Boatnerd Discussion Forum

I would like to if I may just simply add in my own comments to the thread by saying that what everyone says is true on both the Block & Sykes. Also, it seems that years past at least the Block could be found making trips to Toledo for Cliffs! I don’t know maybe 🤔 if she made trips to Cleveland for Cliffs also or not? I think she has in the past few years but I’m not too sure of it? Anyway, it seems like this year in 2026 she has made less trips down here to Cliffs Mills and docks in Lake Erie then previously as I think the Block so far made just one trip to Lake Erie in March or April with Ore for Ashtabula which is very rare for her to go there and unload yet she’s been to Ashtabula before however, before this year at least it’s been several & many years!

To answer both questions:

Yes, Stoneport is a very unusual port for the Block.

Regarding the Sykes, she spent many years basically on the same run delivering stone from Port Inland to Indiana Harbor (or Burns Harbor?) and then loading slag in one of those ports for a backhaul to Grand Haven. She started venturing off Lake Michigan again in 2018 or 2019 and then in the last several years she has given up the slag runs (Grand River has taken these over) and started making regular trips on the other lakes. I think that Cliffs purchase of ArcelorMittal was probably a reason for the trade routes shifting. The Torco and Ironville facilities in Toledo were never part of Mittal, and now under Cliffs both the Sykes and Block have visited these docks fairly regularly.

Cliffs is only interested in hauling to their mills

I noticed that the Joseph L. Block is sailing northward on Lake Michigan today (6-2-2026) with a destination of Stoneport, Michigan. Is this an unusual trip for this vessel?

Also, at one time the Wilfred Sykes was quite active in delivering stone to a wide variety of Lake Michigan ports. It seems like over the past few seasons, at least from my AIS observations, this has changed. Is that in fact the case?