Freighter Calumet set free after getting stuck in the Saginaw River
Bay City, MI – Maritime traffic hit a snag Thursday night on the Saginaw River after an over 600-foot freighter ran aground in Bay County.
The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Detroit received a report at approximately 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21 that a bulk cargo freighter had ran aground just north of the Lake State railroad bridge in the Saginaw River in Essexville. According to the Coast Guard, the vessel was identified as the 630 foot-long Calumet.
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Adrian Ledesma said that the vessel was dislodged at approximately 7:45 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22. The Calumet then continued to proceed upriver towards Saginaw shortly after it was set free.
The grounded vessel blocked the main river channel after it ran aground. The Coast Guard had established a safety zone around the freighter to allow for a tug boat to safely dislodge it. No medical or search and rescue concerns stemmed from the incident, according to the Coast Guard.
Ledesma said that an investigation is ongoing at this time. He said that two Coast Guard incident response teams responded to the scene and conducted an initial inspection that took a look at possible pollution and environmental hazards plus any vessel and infrastructure damage.
“Based on the initial observation, we don’t have any reason to believe that there’s any significant damage to waterfront infrastructure or the environment,” he said.
Cleveland-Cliffs to move production of DR grade pellet to Minorca
Duluth, MN – Minorca Mine in Virginia will be taking on a new role in the Cleveland-Cliffs strategy. They will start producing the DR grade pellet that is needed to feed the HBI facility in Toledo.
Cliffs invested in Northshore Mining in Silver Bay for this production, but CEO Lourenco Goncalves said on Friday that they are moving it to Minorca. The reason is what he called “unreasonable royalties” for the ore that is used at Northshore.
Goncalves said, “Minorca is a great plant with great equipment. Northshore will now work to help Minorca move to DR grade pellet.”
He also said that Northshore will be idled every now and then, and be their swing operation. Cliffs took control of the Minorca Mine as part of its purchase of ArcelorMittal last year.
WDIO-TV
