Corps of Engineers to begin dredging at Holland Harbor

DETROIT — The U.S. Corps of Engineers, Detroit District will start dredging the entrance to Holland Harbor as early as Thursday, April 24 to remove shoaling across the federal channel.

Surveys indicate a shoal formed in the winter months across the entrance to the harbor that could potentially impact commercial dredging if not addressed.

Holland Harbor was scheduled for dredging in the 2025 maintenance work plan to maintain the Congressionally authorized depth of the federal channel.  King Co. Inc., based in Holland, will dredge about 12,400 cubic yards of sediment hydraulically. The project will cost $344,480 out of a three-project contract that also includes Grand Haven and St. Joseph Harbors.

“After finding the shoaling in Holland, we asked the contractor to prioritize the harbor in their spring schedule to keep commercial vessel traffic moving without impact,” said Liz Newell Wilkinson, the operations manager at the Grand Haven Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District. “Our staff works hard to get out early after ice out to survey and identify potential problem areas in the Great Lakes Navigation System.”

Holland Harbor is considered a deep draft commercial harbor with an authorized federal channel depth of 23 feet at the entrance. If ships are unable to draft at their full capability, commercial traffic is forced to take less freight or “light load.” A loss of 4-5 feet in channel depth would result in a loss of about $1.4 to $1.9 million per year to the shipping industry at Holland Harbor due to light loading, according to Corps of Engineers’ Great Lakes – System Analysis of Navigation Depths (GL-SAND).

Dredged sediment will be placed south of Holland Harbor on the nearshore lake bottom 8 to 12 feet deep. The placement allows the beach to be nourished – a replacement of eroded sediment – without the impacts of heavy machinery or pipes onshore. 

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy previously approved a water quality certification for sediment to be placed in the area with a Section 401 water quality certification.

Dredging is authorized for 24-hours per day operations. The public is asked to adhere to all safety signage, public notices and broadcast warnings to mariners.

The Detroit District, established in 1841, encompasses 3,150 miles of shoreline and 81 harbors and channels joining lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie. In addition, the district boundaries cover projects and regulatory oversight throughout the state of Michigan and portions of Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

U.S. Corps of Engineers, Detroit District

What to do with steel, grain shipments?
Impact of Trump tariffs piling up in Windsor

WINDSOR, ON – Shipments of steel from eastern Europe and Canadian aluminum is being warehoused rather than forwarded to the U.S. where it faces tariffs. “We’re seeing the impact already,” said Windsor Port Authority CEO/president Steve Salmons.

“The companies are waiting to see what will happen with tariffs rather than pay 25 per cent. It makes it uncompetitive. “Salt isn’t being shipped to the U.S.. It would double in price.”

 Salmons added tariffs have also affected grain shipments out of Windsor. Instead of being sent to Ohio for use to feed livestock, grain is finding new markets in Europe.

 “About 80 per cent of the grain that goes through here, goes to the U.S.,” Salmons said. “It’ll now going elsewhere where there’s no tariffs.

 “Shipping adds some cost, but nowhere near 25 per cent.”

 Salmons said Canada already serves as a transshipping point for the world accessing U.S. markets. Vancouver is the largest port on North America’s west coast and bigger than all but two U.S. ports.

 “All these products will now face a tariff going into the U.S.,” Salmons said. “It will result in fewer products being shipped. We’ve already had a couple shipments of steel cancelled.”

 Salmons said the reduction in steel/aluminum shipments will soon begin to jam up the automotive supply chain. There are already backlogs for aluminum in the U.S., most of which is coming from Canada.

 Steel coils are another key automotive component that flows through the port of Windsor.

 “There’s a domino effect in the supply chain,” Salmons said.

 “The steel coils directed through Windsor get a highly specialized coating at a local treatment plant that’s needed for use in the auto industry.

 “This type of treatment plant (ArcelorMittal Windsor) doesn’t exist in the U.S. There’s no alternate source.”

 Salmons expects to see countries begin to more frequently by-pass the U.S. and ship directly to Canadian markets to distribute their products in this country to avoid incurring tariffs.

 One such company is Swiss chocolate maker Lindt. It moved production for the Canadian market out of the U.S. and now supplies Canada from its European plants.

 Salmon noted the trade war highlights how important the current expansion of the Windsor Port Authority has become. The expansion will give Windsor the capability of handling container vessels and will become operational in 2028.

 “This will open up markets for our local manufacturers and other businesses,” Salmon said. “A lot of them don’t have access to Europe because they can’t ship their products.

 “We have so manufacturing and potential we can tap into once the port is expanded.”

 Though auto tariffs have caused the Windsor Assembly Plant to shut down for two weeks resulting in thousands of layoffs, Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce Ryan Donally said the full impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs is still working its way through the local economy.

 “We’re just glad the focus of the ire of his trade war has moved away from Canada and we’re not caught in anything new,” Donally told the Star. “There remains so much uncertainty.

 “The big cloud hanging over us is what is to be determined about auto parts. That’s the biggest concern for Windsor Essex.”

 The Trump administration is targeting May 3 for having a system to track and tariff at 25 per cent all non-U.S. auto parts entering the states. Many of those parts, tools and moulds will have been produced locally and threaten the viability of those suppliers.

