by hausen » January 1, 2011, 10:22 pm
The mill will start producing taconite pellets late in 2013 or early in 2014, and for the first year or so will send the pellets elsewhere (likely to Essar Algoma) for processing into iron and then steel. Steel slab production at Essar Minnesota isn't likely to begin until around 2015.
The volume of steel Essar Minnesota is expected to produce would keep a couple of vessels with much larger capacity than the
Wolf River or
Everest busy for a full season. Given the age of those vessels and therefore the cost necessary to reactivate them it would be doubtful that such small ships would be worth the investment. Now that Canada has dropped its import tariff on overseas-built cargo vessels it's much more likely that if those slabs are to be moved by water, the job will go to either new Canadian-flagged overseas-built vessels or existing vessels built for ocean service within the last 10 years and reflagged Canadian.
If I recall correctly a recent study carried out by a local university for the Duluth Port Authority recommended tug-barges for the carriage of steel slabs across the lake. This was undoubtedly due to the labor cost savings tug-barges enjoy because of the extant loophole in manning regulations. Canadian operators can now source vessels more cheaply at overseas yards, and a whole new generation of these small-medium sized cargo ships are now sailing with crews comparable in size to those of tug-barges on the lakes (think Wagenborg, Intersee, BBC, or Beluga's vessels). Given Lake Superior's wild spring and fall weather and Whitefish Bay's almost certain winter ice pack (not to mention the relatively common occurrence of widespread open-lake ice), it seems like a conventional single-hulled vessel design might be better suited for the job.
If Essar wants a more steady inventory flow instead of having to worry about pre-winter stockpiling or relying on winter all-rail moves for its steel slabs, perhaps a double-acting vessel design could be useful. This type of ship was discussed earlier this fall here:
http://newsearch.boatnerd.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2044 . Double-acting vessels might be able to operate year-round quite easily between Duluth and Sault Ste. Marie during many winters, and even in difficult ones might be able to extend relatively hassle-free over-water movements of steel slabs into February or early March.
The mill will start producing taconite pellets late in 2013 or early in 2014, and for the first year or so will send the pellets elsewhere (likely to Essar Algoma) for processing into iron and then steel. Steel slab production at Essar Minnesota isn't likely to begin until around 2015.
The volume of steel Essar Minnesota is expected to produce would keep a couple of vessels with much larger capacity than the [i]Wolf River[/i] or [i]Everest[/i] busy for a full season. Given the age of those vessels and therefore the cost necessary to reactivate them it would be doubtful that such small ships would be worth the investment. Now that Canada has dropped its import tariff on overseas-built cargo vessels it's much more likely that if those slabs are to be moved by water, the job will go to either new Canadian-flagged overseas-built vessels or existing vessels built for ocean service within the last 10 years and reflagged Canadian.
If I recall correctly a recent study carried out by a local university for the Duluth Port Authority recommended tug-barges for the carriage of steel slabs across the lake. This was undoubtedly due to the labor cost savings tug-barges enjoy because of the extant loophole in manning regulations. Canadian operators can now source vessels more cheaply at overseas yards, and a whole new generation of these small-medium sized cargo ships are now sailing with crews comparable in size to those of tug-barges on the lakes (think Wagenborg, Intersee, BBC, or Beluga's vessels). Given Lake Superior's wild spring and fall weather and Whitefish Bay's almost certain winter ice pack (not to mention the relatively common occurrence of widespread open-lake ice), it seems like a conventional single-hulled vessel design might be better suited for the job.
If Essar wants a more steady inventory flow instead of having to worry about pre-winter stockpiling or relying on winter all-rail moves for its steel slabs, perhaps a double-acting vessel design could be useful. This type of ship was discussed earlier this fall here: http://newsearch.boatnerd.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2044 . Double-acting vessels might be able to operate year-round quite easily between Duluth and Sault Ste. Marie during many winters, and even in difficult ones might be able to extend relatively hassle-free over-water movements of steel slabs into February or early March.