Lakes iron ore trade up 11.4 percent in May

Cleveland, OH – Shipments of iron ore from U.S. Great Lakes ports totaled 5.5 million tons in May, an increase of 11.4 percent compared to a year ago, but 1.9 percent below the month’s 5-year average.

Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at nearly 15 million tons, an increase of 13.6 percent compared to the same point in 2020.  Iron ore shipments were also 5.4 percent above their 5-year average for five months of the year.

Lake Carriers’ Association

Historic Edna G Tugboat to turn 125 this summer

Two Harbors, MN –  The Edna G tug is a staple for the Two Harbors community. In her day she helped iron ore boats make their way into Agate Bay Harbor. “The history of Iron ore shipping in Minnesota is written in every dent and every crease in the tugs hull,” said volunteer Tom Koehler.

The boat was utilized during WWI and was officially retired in December 1980. The Friends of Edna G group are honoring the tugboat’s 125-year history this August with a weekend-long celebration. “We felt that after 125 years she deserved a birthday party,” said Kathy Glenn, member of the Friends of Edna group. “She had one at her 100th but she deserves another birthday party.”

The Edna G celebration will take place in Two Harbors on August 28-29. It will include a pancake breakfast, art and essay contests, and musical guests.

To the Friends of Edna G, their little tugboat made Two Harbors what it is, but also America. “Without her taking the boats in and out with the ore on it, the steel wouldn’t have been made machinery, skyscrapers, railroads, bridges,” said Glenn.

WHERE: Paul Van Hoven Park, 2 Waterfront Drive, Two Harbors, MN
WHEN: Saturday, August 28, 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday, August 29, 10 am to 5 pm

For lodging information and other things to do while are on the North Shore, check-out the Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

Website: http://www.lakecounty-chamber.com/
Phone: (218)834-2600
Email Address: info@lakecounty-chamber.com

Work begins on massive mural that will shine a national spotlight on Toledo

Toledo, OH –The first paint went up on Wednesday for a giant mural that will adorn the side of dozens of silos in downtown Toledo. After decades as a giant blank canvas along the banks of the Maumee River, the ADM silos are being transformed into community art.

“We’ve always been a city dedicated to the arts,” says Nicole LeBoutillier, who has been part of the Glass City River Wall project from the start. “This just takes it to a whole new level. The mural is being painted on 28 silos and involves about 170,00 square feet of space. It will be the largest mural in the country when we are done. I wake up every day happy to be part of this project. Watching it finally come to life is emotional.”

The project started after Nicole, Brandy Wimberly, and some other friends took a boat ride down the river in 2019. The idea from that summer day truly began to take shape Wednesday as the first paint went on to the silos.

Christina Kasper is the Project Manager, and says it rewarding to see something so many have worked on begin to take shape. “This project has literally shifted the axis of my being,” she says. “I will never be the same after doing this project. All of the people who have been part of this have helped create a beautiful tapestry for this community.”

The mural will have a beautiful blue background. It will feature sunflowers that are native to this area, as well as Native American portraits to honor our region’s first farmers. “I think I ordered about 5,000 gallons of paint,” says Zak Warmann, owner of Detroit Sign Painters a company working with artist Gabe Gault to bring the design to life. “Have you ever ordered that much before? I don’t think anybody has.”

So just how do you go about creating a mural on 28 silos? It’s similar to the paint by numbers concept, just on a much larger scale.

“We break the drawing down into one by one-inch segments and blow it up into 10 by10 sections on the wall,” says Warmann. “The hard part is that there is no stepping back to look at your work. You have to trust your skill. At the end of the day, you have to drive by to see what you painted.”

Warmann adds that the cement coating paint being used on the project should last for decades. “You likely won’t even see any fading for 15 years or so,” he says. “And it will be many years after that before you see any deterioration. It will outlast me, that’s for sure.”

The project has a price tag of about $750,000 and crews expect to be working on the mural through August. It will be finished just in time for the Solheim Cup, an event that will draw people from all over the world to Toledo.

Gabe Gault is from Los Angeles and will be here working on the project this summer. There are also four local artists who will be working alongside him. And it’s not just a pretty mural, there will also be an educational component to it for local students.

