Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Was that when Cleveland Cliffs had a mine in eastern Canada? They probably were supplying their US customers from their book of business. Did that mine ever reopen?

Sailing in the 70's I enjoyed seeing a lot of Canadian straight deckers with Eastern Ore unloading in Ashtabula, Conneaut and Cleveland when we were there.
It's rather ironic now the large quantities of Lake Superior pellets shipped out the Seaway by the Canadians though that seems to have slowed the past year.

You have basically answered one of your questions as the Westbound shipments of ore to Lake Michigan ports has sort of diminished over the years with not much ore going to Lake Michigan ports like it used to. On occasion you may see Algoma ships take a rare load to Indiana or Burns Harbor but not as often as they used to. Most of the back hauls of iron ore now are done by Algoma and they unload that in Hamilton for the Dofasco Steel Mill there. I too though share your memories and remember those days when Algoma, ULS, CSL and Paterson would deliver iron ore to places on Lake Michigan. It seems so long ago now that they used to do that! Hope that this information has helped you out.

The three fleets you mention are just memories now, no mills on the us side can or do unload straight deckers any more. The only port on the great lakes that still receive cargo by a straight decker is dofasco in hamilton. There are some on there some on the st. Lawrence river.

For many years the Canadian fleet often carried backhauls of iron ore westbound through the Seaway to ports like Indiana Harbor and other ore receiving ports on Lake Michigan. Is this still done on a regular basis, or has this trade diminished along with the general decline of the iron ore movements on the lakes? Among the historical fleets I recall being involved in these movements were P&H, Paterson, and ULS.