Port and vessel activity from Sunday, June 4, 2023, unless stated otherwise. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.
Duluth, MN – Superior, WI – Scott Bjorklund
Duluth Entry
Spartan and Spartan II arrived at 12:37 (Central) Friday afternoon with calcium chloride for Envirotech-Hallett #8. Arthur M. Anderson arrived at 17:37 with limestone for CN-Hallett #5. Algoma Transport arrived at 07:47 Saturday morning to load iron ore pellets at CN#6. Hon. James L. Oberstar arrived at 10:35 to unload limestone at CN-Hallett #5 once the Anderson was done unloading there. Michipicoten arrived at 23:56 to fuel at Duluth Marine Terminal before loading at BNSF.
Sunday was quite a busy day for traffic! Arthur M. Anderson departed at 06:32 empty for Two Harbors, with Hanseatic Inspiration arriving a short time later at 06:46 to dock at Port Terminal. Walter J. McCarthy Jr. finally departed at 07:06 with iron ore pellets for Conneaut. Indiana Harbor arrived at 07:59 to take a delay east of CN#6. Ocean-going vessel Nordika Desgagnes arrived a short time later at 08:11 with containers for Port Terminal. American Integrity arrived at 11:26 to load low sulfur coal at SMET. Clyde S. VanEnkevort arrived at 13:54 with limestone for C. Reiss. Indiana Harbor departed at 17:08 to clean their holds out on the lake before loading. Hanseatic Inspiration departed at 17:58 for Thunder Bay, and Hon. James L. Oberstar departed soon after at 18:05 empty for Marquette. American Century arrived at 20:37 to fuel before loading at CN#6. Finally, Indiana Harbor re-entered Duluth at 21:08 to load at SMET.
As of Sunday night, Clyde S. VanEnkevort was unloading at C.Reiss, Algoma Transport was loading at CN#6, American Century was fueling at Cenovus, and Nordika Desgagnes was unloading at Port Terminal #1. Clyde S. VanEnkevort is expected to depart early Monday empty for Silver Bay. Maxima is expected mid-morning to load beet pulp pellets at Elevator A (the first loading there since 2013). Saginaw is expected later in the morning to load under the chutes at CN#6. Indiana Harbor is estimated to depart late morning with low sulfur coal. Finally, Algoma Transport may depart sometime Monday with iron ore pellets.
Superior Entry
Burns Harbor departed at 01:51 (Central) Friday morning with iron ore pellets for her namesake port; Atlantic Huron arrived at 02:26 to load at BNSF. Atlantic Huron departed at 16:47 with iron ore for Lake Erie Works at Nanticoke; Saginaw arrived to load at 17:03. Saginaw left at 01:40 Saturday morning with iron ore for Algoma Steel. Spruceglen arrived at 06:06 to load at BNSF; they didn’t depart until 21:50. After Spruceglen left for Quebec City, Whitefish Bay arrived at 22:46 to load iron ore for the same destination. Whitefish Bay departed at 13:40 Sunday afternoon, allowing Michipicoten to move down from the fuel dock. As per usual, Michipicoten loaded quickly and left at 18:10. James R. Barker then arrived at 18:38. As of Sunday night, James R. Barker was still loading at BNSF, American Integrity had recently left SMET for the lake, and Indiana Harbor was hovering in the harbor near SMET waiting for the Integrity to clear.
James R. Barker is estimated to depart Monday morning or afternoon. Dirk S. VanEnkevort is the next expected arrival.
Thunder Bay, ON – Joshua Hebeisen
The “Feds” — Federal Yukina, Federal Satsuki, and Federal Dee — were keeping tabs on the harbor Sunday afternoon with a strong showing from the Canadian-operated Fednav fleet. While the trio may not make good special agents with their familiar bright red hulls and repetitious codenames, their special cargo operations certainly went off without a hitch. At 11:17, the Yukina kicked off the day with an arrival for Richardson Main in the upper harbor. Satsuki would depart 5 hours later from Thunder Bay Terminals with a load for Three Rivers, QC, and Dee finally headed inbound from the anchorage at 16:51 to take her spot. A little green was added to the mix later in the evening as Greenwing departed MobileEx for Montreal, QC, at 19:22. Iryda is at Richardson Main, and Algoma Innovator is at anchor as the only laker in the vicinity.
Looking ahead, Monday morning should feature the arrival of cruise ship Hanseatic Inspiration fresh off her visit to the Twin Ports.
Marquette, MI – Arthur Pickering
It has been a busy week at the ore dock in Marquette’s upper harbor. Vessel visits include the Great Lakes Trader, Maumee, American Mariner, and Herbert Jackson. And this week, it appears to be another busy week. Today, the Lee Tregurtha and Hon James Oberstar were expected to arrive at the ore dock. The Maumee is due back on Monday and the Joseph Block is scheduled for a Wednesday arrival.
St. Joseph – Benton Harbor, MI – Michael Moran
Dredging the outer harbor is wrapping up. I expect to see the Corps of Engineers survey boat soon to check out the project and sign off on completion.
Saginaw River, MI – Todd Shorkey
There were a total of 25 commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River for the month of May 2023, with 11 different docks receiving 37 separate deliveries of product, accounting for split cargos delivered to multiple docks. This represents three more passages than in May 2022, and is more than the 5-year average of 22 passages, the 10-year average of 18, and the 15-year average of 17 vessel passages.
For the total number of commercial vessel passages for the year-to-date, there have been 37. This number is more than the total from last year at this point by four passages. Looking at the averages, it is an increase compared to the 5-year average of 33 passages, the 10-year average of 26 passages, and the 15-year average of 26 vessel passages.
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Algoma Conveyor continues loading at Compass Minerals. Algoma Intrepid remains tied up along North pier, to load salt next.
Lake Erie Ports – Bill Kloss
Monroe, MI: New York/Double Skin 509A is unloading at the Port dock.
Toledo, OH: Karen Andrie/Endeavour is at Midwest Terminals, Herbert C. Jackson is at Ironville and Defiance/Ashtabula is at CSX. Kaye E. Barker was finally repaired. She loaded coal and departed for Zug Island.
Kingsville, ON: Cuyahoga is undergoing repairs and had a tow hook welded to her bow.
Cleveland, OH: McKeil Spirit departed for Picton, ON. Samuel deChamplain/Innovation arrived early Sunday morning, unloaded at Holcim and left early afternoon for Alpena. Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder arrived to load a shuttle at the Bulk Terminal.
Fairport Harbor, OH: Defiance/Ashtabula unloaded at Carmeuse then left for Toledo. Next up was Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder to unload at Osborne. The tug and barge then departed to Cleveland.
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.