Duluth welcomes first cruise ship in nearly a decade
DULUTH, MN – The City of Duluth welcomed a cruise ship and its passengers to the city’s docks Monday for the first time in nearly 10 years.
The Viking Octantis ship brought more than 600 people to port Monday morning – including nearly 400 passengers – who will be able to take the day and enjoy what the city has to offer. Hubbard-owned affiliate WDIO reports the ship arrived in the Duluth Harbor around 6:15 a.m.
“I think it was pretty amazing,” said Dan Hartman, executive director of the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. “It wasn’t quite the view everyone was hoping for because of the fog, but I think it’s almost symbolic of the whole effort that went into this whole thing.”
The stop in Duluth is part of an eight-day tour through the Great Lakes. “We’re writing a new chapter with cruising,” said Tricia Hobbs, senior economic developer for the city of Duluth, adding, “we’re obviously looking ahead to be a turnaround port so [that] people can start and end their trips here.”
The Octantis won’t be alone — more than half a dozen cruise ships are expected to arrive in Duluth during the next four months. “To see those tourists from different areas of the country, maybe even the world, to see what great things we have in Duluth, we’re excited,” Dustin Heckman told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. Heckman is the executive director of the Glensheen Mansion.
Hartman concurred, noting, “I think that’s the most exciting for Duluthians, that there are a lot of people coming to Duluth today who would have never ever, thought of ever being in our city before.” Passengers are expected to come out of customs around 7:30 a.m., and shuttles for Duluth excursions are expected to leave around 8:30 a.m.
KSTP Eyewitness News
Kidney beans mark the start of container shipping from Port of Duluth
DULUTH, MN – Two hundred containers of kidney beans are being loaded on an ocean-going vessel and will leave the Port of Duluth-Superior this weekend, marking the return of container shipping at the United States’ westernmost inland port.
Until recently, container shipping on the Great Lakes was restricted to the Port of Cleveland, limiting importing and exporting opportunities for this region. Duluth Cargo Connect worked to reverse the Department of Homeland Security’s ruling and open Clure Public Marine Terminal to the popular way of transporting freight.
The Port of Duluth-Superior said last fall that it would open to containers, and be able to handle a larger volume from international vessels.
Twenty-foot containers of legumes from Menomonie, Wis.-based Chippewa Valley Bean, loaded onto the general cargo ship Nunalik, are bound for what’s expected to be a 14-day trip from the Clure Terminal to Europe, where the beans will be delivered to several countries.
It’s speedier than what the company has seen recently. “This last number of months we’ve fought our way through supply chain issues and have had extreme difficulty in trying to deliver product to our customers in Europe,” said Cindy Brown, president of Chippewa Valley Bean. “This is just really a saving grace for us.”
The company exports 70% of its product and had been shipping from Montreal — until it faced a strike at the port, shipping congestion and stalled railways. In February 2021, the company loaded a container that didn’t land on a vessel until June. “That’s a long time for a product to sit in the middle of the U.S. waiting to find its way someplace,” she said.
Clure Terminal has been limited to container shipping by rail and by truck. The addition of the maritime elements broadens capabilities for Duluth Cargo Connect — a partnership between the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, which owns Clure, and Lake Superior Warehousing, which operates the terminal. “We’re always seeking to enhance and increase cargo diversity that moves through this port,” port authority spokesman Jayson Hron said. “That makes it more vibrant and brings more vitality to the port.”
Before Nunalik could be loaded Friday, wind energy cargo was unloaded by crane. The ability to import and export at the same port is expected to be a draw for other businesses looking to bypass the coasts.
Claus Sorensen, vice president of Spliethoff, the ocean transport company that owns Nunalik, has been in the shipping business for the past eight years. Duluth is now the second U.S. port on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system able to handle container shipping — a welcome addition as a spot farther west than the company’s base in Cleveland, he said.
“There are truck issues around the country; there are rail issues around the country, and it really is easy to put containers on this ship and get them out of here,” Sorensen said. “And that’s what we do.”
Duluth Star Tribune
Cleaning up Cleveland’s waterways with Flotsam & Jestam
CLEVELAND, OH – The Port of Cleveland has two custom vessels that patrol the waters of the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland Harbor with the task of capturing and removing floating debris.
Dating back to 1868, the Cuyahoga River caught fire a total of 13 times, including a blaze in 1952, which caused over $1.3 million in damage. The story garnered national attention when a photograph of the 1952 fire ran in Time Magazine just two months after the Cuyahoga River caught fire on June 22, 1969.
That image of the fire acted as a catalyst, calling for a major focus on environmental protection and sustainability. In 1972, the charge for environmental responsibility and protection was marked by the introduction of the Clean Water Act.
In an effort to sustain and support these efforts, the Port of Cleveland planned, designed, and built a pair of custom tandem vessels – Flotsam & Jetsam – with the purpose of collecting and removing plastic and organic floating debris from the Cuyahoga River along Cleveland Harbor.
Commissioned in 2012, Flotsam & Jetsam were predated by the vessel, Putzfrau — meaning ‘cleaning lady’ in German — that vacuumed up floating muck on the Cuyahoga River immediately after the 1969 fire.
The Port planned, designed, and built a pair of custom vessels – Flotsam and Jetsam – to capture and remove plastic and organic floating debris from Cleveland Harbor. Commissioned into service in late 2012, the Port operates both vessels from mid-May through mid-October.
The crew and vessels annually remove over 200,000 pounds of floating debris.
Click on this link to watch a Youtube to learn more about Flotsam & Jetsam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITHYMN7Ew_E
Fox 8 & Port of Cleveland
Boatnerd forum issues
As we work to update the Boatnerd forums, please bear with us if some posts display incorrectly. We are aware of the issue – some of which caused the recent Boatnerd outage – and we are working to fix things as soon as possible. Thank you for understanding.
