Great Republic

[Denny]

Another thing that MERC has done in the past for "rare" loadings is that late in the 2013 season in December/January, they loaded coal on the tug Defiance and they took it clear to Trenton and unloaded it there. They made about 2-3 trips in December and into January on that run. Very rare trips there as most of the coal for the Trenton DTE Plant comes up from Ohio. Also, I recall a few years back they (MERC) also loaded coal on the smaller ships and it went clear down to the Harbor Beach DTE Plant. Also another rarity as they used to get coal coming up from the Ohio ports also.

[Denny]

Thanks Ted for clearing that up as I thought that the coal loading operations had ceased and that they were shipping something else instead. Besides coal, are they still shipping any type of ore as I seem to recall that CSL was loading for Quebec City once a few years back? It wasn't too long ago and I want to say that it was a special type of ore maybe pellet fines that CSL was sending to Quebec. Don't know if that trade is still on-going anymore?

[TWilush]

CSL has been taking coal out of Conneaut for US Steel in Hamilton all year.

[Denny]

I don't think the Conneaut Coal Dock is shipping coal any longer. Didn't they have a fire or something like that years ago that put an end to the coal shipping there? Now I think they are shipping some sort of like pellet fines or something like that at least as I recall CSL a few years back doing that quite frequently with their boats. Maybe that it what they were doing earlier this year as I recall the CSL Laurentien earlier in the year doing that in either March or April.

[garbear]

First ever Manistee load from SMET. Tondu's coal has come from South Chicago and Ashtabula this year. Will be interesting to see if this continues.

Speaking of coal loading ports. Is the coal dock in Conneaut still in operation? Seems like at the start of the shipping season I remember reading about a boat loading there, but that was the last thing I saw about the coal dock.

[CF259]

First ever Manistee load from SMET. Tondu's coal has come from South Chicago and Ashtabula this year. Will be interesting to see if this continues.

[garbear]

Very rare indeed and wonder if this could become a new trend and trade for the "river-class" ships or just a one and done only run? Besides the Great Republic, I know some of the LLT vessels have unloaded coal in Filer City such as Calumet, Manitowoc and the Manistee. However, those loads were from South Chicago along with a few other ports.

Most of the coal I see loaded for Filer City is either from South Chicago or Toledo, Sandusky. I don't know if I've ever seen coal loaded at Midwest Energy for Manistee/Filer City before.

[Denny]

Very rare indeed and wonder if this could become a new trend and trade for the "river-class" ships or just a one and done only run? Besides the Great Republic, I know some of the LLT vessels have unloaded coal in Filer City such as Calumet, Manitowoc and the Manistee. However, those loads were from South Chicago along with a few other ports.

[Guest]

For Filer City MI

[garbear]

I see the Great Republic is scheduled to load next Thursday at Midwest Energy according to the Duluth Shipping News. Sort of a rarity to see her up here, and the Midwest Energy destination has to be a rarity also.