Polsteam’s latest new vessel headed to Cleveland
Polsteam Okra, the newest vessel in the Polish-flagged Polsteam fleet, is headed for Cleveland on her maiden voyage into the Great Lakes. She departed Trois-Rivieres, QC, Tuesday morning.
She is one of twelve 37,000 DWT Great Lakes bulkers vessels Polsteam is building, appropriately named after lakes in Poland, to strengthen the company’s position within the Great Lakes and Seaway system. Eight will have conventional propulsion units and four will have low-emission methanol propulsion.
Thunder Bay City Council votes to scrap historic tugboat
THUNDER BAY, ON – Any hopes to see a century-old tugboat in Thunder Bay preserved have sunk after Thunder Bay City council voted to scrap the James Whalen Monday.
The Transportation Museum of Thunder Bay has been advocating to preserve the Whalen. David Muir, vice chairman and director of site and operations at the museum, made a deputation to council pitching the idea of keeping just the top part of the boat– but to no avail.
“I’m upset by it because we’ve invested so much time trying to make this work,” said Muir.
After the historic tugboat sank in 2022, the City awarded a nearly $800,000 contract to lift it out of the Kamanistiqua river. Council previously voted last Fall to preserve parts of the tug, and recycle the rest. It changed course after receiving higher-than-expected bids on the tender for preservation and recycling.
Muir said preserving the top deck would add an extra $120,000 to the cost, but that the museum would eventually pay back the difference to the City.
“We can make it a land-based attraction that the public tourists, of which we had 6000 last year, visit and the various schools in Thunder Bay and region can actually get the feel of being on the Whalen,” said Muir.
Current River Ward Councillor Andrew Foulds said many are unhappy the historic boat won’t be preserved.
“I think it’s very easy to point fingers and blame. I just think it’s sad and unfortunate,” said Foulds.
Foulds said he put forward a resolution to save and display up to $20,000 of provisional items recognizing the story of the Whalen, but it was defeated.
“There’s the enormous cost to recycling it and there’s not really that many options,” said Foulds.
Dealing with the fate of the tugboat has been a frustration for council, he said.
“I appreciate the situation and I know there is a lot of documenting and pictures being taken and you know, we’re going to do the best that we can in protecting some of that legacy,” Foulds said.
The cost to recycle the boat is approximately $580,000.
CBC
Efforts underway to preserve Coast Guard
Lookout #4 on St. Marys River
SAULT STE. MARIE. MI – There’s an effort underway in Chippewa County to preserve a piece of maritime history along the St. Marys River.
The turn of the 20th century was a busy time on the St. Marys. Shipping traffic was getting heavy, so lookout stations were built to help those ships safely navigate the river,
“A lookout station was just a building on a tower that was manned, and they were connected to the Corps of Engineers Soo Locks by telephone cable and when the boats went by, they would report that passage to the locks so they would have some idea of the traffic that was coming through. Part of the time too, they would use that service to relay instructions from the ship owner to the captain. So the captain might come out and put his megaphone to his ear and the ship owner might have contacted the people at the lookout station, and he’d yell ‘go to Duluth,’” explained Great Lakes Photographer/Marine Historian Roger LeLievre said.
But newer, more modern ways of communicating slowly made these stations obsolete.
“Most of these Coast Guard lookout stations were either destroyed intentionally by fire by the Coast Guard,” explained LeLievre.
Today, just one of these lookout stations remains: Lookout #4. And time certainly caught up with this more than century-old guardian of the St. Marys.
“To a lot of the islanders and to the people in Barbeau, it’s an icon of vacation; when they see the lookout, they know they’re on vacation. It tugged at our heartstrings to see a historical site, we didn’t want it to end up like all the others, which were either burned or demolished,” said Mary Schallip.
A group called Shipmates of Lookout #4 is now raising money to preserve Lookout #4 and continue telling its story.