WTVG

Read more about the project here: https://www.glasscityriverwall.org/

June 2021 – Marine News Report

Vessels with Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway connections reported as a Casualty or Sold for Demolition taken from June 2021 issue of Marine News –Journal of the World Ship Society.

Casualties: None reported
Demolitions: CAPE ALAVA (5004099; United States of America) (Comet-80, African Comet-80). First Seaway transit 1976) – 11,580 / 1962 – general cargo ship.  By government of the United States of America (Dept. of Transportation Maritime Administration) (MARAD), United States of America, to Steel Coast, United States. Arrived Brownsville, TX. 5.12.2020, commenced demolition 7.12.2020

SAL (7902233; St Kitts & Nevis) (Salarium-20 – 1st seaway transit- 2009, Nanticoke-09 First Seaway transit 1980); 21,870 / 1980 – bulk carrier self-discharging laker.  By Star Matrix Ltd (Green Ocean Ship management Pvt Ltd) Hong Kong, China, to Solyu Gemi Geri Donusum Sti, Turkey and arrived Aliaga 5.12.2020 – commenced demolition 7.12.2020

Report prepared by Barry Andersen and René Beauchamp

WWII submarine USS COD heading to Erie for repairs

Erie, PA ­– For the first time since 1963, the World War II Submarine USS COD is being dry docked for repairs. The submarine will make its way from Cleveland to Donjon Shipbuilding for repairs this month.

The general manager of Donjon said the USS Cod should arrive in Erie on June 14th after about an eight-hour trek from Cleveland’s North Coast Harbor.

The submarine’s steel is starting to deteriorate, causing pitting — a type of corrosion from exposure to salt and fresh water. Donjon expects to work on the steel, make minor repairs and add a couple coats of fresh paint.

In 1986, the submarine was deemed a floating museum and a national historic land mark, providing a rare opportunity for Donjon… something all the workers are looking forward to working on.

“This is a extremely rare opportunity for us, there’s not many WWII subs, and certainly not many WWII subs here on the Great Lakes. So this is a one off opportunity and we jumped at that opportunity to be able to help repair and make some improvements to this museum and keep it going to be able to share some of our naval heritage,” said Rick Hammer, general manager, Donjon Shipbuilding.

IMAGE: Cod during her last drydocking in Lorain, Ohio, in 1963.

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New Soo Lock construction gets $480M in president’s 2022 budget

Sault Ste. Marie, MI – The construction of a huge, new lock at Michigan’s Soo Locks was awarded $480 million in federal funding in President Joe Biden’s 2022 federal budget proposal.

While the budget has a long way to go – and is likely to undergo many changes – before it’s approved by Congress, Biden’s proposed budget includes a large allocation for the new lock that will cost an estimated $922 million. The proposal includes about $595 million for projects within the Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District. Construction the 1,200-foot long, 110-foot wide and 32-foot deep lock is already underway. Phase one began in May 2020. After a winter break, construction resumed in April. Phase two is set to begin this year.

The new lock will be a twin of the Poe, which is the largest current lock. Poe is used by about 85% of vessels navigating the 21-foot elevation change between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The engineering system in the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie is the only way ships can travel between the upper and lower Great Lakes.

The first phase of construction involves deepening the upstream approach to the Sabin and Davis Locks, which will be replaced by the new lock; it is expected to be complete in November 2021. Phase two, rehabilitating and stabilizing the upstream approach walls to allow modern vessels to tie up and wait their turn to pass through the new lock, will begin this year. Construction on the lock itself is expected to begin in summer 2022.

The Soo Locks are a nationally critical infrastructure and the reliability of it in the Great Lakes Navigation System is essential to U.S. manufacturing and national security, according to a 2015 Department of Homeland Security study.

2022 budget includes $6.793 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program, which is the largest annual budget ever proposed for the Army Corps. That includes about $595 million for Detroit District projects, including high water studies and monitoring; beach nourishment; harbor dredging; flood risk management and more.

Soo News

Algoma Central will build another Equinox 2.0 Class self-unloading vessel

6/1 – St. Catharines, ON – Algoma Central Corporation has announced that it has entered into a contract with Yangzijiang Shipyard in Taicang City, China to build a new Seaway Max self-unloading vessel for its domestic dry bulk fleet.

