Port and vessel activity from May 17, 2023, unless stated otherwise. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.
Thunder Bay, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
BBC St. Petersburg began pulling away from Richardson Main late Tuesday night, eventually clearing the northern breakwater at 00:12 Wednesday morning with a destination of Montreal, QC. CSL St-Laurent would be headed for the Port of Montreal as well after departing the Viterra A elevator at 13:50. The last T-Bay passage of the day would be Algoma Strongfield, also St. Lawrence River-bound but due to unload farther downstream at Quebec City, QC. She left G3 fully loaded at around 23:00. Remaining at Keefer Terminal throughout the day was fire-red Federal Champlain.
Marquette, MI – Noah H.
On Monday, Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader departed at 08:53 for Cleveland. The duo was immediately replaced by Hon. James L. Oberstar at 09:53. The Oberstar would not depart for another 28 hours, eventually departing for Dearborn at 13:48 on Tuesday afternoon. There was no more traffic on Tuesday, and none on Wednesday. The next arrival will likely be Interlake’s Herbert C. Jackson, back again after making some lower lakes deliveries.
Muskegon, MI – Noah H.
Herbert C. Jackson arrived with stone from Port Inland at 21:04 on Tuesday. She appeared to unload at both lakeside Verplank and Cobb Verplank in an unusual move before eventually departing at 13:49 on Wednesday for Marquette. The Algoma Innovator is due at some point on Thursday for her first visit of the season after making 4 trips last season.
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Algoma Buffalo cleared 22:00 Tuesday downbound for Toronto with salt. Algoma Innovator cleared 06:32 Wednesday upbound for Muskegon with salt. Algoma Compass is downbound and expected in Goderich shortly.
Detroit, MI – Windsor, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
Whether going through a phase of teenage rebellion or simply feeling a little sour after a salty cargo, Mark W. Barker quite literally took a turn for the worst when she found herself aground off the sandy shores of Belle Isle. Following Two Harbors, MN-bound fleetmate Paul R. Tregurtha at the Mistersky fuel dock early Wednesday morning, the youngest laker of them all would clear the Motor City at 07:19 with Milwaukee, WI next on the itinerary. Unfortunately, less than 10 minutes later, a “loss of power and maneuverability” would result in a hard turn to port and soft grounding along the river bank just east of the Dossin Museum.
Thanks to quick action by the crew and a drop of the vessel’s starboard anchor, no injuries or damage were reported. G-tug Pennsylvania assisted the Baby Barker as she slid out from the sandy banks and proceeded to the Belle Isle Anchorage just after noon. The laker remained on the hook throughout the rest of the day as additional investigations were conducted.
An eventful Wednesday on the river continued with an appearance by two beloved steamers. The 81-year-old Alpena made her way into Detroit at 13:08 with cement for Holcim, and Wilfred Sykes kept the throwback going with a 17:13 Cliffs Dearborn departure for Burns Harbor, IN. Alpena eventually continued her journey downbound to Toledo, OH, at 20:21.
At the same time just across the river, Federal Cedar cast off from Windsor’s Morterm dock with a destination of Thunder Bay, ON. Fellow saltie Fraserborg remained at anchor off the salt dock, while Wicko spent the day at ADM.
Lake Erie Ports – Bill Kloss
Monroe, MI: Harvest Spirit is unloading steel coils.
Toledo, OH: Victory/Maumee departed for Algoma Steel at the Soo.
Marblehead, OH: Dirk S. VanEnkevort/Michigan Trader departed for Lorain.
Lorain, OH: Dirk S. VanEnkevort/Michigan Trader delivered stone to the Holcim/LaFarge dock, then left for Stoneport after getting empty.
Cleveland, OH: Mark W. Barker loaded salt and departed to Milwaukee. Calumet is loading a shuttle for Cliffs. Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader anchored in Lake Erie to wait for Calumet to clear the dock. After 2 days to unload, Prentiss Brown/St. Marys Challenger departed for Charlevoix. NACC Argonaut arrived later in the day to unload cement at Holcim.
Fairport Harbor, OH: Frontenac arrived to load at Morton Salt.
Conneaut, OH: American Integrity departed for Superior, WI once empty.
Buffalo, NY: Iryda finally got empty at Sucro Sourcing and left for Thunder Bay.
Nanticoke, ON: Algoterra and Kitikmeot W are loading at Imperial Oil. Algoberta remains anchored.
While we do not currently have daily summaries for the following ports, their respective port authority websites post schedules of vessel traffic that are featured below. Each schedule is a miniature webpage within a box. Scroll with your cursor in 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.