Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Thanks to all for the response. We thought it might be something like that but didn't think about Muskegon being a place of layup.

demand for cement isnt high at all right now, and lafarges tug\barge combos are efficient enough that with the current market running a steamer like the alpena isnt too cost effective

The US Geological Survey reports that apparent cement consumption in the United States dropped from roughly 128 million metric tons in both 2005 and 2006 to less than 74 million metric tons in 2009. And they speculate that it may take about 5 years for consumption to return to those levels. And I suspect that the Midwest levels dropped more than the national average.


http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cement/mcs-2010-cemen.pdf

Great Lakes water transportation of cement may have been spared somewhat since the one cement plant in Michigan that was permanently closed in 2009 did not ship by boat. (Holcim's Dundee plant)

Educated guess would be, no loads for her right now.

We saw the Alpena unloading at the LaFarge dock last Sunday (19th), the second time we have seen her there this season. Now we read she's in layup in Muskegon temporarily. Anyone know why? Thanks