Merry Christmas from Boatnerd!
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Duluth-Superior – Scott Bjorklund
Duluth Entry: Algoma Mariner departed at 22:04 (CST) Thursday night with iron ore pellets for Hamilton. James R. Barker departed at 02:39 Friday morning with low sulfur coal for St. Clair. Paul R. Tregurtha arrived at 12:38 to fuel then load low sulfur coal at SMET. Mesabi Miner arrived at 18:35 to load iron ore pellets at CN#6. As of Friday night, Mesabi Miner was loading at CN#6. Sam Laud is expected Saturday afternoon to load petroleum coke at SMET; they might anchor on arrival to wait for the Paul R. Tregurtha. Due to the holiday shut-down at the SMET dock, the Paul R. Tregurtha might not depart until late Saturday. Mesabi Miner is estimated to depart Saturday evening with iron ore pellets.
Superior Entry: Stewart J. Cort departed at 00:46 (CST) Friday morning with iron ore pellets for Burns Harbor. Michipicoten arrived at 00:54 to load at BNSF; they departed at 05:39 with iron ore pellets for Sault Ste. Marie. CSL Niagara arrived at 05:59 to load at BNSF; they departed at 18:32 with iron ore pellets for Nanticoke. Finally, Algoma Equinox arrived at 19:16 to load at BNSF. As of Friday night, Algoma Equinox was loading at BNSF and Paul R. Tregurtha was loading at SMET. Algoma Equinox is estimated to depart Saturday morning or afternoon with iron ore pellets.
Two Harbors-Silver Bay – Gary A. Putney
Two Harbors saw the arrival of the Walter J. McCarthy Jr. on 12/24 at 04:33. As of 18:30 on 12/24 she was still at the dock. As of 18:30 on 12/24 the Great Republic was just outside of Two Harbors and also at that time the Indiana Harbor was NW of Outer Island for Two Harbors. There is no other traffic scheduled for Two Harbors on Christmas Day. Northshore Mining in Silver Bay saw the arrival and departure on 12/24 of the Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader. Arr. 00:56 and Dep. 09:21. As of 18:30 her AIS hadn’t been updated. She is probably heading for Toledo. There is no inbound traffic scheduled for Silver Bay on Christmas Day.
Thunder Bay, ON
Thursday; 19:40 Manitoulin departed for Buffalo. Friday; 11:56 Algoma Niagara arrived at the Richardson Main Terminal to load grain. 13:03 Algoma Strongfield departed for Port Cartier. 15:18 Algoma Sault departed for Hamilton.15:30 Harvest Spirit weighed anchor and proceeded to the Superior Elevator to load grain.
St. Marys River
Thanks to poor visibility due to fog, Soo Traffic shut the river from the locks to Mud Lake at 1 a.m. Saturday. The Soo area experienced unseasonably warm weather with heavy rain Friday evening. The river reopened around 5 a.m. The locks will have a very busy day Saturday due to the delayed traffic.
Northern Lake Huron
Meldrum Bay: Friday; 7:46 Manitowoc arrived to load limestone.
McGregor Bay: Friday; 3:15 Samuel De Champlain / Innovation departed for Alpena.
Owen Sound: Friday; 13:11 Prentiss Brown / St Marys Challenger arrived at the St Marys Cement Terminal to unload.
Alpena: Thursday; 19:07 G L Ostrander / Integrity departed for Milwaukee. 20:12 American Courage weighed anchor and proceeded to the Lafarge plant to unload. 23:21 Undaunted / Pere Marquette 41 arrived at the Lafarge plant to unload. Friday; 4:19 American Courage departed for Cleveland. Samuel De Champlain / Innovation arrived at the Lafarge plant to load cement products
Port Gypsum: Friday; 2:10 John J Boland arrived to load gypsum and departed at 11:55 for Duluth Superior.
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Algoma Compass cleared 05.29 Friday downbound for Buffalo.
