The 2025-2026 winter layup list is now up and running at https://boatnerd3.jasonbowlerdesign.com/winter-lay-up-list-2025-2026
Algoma Mariner arrives in Mexico
Algoma Mariner arrived in Veracruz, Mexico late in the evening on January 22nd for drydocking and refit.
[Denny Dushane]
Saginaw River Commercial Shipping Season Report – 2025
By TODD SHORKEY
Another exciting and interesting year has passed, and a new season of commercial shipping will be here on the Saginaw River in just a few months. That means it is time to review what has happened during the 2025 season. This is my 21st Year-End Report for the Saginaw River. For those who have been around for the long haul, thank you! For those of you who are new to my reports, welcome aboard!
The 2025 shipping season for the Saginaw River was an interesting one. Virtually the same number of commercial vessel passages from the previous year, but some interesting developments, first time visitors, emergency dredging, development of a fish habitat reef just east of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers Confined Disposal Facility out in Saginaw Bay, Lafayette Bridge being demolished and then the start of rebuilding a new, modern drawbridge in its place, and ice, lots of ice on the Saginaw River and bay at the end of the season.
The Saginaw River only had one international delivery made by an oceangoing saltwater vessel in 2025. There were continued demolition and remediation efforts at the Consumers Energy, Dan E. Karn power plant in Essexville, with remnants of the coal-fired power generators continuing to be removed. Where the skyline once had six exhaust stacks that were landmarks for fishermen and pleasure boaters coming in off the bay, headed for the Saginaw River, there is now only one. Two gas and oil-fired power generating units are all that are left, scheduled to remain online until 2031. Consumers also has an expansive solar generation farm under construction currently at the site.
It has been encouraging to see our staple products remaining stable. The 190 commercial vessel passages during 2025 season made it the eighth busiest on the Saginaw River over the past 21 years, the years I have been logging vessel traffic. For reference, the slowest year during the past 21 years? That would be 2014, when there were only 110 vessel passages. Will we ever see higher numbers again? It is definitely possible and there are things underway that I think could help, including loading gypsum for transport out of the Saginaw River and hopefully someday, loading grain once again for export.
At this point, it is my duty and my tradition to mention and reiterate the following in each of my year-end reports, because the recognition is warranted and worth mentioning again: A lot of hard work is put in by industry leaders, not just here on the Saginaw River locally, but across the entire Great Lakes region. These hard-working individuals continue to actively pursue improvements in infrastructure and to diversify the type of products that are transported by water. The resulting victories, when they happen, allow more opportunities to utilize maritime assets to move products, moving it more economically and more efficiently than other modes of transportation. More than ever, this continues to be crucial as traditional high-volume cargo such as coal and taconite are no longer what they were to the industry. As it is every year, it is my hope that the work being put in now by these industry leaders in the Great Lakes will continue to lead to more opportunities for commercial shipping and better things to come as we head into the future.
The following report is a look back on the 2025 commercial shipping season on the Saginaw River. It utilizes information and data that I have collected during this period.
The 2025 season officially began March 21, 2025. Early that morning, when many people were up at the Soo, waiting for the 8am opening of the locks for the season, the tug Samuel de Champlain and her powdered cement carrying barge, Innovation, quietly eased up the Saginaw River with no fanfare, arriving at the AmRize Cement Dock in Essexville around 4am. For the three AmRize workers and myself, who were there for the arrival, it was a beautiful early morning, with clear skies and a light breeze. This start to the season was three days earlier than the 2024 season.
The 2024 season then ended with the arrival of McAsphalt Advantage on an icy Saginaw River, delivering a liquid asphalt emulsion cargo to Bit-Mat Products of Michigan in the slip at Port Fisher in Bay City on December 23 rd . The 2025 season on the Saginaw River lasted a total of 278 days, covering 10 months, which was three more days than in 2024. The season ended on the exact same day as in 2024 – December 23 rd . For the 2025 commercial shipping season, there was a grand total of 190 commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River, representing a decrease of five passages compared to the year before. These passages were made by 30 different vessels, two fewer than the previous year, representing 14 different vessel management companies, one less than 2024.
