Limestone trade up 17.8 percent in June
Cleveland, Ohio – Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.8 million tons in June, an increase of 17.8 percent from a year ago. This June’s loadings were above the month’s 5-year average by 1.7 percent.
Loadings out of U.S. quarries totaled 2.7 million tons, an increase of 7.6 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 1.1 million tons, an increase of 52.2 percent.
Year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at nearly 10 million tons, an increase of 10.8 percent compared to 2020. Loadings from Michigan and Ohio quarries increased 4.3 percent from a year ago. Shipments from Ontario quarries total 2.4 million tons, an increase of 36.8 percent.
Lake Carriers’ Association
Ottawa invests $420M to transition Algoma Steel into electric arc technology
Sault Ste. Marie, ON – Algoma Steel’s goal to become Canada’s “greenest” flat-rolled steel producer resonates with Ottawa and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the tune of a $420-million federal investment in the Sault Ste. Marie steel sheet producer.
Trudeau was in Sault Ste Marie on July 5, accompanied by Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François Phillippe Champagne, to announce funding to help Algoma transition into electric arc furnace (EAF) steel production.
The breakdown in funding includes $200 million from the Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) and $220 million from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The funding will be spread over four years.
Seguing into electric arc technology has the potential to cut Algoma’s carbon emission by 70- per cent, according to a company news release, making the project the lowest-cost-per-tonne of of greenhouse gas reduction in Canada.
“Having a commitment of this magnitude from the Government of Canada shows leadership towards a net-zero, climate-resilient Canada, and is so very important as we look to make our proposed transformation to EAF steelmaking a reality,” said Algoma CEO Michael McQuade in a statement.
McQuade took Trudeau on a tour to show him the company’s new No. 2 Ladle Metallurgy Furnace, commissioned last February, that’s considered “another significant milestone in Algoma Steel’s transformation journey.”
Switching to electric arc furnaces will eventually phase out coal-fired steelmaking at the plant.
The move to electric arc furnaces by Algoma, falls in line with the Trudeau government’s legislative move under Bill C-12 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 through rolling five-year emission targets. The bill received Royal Asset last month.
A news release from Sault MP Terry Sheehan said this money will create 500 construction and subcontracting jobs for the project. Seventy-five employees at Algoma, an employer of 2,600, will be trained for jobs in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.
In a statement, Sheehan called his government’s funding “the single largest” in the city’s history.
“This historic investment will anchor Algoma Steel in the community for years to come, continuing to provide good middle-class jobs, while being a part of the solution for Canada to meet its climate goals.”
Northern Ontario Business
Captain Henry Jackman update
Algoma Central’s newest vessel, Captain Henry Jackman, was upbound in Soo Harbor Thursday evening. She is headed to Thunder Bay.
Lake Erie history comes to Copley Township
Copley, OH — When the first crew of Lake Erie freighter Canopus took to the water more than a century ago, it is unlikely any of them could have predicted the retirement home of the ship’s pilothouse would be the front entrance of a synthetic lumber business in Copley Township.
Yet this is precisely where the Canopus pilothouse found itself June 17, after Bill and Eve Gribble, owners of PlasTEAK Inc., rescued the 15,000-pound piece of local maritime history at a June 4 auction.
The Canopus pilothouse auction came in the wake of the April demolition of the iconic 112-year-old Wakefield Mansion in Vermillion. The mansion housed The Inland Seas Maritime Museum and, for the past 60 years, the Canopus pilothouse.
“We saw that the museum had been torn down and found out there had been an auction for the pilothouse,” Bill Gribble said. “I thought, man, I wish I had known about that. Then our friends told us there had only been one $4,000 bidder, with a $10,000 reserve.”
“I just think it is a really cool thing. It is beautiful inside and still has the old oak wood and this 1,000-watt spotlight that could probably burn a hole in something,” he said.
Gribble said he has no intention of flipping his new purchase anytime soon either, no matter how high the bidder. “After the auction was all over, I did have a guy from Detroit offer me a lot more money for it,” he said. “But how do you get another one? It’s not like you can go down to the used pilothouse dealer.”
Gribble said he hopes to install the pilothouse at the entrance of the PlasTEAK building within the next three months.
Read more and view images here;
https://www.akron.com/articles/lake-erie-history-comes-to-copley-township/
