Port Reports – January 15, 2023

Unless where otherwise noted, port and vessel activity from January 14, 2023. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.

Duluth, MN – Superior, WI – Joshua Hebeisen
The last of the Twin Ports’ sleeping giants lumbered into the harbor early Saturday morning in the form of Interlake Steamship Company’s Lee A. Tregurtha. Arriving via the Duluth Ship Canal at 05:20, the ex-WWII tanker wrapped up her 80th season of operation the same way it began by tying up along the dock facing at Fraser Shipyards. She is quite familiar with this particular berth, spending the winter there last year and not departing until late spring. She will hopefully get off to an earlier start to her season come March 2023. 

Tregurtha is joined at Fraser by American Mariner and Edward L. Ryerson. The Mariner is in dry dock receiving repairs and/or a survey, while the Ryerson — usually a fixture in the dormant slips nearby — is sitting along an adjacent wall as rumors continue to swirl. American Spirit is the last member of this year’s winter fleet and currently sits at Elevator M. Three vessels spending the winter (or four, if you want to count the Ryerson) is an unusually small total in comparison to recent years. SMET and the port terminal quite frequently host vessels but will presumably remain empty this lay-up season.

Traffic isn’t quite finished moving through the harbor, however. Victory/Maumee departed at 07:20 from CN Dock 6 with ore for Cleveland, becoming the final vessel to pass beneath the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge on the season. Fleetmates Defiance/Ashtabula were outbound Superior a little over 12 hours later destined for Burns Harbor, also with ore. Corporate cousin Saginaw promptly arrived from the anchorage at 20:15 to take their place at BNSF. Sag’ will be the final vessel to load in the Twin Ports this season, though not on this particular visit — she has one more load at the dock scheduled for the 17th after delivering Saturday’s load to Algoma Steel at the Soo. The route does not require passage through the Soo Locks and therefore allows the classic laker to continue operating past Sunday’s closing date, though she will end up being trapped on Lake Superior for lay-up. Thunder Bay or the Algoma Steel dock itself remain the most likely candidates to house her for the winter. Being an unusual sight in the Twin Ports, boatwatchers certainly won’t mind two Saginaw appearances in the span of several days.

Marquette, MI – Arthur Pickering
The 2022-2023 shipping season just ended here in Marquette with the departure of the Joesph Block from the ore dock this evening. The Block ends a very busy week of ship traffic in and out of Marquette in which six vessels loaded during the past week. She is enroute to Toledo and should be one of the last vessels through the Soo Locks. The Maumee will most likely be the last vessel which is currently enroute from Duluth-Superior to Cleveland and is still west of the Keweenaw Peninsula and Copper Harbor. The Joseph Block should be right in front of the Maumee going into the Whitefish Bay and St Mary’s River. So, this report will conclude my vessel reports from Marquette for this shipping season. Thanks to all those who sent me emails and requests during this past season. So, have a great lay-up season and I look forward to the 2023-2024 shipping season.

St. Marys River – Know Your Ships
All traffic Saturday at the Soo was downbound. James R. Barker and Philip R. Clarke were passing DeTour in the early morning, with Indiana Harbor next. American Integrity was in the locks mid-morning, followed by the CCGS Samuel Risley, H. Lee White (anchored north of Cockburn Island in the evening) and tug Olive L. Moore / barge Menominee (assisted in the locks area by tug Wyoming although there was little ice to speak of). Arthur M. Anderson was downbound mid-afternoon, followed by Dirk S. VanEnkevort/barge Joseph H. Thompson and Anglian Lady/barge Ironmaster, which locked down and went to the Purvis dock in the lower harbor. Stewart J. Cort was expected around midnight.

Vessels remaining in Lake Superior are Joseph L. Block (at Marquette), Presque Isle (2 Harbors), Defiance/Ashtabula (at Superior) and Saginaw, heading to Algoma Steel at Soo, ON, with ore from Superior. Since she is scheduled for another Superior-Soo trip, she will likely lay up at either Thunder Bay or the Algoma Steel dock.

Sturgeon Bay, WI – Anonymous
The Wilfred Sykes and Mesabi Miner arrived at Bay Ship on Saturday morning, both coming from the lake side via the ship canal. The Sykes arrived right at first light with the Miner coming through the canal at about 9:30am. The Sykes is now at berth 8 and the Miner on the face.

Lake Erie Ports – Bill Kloss
Toledo, OH: Edgar B. Speer arrived for lay up. Karen Andrie/Endeavor departed for Indiana Harbor, IN.
Cleveland, OH: Walter J. McCarthy, Jr. has 60,000 tons of UTAC pellets for the Bulk Terminal. Mark W. Barker and American Courage are both anchored to wait for the McCarthy, Jr. to unload. Once empty, the footer departed to Sturgeon Bay, WI for layup. American Courage then weighed anchor and delivered 19,000 tons of Tilden pellets to the Bulk Terminal. Sam Laud is delivering a shuttle to Cliffs.
Conneaut, OH: John J. Boland loaded ore and departed for Gary, IN. Great Republic arrived to unload ore at the P&C Dock.
Nanticoke, OH: Algocanada arrived to load at Imperial Oil.

Buffalo, NY – Brian Wroblewski
Grand River Navigation sent their 630-foot self-unloader MANITOWOC to Buffalo on a sand run on January 15th. She came in at 5:15AM without tugs and went straight up to the CSI landing through light plate ice. This was only her second sand load to Buffalo since at least the late 1980s.

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.