We’re not aware of that yet,” said Donally of whether tariffs had resulted in any business closures. “I haven’t heard from our tariffs’ task force of any business closure directly attributed to tariffs.”

 Donally added the biggest challenge for local businesses will be cash flow, especially in the automotive sector. As tools and mould projects are finishing up, he noted new orders and quotes are not back filling the pipeline.

 “The uncertainty has slowed down global manufacturing, especially anything going from Windsor-Essex to the U.S.,” Donally said.

 “The overarching issue is what is happening to the inputs that go into products. That’s the big concern locally when 22 per cent of the community is tied to manufacturing.

 “That is when you’re going to see the trickle-down effects of tariffs.”

 Outside of manufacturing, Donally said small and medium businesses are holding their own.

“Small business, car sales … things are slowing down, but we haven’t been as affected as much as I thought we would be at this point,” Donally said. “It’s a positive.

 Windsor Star

CSL’s Nukumi tests solar panels

MV Nukumi is the first self-unloading bulk carrier in Canada equipped with solar panels.

In partnership with Innovation maritime, UQAR – Université du Québec à Rimouski, Polytechnique Montréal and Nergica – and with support from the Government of Québec – CSL is participating in a project to explore the performance, durability, and technical challenges of installing and operating a solar power station on a bulk carrier in the Gulf and the St. Lawrence River.

To date, solar panels have not been tested in real-world conditions aboard ships operating in this region. The impact of environmental factors, such as harsh winters and ice accumulation, and logistical factors like maintenance requirements, remain largely unstudied.

Running over three years, the project will address this gap by installing a small-scale solar system on the Nukumi. The ship’s hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system, which already delivers fuel savings and reduced noise, make it an ideal candidate for testing renewable energy integration in marine operations.

CSL Group

 Windsor Port, maritime industry fear being torpedoed by U.S. tariffs, fees

 WINDSOR, ON – U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to revive the American shipbuilding industry threatens to create another vehicle to drive up costs for shipping companies, port authorities and consumers through a cocktail of tariffs, fees and taxes to finance the project, said  CEO Windsor Port Authority CEO/president Steve Salmons.

 “Ultimately, we have to cover those costs,” he told the Star. “Like anything, if the costs in shipping go up, that’s going to be passed along to the consumer.”

 Three new charges alone contained in a new Trump administration proposal aimed at rejuvenating U.S. shipbuilding will add a minimum of over 20 per cent to any non-American cargo entering the U.S.

 The proposal is expected to come under final review in the coming months, with a Maritime Action Plan to be in place within 210 days.

 “It will definitely affect our cost structure,” said Salmons, who noted Canadian port authorities receive no government support unlike their American counterparts. “It squeezes margins.

 In a final draft of Trump’s executive order on ‘Maritime Dominance’ released April 9, the U.S. is proposing to apply its Harbor Maintenance Fee (.125 per cent of cargo value) and related fees to any vessel that lands at any port that transships goods into the U.S.

 In addition, that U.S.-bound cargo will be subject to Trump’s new universal tariffs based on country of origin. A further 10 per cent handling charge will be added at the border by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to cover any costs incurred in implementing the new plan.

 Tariffs would also be imposed on vessels using Chinese-built ship-to-shore cranes and other cargo-handling equipment.

 The order directs U.S. officials to engage allies within 90 days on aligning counter tariffs and trade policies with China. It furthers holds out the carrot for those nations that such alignment could be a mechanism for addressing land border tariffs.

 Trump has also directed U.S. officials within 90 days to identify ‘the vision, goals challenges and objectives necessary to secure the arctic waterways and enable American prosperity in the face of evolving arctic security challenges and associated risks.’

 However, Salmons said the biggest win was what wasn’t included in the re-drafted order after industry officials pleaded their case at the U.S. Trade Representative public hearings in March.

 Gone for now is a proposal to charge Chinese-built or flagged vessels millions every time they stop in a U.S. port. The proposal would’ve seen possible fees over US$1.5 million per port call.

Much of the Great Lakes shipping fleet in Canada has been built in China in recent years, exposing them to those massive taxes.

“We were successful because both the Canadian and American industries were able to articulate how serious the impact of those fees would have been for Great Lakes shipping,” Salmons said. “You can’t spread such huge fees over as many containers on 25,000-ton ship on the Great Lakes as you can on an ocean-going vessel.

“Still, even on a larger, 10,000-container ocean vessel, those fees would’ve added US$600-$800 per container.”

With Great Lakes ships often making multiple stops on a run, the massive bills would’ve devastated the maritime industry on both sides of the border.

Salmons said the Great Lakes shipping industry is the bulk version of what trucking does in the same region. “We’re moving around the Great Lakes basin by ship the large, bulky items like iron ore, coal, steel, salt and grain,” Salmons said.

Salmons said American shipyards only built five vessels last year, all of them for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. essentially has no commercial shipbuilding industry, he said.

 “There are 3,000 to 4,000 new ships built each year,” Salmons said. “The first slot available to build a commercial ship in the U.S. isn’t for seven years.

 “They don’t have a commercial industry and what they build is three to five times more expensive because they’re doing it for the military.

 “China, South Korea, Malaysia are highly skilled and efficient ship builders, and they build the world’s shipping.

 Windsor Star

Ranger III seeks QMED/oiler