Traffic moving again in Welland Canal
UPDATE: Traffic has resumed in the Welland Canal as of 22:30 on July 10th, 2023. Please be advised that until further notice, ships at Lock 7 will be secured in the lock with mooring lines as Hands-free Morring is not operational. SLSMC
WELLAND, ON – A power outage on the Welland Canal has damaged hands-free-mooring systems in locks 1 and 7, stranding vessels between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, says the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. and it remains uncertain when traffic will resume.
The Seaway said the outage occurred at 5:50 p.m. Sunday, and immediate steps were taken to ensure the safety of the public, personnel, vessels, infrastructure and the environment. Unofficial reports indicate that when the power went out, it caused two of the hands-free moorings, which were not locked, to crash down to the bottom of locks 1 and 7 which were empty, which damaged them.
Sunday, at least 11 vessels were between lakes Erie and Ontario and by Monday, three more were anchored off Port Colborne and another three west of Port Weller. Two vessels stranded in Port Colborne include American Queen Voyages’ cruise ships Ocean Navigator and Ocean Voyager.
Sunday evening, Ocean Navigator reversed up the canal after sitting just south of Bridge 19A, and then docked at the Snider Dock on the east side. One of the delayed vessels off Port Colborne is the U.S. Coast Guard’s Hollyhock, a buoy tender and icebreaker that also carries out search and rescue on the Great Lakes.
Another unique vessel caught up by the power failure and lock issue is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s R/V Lake Explorer II, docked at the end of Sugarloaf Street at West Street. It specializes in environmental assessment of coastal conditions and samples aquatic life, water quality and sediments on the lakes.
The commercial vessels stranded include a mix of lakers from Algoma Central Corp. and Canada Steamship Lines and two ocean-going cargo ships.
A release from the corporation, which oversees the 3,700-kilometre-long St. Lawrence Seaway system and eight-lock, 43-kilometre-long Welland Canal in Niagara, said recovery operations are proceeding. It also said updates “regarding the resumption of marine traffic will be provided when available.”
It’s unknown what any of the vessels are carrying, but cargo on the lakes includes wheat, corn, soybeans, barley, oats, and flaxseed; steel slabs, scrap iron, bars, rods, and manufactured iron and steel; iron ore, coal, coke, salt, gypsum, and stone; fuel oil, petroleum products, chemicals, forest products, and animal products; and other items like wind turbine parts and yachts.
It’s unknown what impact the delay will have on the shipping industry, and local, provincial, state, and federal economies.
Editor’s note: Vessels were able to transit Lock One as of early Monday evening, using linehandlers.
Oswego County honors deep history of Lake Ontario
OSWEGO COUNTY – Oswego County’s rich marine history is on display – from events to exhibits. The H. Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego hosts a new display for the 2023 season, “Shipwrecks of Upstate NY.” The exhibit offers a detailed look at the shipwrecks below Lake Ontario using 3D printed and hand-painted scale models of shipwreck sites.
“Shipwrecks of Upstate NY” includes 25 models and was developed by local divers Tim Caza and Dennis Gerber. The two shipwreck enthusiasts have spent several years researching, diving and locating Lake Ontario shipwrecks in order to provide the public with a diver’s view of these wrecks.
Caza holds a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license and has more than 45 years of experience in shipwreck diving in search and discovery of lost ships. He has worked with archeologists on his discoveries and has over 127 discoveries to date. Gerber has been a scuba diver for 37 years and is the designer and builder of the side scan sonar that has assisted in finding many of the exhibit’s featured discoveries. For more information on Caza and Gerber and their work, visit their website at https://sonarguy.com/.
“Shipwrecks of Upstate NY” can be viewed at the H. Lee White Maritime Museum daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in July and August and from 1 to 5 p.m. in the fall and winter. The museum is located at 1 W. First St. Pier, Oswego. For more information about the museum, visit its website at https://hlwmm.org/.
State senator calls for Coast Guard station to return to Grand Marais
DULUTH — Weeks after two teenaged boys drowned while cliff diving in Silver Bay, state Sen. Grant Hauschild is calling for the return of the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Grand Marais that closed after Labor Day in 2022.
Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, took to Twitter in late June with a plea to reinvest in water rescue resources as the search-and-rescue mission for Austin Henning, of South St. Paul, and Max Williams, of Inver Grove Heights, drew help from the Bayfield, Wis.-based U.S. Coast Guard, in addition to local agencies.
“There is no reason we should rely on Coast Guard from as far away as Michigan and Wisconsin for our safety on the North Shore,” Hauschild tweeted.
He has since made a formal written request to state lawmakers for the return of Station (Small) North Superior — which covered Lake Superior between Two Harbors and the international border. It originally was established in 1929, but shifted to a seasonal schedule in 1998. The station was staffed by a rotating crew from Duluth and averaged one water emergency a season in its final decade.
Hauschild, elected in 2022, said he has been hearing about safety concerns from constituents.
“The response to this has been probably one of the biggest responses I’ve had as a senator so far,” he said.
Lt. Phillip Gurtler, public affairs officer for the Great Lakes, said he has been working closely with Hauschild’s office. In the case of the two teenagers , the Coast Guard would’ve pulled a boat from Bayfield even if Grand Marais had been open, Gurtler said. The large waves that day called for a 45-foot boat — whereas the stations in Grand Marais had only 29-foot boats when it was active. The Coast Guard also had a helicopter on the scene.
Between bases in Duluth and Bayfield, airfields and relationships with local law enforcement, Gurtler said the U.S. Coast Guard maintains several layers of coverage in the Grand Marais area.
Hauschild secured funding from the Judiciary and Public Safety Omnibus bill for emergency equipment including boats, additional staff and training. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will receive more than $3 million to upgrade its response to water emergencies.
Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen said in addition to water rescues, a lack of water patrol means no one is watching the boaters. The county extends 35 miles into Lake Superior, but much of that is inaccessible to his department.
“Our biggest fears are that when people know they won’t be checked on Lake Superior, it’s kind of a free-for-all out there,” he said. “They don’t need specific safety equipment. They don’t need to keep up on sobriety.”
The long winter has meant fewer anglers so far this season but the numbers should increase in upcoming weeks.
“This is a huge liability to us,” he said.
Eliasen said the project to create a joint marine rescue with Grand Portage — the first collaboration of its kind between a county and a local tribal nation — will include boats similar to what the U.S. Coast Guard uses. A call to the tribe was not returned Friday.
Eliasen said he expects to start shopping for boats with tribal chair Robert Deschampe as soon as next week.
