Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Joe Block at anchor in lower Lake Huron this morning. Wind is very light.

The Joe Block is loaded with coal. When there is a strong west wind, the water goes out of the west end of Lake Erie. That may have been the reason for the delay.

garbear wrote:marinetraffic has the Block upbound the Detroit River at Belle Isle with a destination of Burns Harbor.

yes, both systems do, 2200.

marinetraffic has the Block upbound the Detroit River at Belle Isle with a destination of Burns Harbor.

garbear wrote:USS had a mill that was called Central Furnace when I sailed. I know the Lamont, Thomas, Williams, Pargny, and the Watson before I was on her were the usual boats into Cleveland because they were oiler burners/diesel.

Joe block has been stopped, in lake erie, for a couple of hours..........1700

I see now that they are taking their coal cargo loaded from Toledo to Burns Harbor, Indiana and are due there on December 26, 2014 at 2300 or 11 P.M. to unload. From what I can gather, the trip to Cleveland from Silver Bay and now coal from Toledo on over to Burns Harbor is a trip similar to what the ASC vessels sometimes will handle. Just wonder then if ASC might have been short on a vessel and thus the reason the Block was used instead of an ASC vessel to transport these cargoes? It just my opinion only on this.

Watching joe Block leave Toledo, on ais, they has Cleveland as the destination, on Marine traffic, they had Burns Habor. back to B/N Ais, theyt had the destination as "unspecified" some fun on Christmas Eve...

USS had a mill that was called Central Furnace when I sailed. I know the Lamont, Thomas, Williams, Pargny, and the Watson before I was on her were the usual boats into Cleveland because they were oiler burners/diesel.

All of the River Class boats do the same thing when they bring ore to Cleveland...That is to lighter at the lakefront dock then carry the remainder of the ore direct to the mill. The mill likes to receive what they call "live ore" direct from Silver Bay. There is less transfer of the pellets and less breakage to the pellets themselves. As to which ship stays and does a host of shuttle runs... I guess it is just whose ever turn it is in the barrel.

The Block was expected to arrive in Toledo at the CSX Coal Dock on Tuesday, December 23 at 7:30 p.m. to load. Anyone know to where they are taking this load to as I have not heard yet of any destinations beyond Toledo? Anyone with information is very much appreciated. Thanks.

I believe the Pathfinder/Dorothy Ann at 700 feet may be the longest to transit the river.

I believe guest is referring to the American courage being loaded too deeply to get up the Cuyahoga.

I believe the desire of "the company", perhaps Arcellor Mittal Steel, was that the Sam Laud complete her shuttles before either the JLB or American Courage came in to unload. The Block is much to long to transit the Cuyahoga. The American Courage would have had to lighten up about 2 feet before going up the river. I too am curious about what the longest vessel to have travel up to the mills that were once known as the Otis Works (J&L) or Corrigan McKinney (Republic)? Mike

How big a boat length/width can go up the Cuyahoga? I always figured something like the Joe Block was too wide for a transit.

She was loaded too deeply to get up the Cuyahoga.

I understand why the Block would wait to unload at the lake front dock, it is to large for the river and a different company. But, what is the reason for the American Courage to wait longer than the load time of the Sam Laud (4 hrs) to unload? Being the same size and with the same company, she could just go up the river and unload in the Laud's place. The Courage, ex White, is a sister ship of the Laud,, size, age, and designed for river use. Why isn't she being used accordingly? Unloading her and reloading into Laud seems like a wast of time and money. It also ties up dock space so the Joe Block has to wait to unload, costing CML money. Are these "river boats" that run shuttles, using smaller crews (cheaper to operate) than the boats running long hauls on the lakes?

With regard to the Joe Block & American Courage, I think they wanted to Sam Laud to complete several shuttles to the upper river mills before these two boats came in to the Lakefront Dock to unload. Access to the loading rig would have been an issue. It seems it takes four hours to load a river class vessel for the trip up the Cuyahoga to the mills. You can follow these operations on the AIS. Joe Block will be headed to Toledo for coal. Mike

The Joseph L. Block has been sitting off Cleveland since yesterday (Sunday 12-21) and has now been joined by the American Courage. I noticed the Sam Laud appeared to be at the Lakefront Dock yesterday and I assumed the Block was waiting for the Laud to leave, but as of this morning the Laud is in the Cuyahoga abreast Rivergate Park while the Block is still sitting out in Lake Erie. Does anyone have any insight into this? Is there no room on the dock for the cargoes of the Block and American Courage? Or are there weather issues?

They entered the St. Clair River around 7:00 p.m. on December 20 and are now downbound on the St. Clair River. Their destination and AIS says Cleveland, Ohio on December 21 at 0800. They are then scheduled into Toledo, Ohio and the CSX Coal Dock to load on Monday, December 22 in the early afternoon. This is the first time I believe that they have been to the lower lakes since 1998 when they made trips to Ashtabula and Toledo with iron ore cargos then!

This trip was originally set up to facilitate a backhall of millscale from Lorain to a South Lake Michigan steel mill owned by Arcellor Mittal. There wasn't enough product staged in Lorain to make that trip worthwhile. The steel mills in Cleveland are owned by Arcellor Mittal as are the mills in Burns Harbor and Indiana Harbor. Central Marine Logistics is a holding company for Arcellor Mittal to make the vessels, currently operating Block and Sykes, Jones Act compliant. There could be another trip to Lake Erie for JLB if there aren't any ice issues. CML likes to keep the Block out of the ice in Lake Superior toward the end of the shipping season, preferring the Escanaba / Lake Michigan run. Time will tell.