The 2025-2026 winter layup list is now up and running at https://boatnerd3.jasonbowlerdesign.com/winter-lay-up-list-2025-2026
Cold persists; Lake Superior ice cover growing rapidly
It was a slow start to the ice-making season on Lake Superior and other Great lakes this winter. Temperatures for the first half of January ran a good 10 degrees warmer than normal across the Great Lakes region.
As of Jan. 14, just 3 percent of the Great Lakes and 6 percent of Lake Superior were covered with ice. Fast-forward to our multiday subzero streak in the past seven days and temperatures have been running more than 10 degrees colder than average across the Great Lakes basin.
As you would expect, that’s making ice quickly across the Great lakes.
Overall ice cover on the Great Lakes has gone form just 3 percent on Jan. 14 to a combined 45 percent in just the past two weeks. Lake Superior has gone from 6 percent ice-covered to 31 percent in the past two weeks. So our persistent subzero cold is making ice quickly now in the Great Lakes.
It’s interesting to note that Lake Erie is almost completely covered by ice now at 94 percent. That limits open water that can make lake-effect snow, effectively shutting down the lake-effect snow season in the lee of Lake Erie.
Ice cover on Lake Superior usually reaches peak in early March. So we still have a long way to go in the lake ice season for the Great Lakes.
The last time Lake Superior was almost completely frozen over was in 2019.
Read the full story and view graphs at this link: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/27/cold-persists-lake-superior-ice-cover-growing-rapidly
BBC Chartering celebrates naming of new LakerMax BBC Bremen
BREMEN, GERMANY – MV BBC Bremen, vessel number eight of a series of 15 LakerMax-type vessels, has been officially christened in the Port of Bremen.
The BBC Bremen cast off immediately after the end of the naming ceremony to continue her voyage to Hamburg and further to Galveston and Houston in the U.S. She and her sisters have been designed to trade inside the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system.
Anitta Schumann, Chartering Manager at the company’s Bremen office since late 2011, acted as the godmother of the vessel. After wishing the BBC Bremen “fair winds and following seas,” the traditional bottle of Champagne broke on the ship’s hull in a ceremony held at BLG’s terminal in Bremen Neustädter Hafen, where the vessel had been loading industry component.
The ceremony was attended by about 100 guests. Kai Stührenberg, State Councillor at Bremen’s Senator for Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation, Joachim Bothe, Deputy Port Captain of Bremen, and Matthias Magnor, CEO of BLG Logistics were amongst the guests along with numerous representatives from clients, cooperation partners and employees of BBC Chartering and Briese Schiffahrt. Following the christening, Magnus Deppe, chaplain of the Bremen Seamen’s Mission, blessed the ship and its crew.
“I was absolutely delighted to be nominated as godmother, this is a once in a lifetime experience” said Anitta Schumann, godmother of the BBC Bremen, after the christening ceremony. “Even before, I always referred to it as ‘our ship’ (the ship of the Bremen office). I feel very honored and am happy to be even more closely connected to this ship from now on.”
Knut Voigt, Head of the Bremen office of BBC Chartering added: “We have a special relation to Bremen. BBC Chartering was founded here in the city in October 1997. The company then relocated its head office to Leer two years later only to establish a new office here in 2002. We all at the Bremen office of BBC Chartering are very glad to welcome and celebrate “our ship” here in Bremen.
The BBC Bremen had been delivered to Briese Schiffahrt as owners and BBC Chartering as operator in September 2025. The vessel has since performed several successful voyages for BBC Chartering. Prior to her Bremen-call, the BBC Bremen had been calling Esbjerg in Denmark and Le Trait in France. After the loading call in Bremen, Hamburg will follow before the ship heads towards the United States, where its destinations will be Galveston and Houston.
Of the initial order of fifteen vessels of the LakerMax type, so far eleven vessels have been delivered. Meanwhile Briese Schiffahrt has added another six vessels firmly ordered, plus options on furthermore six vessels of this type. Deliveries are slated for the years 2028 and 2029.
Like her sister vessels, the BBC Bremen is a multipurpose triple-decker equipped with two Liebherr LS250 shipboard cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 500 metric tons. Her optimized deck layout and forward location of bridge and accommodation allow for unobstructed 2,830 sqm of space on the weather deck.
View the full story and more images here: https://maritimemag.com/en/bbc-chartering-celebrates-naming-of-the-bbc-bremen-in-bremen/?utm_source=rss&fbclid=IwY2xjawPnEulleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeNbMFMKAGnSEKAQ5YTXeRFbzMqsdpGq4c4uoMO17RfEAYRLZQBeh9iJmeAVM_aem_4QxzTVwah4g4jE_4Ys09uQ
