Construction of the new lock at the Soo continues! See below for a Facebook post and photo gallery from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Theodore Too will be making a tour of Lake Erie this September! See below for a Facebook post from the famous tug himself.
Click here for press release – Chamber of Marine Commerce
Click here for statistics – St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation
Click here for press release – U.S. Coast Guard
Click here for obituary, funeral information – Hodges Family Funeral Home
Click here for article – Green Bay Press-Gazette
Click here for article – Axios
Click here for article – Reuters
Click here for article – Reuters
Editor’s Note: Yesterday’s technical difficulties lasted longer than expected, so stories meant for the August 16, 2023, edition of Boatnerd News have been included in today’s post instead. — Joshua
The new lock at the Soo hit a milestone on Monday, August 14, with the first blast on the project.
Blasting is used as the means to fracture the existing bedrock to be excavated and removed. All blasting will be completed within the Corps of Engineers Soo Locks facility on the island north of the existing decommissioned Sabin Lock. Blasting activities will take place August through the remainder of the year on a semi-regular basis Monday through Saturday during daylight hours. At the visitor’s center, the vibrations will feel equivalent or less to slamming the front door of your house and will sound like a 15-mile-per-hour or less wind.
See the gallery at the bottom of this post for a video.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Click here for article – Reuters
The 42nd annual Marine Mart nautical sale is coming to St. Clair Shores, Michigan, on Saturday, October 14. See the gallery at the bottom of this post for more information.
Great Lakes Maritime Institute
Click here for article – Reuters
Honest Dog Bookstore, Bayfield, WI – Aug. 17, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Presentation: “Behind the Book: The Know Your Ships Story and the challenges of being an Independent Author and Publisher” by Roger LeLievre, followed by a book signing and social hour.
Split Rock Lighthouse, Two Harbors, MN – Aug. 18, Noon – 3:00 p.m.
Book signing by Roger LeLievre in the Split Rock Lighthouse Gift Shop.
Canal Park Marine Museum, Duluth, MN – Aug. 19, 11:00 a.m. – Noon
Presentation: “How I Became the Luckiest Boatnerd In The World” by Roger LeLievre 11:00 a.m. – noon, followed by a book signing.
All events are free and open to all! Stop by, meet Roger and some of the other members of the KYS Crew, and meet others who share your interests.
KYS
Aug 13 (Reuters) – United States Steel Corp (X.N) on Sunday launched a formal review of its strategic options, after rebuffing a takeover offer from rival steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (CLF.N).
The unsolicited cash-and-stock offer from Ohio-based Cliffs valued U.S. Steel at about $7.3 billion, representing a 43% premium to its closing price on Friday.
Cliffs went public with its offer after U.S. Steel rejected the bid as being “unreasonable” and instead announced a formal review process, saying the company received multiple bids for parts or all of its business.
“Cliffs feels compelled to make its offer publicly known for the direct benefit of all of U.S. Steel’s stockholders and also make it known that Cliffs stands ready to engage on this offer immediately,” Cliffs said in a statement.
Cliffs said it had offered to pay $17.50 in cash and 1.023 shares of its own stock for each U.S. Steel share, which implied a 42% premium to U.S. Steel’s closing share price on July 28 when Cliffs privately approached the company.
A merger between Cliffs, which currently has a market capitalization of about $7.5 billion, and U.S. Steel would create a global steelmaking giant and help it compete better in an industry that is largely dominated by China.
Cliffs’ approach came after U.S. Steel reported its fifth consecutive quarter of profit declines and fourth straight quarter of falling revenue.
While its second-quarter revenue beat analysts’ forecasts, U.S. Steel shares were still trading on a weak price-to-earnings ratio of 5.7, well below the sector median of 9.0, with its shares down roughly 9.3% year to date.
Cliffs has been one of the most acquisitive players in the industry, having bought AK Steel Holding Corp in 2020 and then acquiring the U.S. business of steelmaker ArcelorMittal the same year.
“Although we are now public, I do look forward to continuing to engage with U.S. Steel on a potential transaction, as I am convinced that the value potential and competitiveness to come out of a combination of our two iconic American companies is exceptional,” said Lourenco Goncalves, chief executive of Cliffs.
Cliffs said its offer to acquire U.S. Steel had received the support of the United Steelworkers union, which is North America’s largest steel industry union.
Cliffs said it had also lined up debt financing for the proposed deal from several banks. The company has tapped Moelis & Company LLC, Wells Fargo (WFC.N), J.P.Morgan (JPM.N) and UBS as its financial advisors, with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP serving as the company’s legal counsel.
