Roger Blough

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Re: Roger Blough

by Andrew » July 27, 2021, 10:40 am

I expect that Cleveland Cliffs will continue to utilize plants around the great lakes because of the many quarries they run in the iron range. As far as the fate of the Blough, I expect a fix from her. At least short term, the steel industry has a good outlook. The Callaway is a completely different question, and is in the same position that the Anderson was in several years ago. She needs work. Will they do the work on her? Probably. Just not yet. The Clarke is in decent shape and hopefully we will see her before the end of the year. It's important to remember with the smaller boats that they backhaul, making them more valuable per ton compared to the footers and the Blough. If you can haul stone into town and leave with ore, your ship is making money both ways. Frankly, I think GLF would be foolish to part with either the Callaway or Blough, not only for the reasons above, but because to build brand new takes an arm and a leg. The fact that some fleets are willing to do that means they see something in the future of great lakes shipping, and if the resources already exist for existing companies to preserve what they have, well, they probably are going to to just that.

Re: Roger Blough

by Guest » July 26, 2021, 10:44 pm

The latest weekly rate of capability utilization ending Saturday July 24, 2021 was 84.6% in the US at 1,868,000 tons of raw steel.

However, production in the Great Lakes basin has stagnated at around 640,000 tons on average per week for a quite a while now. Where weekly raw steel production has increased is in the Southern US due to the coming online of new electric-arc furnaces. At the beginning of the year, weekly Southern US raw steel production was 643,000 ending on January 2 and has now increased to 804,000 for the week ending July 24, 2021.

US steel mills are adding 13.5 million tons of electric-arc furnace (EAF) flat-rolled steelmaking capacity in the next couple of years. Big River Steel started a second EAF in December 2020, while Steel Dynamics will be commissioning a new 3-million tons-per-year flat-rolled steel mill in Sinton, Texas and Nucor has increased hot-rolled capacity from 1.6 to 3.0 million-tons-per-year at its mill in Ghent, Kentucky.

Big River Steel is planning to build a second second steel mill along the Gulf Coast in the next year or two.

Getting back to the big, beamy Roger Blough, a personal favourite of mine, from pictures I've seen posted to the Bay Shipbuilding Group on Facebook, it appears that there is activity going on around her stern. Perhaps she's being repaired, I don't know.

Re: Roger Blough

by Guest 146 » July 26, 2021, 8:14 pm

Raw Steel production capability utilization in the US for the week ending July 24, 2021 was 79.6%. Finished steel was at 60.7%. There's room to move.

Re: Roger Blough

by Guest » July 25, 2021, 2:39 pm

The bigger question concerning the Blough is - is the vessel's carrying capacity needed anymore? Whats left of the Great Lakes area steel mills, both US and Canadian have been running at full capacity all year. In addition, water levels are declining so the footers are taking lighter loads, yet the Blough, Clarke and Callaway sit. (With no work being done on either the Blough or Callaway) Thats not a good sign, not only for GLF but the entire industry.

Roger Blough

by Scott » July 25, 2021, 10:32 am

Has there been any rumblings about the future of the Blough? I heard a fire loss total of around 20 million? Seems a bit much, but maybe the fire was that bad. I would hate to see the Blough go away as she is one of my favorite boats. However, at the end of the day it will be a decision based on economics. Is the Roger Blough worth the restorative costs to repair the damage done? I would say yes, but I'm biased.

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