Port and vessel activity from May 4, 2023, unless stated otherwise. Please send future port reports to news@boatnerd.net.
Two Harbors, MN – Silver Bay, MN – Gary Putney
Walter J. McCarthy Jr. arrived the Two Harbors Shiploader on 5/3 at 14:13 and she departed on 5/4 at 05:40 for Conneaut. The Indiana Harbor is stopped off Duluth while waiting on Two Harbors. Victory/Maumee is currently at Two Harbors, having arrived at 17::21. The Algoma Discovery arrived and departed with help from from the tug Nels J; She departed on 5/4 at 16:08 for Hamilton. Presque Isle arrived N of #2. I’ll assume she did take on a partial load at the gravity dock.
Marquette, MI – Noah H.
Both the Hon. James L. Oberstar and American Spirit were, as it turned out, not finished loading before the heavy winds forced them to shelter farther northwest. On Tuesday, the Oberstar arrived from the west at 06:25 and was joined by the Spirit at 10:58. The former was done at 14:00 and the latter at 22:48. Their destinations are Dearborn and Cleveland, respectively. At one point, Interlake’s Kaye E. Barker was scheduled for a visit, but she was eventually shifted away due to the weather. How fitting that Mother Nature conjured “hurricane west wind”-esque conditions as the great Gordon Lightfoot left us.
Milwaukee, WI – MKE Marine Reports
Cruise season at Milwaukee opened Thursday when Viking Octantis arrived from Mackinac Island at 10:32 and backed to a berth at the city’s Heavy Lift Dock. This is the final stop on an eight-day cruise that originated in Toronto (or 65-day cruise originating in Ushuaia, Argentina). Guests will stay onboard one more night before the crew welcomes a new group of passengers Friday. With the easing of pandemic restrictions, Milwaukee had 33 cruise ship visits in 2022. The city is expecting 31 this year. At 11:11, Bradshaw McKee/St. Marys Conquest arrived with cement from Charlevoix. Assisted by G-Tug Hawaii, the McKee/Conquest proceeded to the Kinnickinnic River terminal. Solina was still at the Federal Marine Terminals dock.
St. Joseph – Benton Harbor, MI – Michael Moran
Our beloved Manitowoc has come and gone. The freighter unloaded over 15,000 tons of limestone, took aboard Red Coach donuts and pizza from Plank’s Tavern in the Inn at Harbor Shores, got fuel for the Minitowoc II workboat and brought smiles all around.
Grand Haven, MI – Noah H.
Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 arrived at 15:10 at the Verplank dock. The duo departed at 23:29 to head to Muskegon, presumably to finish unloading at one of the other Verplank docks there.
Alpena, MI – Jason Luther
Tuesday saw the return of the Viking cruise ship Octantis to Alpena. At 9:00 she parked out in Thunder Bay as her tenders ferried passengers up the Thunder Bay river to dock at the former Fletcher Paper coal dock to disembark at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. She departed for Mackinac Island Later in the evening. Hot on her heels was the steamer Alpena, arriving at Holcim 14:00 to load cement, leaving for Detroit at 22:09.
Goderich, ON – Bruce Douglas
Algoma Innovator continues at Compass Minerals. Algoma Transport arrived 07:00 Thursday and is tied up at North Pier to load salt next. Federal Seto (Montreal) is outside the breakwalls, probably waiting for Innovator to finish before nudging up to the elevators.
Lake Erie Ports – Bill Kloss
Toledo, OH: Algoma Sault left for Hamilton, ON. Philip R. Clarke awoke from a long nap and departed for Calcite. A late night arrival was Sharon M1/Huron Spirit.
Marblehead, OH: Mark W. Barker loaded stone and departed for Cleveland.
Sandusky, OH: Lee A. Tregurtha loaded coal and departed for Zug Island.
Cleveland, OH: Arrivals were Mark W. Barker at 08:00 with stone for a split load to RiverDock and Osborne and American Courage to load at the Bulk Terminal. NACC Argonaut departed for Toronto. Wilfred Sykes remains tied down at Lehigh Cement. In port are salties Federal Oshima and Narie.
Ashtabula, OH: American Courage departed for Cleveland.
Nanticoke, ON: CSL Niagara unloaded coal at Stelco and then left for Sandusky. Once the Niagara cleared, CSL Assiniboine came in with ore for Stelco. Harvest Spirit loads steel coils. Mia Desgagnes loaded petroleum products and departed for Montreal, then Algocanada weighed anchor and moved to Imperial Oil to load. Algoberta is still anchored.
While we do not currently have daily summaries for the following ports, 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.