In a separate statement later Sunday, U.S. Steel confirmed it received an offer from Cliffs and other interested parties.
“U.S. Steel was unable to properly evaluate the proposal because Cleveland-Cliffs refused to engage in the necessary and customary process to assess valuation and certainty unless U.S. Steel agreed to the economic terms of the proposal in advance,” U.S. Steel said.
U.S. Steel has hired Barclays Capital (BARC.L) and Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) as its financial advisors, with Milbank LLP and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acting as its legal advisors.
DeTour Village, MI – Join Marc and Jill Vander Meulen as they mark the 100th anniversary of the launch of the cement carrier John W. Boardman, whose forward end they have been restoring on the St. Marys River waterfront.
The event is Wednesday, September 6 at noon. Lunch, pop and cake provided. Bring your own chair. The address is 1780 Sims St., DeTour Village, MI 49725.
The Vander Melulens purchased the forward section from Purvis Marine, which was scrapping the vessel, around 2005 and had it barged to its current location. Since then, they have been working on their “LRO” (large, rusty object) project, first repainting the hill and cabins.
Marc and Jill Vander Meulen
Michigan is getting some federal money to help preserve coastlines in this era of climate change.
The Great Lakes region is getting about $2.8 million for coastal conservation, restoration of wetlands, and making the coastline more resilient to the changes caused by climate disruption.
Given the length of Great Lakes coastlines, that’s not a lot of money.
Michigan’s share is about a third of that.
“Michigan will get $875,000 that it will be able to spend over the next five years to address those impacts of climate change and community resilience,” said Joelle Gore, chief of the Stewardship Division for NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.
This round of grants is just the beginning. Competitive grants in greater amounts will be released as well.
The money can be used to assess a community’s vulnerabilities. It could also be used to buy land to be a coastal buffer instead of a development that could end up being a disaster site during the next round of high lake levels. Finally, the money can be used to preserve or restore wetlands.
“Restoring important ecosystems that help protect and serve as sponges when lake levels rise, when there are extreme weather that might bring flooding,” Gore explained.
With the fluctuating levels of the Great Lakes, the hard barriers such as concrete or steel walls are being discouraged in many cases. Experts say a nature-based solution will work better to adapt to a changing shoreline rather than trying to fight against the inevitable changes that a changing climate will cause.
CHASSELL, MI – A century-old historic Upper Peninsula lighthouse could be yours.
The Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light went up for auction earlier this month. Bidding has reached $16,000.
Also known as Portage Entry Light or the Portage Lake Lower Entry Light, it became an active navigational aid in 1919. The light guided mariners into the Portage River, a waterway that cuts through the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The light is situated on a pier in Lake Superior’s Keweenaw Bay nearly half a mile offshore. The 1,000-square-foot lighthouse stands 68 feet tall. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
The lighthouse went up for auction on Aug. 1 via the General Services Administration’s real estate sales website. Bidding started at $10,000. Five people have placed bids. The end date for the auction has not been set.
The new owner must be able to comply with the requirements of the National Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.
Since the passing of the Lighthouse Preservation Act, the GSA has transferred ownership of about 150 lighthouses, with around 80 being given away and the other 70 auction off, raising more than $10 million. The Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light is one of 10 being offered this year.
MACOMB COUNTY, Mich (WJBK) – Major upgrades are underway in Macomb County to keep sewage from leaking into Lake St.Clair.
The project, totaling $43 million, is going towards preventing sewage overflows and preparation for heavy rains in the future.
According to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, tens of billions of gallons of raw or poorly treated sewage ends up in our lakes.
“Literally for decades we’ve been discharging combined sewer overflows after heavy rain events,” said Commissioner Candice Miller of Macomb County Public Works.
Overflows are coming from multiple places in Metro Detroit, not just from the Chapiton pump station. This is where the canal and Retention Treatment Basin are getting an upgrade to an additional 13 million gallons of storage.
“We are creating additional storage so that after ir rains, we’re able to store it and treat it until the rain has passed and then send down to Detroit for proper treatment,” Miller said.
A second project upgrades the electrical systems at the pump station including adding generators in case the lights go out, which we’ve seen all too often.
Many of these electrical components date back to 1968.
“Hubert Humphrey cut the ribbon on this thing, which was great back in the day – but unfortunately a lot of the infrastructure remains,” Miller said.
The bulk of the money comes from the American Rescue Plan act.
“We’re finding little ways to reduce these combined sewer overflows year after year. So in Macomb County, we are making huge strides,” said State Senate Kevin Hertel.
Officials say the projects should also help with basement flooding.
Overflow is expected to be reduced by 38 percent and the project is expected to take two years to complete.
