Detroit vessel traffic numbers for 2021
Detroit, MI – Here’s a summary of what shipping looked like for Detroit in 2021. There were 1,141 total vessel arrivals in Detroit between Jan 1 and Dec 31, and 645 of those vessel arrivals were to either load or unload cargo. The remaining 496 vessel calls were to take on fuel, layby, lay-up or repairs. (Docks located within the cities of Detroit, River Rouge, Ecorse, and Dearborn, all included and considered to comprise the port of Detroit).
Kaye E. Barker led the way in 2021 with 55 visits to Detroit, easily the most of any vessel. She unloaded cargo on all her visits, and while most of the time she brought iron ore or coal, she also visited with a few stone cargoes,
The second-most frequent visitor was the tug New York and its tank barge Double Skin 509A. The pair carries liquid asphalt from the Marathon Terminal on Fort Street, but also spends quite a bit of time in layby status at the Nicholson Terminal waiting for its next cargo.
The #1 cargo handled by the port (in # of vessel calls) was stone, which is offloaded at at least 7 different docks.
There is much more inbound cargo than outbound cargo in Detroit, and besides stone the other major inbound products included iron ore, coal, asphalt, and cement. There were 86 total deliveries of either cement or cement clinker to Detroit in 2021.
The leading outbound cargo in Detroit was coke. There were 62 coke loads shipped out of Detroit in 2021, and all but one came from DTE’s facility on Zug Island. These cargoes went to steel mills in Sault Ste. Marie, Nanticoke, and Hamilton on Rand Logistics vessels, as well as McKeil Marine ships.
The overwhelming majority of the vessels visiting Detroit were U.S.-flagged, with a steady stream of Canadian vessels as well, and the Netherlands-flagged Iver Bright. Besides those, there were just 29 calls from foreign-flagged ships visiting from saltwater during the year, and only 25 of those were to unload cargo, as the remaining four stopped to take on fuel.
The longest vessel call of the year (besides winter lay-ups) was the Marshall Islands-flagged Federal Oshima, which arrived on May 6 to unload steel from Europe and did not depart until nearly a month later on June 3. She reportedly had Covid-19 issues among her crew that prolonged her stay in town.
One of the year’s pleasant surprises was the Wilfred Sykes. She trades primarily on Lake Michigan but made four visits to Detroit in 2021 to unload coke at Cleveland-Cliffs Dearborn Works, and on two of those visits she also loaded a backhaul cargo there.
In all, 111 different vessels called on Detroit in 2021, and just 80 different vessels accounted for all the cargoes loaded and unloaded. Every major fleet on the Great Lakes was represented, although Great Lakes Fleet was one of the least-frequent callers. Their John G. Munson arrived on October 21 on one of its 14 visits.
Isaac Pennock
Lay-up reports needed
As the end of the shipping season approaches, please send reports of vessel lay-ups to news@boatnerd.net. This will help us compile our annual lay-up list. Include vessel name, date, port and name of lay-up dock. Click here to view the Lay-Up List: https://boatnerd3.jasonbowlerdesign.com/winter-layup-2021-2022/
