Port and vessel activity from Sunday, July 30, 2023, unless stated otherwise. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.
Thunder Bay, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
Cool Tim S. Dool was outbound for the pool at 20:40 Sunday evening, wrapping up what was a rather quiet weekend in T-Bay. Algoma’s veteran bulker is filled up with grain from the P&H Superior Elevator and due to unload in Baie-Comeau, QC. The trip up the Seaway and into salty waters is expected to take nearly a week.
Assisting the Dool from the mouth of the Mission River all the way out to the breakwall was tug Point Valour, a hardworking member of Thunder Bay Tug Services whose daily activities all too often go unrecognized. Along with fleetmates Glenada and Miseford, the Valour is frequently spotted providing some extra muscle to the big boats in port. Fellow tugs Teclutsa and Florence do some heavy lifting of their own for Lakehead Tugboats.
Federal Shimanto, the only vessel in port as of Sunday night, spent the day loading at Thunder Bay Terminals. The status quo was maintained out in the anchorage with Tundra, Federal Kumano, Federal Oshima, and Federal Montreal all swinging on the hook.
Marquette, MI – Noah H.
Victory/Maumee kicked things off on Sunday with an early 03:19 departure, bound for Toledo. Next up was fellow tug/barge Clyde S. VanEnkevort/Erie Trader to take their place at 17:09. Lee A. Tregurtha arrived the area at 22:30, but neglected to take the open south dock and instead anchored in the bay, apparently to wait for Clyde. Her fleet mate Hon. James L. Oberstar will be next, back for more after recently departing Detroit.
St. Joseph, MI – Michael Moran
Dredging equipment should be arriving soon for work in the inner harbor. In the meantime, the Army Corps of Engineers will perform a pre-dredge survey.
Grand Haven, MI – Noah H.
Fleet mates Sam Laud and American Mariner have had an interesting handful of days, with the former doing the boat equivalent of bar hopping through the various eastern Lake Michigan ports. The Laud, after unloading partial stone loads at both Muskegon and St. Joseph just a day or two ago, returned to the area with aggregate from Burns Harbor with her 13:41 arrival. She would head to Meekhof’s D&M. Later, American Mariner, having just stopped at Muskegon at the same time as the Laud a few days before, arrived at 17:11 with stone from Port Dolomite destined for the Verplank dock. This meant a convenient passing of the ships occurred in the narrow harbor shortly before the Laud headed back out the channel at 18:21. These two just can’t get enough of each other. Meanwhile, Caroline McKee/Commander remains at the cement dock, and various coast guard vessels converge to Grand Haven in preparation of the coming week’s festivities.
Muskegon, MI – Noah H.
Calumet departed at 08:14 for Port Inland, concluding just over a 9 hour stone unload.
Toledo, OH – Bill Kloss
Albert/Margaret departed to Cheboygan. Arrivals were Bradshaw McKee/St. Marys Conquest, Manitowoc, Radcliffe R. Latimer, and Kirsten Joelle.
Marblehead, OH – Bill KLoss
Joyce L. VanEnkevort/Great LakesTrader departed with stone for Marine City.
Sandusky, OH – Bill Kloss
Saginaw arrived for coal at Norfolk Southern. CSL Niagara arrived and berthed behind Saginaw.
Cleveland, OH – Bill Kloss
Imke is unloading heavy lift cargo to be loaded onto barges that Meredith Ashton and Manitou will deliver to the Cliffs mill on the Cuyahoga River. Algoma Buffalo departed with salt. Arrivals were Wilfred Sykes to Cliffs with stone and New York/Double Skin 509A to Marathon with liquid asphalt. American Courage is shuttling.
Ashtabula, OH – Bill Kloss
CSL Welland departed to Two Harbors, MN.
Erie, PA – Bill Kloss
Manitowoc departed for Toledo.
Buffalo, NY – Brian Wroblewski
The 705-foot tug-barge combo Defiance/Ashtabula arrived with sand from Brevort around 01:00 on July 29 for CSI. They came in without tugs, unloaded quickly, and departed Buffalo just before a big thunderstorm rolled around. The Vermont came down to town to tow them stern-first out to the lighthouse at 08:30. They dropped the tow at the river entrance while the Defiance backed into the Outer Harbor, winded with her barge’s thruster with a shove from Vermont, and departed for Cedarville at 10:00. Out in the lake near Point Abino, the Defiance/Ashtabula met the inbound CSL Niagara “on the one whistle.” The Niagara came in from Nanticoke for more coal at Gateway Metroport, backing in there by herself around 11:00.
CSL Niagara was all set with her partial coal cargo and departed for Sandusky at 12:15 on July 30.
Nanticoke, ON – Bill Kloss
Atlantic Huron departed to Duluth-Superior once empty. Algoterra is at Imperial Oil.
We do not currently have daily summaries for the following ports, but their respective port authority websites post schedules of vessel traffic that are featured below. Each schedule is a miniature webpage within a box. Scroll with your cursor in 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.