Port Reports – December 25, 2022

Unless where otherwise noted, port and vessel activity from December 24, 2022. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the entire Port Reports team!

Duluth, MN – Superior, WI – Joshua Hebeisen
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the port
Not a vessel was stirring (except for the Cort);
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
Thawing out after boat watching in the frosty Twin Ports air;
The boatnerds were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of Ryerson danced in their heads;
And me in my ‘kerchief, with a Know Your Ships cap,
Had just settled in for a long winter’s nap,
When out in the lake there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter (and grabbed my camera, of course).
Away to the window I flew like Cliffs Victory,
Stood on my tiptoes to look over the hickory.
The moon on the crest of the waves on the lake,
Shined white like the waters of a speedboat’s wake,
When what to my wondering eyes did eclipse,
But two miniature tugs and seven giant ships,
As commanded by KYS, the boatnerd scripture,
I knew in a moment I must take a picture.
More rapid than eagles the shutter flashes they came,
And I whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“American Spirit, Great Republic, Speer, Munson!
VanEnkevort (Clyde and Joyce), Michip’, Cort, Laurentien!
To the locks of the Soo, winter layup at the wall!
Now sail away! sail away! sail away all!”
And ships that before the bomb cyclone halted,
Were also in port, making me quite exalted;
So down to the harbor in my car I flew,
With my ol’ trusty camera and treats for the crews—
They spend the holidays away from their homes,
So the least I could give them was some warm Christmas scones.
As I got to the ore docks, and was turning around,
Big Joseph L. Block could so easily be found.
Joe was loaded with loaded with ore, from her stern to her bow;
At a dock which – with a miracle – might again load the Blough;
A bundle of stone the Boland discharged to the west,
And to the east the Anderson, ain’t she just the best.
Her lights—how they twinkled! her stripes, how merry!
Her boom like a candy cane, her hull like a cherry!
To the south was the Century, stocking full of coal—oh!
Waiting at the terminal, H. Lee White as the snow;
Alpena at Holcim, cement underneath,
And the steam, it encircled her head like a wreath;
Pretty tan hull and and bright red belly
with Integrity nearby at the BN 5 deli
A footer chubby and plump, a black jolly old elf,
I took yet another picture, in spite of myself;
I turned back to the steamer with a twist of my head
That the Alpena wouldn’t come this year, I had once started to dread;
She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work,
Unloaded her holds with a pump and a jerk,
And the captain on deck, with a chilly poor nose,
Gave a nod and from the stack black smoke rose;
The crew sprang into action, and with the blast of the whistle,
Cast off at sunrise, Christmas morning, like the down of a thistle.
But I heard them exclaim, ere they sailed out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Two Harbors, MN – Joshua Hebeisen
Indiana Harbor is still at CN Dock 2. Edwin H. Gott came down the North Shore midmorning and went to anchor a short ways up the coast.

Lake Erie Ports – Bill Kloss
Conditions are still unfavorable to mariners on Lake Erie. There’s a Gale Warning until 10AM with wind gusts to 50 knots and waves at 10 to 15 feet as well as a Wind Chill Advisory until 12 PM and a Heavy Freezing Spray Warning in effect until 4PM on Sunday afternoon.

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.