Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Speaking of Hades- Having grown up in Bethlehem Township, they bussed us into "south side" Bethlehem to jr. high. So for 3 years I was treated to a trip over the Minsi Trail bridge, which bisected the plant. I vividly remember looking down at all the dust and dirt and confusion and noise and vowing to myself that I would NEVER, [b]EVER[/b] work there or anywhere remotely like it. Now the place is a casino! One of the ore bridges was left standing as a monument to "the steel" but most people say "What's that?"

Speaking of steel mill tours, my dad was a Ford man. Used 37?, new 50, 55, 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, then I went to college, then a 1975 his last one, he passed away in 82. We both loved the Mustang, he bought my mom a new 68, candy apple red with the factory white "c" stripe. I still have it and new my son-in-law (1.5 years) is drooling to tool around in it.
Back to the tour. I don't remember how old I was but it was before my dad bought the Mustang. the Rouge mill had public tours. I vividly remember to this day being up at control room level and stepping out onto the "deck" in the rolling mill. You could feel the heat from the slab (big slab) as it went back back and forth. Truly what one would visualize as Hades. Dark, fire, smoky, molten steel, intense heat.

From notes that I have, the 'B' furnace at AK Steel had a capacity of 2,700 tons per day. While 'C' furnace, rebuilt in 2007 has a capacity of 6,000 tons per day.

Lots of things to comment on here, so I will do my best to keep this organized:

AK Steel - Dearborn Works at the head of the Rouge navigation channel is the former Severstal/Rouge Steel/Ford Rouge steelmaking operation. It very much is a primary steelmaking facility, with ore brought in by Interlake Steamship vessels. Coke is now brought over from Zug Island. The "C" Furnace at the Rouge was largely expanded and rebuilt under Severstal and boosted AK Steel's production capacity. AK has various finishing operations on-site. This Zug Island announcement is all so ironic, because I heard that AK's merger with Cleveland Cliffs could bode well for the Dearborn/Rouge Works in the long-term....

USS Great Lakes Works, Like AK-Dearborn, is fully integrated and includes primary/steel production and secondary/finishing capacity. The furnaces located on Zug Island produce pig iron, which is railed to the BOF in Ecorse, with finishing facilities located in Ecorse and River Rouge. Ore is unloaded on the face of Zug Island and sometimes in the old riverbed on the NE end of the island. Mill scale is also loaded there. Coal is unloaded in the Short Cut Canal. Other commodities are sometimes loaded/unloaded further up the old riverbed. The Swing Bridge near Jefferson Avenue is apparently stuck in the closed position and thus vessels bigger than a canoe cannot fully traverse the old riverbed rouge any longer.

The closure announcement will effect primary steelmaking operations and some secondary functions of Great Lakes Works. Thus, ore traffic will stop, but coal will continue as the coke ovens will stay open. Other docks along the Rouge will remain open. This announcements suggests to me that 1) primary production facilities at Zug are expensive to run and/or 2) there is more demand for precise finished product that Great Lakes Works produces, or it makes financial sense for this product to be produced nearby the end users (probably auto plants and suppliers). Slabs will now need to come by rail from Gary or another USS facility to Ecorse for finishing.

[quote]The best I can tell from USACE data is that USS Steel's Great Lakes Works received about 3 million tons of iron ore in 2018. AK Steel received about 4.1 million tons. [/quote]

Wow, I figured production was higher at Zug, since they had two furnaces running for much of 2018, I think. I guess C Furnace at AK Steel is bigger than I thought. Keepin' those Interlake classics busy!!

[quote]When I am near AK Steel, in Dearborn, I see ads for tours of the Ford factory. This may be a long shot. But does anybody know if USS runs tours of the Zug Is steel mill?[/quote]

Those are tours run by Ford in partnership with Henry Ford Museum and only show the carmaking (F150-making) side of the plant, They probably discuss steelmaking history briefly but you don't go near the steelmaking side of the plant on the tours. USS has had a long history of high security of their sites. I don't think "tour" is in their vocabulary. I did a Boy Scout wildlife project on Zug Island back when it was still owned by National Steel. We were installing birdboxes and other habitat features on the grassy hills along the old Rouge riverbed. I wish I had paid more attention to my surroundings then!