The as yet unnamed vessel will be the first of the new Equinox 2.0 Class, a design that builds on the original Equinox Class standards to achieve better fuel efficiency, improved speed at lower engine power, and enhanced deadweight capacity.

The new vessel is scheduled to replace the Algoma Transport, one of the oldest vessels in the Algoma dry bulk fleet. Triggering the option now enables Algoma to lock in a building slot with ideal delivery timing. Construction of the ship will begin in late 2022 and the vessel is expected to join the fleet at the beginning of the 2024 navigation season. Algoma also reports that the Captain Henry Jackman, the Company’s new Equinox Class gearless bulk carrier, is making good progress on its homeward journey. As previously announced, Algoma took delivery of the vessel in early April and its voyage to Canada commenced on April 29th.

The new Equinox 2.0 incorporates a number of design changes, including various weight saving innovations and a reconfigured stern that incorporates a dual rudder design to increase cargo hold size, resulting in an increase in the capacity of the vessel by approximately 1,440 metric tonnes. Other design improvements include an efficiency upgrade to the propeller and changes in the shape of cargo holds to improve the handling of certain “sticky” cargoes.

“We are very excited to exercise one of our options at the YZJ shipyard for the first Equinox 2.0 vessel”, said Gregg Ruhl, President and Chief Executive Officer of Algoma. “Our in-house design team is relentless in their pursuit of improvements in our vessel designs. Each previous Equinox Class ship incorporated modest improvements over its predecessors, as we learned more about the vessels during construction and as they entered operations. The changes made for this vessel were such an improvement over the previous design that we feel adding a version number to the design name makes sense”, Mr. Ruhl continued.

The Captain Henry Jackman is expected to arrive in Montreal around June 19th and will join the Algoma dry bulk fleet as an operating vessel following a flag change and completion of inspections and other Canadianization procedures.

Both the Captain Henry Jackman and the new Equinox 2.0 ship feature important sustainability advantages that will help Algoma meet its greenhouse gas targets, reducing the amount of emissions per cargo tonne kilometre.

Algoma Central Corporation

Engineer’s Day set for late June, with re-engineered look

6/2 – Sault Ste. Marie, MI — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Sault Ste. Marie are reengineering 2021 Engineer’s Day to protect vessel crew members and essential lock workers while complying with COVID-19 guidelines.

The city will host an event focusing on downtown city merchants, vendors, the Soo Locks and water safety. The city and the Sault Area Convention and Visitors Bureau welcome the public and visitors to attend Engineer’s Day Re-Engineered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 25.

Downtown Portage Avenue will close to vehicle traffic and open for pedestrians and vendors from Ferris Street to Osborn Boulevard from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 25.

“The Soo Locks are so important to our history and our community, this annual event helps us celebrate that,” said Linda Hoath, director of the Sault Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It is a great time to expand the event beyond the Soo Locks complex.”

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 Engineer’s Day visitors will not be permitted to cross the Soo Locks gates as tradition, however, the Soo Locks Canal Park, viewing platform, and visitor’s center are open to the public from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For more information on the event or to register to be a vendor, contact the Sault Area Convention and Visitors Bureau at (906) 632-3366, pr@saultstemarie.com, or visit@saultstemarie.com

Know Your Ships book signing Saturday in Port Huron

6/2 – Port Huron, MI – “Know Your Ships” guide editor and publisher Roger LeLievre will be on hand at the Great Lakes Maritime Center Saturday at Vantage Point in Port Huron, selling/signing copies of the 2021 edition. The event runs from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. this Saturday.

Joining LeLievre will be KYS contributing editor Matt Miner, as well as Great Lakes cartoonist / illustrator Don Lee. Lee’s nautical cartoons have often appeared on various Facebook shipping sites, and he will have his easel on hand and will sketch your likeness (with or without freighter – tips appreciated).

The event also marks the release of an unusual second printing for the 2021 edition, which features a different cover photo, the steamer Alpena.

The Maritime Center is at 51 Court St. at the mouth of the Black River.