Port and vessel activity from Thursday, October 12, 2023, unless stated otherwise. Please send future port reports and pictures to news@boatnerd.net.
Duluth, MN – Superior, WI – Scott Bjorklund
Duluth Entry
Hon. James L. Oberstar arrived at 00:19 (Central) Thursday morning with limestone from Carmeuse’s Calcite Operation; after unloading at Graymont, they shifted over to CN#6 to load for Toledo. Great Republic departed at 07:33 with Minntac flux pellets for Gary Works. Finally, American Century departed at 09:57 with low-sulfur coal for DTE’s Belle River and Monroe plants. As of Thursday afternoon, Hon. James L. Oberstar was loading UTAC acid pellets at CN#6 while Lake Erie was loading wheat at Riverland Ag. Because of the expected 40 mph winds and 10-foot waves over the next day, we shouldn’t see any more ship traffic for Duluth until Saturday. James R. Barker was originally due early Friday morning, but they will most likely anchor somewhere instead of arriving in port.
Superior Entry
Algoma Discovery departed at 04:26 (Central) Thursday morning with Hibtac pellets for Hamilton. Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin arrived from anchor at 05:12 to load at BNSF. As of Thursday afternoon, Martin was the only vessel in port on the Superior side. As mentioned above, they will most likely wait in port during the coming storm.
Thunder Bay, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
Kaministiqua slipped into the upper harbor at 06:40 for a load of grain at Richardson Main. Several miles southwest at the opposite end of the port, the Liberian-flagged saltie Yulia pulled away from P&H before departing at 10:44 with grain to export overseas. Splitting the difference up the coast, Federal Yukon departed Viterra A at around the same time, wrapping around the breakwater before settling in at P&H herself around 11:30.
The trio of Federal Mosel, Federal Yushiro, and Greenwing spent the day at anchor.
Marquette, MI – Noah H.
Joseph L. Block made a routine visit Wednesday afternoon, which concluded with a 17:58 departure Thursday evening. This completed a roughly 27-hour stay, though the current lake conditions make it unclear whether the full duration was needed for loading or if the crew waited out winds. Either way, the Block is on her way down to Toledo while Americans Spirit and Mariner make their way up to load next at Marquette.
St. Marys River – Joshua Hebeisen
Early Thursday evening, Cuyahoga transitted the Soo Locks for the first time since a May engine room fire put her future in serious doubt. Miraculously, the 80-year-old workhorse has risen from the ashes just five months later to resume her cargo-carrying capers. Her first trip upbound since the fire finds the laker hauling salt from Detroit, MI, to Thunder Bay, ON. As usual, the 664-foot vessel would receive a lift in the MacArthur Lock before continuing on her way.
Holland, MI – Noah H.
Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 padded their lead for Holland visits this season with their 08:57 arrival. The duo came from Gary and spent the next 10 hours at the Padnos dock before heading back down to southern Lake Michigan at 18:32, this time to Indiana Harbor.
Muskegon, MI – Noah H.
Samuel de Champlain/Innovation arrived Wednesday afternoon to unload at the Holcim dock. That process would last until the early morning on Thursday, when the tug/barge duo departed at 03:35 to head to South Chicago.
Monroe, MI – Bill Kloss
Paul R. Tregurtha arrived with coal for DTE.
Toledo, OH – Bill Kloss
Kaye E. Barker departed for Detroit. G.L. Ostrander/Integrity arrived early in the morning, unloaded a partial load at Holcim then left for Cleveland. The lone arrival was Federal Seto going to Andersons.
Marblehead, OH – Bill Kloss
Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder loaded limestone and departed for Cleveland.
Sandusky, OH – Bill Kloss
Taking priority over Algoma Transport, Herbert C. Jackson pulled in ahead to load coal at Norfolk Southern.
Cleveland, OH – Bill Kloss
Karen Andrie/Endeavor left for Indiana Harbor. Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder unloaded stone then left for Erie. It must be a day for cement as G.L. Ostrander/Integrity and Prentiss Brown/St. Marys Challenger both arrived and Sea Eagle II/St. Marys Cement II is still unloading. Leaving in the late afternoon were the Ostander for Alpena and Prentiss Brown for Toledo.
Erie, PA – Bill Kloss
Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder is at Carmeuse.
Buffalo, NY – Lackawanna, NY – Tonawanda, NY – Brian Wroblewski
The Ocean Voyager was all set for departure on the morning of October 10 and was towed out of the Lackawanna Canal stern first by the tug Vermont at 08:00. They dropped the tow line in the Outer Harbor Southern Channel and the ship winded with her bow thruster and azimuth pods. After departing the South Entrance, they headed for Port Colborne and met the inbound American Mariner “on the one whistle” out near Point Abino. The MARINER came straight in for General Mills without tugs and secured there around 09:30.
Weather conditions improved on October 12 so the New York finally departed Marathon in Tonawanda from the notch of the Double Skin 509A at 07:30 to make the Black Rock Lock when they opened at 08:00. They cleared the Buffalo “Jetties”, as the Captain likes to say, at 09:00 and switched out of push gear on the open lake before departing for the Ojibwa Anchorage near Detroit with the barge trailing behind on a wire. Then around 11:00 the American Mariner wrapped up unloading operations at General Mills and backed out from the Frontier elevator by herself. She winded in the Outer Harbor with the thrusters and then departed Buffalo for Marquette, MI.
Welland Canal – Joshua Hebeisen
At 07:00 Thursday morning, the weary Norisle arrived Port Colborne, ON, for scrapping in tow of McKeil Marine’s tug Ecosse. The 1946-built ferry has finally reached the end of the line after 30 years of active service at Manitoulin Island and many more as a museum ship in Manitowaning, ON. Upon arrival, the tow was greeted by the tug Vac, also a member of the McKeil fleet, to help assist the vessel to the wall at MRC. Scrapyard owner Wayne Elliott announced that the Norisle will be hauled ashore in the near future once dismantling of the barge Joseph H. Thompson is complete.
Nanticoke, ON – Bill Kloss
Algosea is at Imperial Oil and CSL Niagara arrived at Stelco.
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.