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To supplement Denny's post: J.B. Ford served as a cement storage/transfer vessel at Lafarge Superior from summer 2001, when she arrived Superior in tow from South Chicago, to late autumn 2006. J.A.W. Iglehart laid up at the Superior, WI 'Municipal' dock in autumn 2006, her retirement from active ser...

Is the American Mariner and Joseph l block built with the same design? Other than the block being 2 feet shorter they look to be quite similar. They are similar but not identical. Two big-scale exterior differences: the American Mariner has visible camber to her main deck, while the Joe Block has m...

Ugly rumors floating around the lakes that the Blough is very fixable but CN is not interested in sinking $ into her. Another ugly rumor is that CN has the GLF for sale. This is the 4th time I've heard these same rumors from 4 different sources. Anyone else heard anything like this? Maybe it's all ...

You're describing the facility at the end of Rices Point located at Port Terminal Berth 7, built in the early 1980s for the St. Lawrence Cement Co., now owned/operated by the Ash Grove Cement division of CRH plc. This facility receives cargoes of cement powder in bulk, which arrives aboard ships tha...

I'm not usually one to ask a question like this, but let's say that somehow it's 1942 again and every hull is needed (Even those that the underwriters declare a constructive total loss), and the St. Clair had the same fire. For anyone more in the know about just how damaged she is, is she repairabl...

Boatnerd's AIS has her at one of Toledo's old lakefront coal berths. If recall serves there were photos on social media of the Republic a few days ago at Grand Haven or maybe Ferrysburg, just before she went to Toledo, ballasted unusually high out of the water at both the bow and the stern. Those ph...

A question for those who operate the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge. Is it really necessary to give a complete information rundown of the ships that pass under the bridge? I find it so annoying especially when there are but two or three folks in the area. The practice of informational public address ann...

Slightly off topic, but could the USCG outsource buoy maintenance to civilian contractors? The USACE moved most if not all of its dredging requirements on the lakes to civilian contractors several years ago. I'm surprised that the USCG hasn't followed suit with its aids to navigation. They could, b...

I don’t understand the argument for more ice breaking capacity on the Great Lakes (another Mackinac) when the Coast Guard plan is not to replace the Alder in Duluth until the spring of 2022. To me, it makes the argument for another Mackinac hollow. Alder was designed and built primarily as a buoy t...

Presque Isle has occasionally delivered limestone to Duluth ever since the late 1980s, either unloading at Hallett Dock 5 or into the limestone hopper on the west side of Missabe Dock (CN) 6. It's likely that at least a significant portion of these cargoes were coming from Calcite. The Oglebay Nort...

I highly doubt Cliffs would be interested in the GLF fleet. The Gott , with its extra-long self-unloading boom, relatively new engines, and reportedly extra robust construction, could possibly be an appealing iron ore pellet carrier for Cliffs. The Munson has the advantage of a forward-mounted boom...

Would/ could the lake boats service these new mini-mills? That said, the new Cliffs facility in Toledo exists to produce HBI for mini mill applications. It seems likely that as ore cargo demand falls at integrated mills, it will rise at current and future HBI facilities. Well said. A company called...

As far as the future of Key Lakes/GLF and the Blough goes, a lot depends on what exactly CII / EEXI means for other hulls in the GLF fleet, for other ships on the U.S. side of the Lakes, and for things like ATBs. One obvious outcome is that Lakes shipping companies opt to slow down the operating spe...

You prosed an excellent comment in that future, rapidly approaching changes to the Great Lakes fleet may be hard to envision in 2021, but will come nonetheless. Decisions are still not firmed by shipowners on paths forward, but options are few and limiting, whether practically or financially. While...

Hardly seems worth the trouble to load a 1000 footer there when it takes 3 days or longer to get loaded. What’s the advantage to doing this? In recent years it's been taking 2-3 days to load a thousand footer at some of the more 'modern' shuttle conveyor iron ore pellet docks around the Lakes. Perh...

Did CN lose hauling contracts with US Steel to ASC? Seems like the last few years ASC's footers haul to Gary and Conneaut and am wondering if that has any play in CN layups and the Blough's fate.. It probably does have something to do with it - word on the waterfront seems to be that AIP/Rand is ru...

If someone with access to an essentially unlimited budget were to take on the project of preserving a 1950s-era laker, Wilfred Sykes would be an obvious choice, especially if she ends up completing her career with her original steam turbine power plant intact. The Sykes is the prototype for all of t...

I know this was happening out of the BNSF ore dock in Superior in 2006 and maybe into 2007. Not sure if it continued beyond that.

Daryl wrote:I've never known the American Spirit or the Burns Harbor to load coal.

Burns Harbor loaded a cargo of western coal at Superior, WI in November of 1998 or 1999 - a test load destined for the NIPSCO power plant at Burns Harbor, Indiana.

Frontenac, as well as the former Algomarine and Algosteel, had a two belt unloading system installed when they were converted into self unloaders. The two belts each run up through a loop belt in the large housing on deck, and dump into the two chutes seen at the forward portion of the housing (the...