Port and vessel activity from February 19, 2023, unless stated otherwise. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.
Duluth, MN – Superior, WI – Joshua Hebeisen
It will be a few weeks before vessels start moving in the harbor, but preparations for the new season are already underway. A particularly welcome sign this past weekend was a series of trucks lined up at the former General Mills Elevator A facility just inside the Duluth Harbor. Inactive for eight years, the elevator was purchased by Hansen-Mueller in 2022 and is expected to ship grain via boat this coming summer. The reactivation of the elevator should help boost Twin Ports grain exports this season, which were noticeably low in 2022. It is not currently known what types of vessels will frequent the dock.
Calumet Harbor, IL – Joshua Hebeisen
Chi-town got another load of salt Sunday afternoon with a 13:58 Algoma Conveyor arrival. With the help of G-tug Massachusetts, the Equinox-class winter workhorse made her way down the river to the export dock and began to unload. As per usual, the NaCl in her holds hails from the Compass Minerals mine in Goderich, ON.
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Algoma Innovator arrived 23:51 Saturday, loading at Compass Minerals… Innovator’s third appearance here for February. 190th vessel appearance this season for Compass Minerals. Require fourteen more vessels here to match last season…
Port Huron, MI – Sarnia, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
Is it summer yet? The weather may be cold, but the traffic sure warmed up in Sarnia on Sunday with a nice dose of winter action.
Starting off the day was an empty Algosea, departing the Imperial Oil lower dock at 06:36 for a downbound trip to Nanticoke, ON. She would be followed down the river by CCGS Griffon about three hours later. After participating in the now-canceled search for the mysterious object downed over Lake Huron, the Canadian cutter is headed back down to the Detroit River and beyond. The western banks of the St. Clair River wouldn’t be defenseless for long, however; CCGS Samuel Risley was back in town at 10:27 to hold down the fort. She now occupies the Griffon’s former spot at the Government Dock following a few days of icebreaking farther down the river.
Tanker traffic would resume within the hour as Algocanada returned from Calcite, MI, at 11:15. She was already headed back upbound for Cheboygan, MI, by 18:30 after a quick load at the lower dock. Iver Bright remained motionless at Suncor for the weekend but was making preparations to depart the dock for Monroe, MI, at midnight.
Detroit, MI – Windsor, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
CCGS Griffon arrived Windsor to dock at the Dieppe Gardens around 15:00. Algoma Innovator was coming down the river with a salt delivery at midnight, but had yet to make an official port call.
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- Trucks line up to unload grain at what is now Hansen-Mueller Elevator A in Duluth, MN. David Schauer image, February 18
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- Algoma Innovator heads downbound with salt at Port Huron, MI. Paul Murray image, February 19