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yes, it's due to conflicts at the loader. I rode the Gott to Conneaut and back and on the return, we crossed Superior on one engine due to availability at the shiploader. I guess why burn the fuel at design speed just to "hurry up and wait: at the breakwall.

I noticed Monday the Gott cut back to about 6 knots for about 7 hours heading into Two Harbors. This got it there just as the Baie Comeau was leaving. Could this be to save on fuel to do this rather than run 12-13 knots and if so how much might this save?

[quote="DanMD"]Why do the Gott and Speer have over 19,000 HP but show a slower speed than the other Footers with 14,400 HP according to "Know Your Ships"?[/quote]

It should be noted that speeds listed in Know Your Ships might be a top rated speed, which is kind of an arbitrary number and as a ship's power plant ages, becomes more and more of a theoretical bit of notation than anything that has much relation to actual vessel operations.

If you monitor actual open lake cruising speeds on a service like marinetraffic.com for a few days, you'll notice that a ship like the [i]Gott[/i], with higher horsepower and a much newer power plant, typically moves a little faster than, say, the [i]McCarthy[/i] or the [i]Indiana Harbor[/i].

I seem to remember it was extra horsepower for getting through the ice.

I'm no engineer, but I think a good part of that is the cargo. The Speer and Gott were designed for iron ore, while the others were built to handle more mixed commodities, and iron ore is a lot heavier. It could be that the Gott and Speer have more torque, which doesn't always equate speed. But, I could be way off base on this. Just a thought. It is also generally true that ships don't run full power either, because that is not fuel efficient and is bad for the engine.

Why do the Gott and Speer have over 19,000 HP but show a slower speed than the other Footers with 14,400 HP according to "Know Your Ships"?