Port Reports – December 26, 2022

Unless where otherwise noted, port and vessel activity from December 25, 2022. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.

Duluth, MN – Superior, WI – Joshua Hebeisen
🎶 I saw three ships come sailing out on Christmas Day in the morning… 🎶

At 08:00 sharp, classic steamer Alpena brought in a beautiful holiday morning with a trip out Superior and into the sea smoke. This concludes her first and only cement delivery to the Twin Ports this year, a special present to boatnerds and one that will hopefully be more frequent in 2023. She will be headed back to her namesake port for another load of powdered cement. The second of the day’s three passages would occur at 09:50, this time over on the Duluth side as American Century made her way through the ice outbound for St. Clair with coal. Joseph L. Block would round out the trio of vessels with an 11:17 departure, ore in her holds and Santa Claus on her deck! St. Nick has tossed out his reindeer sleigh for a cooler ride and will be joining the vessel and her crew on the trip to Indiana Harbor, though they first went to wait out the storms at anchor.

Lots of other Christmas movement took place both in and out of the harbor. Weather conditions out on the lake finally allowed the anchored flotilla of ships to get on their way, with Edgar B. Speer, Great Republic, American Spirit, and Stewart J. Cort all taking off in the morning for Gary, Gary, the Soo, and Burns Harbor, respectively. All the vessels are carrying taconite pellets that are now very cold – though they might prefer that to the heat of the blast furnaces. Joseph L. Block would leave for Indiana Harbor later in the evening. Those remaining in the anchorage due to backups at the docks included Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader, eventually due at Duluth’s CN 6; John G. Munson, scheduled next for Two Harbors; and Michipicoten, CSL Laurentien, and Clyde S. VanEnkevort/Erie Trader, all in line for BNSF.

Within the confines of the Minnesota Point sandbar, H. Lee White cast off from the port terminal around 11:30 and took over for the Block at the CN 6 shiploader. Arthur M. Anderson remains waiting her turn over on the eastern dock facing. To the southwest, John J. Boland is at CN-Hallett 5 awaiting a load of petroleum coke at SMET – Mesabi Miner is due in for coal and will get priority on Monday evening. American Integrity remains at BNSF loading taconite. USCGC Spar and G-tug Missouri have been kept busy keeping the harbor clear of ice.

Two Harbors, MN – Joshua Hebeisen
Indiana Harbor departed at 06:17 for Conneaut, allowing Edwin H. Gott to leave her hiding spot in Burlington Bay and make the short trek over to CN 2. 

St. Marys River – Know Your Ships
Federal Kushiro was the last saltie of the season for 2022, locking downbound in the late morning Sunday. The vessel, along with Harvest Spirit and Algoma Equinox, was the only traffic moving in the river.

Lake Erie Ports – Bill Kloss
The Gale and Freezing Spray Warnings for Western Lake Erie have been lifted and only Small Craft and Wind Chill Advisories remain in effect. However, there is a Gale Warning and a Freezing Spray Warning in effect for Eastern Lake Erie.

While we do not currently have daily write-ups for the following ports, their respective port authority websites post schedules of vessel traffic that are embedded below. Each schedule takes the form of a miniature webpage within a box – scroll with your cursor within the box (or slide your finger within the box on a mobile device) to move through the schedule as you would a normal webpage. To move up or down the actual Port Reports page itself, make sure your cursor/finger is outside of the box.

Green Bay, WI – Port of Green Bay
Click on vessel image for voyage info.

Hamilton, ON – Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
Scroll past AIS map for arrival/departure schedule.