Arcelor Mittal periodically does tours of the Burns Harbor Plant in Indiana, but these are for employees and a limited number of guests only. My brother works there. Watching a glowing hot slab roll out of the furnace and get shaped into a plate on a giant mill stand is a multisensory experience of wonder. They did tours one day in 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the "Coke to Coated" full steelmaking operations. I think the previous time they did tours was in 2014. There is someone high up in plant management who thinks this kind of outreach is important. It really makes a difference who is at the top.

This might be the end of steelmaking on Zug...or, maybe not. Zug was idled in the middle of the 2000's and when National was bankrupt, the future looked bleak. There was a moment when both Zug and Rouge were almost gone. New companies came in, reinvestment happened, jobs preserved, boats and trains busy. USS hasn't said they are closing Zug, they are idling it. Demand may increase and it may be partially or fully reopened. We will have to see what happens.

Here's a link to a couple of more detailed articles, for reference:
[url]https://www.crainsdetroit.com/manufacturing/us-steel-idle-operations-zug-island-plant-lay-1545[/url]
[url]http://www.thenewsherald.com/news/u-s-steel-to-idle-blast-furnace-at-great-lakes/article_87ab5bf8-92c3-11e9-a070-4b5b024091c4.html[/url]
And, just for fun, here's a video of one of the Zug Island ore bridge "clamshell" buckets moving taconite from the dock on the conveyor taking it toward one of the furnaces:
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjq7Aw-Ds6Y[/url]

Correct, I worked for Lorain Electronics from 1967 to 1980 except for a couple of years in the Army Signal Corps in Vietnam and Korea. After 1980 it was ITT Mackay into 1986. Then it was Radio Link Communications until 2010 when I participated in starting up Marine Technical services. I may make 2020 my last year. Except for the Signal Corps stint it has always been radio, radar, Nav equipment and now satellite (TV and VSAT) work for the same vessels and same customers for the most part. I think the old saying is same clowns, different circus.

[quote="orangeshirt"]I can't see them ever offering tours. They are reluctant to allow outsiders with legitimate business to enter. In the past few years the only way to get aboard a vessel unloading there was a "taxi" service provided by the mailboat. However, this year I have been allowed to drive in twice to service boats loading millscale (I believe) at the Northeast corner of the facility. Access to boats at that part of the dock is relatively safe but I was never comfortable in walking on loose taconite pellets on the narrow dock edge between the fence and the dock face where the footers unload. The mailboat was a much safer option. I have serviced vessels at Zug Island since 1971 and I can't say I will miss it. I did get to service the AM radiotelephone equipment on the Edmund Fitzgerald at Zug Island the very last time they ever unloaded. That is one memory of the place I will always have.[/quote]

That must be quite a memory for you in light of what occurred two weeka later. Did you work for Lorain Electronics?

[quote="johnfrombrighton"]When I am near AK Steel, in Dearborn, I see ads for tours of the Ford factory.

This may be a long shot. But does anybody know if USS runs tours of the Zug Is steel mill?[/quote]

Given that their rent-a-cops try to stop you from taking perfectly legal photos from public streets of their bottle trains, I can't imagine they would ever consider public tours.

Private tours maybe, if you know someone high up that works there, or if you are with some sort of industry association.

I can't see them ever offering tours. They are reluctant to allow outsiders with legitimate business to enter. In the past few years the only way to get aboard a vessel unloading there was a "taxi" service provided by the mailboat. However, this year I have been allowed to drive in twice to service boats loading millscale (I believe) at the Northeast corner of the facility. Access to boats at that part of the dock is relatively safe but I was never comfortable in walking on loose taconite pellets on the narrow dock edge between the fence and the dock face where the footers unload. The mailboat was a much safer option. I have serviced vessels at Zug Island since 1971 and I can't say I will miss it. I did get to service the AM radiotelephone equipment on the Edmund Fitzgerald at Zug Island the very last time they ever unloaded. That is one memory of the place I will always have.

[quote="johnfrombrighton"]When I am near AK Steel, in Dearborn, I see ads for tours of the Ford factory.