“What I think is unique about Lookout #4 is it’s not just the last lookout standing out of 7 lookouts, but this is a collaborative effort between the Coast Guard and the Neebish Island Historical Society and Bruce Township, Neebish Island is in Soo Township so it’s really four different areas all for the same cause which I think is really unique,” said Lori Miller who lives on Neebish Island.
“The lookout station for Neebish Island is like an icon; places have their lighthouses are their icon and you see it on postcards and all that kind of promotional stuff. For Neebish Island, it’s this Coast Guard Lookout station.
The Lookout #4 Steering Committee’s next meeting is at 12:30 p.m. on April 19 at the Bruce Township History Library.
TV 9&10
View the news report video here: https://www.9and10news.com/2025/04/07/special-report-saving-lookout-4/
Great Lakes Iron Ore Trade Decreases in March 2025
CLEVELAND – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes were below one million tons in March, a decrease of 39.1 percent compared to 2024. Loadings were also below the month’s 5-year average by 19.4 percent.
Year-to-date, the iron ore trade stands at nearly three million tons, a decrease of 31.9 percent compared to a year ago. Iron ore shipments are 15.2 percent below their 5-year average for the first three months of the year.
Since 1880, Lake Carriers’ has represented the U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet, which today can move more than 90 million tons of cargos annually that are the foundation of American industry, infrastructure, and power: iron ore, stone, coal, cement, and other dry bulk materials such as grain, salt, and sand. More information is available at www.lcaships.com.
See Charts below in gallery
New “Know Your Ships” book launch party Saturday in Algonac
The official book release event for the popular Great Lakes shipwatching field guide “Know Your Ships” 2025 will be Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Algonac-Clay Historical Society Maritime Museum, 1117 St. Clair River Dr., Algonac, MI.
Joining Editor/Publisher Roger LeLievre and KYS crew member Matt Miner will be special guest Andrea Guerriero (DRE Designs Great Lakes Marine Products) from Sault Ste. Marie, ON. Previously announced guest Ship to Shore Chef Catherine Schmuck will no longer be able to attend.
A $5 donation at the door includes admission to the museum and earns buyers $5 off on their total purchases.
This marks Know Your Ships’ 66th year of publication.
Know Your Ships
Help Wanted: Isle Royale ferry seeks engineers, deckhand
2025 “Know Your Ships” available now
The new shipping season is at hand, and so is the release of the 2025 edition of Know Your Ships, the popular annual field guide to boats and boatwatching on the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Seaway, now in its 66th year.
New this year is the ability to preorder the midsummer EXTRA magazine, which will feature a 50th anniversary tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew, when you preorder the book.
Order at this link: www.knowyourships.com
Exhibit “Steam and Steel: Propelling the Future of the
Great Lakes” Opens May 23 at Great Lakes Science Center
Cleveland, OH – Explore the history of Great Lakes shipping as Great Lakes Science Center celebrates the centennial of the Steamship William G. Mather with a special exhibit, Steam and Steel: Propelling the Future of the Great Lakes, from May 23 through September 1. Once the flagship of the Cleveland Cliffs, Inc., the Mather is now a museum allowing guests to explore the ship and see its huge cargo holds, brass and oak pilot house, elegant guest quarters, and four-story engine room.
Entering the Steam and Steel exhibit inside the museum, guests will first encounter a 14-by-10-foot replica of the front hull of the ship, providing the perfect place to snap a selfie before embarking on your journey into the history of the Mather and the world of Great Lakes shipping. Displays of artifacts from the Mather, and historic photos chronicling Cleveland’s shipping history, will showcase how Lake Erie and access to the other Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Atlantic Ocean helped shape the growth of Cleveland as a hub for commerce, industry and innovation.
Interactive exhibits will allow guests to experience what it was like to steer the mighty Mather, load and unload cargo, and raise and lower the drawbridges on a model canal lock. Other exhibits will allow guests to see how technological innovations in shipping, including the addition of radar, dual propeller bow thrusters, and the automated boiler system, contributed to the Mather’s long and successful run as a Great Lakes freighter and helped it become “the ship that built Cleveland.”
Great Lakes Science Center