Lake Erie Ports for Friday – Bill Kloss
Monroe: Kaye E. Barker departed for Marquette at 00:28
Marblehead: Laura L. VanEnkevort/Joseph H. Thompson left late Thursday night for Fairport Harbor.
Sandusky: H. Lee White was a late Friday night arrival.
Cleveland: Algoma Buffalo departed at 01:02 with salt for Toronto. Dirk S. VanEnkevort/Michigan Trader unloaded at the Bulk Terminal and left at 05:45. American Spirit arrived to unload at the Bulk Terminal at 06:00. She departed for Two Harbors at 16:16.
Fairport Harbor: Laura L. VanEnkevort/Joseph H. Thompson arrived at 03:31 to unload at Osborne. The combo left for Meldrum Bay at 16:53. Frontenac left at 10:23 with salt for Bowmanville.
Ashtabula: CSL St. Laurent arrived at 19:55 and went to the Pinney dock to unload. |Nanticoke: Calumet left late Thursday night for Detroit. Edwin H. Gott departed for Two Harbors at 10:22. Sharon MI/Huron Spirit is at Stelco. Olive L. Moore/Menominee arrived at 12:59 to unload at Stelco. Algonorth departed for Tracy at 15:54. Algonova is at Imperial Oil. Florence Spirit is at anchor.
Buffalo, N.Y. – Brian Wroblewski|
The damage done to the Great Northern elevator from the mid-December wind storms made the city grant ADM an emergency demolition permit on December 17th that was quickly stopped in State court with a Temporary Restraining Order on the 19th and a series of extensions over the next few days. The legal outcome as still unknown at press time but ADM has already hired a contractor to take it down and equipment was starting to arrive in late December. They were even considering removing the demo debris by barge because of the expected high volume of materials that will need to be taken away from the site. If their plan proceeds, they will start on removing any hazardous materials, then up to the roof and head house, then move down the structure to the brick walls and steel bins with an expected time line of 6 to 8 months for completion.
American Mariner had to go to anchor out near the Safe Water Beacon on the afternoon of the 22nd due to high winds. She dropped the hooks around 4PM and sat out there until night time when it finally calmed down. Around 9PM the Mariner came in without tugs and tied up at the Frontier Elevator to begin unloading her wheat from Superior. They were all set by Noon on the 24th and backed down for the Outer Harbor without tugs. After winding off Lighthouse Point, the Mariner made a very rare move by transiting the Outer Harbor bound for Lackawanna. Off the CRH cement plant, she winded again and backed into the Gateway Metroport Main Dock to load coke at the bulk apron. Later that night the Defiance-Ashtabula tug-barge combo arrived and was towed up to the Canadian Silica landing around 8:45PM. After the Vermont finished the tow and was headed back to their dock on the Buffalo River, the Defiance called them on the radio and asked for help. The old West Shore coal wharf where they were supposed to unload their sand suffered a collapse into the City Ship Canal and they needed a stern first tow down to the Frontier elevator to wait for a decision on what to do next.
American Mariner departed Lackawanna bound for the Soo at 6:15AM on Christmas Day after completing her coke loading operation. Algoma Compass was on her way down Lake Erie for a 1PM arrival on the 25th with salt for Compass Minerals in Lackawanna.
Hamilton, ON
TV tug Theodore Too, now owned by McKeil Marine, was taken to Heddle Marine earlier this week for unspecified work.
Lake Ontario – Rene Beauchamp
Anchored in Prince Edward Bay, Lake Ontario, since around noon Friday due to mechanical problems was CSL Laurentien which was on its way to Baie Comeau. The tug Ocean Serge Genois went out to meet it. She was still there on Friday night.
Port reports are compiled from volunteer reader observations and AIS transmissions. Please send information about vessel arrivals and departures from your port to news@boatnerd.net by 9 p.m. (Eastern) nightly for them to be included in the next day’s news. Please include name of vessel, arrival time, day and dock it went to (if known). We welcome new reporters. If your port is not included, we would welcome your contributions.