Port and vessel activity from Saturday, August 12, 2023, unless stated otherwise. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.
Two Harbors, MN – Gary Putney
Edgar B. Speer departed Two Harbors on August 12 at 16:41 with no destination shown. Paul R. Tregurtha is bound for Two Harbors.
Silver Bay, MN – Gary Putney
Clyde S. VanEnkevort/Erie Trader departed Silver Bay at 14:05 on August 12 for Toledo.
Thunder Bay, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
Heading up empty from the Twin Ports, American Mariner entered Canadian waters early Saturday morning and arrived T-Bay at 04:24. The Mariner, one of the only U.S.-flagged vessels to visit port with any kind of regularity, would tie up at Richardson Main to load grain throughout the day.
Canada would assert its home-field advantage early in the afternoon, with none other than Thunder Bay herself departing Viterra A for Bécancour, QC, at 14:30. The Trillium-class vessel had been loading grain in her namesake port since Friday morning. Just across the pier at Viterra B, Manitoulin was wrapping up a load of her own and headed outbound the bay less than an hour later. Though no AIS destination has been set, she appeared to be headed for Duluth, MN, as of Saturday night. Algoma Niagara departed P&H at 15:25 for Hamilton, ON, allowing fleetmate G3 Marquis to take her place at the Superior Elevator. To say that the latter received a proper greeting would be an understatement — she’d been anchored off the nearby Welcome Islands for several days.
American Mariner would eventually clear at 17:07. No official word on where she’s headed, but if past visits are any indication, expect to see her in Buffalo, NY, early next week.
Chestnut spent another day motionless at MobilEx.
Marquette, MI – Noah H.
On Friday, Interlake’s Lee A. Tregurtha arrived at 06:01 for another load of ore. This would be a brief visit, as the LAT was already outbound for Detroit at 12:35. Next up will be her fleet mate Hon. James L. Oberstar.
Drummond Island, MI (Drummond, MI) – Joshua Hebeisen
Drummond Dolomite had itself a day with two classic lakers coming in to load. Wilfred Sykes arrived at 01:40, later departing at 05:47 for Lake Huron and a short trip to Calcite, MI. Saginaw was waiting nearby for her own batch of stone and made the dock around 06:00. She, too, would head downbound on departure at 16:44. Sag’s sights are set on Sombra, ON, along the St. Clair River.
Port Dolomite, MI (Cedarville, MI) – Joshua Hebeisen
Defiance/Ashtabula departed for Lorain, OH, at 07:15.
Port Inland, MI (Gulliver, MI) – Joshua Hebeisen
Kaye E. Barker cruised out at 00:14 for another trip to Muskegon, MI. Great Republic arrived at 14:44 to load for Holland, MI.
Milwaukee, WI – Joshua Hebeisen
Arriving from Goderich, ON, with salt, Algoma Intrepid passed through the breakwaters at 04:44 to tie up at Kinder Morgan in the outer harbor. She later shifted farther inland to unload the remainder of her cargo at the Compass Minerals dock pad. A 19:32 departure beneath the Hoan Bridge saw the Equinox-class laker set course for Meldrum Bay, ON.
St. Marys Challenger, once a frequent sight steaming in with cement, would instead chug through the canal with tug Prentiss Brown at 05:53. The pair unloaded at the St. Marys Cement Milwaukee Terminal before clearing at 22:07, bound for Charlevoix, MI, and ever more cement.
St. Joseph, MI – Benton Harbor, MI – Joshua Hebeisen
Sam Laud departed at 01:21 Saturday morning to cap off what had been a packed past 24 hours for her. Loaded with stone from Port Dolomite, MI, on Friday morning, the Laud made a brief stop at Ludington, MI, to offload a small portion ashore. Once lightered, Sam brought the remaining 17,000 tons to Benton Harbor on Friday evening to discharge at Rieth-Riley, where 300–500 trucks will be needed to haul the stone to construction sites across the region. A hard day of work indeed for the river-class vessel, but hey, at least she got St. Joughnuts out of the deal.
Tug George F. Bailey is also in port with her barges to begin some much-needed dredging in the inner harbor.
Holland, MI – Noah H.
Manitowoc broke a long freighter drought in Holland with her 13:25 arrival, coming from Muskegon with stone. The unloading of said stone (from Meldrum Bay), was the second of the day, with this final batch deposited at Brewer’s City Dock. By 20:21, the remainder of the stone was taken care of and the Manitowoc trekked back to Lake Michigan to head to Stoneport next.
Muskegon, MI – Noah H.
Saturday was a busy day for the Cobb Verplank dock on the east side of Muskegon Lake. First, Manitowoc arrived at 05:30 to unload stone from Meldrum Bay. These are much better circumstances for an arrival compared to last time’s fuel leak issue. Her stay would not be long, as she was already outbound for Holland at 10:32 to complete the second part of two partial unloads. Next up was the Kaye E. Barker, making her second visit in three days with her 15:00 arrival. She switched up the stone-loading port from Calcite to Port Inland this time.
Calcite, MI (Rogers City, MI) – Joshua Hebeisen
After presumably handling cargo on the outer pier, Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 headed in for the main loading berth around 03:00. The pair departed for Kingsville, ON, at 10:00, at which point Wilfred Sykes mosied on in to top off her holds. The steamer would depart at 15:51 for Lake Supe- SYKE! Cleveland, OH, rather. Yes, I am somewhat jealous of Bill Kloss but very excited to see his pictures!
Spragge, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
John D. Leitch arrived at 11:02 for Carmeuse Blind River. Her cargo, likely stone aggregate of some variety, was poured into her bulging body in Indiana Harbor, IN.
Toledo, OH – Bill Kloss
Departing were Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin with coal for Nanticoke, Samuel de Champlain/Innovation to Cleveland, Algoma Transport to Hamilton with coal, and Dirk S. VanEnkevort/Michigan Trader to Silver Bay. Albert/Margaret is at the Gradel dock.
Marblehead, OH – Bill Kloss
Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great LakesTrader loaded limestone and departed for Marine City.
Sandusky, OH – Bill Kloss
CSL Niagara left with coal for Nanticoke.
Cleveland, OH – Bill Kloss
James R. Barker departed for Two Harbors. Beatrix is at the Port docks and American Courage is running shuttles. Samuel de Champlain/Innovation departed to Alpena once empty at Holcim.
Grand River, OH – Fairport Harbor, OH – Bill Kloss
H. Lee White departed for Calcite once empty.
Nanticoke, ON – Bill Kloss
Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin arrived with coal for Stelco and Algoberta is loading at Imperial Oil.
We do not currently have daily summaries for the following ports, but 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.