This may be a long shot. But does anybody know if USS runs tours of the Zug Is steel mill?[/quote]

Back in the day USS didn't want anyone on their property. When I was on the Clarke my parents came down to South Chicago for a visit and I asked if they could come aboard. Captain gave me a pass and when we got to the gate the guard said "Your Captain doesn't have any say here". Finally said okay, but one of the plant guards had to take us to the boat and he wouldn't leave. It would surprise me if they gave tours.

When I am near AK Steel, in Dearborn, I see ads for tours of the Ford factory.

This may be a long shot. But does anybody know if USS runs tours of the Zug Is steel mill?

[quote="Guest"]That's the end of steelmaking at Zug Island. Never mind what so-called analysts say, steel-making will not resume at Zug Island period. Now we know why US Steel bought that mini-mill in Arkansas. To replace Zug Island. Idled integrated steel mills are rarely brought back into operation.

But lets face it, for dumb management US Steel takes the cake. They bought Stelco back in 2007, a steel company with the worst labour-management relations in North America and then they restarted Granite City which is the highest cost steel producer - it should have been torn down instead. And if they had done so, then maybe Zug Island wouldn't be scheduled for shutdown

So much for the tariffs..[/quote]

I agree; shuttering Zug while operating Granite City is strange. The restart of Granite City seemed very short sighted. US Steel's decision making process makes me scratch my head. Also strange is the fact that they're still receiving ore at Zug. They did the same thing with the former Stelco mill in Hamilton and ended up moving tons of unneeded ore to Nanticoke. Costly, inefficient and poor planning.

That's the end of steelmaking at Zug Island. Never mind what so-called analysts say, steel-making will not resume at Zug Island period. Now we know why US Steel bought that mini-mill in Arkansas. To replace Zug Island. Idled integrated steel mills are rarely brought back into operation.

But lets face it, for dumb management US Steel takes the cake. They bought Stelco back in 2007, a steel company with the worst labour-management relations in North America and then they restarted Granite City which is the highest cost steel producer - it should have been torn down instead. And if they had done so, then maybe Zug Island wouldn't be scheduled for shutdown

So much for the tariffs....

AK, in the process of being bought by Cleveland-Cliffs.

AK produces steel. Interlake vessels deliver to the mill at the end of the navigable river.

Zug received taconite for production in the blast furnaces on the island. Nothing is transshipped.

Not sure on a book, would be interesting.

Also the coke operation is on the old channel but the ships still enter through the Cut Off Channel which was dug by Henry Ford to get larger vessels up the river. If I remember correctly the old/ original entrance channel has a bridge that is stuck down and cannot be used.

Do AK Steel & the Ford River Rouge Complex actually produce steel or are they shaping/rolling operations.

And is Zug a transhipment point where iron ore (from Michigan/Minnesota) is stockpiled & then transhipped to other boats for further shipment along the Seaway?

This is such an interesting place. Is there a book that tells the history of Zug?

DTE ships coke out of the Old Channel on Zug. The Levy Co. has a stone dock further up the Rouge.

[quote="Guest"]Does this mean no more stone, coal & ore boats going up the Rouge R? Or are there other steel-makers on the Rouge?[/quote]
Traffic on the Rouge will continue. USS Great Lakes Works primary docks are actually on the Detroit River side of the island, although someone (E.W. Levy?) ships slag out of the Old Channel (northwest side of the island).

AK Steel (which Cleveland Cliffs is proposing to purchase) is up the Rouge, next to Ford's River Rouge Complex.

The best I can tell from USACE data is that USS Steel's Great Lakes Works received about 3 million tons of iron ore in 2018. AK Steel received about 4.1 million tons. And an additional 21.4 million tons passed through the Detroit River for other destinations (10.9 million tons US domestic, probably all downbound, and 10.5 million tons foreign, headed in both directions.)

The typical trade patterns of the Great Lakes Fleet have changed this year. The majority of the loads being brought to Detroit have been on American Steamship boats. ASC has also brought many loads to Gary and Conneaut. The AAA vessels have been going to ports that they typically haven't called on in the past and have been hauling a lot of stone this season.

So is this the writing on the wall that ASC is reading with the rumours of getting out of the shipping business?

The coke ovens on Zug Island are not owned by US Steel so they should continue to operate.