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Duluth, MN – Superior, WI – Joshua Hebeisen
From containers to turbines and giant cruise ships, 2022 has been a year of new horizons for the Twin Ports of Duluth-Superior. A peek at the bright future ahead continued on Saturday with the arrival of rookie laker Mark W. Barker, making just the second appearance of her young career and carrying a special cargo of steel bars from Monroe. Her 10:11 entrance beneath the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge was followed by a quick stop for fuel at Superior Refinery and subsequent shift across town to Superior’s Fraser Shipyards before 13:00. In unusual fashion, this would actually be the site of her unload, with an ever-growing expanse of bars appearing on the dock throughout the day courtesy of a pair of shoreside cranes. The Barker’s cargo is technically not the first such delivery of steel bars from Monroe; Interlake’s Paul R. Tregurtha hauled in a test run of about 400 tons to the Enbridge dock at the end of the summer. In comparison, today’s delivery is reported to be ten times greater. With her square holds optimized for breakbulk cargoes in an evolving world of Great Lakes shipping, this is a route we may be seeing the Barker make for years to come. Gerdau Steel will be taking delivery of the bars, where they will be melted down to form steel grinding balls for use in Iron Range taconite plants. Ironically, the pellets they form may eventually find themselves in the holds of an Interlake vessel headed to Cleveland or Indiana Harbor.
The Barker’s fanfare overshadowed another unusual move Saturday with Edwin H. Gott departing Superior for Nanticoke at 08:04. Joseph L. Block departed her berth at CN-Hallett 5 with blast furnace trim and cleared Duluth at 11:24 for Indiana Harbor, with Arthur M. Anderson moving up along the dock face to commence loading in her place. The AAA-class striped beauty had shifted over from Graymont early in the morning to wait. Queen of the Lakes and previous steel bar envoy Paul R. Tregurtha left with coal for St. Clair and the Saginaw River at 11:48; Great Republic came in a little over an hour later with stone from Cedarville. The latter set up shop just north of fleetmate Anderson at Hallett to begin unloading.
Port Inland, MI – Andrew Meyer
Undaunted made another appearance in town. Last time she was there, she had to wait out the weather. Her visit Saturday was not nearly as long, with an arrival just after midnight and a departure five hours later. Fairly infrequent visitor Lee A. Tregurtha is due to arrive early in the week. She’ll be coming north from Detroit.
Southern Lake Michigan Ports – Andrew Meyer
Chicago, IL: Federal Churchill is still in town after almost a week of hanging out. Azoresborg would join her, but she wouldn’t make her way too far downriver. She’s sitting at the mouth of the Calumet, and has been since 1056 on Saturday.
Indiana Harbor, IN: A fairly tug-filled weekend has characterized Indy Harbor. Visits by the Derek E., Lee W., Coloma Warner, Maggie Rae, and Sarah Andrie have been staggered by big boys Wilfred Sykes, which spent the nearly entirety of the 28th in the port. Her departure took place just before midnight. The 1000 foot Indiana Harbor made her namesake port at 1435 on Saturday. The larger but slightly less sleek laker should be the only traffic for the remainder of the weekend.
Gary, IN: The middle of the week saw the stripes in town with Philip R. Clarke and Edgar B. Speer. Both vessels were on their regular weekly trade routes- the Speer with ore from Two Harbors, and the Clarke with ore from Duluth. The pair would both end up heading north again on Thursday. Presque Isle would arrive just in time for the weekend with a 1543 arrival on Friday. The pair of Presques would depart just before noon on Saturday. No traffic is expected over the next few days, and with the Gott heading to Nanticoke, it might be that the next traffic in town are these three again late next week.
Burns Harbor, IN: Together again, Burns and Stewie hung out in port for the evening of the 28th of October. The former Bethlehem fleetmates made port at 0643 and 2005 respectively, and after an evening in port together, the Burns Harbor departed Saturday morning at 1006. The Cort is still tied up at the dock. Both will have the same terminus at the other end of their journey. Miedwie, the regular Polsteam visitor, arrived at 0601 on Friday. Her stay in port would be fairly short, especially considering the recent visit of the Federal Shimanto lasting several days. The Miedwie, on the other hand, would be outbound for Milwaukee at 2126 on Saturday. Federal Welland, after a few days in town, would be outbound just before 1000 for Toledo on Saturday. Another saltie, Federal Biscay, is due early next week.
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Algoma Conveyor loading at Compass Minerals Federal Yukina continues loading at elevators.
Alpena, MI – Jason Luther
After arriving over night to load cement at LaFarge, G.L. Olstrander with barge Integrity, left for Milwaukee at 13:30. Due in this evening is fleet mate Samuel D. Champlain with barge Innovation.
Calcite, MI – Andrew Meyer
Undaunted and Pere Marquette arrived Calcite at 2117 on October 25. It’s her first visit to Lake Huron in a while. She departed at 2323 on Wednesday. Nobody would follow her act until Saturday, with H. Lee White and the Defiance/Ashtabula. The vessels would both arrive at about 1600. The Ashtabula would leave around 2100, likely meaning a split load. The White is spending the evening in port. John G. Munson is expected on Sunday.
Lake Erie Ports – Bill Kloss
Monroe, MI: American Century arrived at 05:41, unloaded coal at DTE and departed for Two Harbors at 12:11.
Toledo, OH: CSL Niagara arrived at the CSX coal dock at 05:24. Dirk S. VanEnkevort/Michigan Trader arrived at Ironville at 11:59. Leonard M/Huron Spirit arrived at 01:12, unloaded coils and left for Cleveland at 12:47. Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader anchored at 18:40 to wait for her fleetmate to unload. American Courage departed for Meldrum Bay at 19:42. Federal Dart is still in port.
Marblehead, OH: Manitowoc departed for Cleveland at 15;42. Calumet arrived at 16:35.
Sandusky, OH: Lee A. Tregurtha departed with coal for Detroit at 06:53. Next to arrive was Florence Spirit at 17:39 to load for Hamilton, ON.
Cleveland, OH: Algoma Intrepid remained at anchor and then proceeded to leave for Bruce Mines late Friday night. Mesabi Miner arrived late Friday night, unloaded ore at the Bulk Terminal and departed for the Twin Ports of Duluth/Superior at 11:27. Other departures were Calumet for Marblehead at 12;19, the USS Cooperstown for an unknown destination at 17:14 and Karen Andrie/Endeavor for Indiana Harbor at 17:35. Finished with the shuttles, Sam Laud left for Port Gypsum at 15:30. Manitowoc arrived at 20:04 with stone for RiverDock.
Fairport Harbor, OH: Returning from Toronto, Frontenac arrived at 07:55 for another load of salt from Morton.
Buffalo, NY: The saltie Puna departed for Thunder Bay at 08:13.
Nanticoke, ON: Departures were Algoma Hansa 09:49 with petroleum products for Sarnia and Harvest Spirit at 12:49 with steel coils for Cleveland. Algonorth arrived at 15:14 to load at Imperial Oil.
While we do not currently have daily write-ups for the following ports, their respective port authority websites post schedules of vessel traffic that are embedded below. Each schedule takes the form of a miniature webpage within a box – scroll with your cursor within the box (or slide your finger within the box on a mobile device) to move through the schedule as you would a normal webpage. To move up or down the actual Port Reports page itself, make sure your cursor/finger is outside of the box.
Green Bay, WI – Port of Green Bay
Click on vessel image for voyage info.
Hamilton, ON – Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
Scroll past AIS map for arrival/departure schedule.
