Boatnerd News – September 15, 2022

Agreement reached to deepen Port of Oswego harbor

OSWEGO, NY – Tuesday was an historic day at the Port of Oswego as 25 years of discussions concluded in an agreement to fund and conduct a study to deepen the Oswego Harbor.

Port officials feel the project would transform the site and accelerate its growth.

Once complete, Seawaymax Class freighters, the largest to travel the Great Lakes, U.S. Navy ships and Great Lakes cruise ships could use the Port of Oswego.

The Port of Oswego a busy place, as it is New York’s only port on Lake Ontario. It now hopes to become even busier with the signing of Tuesday’s historic agreement. The Port of Oswego Authority and the U.S. Corps of Engineers will now move forward after a 25-year discussion to deepen the port’s harbor.

Lt. Col. Colby Krug is the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Buffalo district commander.

“It’s adding an additional foot and a half of depth to the harbor,” he explained. “And again, that’s what these salties and lakers that you see traverse the Great Lakes, that’s what they’re looking for, below their keel to have a full load on their ship.”

The joint feasibility study should take approximately a year. It’s the first phase of a three-step process. The following phases are design and construction. They hope dredging of the harbor can begin sometime in 2025.

“We have that timeline. I think about 2025, they will see the first dredges and the deepening happening the deep,” Port of Oswego Executive Director and CEO William Scriber said.

The deepening, he says, will allow for 740-foot Seaway max class freighters. Big ships mean a boon to the New York economy, he said.

“As I’ve often said, ports equal jobs. And a port is just not the jobs on the ports. It’s the jobs we support and the added industry that we bring in an area,” Scriber said. “Water is cheaper than both rail and truck. And economies of scale are on ships.”

Francis Enwright, Port of Oswego Authority Board chair said, “You get larger ships in here and also we could load the ships deeper, which means we can put more of our product, whether it be grain, corn onto the ships or offload. They can bring in more, which is profitable for everybody.”

Spectrum News 1 

 

Museum’s 2022 fall lecture series takes flight with topic featuring famed World War II Tuskegee Airmen

TOLEDO, OH – On Wednesday, September 28, at 7 p.m. the National Museum of the Great Lakes (NMGL) will kick off their annual fall lecture series with “Last Flight of a Tuskegee Airman” featuring underwater archaeologist Wayne Lusardi.

“On April 11, 1944, Second Lt. Frank Moody, a manner of the Tuskegee Airmen, lost his life on a training mission over Lake Huron,” shares NMGL’s Archaeological and Research Director Carrie Sowden. “The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. To help explore their story and this tragedy, we’ve asked Mr. Lusardi to join us in sharing his investigation of the archaeological site and theories of what may have happened on that fateful day.”

The presenter, Wayne Lusardi, is the State Maritime Archaeologist with the Michigan

Department of Natural Resources. Through his work, he is responsible for the research,

documentation, preservation, and management of nearly 200 shipwrecks located in and around Thunder Bay, and another 1,300 around the State of Michigan. Although Mr. Lusardi will be presenting virtually, individuals who register for the lecture will have the option to watch him at the Museum during an in-person watch party and live-streamed question and answer session.

This is the first of three lectures in the museum’s 2022 Fall Lecture Series. On Wednesday, October 26 the museum will feature Author Wendy Kolie who will uncover the deadly undercurrent lurking beneath Lake Erie’s surface in “Lake Erie Murder and Mayhem”. Then, on Wednesday, November 9 NMGL’s final lecture will take a comprehensive look at the only floating US Post Office by presenting “Mail By the Pail: The History of the J.W. Westcott Co.”

All lectures are hybrid events—meaning participants can choose when registering to take part in the lecture at the museum or online via Zoom. Event registration is required but free. Donations are encouraged and can be given upon registration. For more information on the spring lectures or to register to join the event, visit nmgl.org.

National Museum of the Great Lakes