota, for several weeks while USCGC Adler is undergoing its midlife maintenance period.
“We will visit Duluth, and work buoys around Isle Royale, Ashland Harbor, and Chequamegon Bay,” Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Brickey, the ship’s captain, said in an email. “The transit up the St. Marys River and through the locks is fantastic, and the crew is eager to be working buoys in (Lake) Superior again.”’
Earlier this year, the crew of the Alder, which typically works many of the Lake Superior buoys, took the ship to the Coast Guard yard in Baltimore, Maryland, for an extended midlife maintenance period.
Hollyhock’s trip will take approximately two weeks, Brickey said. In November and December, the ship will return to Port Huron to work its traditional aids in Lake Huron and the St. Clair River.
Times Herald
DTE to retire coal use at Belle River Power Plant in 2028, two years earlier than planned
St. Clair, MI – DTE Energy Co. said Wednesday it will stop burning coal in its Belle River Power Plant in St. Clair County’s China Township in 2028, two years earlier than originally planned, in response to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policy change.
The move, according to the Detroit-based utility company, means it can accelerate its timeline for achieving 50% reductions in carbon emissions. It now expects to reach that target by 2028 instead of 2030.
“A key part of DTE’s Clean Vision Plan involves the sequential retirement of our coal plants,” DTE Energy CEO Jerry Norcia said in a statement. “By making this important generation decision now, DTE continues to be proactive in improving our reliability, addressing the expanding needs of our customers and accelerating our journey to cleaner energy generation that is affordable for the customers and communities we serve.”
What the move means for the future of the plant itself has not yet been determined. DTE said it is evaluating whether it would be feasible to convert the plant to a cleaner energy source such as natural gas. More information on that assessment will be available in future regulatory filings, the company said.
The Belle River plant, which dates to 1984, employs about 200 people. DTE said it will not lay off anyone in connection with the retirement of coal. It expects some employees who work there will retire in 2028, and others will be given opportunities elsewhere in the company.
“DTE intends to deliver on this commitment through several measures that include collaborating with union leadership, workforce re-skilling and employee redeployments,” the company said in a news release.
“I can say with absolute certainty that all 200 employees that would be impacted by a closure of this plant will have other opportunities within DTE,” Trevor Lauer, president of DTE’s electric company, told The Detroit News.
Lauer said the move to retire coal use at Belle River was prompted by the EPA’s Steam Effluent Limitations Guidelines rule, which has implications for how the company uses water at the plant. To keep in compliance with the guidelines, he said, DTE would have to invest about $55 million, which the company decided did not make sense since coal use there already was scheduled to end in 2030.
“This plant is … an important asset for grid stability. It’s an important asset so we can continue to add more renewables into the mix. And if I have the plant operating, I can do that easier than having the plant not operating,” he said. “So I will retire it off of coal by 2028 at the absolute latest; if I can switch it to a cleaner-burning fuel before then, that’s something we are going to study and try to understand.”
Still, if the plant were to be put back into production with a cleaner fuel, it would require only about 40 employees, so finding employees jobs in other parts of the company still would be necessary, Lauer said.
The Detroit News
Soave to sell Detroit scrap metal business to Cleveland-Cliffs in $775 million deal
Detroit, MI – Steel making giant Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is entering the ferrous scrap business with the purchase of Detroit-based Ferrous Processing and Trading Co. from Detroit-based Soave Enterprises Inc. in a $775 million deal.
The acquisition, announced Monday, marks the Cleveland-based steel manufacturer’s entry into scrap materials. It is expected to clear regulatory approvals in the fourth quarter, according to a news release.
The deal gives one of the largest domestic steel companies in North America control of one the largest processors and distributors of ferrous scrap. As the largest supplier of steel to the automotive industry, Cleveland-Cliffs’ move into scrap would allow it to buy back material directly from clients and cut the middlemen, Lourenco Goncalves, president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs, said in the release.
“The acquisition of FPT will enhance our ability to buy back prime scrap directly from our clients, cutting the middlemen and improving the margin contribution from scrap for both Cleveland-Cliffs and for the manufacturing and service center clients that will be able to sell scrap directly back to us,” Goncalves said.
Ferrous Processing and Trading was founded in 1961 and acquired by Detroit-based Soave Enterprises LLC, the holding company for multiple businesses run by President and CEO Anthony Soave, in 1997.
For the past year, Cleveland-Cliffs has tapped into an unprecedented demand for steel brought on by the unexpectedly speedy reboot of manufacturing plants in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scrap demand has also soared as a result.
“With all the new flat-rolled (electric-arc furnace) capacity coming online in our market over the next four years, prime scrap will only become more and more scarce,” Goncalves said.
Crain’s Detroit Business
2021 Marine Mart Saturday, Oct. 16 in St. Clair Shores, MI
The 2021 Marine Mart, sponsored by Dossin Great Lakes Museum, will be Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the VFW Post in St. Clair Shores, MI. Buy, sell and trade photos, books, models, artwork and other Great Lakes memorabilia. There will be a special table where photos by the late Jim Hoffman and other items from his collection will be sold to benefit the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. Food will be available. See the ad in the photo gallery for details.
