Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Maybe Great Lakes Towing should consider doing a patriotic paint scheme on the Minnesota as well. I saw it recently in the Rouge and its not very old red paint looked severely faded already. I suspect that might have to do with the huge seagull population that hangs out near the tug dock.

Hopefully the vessel/fleet info pages are updated soon, as the Algoma Bear and Endeavour are not on there yet and the good ol' Algoma Transport is still listed. Would be nice to see the archive of the scrapped boats expanded as they are added (Cuyahoga, Transport, etc.) and maybe even more, of ...

I do like the new simple layout of the home page of boatnerd 3.0 over 2.0 even though there many not be allot of photo as before. But the reading of articles is so much easier now, cleaner, and faster.

Suggestion 1: insert on the right side under passages, and on this day, etc, a new box that ...

Ronald Eckstein wrote: April 7, 2026, 10:41 am Will there be better quality photos in the "On This Day" section? The ones there now are very low resolution.

Sorry, as of now we aren't planning to post higher resolution photos.

Their website is at https://www.mainstaymaritime.com/ Includes a fleet list and a timeline of the company.

I'm still wondering what's going on with the history page. It's not intuitive to use. You have to scroll to the bottom to search. It would be better if today's date were at the top...along with the pictures that have been missing.


The history page, also known as "On This Day" can be accessed ...

If it is the former Northern Transportation tug that came to the Great Lakes in the early 2000's from the western Arctic that you are inquiring about, then yes, it appears to be still active. Sold to RJG Construction, based in St. John's, Newfoundland around 2016. AIS shows the tug to currently be ...

We are trying. From what I understand, the Apple App Store is making us submit a ton of paperwork before they will allow the app to be released. So that has delayed the release of the Apple app.

The Donation link does not seem to be working.

Thanks. Its on our list of minor glitches to fix.

In the mean time, donations are always appreciated and can be sent via PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/boatnerd
or via US Mail at: Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping Online, PO Box 304 ...

For those of you having issues, are you trying to access it via a computer or are you trying to access via a mobile device? The web-based version accessed via computer seems to be working fine for me. The mobile versions are not yet available, but we are working to release them shortly.

How do you get to the port reports section? Also on the ais web the ship names are no longer on there unless you tap on an icon. Is that the way ais is going to operate now?


In regards to viewing ship names on the new AIS system, click on the menu icon (four squares) in the top right corner ...

I am having problems getting the new ais page and news and port reports. Tried to sign in on the new ais and the page went blank. Anyone else having problems? What website do you go to now. Any info is appreciated


Please bear with us. Backing up the old website took far longer than anticipated ...

Update, I see she is headed to San Diego per ais.


As of 10 pm local time March 11 the vessel's track shows that it has turned around in the recommended vessel lanes in the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and is now heading east. Not sure why it turned around. I have read that the ...

This forum

Searching online uncovered another chapter to this story:

The Alaska Marine Lines dock, where I think the Ocean Tower and barge OG 723 are currently docked was leased around 2016 by Kone Cranes. That year, they received a 62 million dollar contract to build four 25 ton portal cranes for the Navy ...

Ocean Tower and its barge OG 723 arrived in Elliot Bay off Seattle at around noon local time on March 1. Per AIS observations, they were met by two Western Towboat tugs, which I think were the Westrac and the Mariner. Per a local news article (see link below), the crane cargo is going to go to Vigor ...

Guest wrote: February 25, 2026, 8:01 am Might have been answered earlier in the thread, but I'm not finding it - Where in Washington state is the ulitmate destination of this crane - Puget Sound port, or up the Columbia River? Thanks.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA. (across Puget Sound from Seattle)

Two books that cover the subject. I honestly haven't read either yet, although I do own a copy of the Nicholson Lines book.

a) "The Nicholson Lines and Their Captains" by Emory J. Massman Jr. Marine Historical Society of Detroit https://www.mhsd.org/publications

b) "Autos on the Water" by ...

I believe the final destination is the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, WA (across Puget Sound from Seattle.)

Anodes are applied to many Great Lakes vessels, but I believe that magnesium and/or aluminum (or magnesium or aluminum based alloys) are the materials primarily used for fresh water vessels instead of zinc. Here is a link to a photo of GLT's tug Colorado showing it out of water with numerous anodes ...