Today in Great Lakes History

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/16 - According to the fleet list on Algoma Central's 2015 annual report, the vessels Algoma Navigator, Algosoo, Algomarine, Peter R. Cresswell and Algosar are the ones to be retired this year. Algosteel is in cold layup status as a spare boat.


Mild winter must not derail effort to build another heavy icebreaker

3/16 - Cleveland, Ohio – U.S.-flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes are concerned that the mild winter of 2015/2016 will derail efforts to build a second heavy icebreaker. Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) is warning in its 2016 State of the Lakes report released Tuesday it is concerned that the mild ice season is going to lull Great Lakes shipping and those who regulate it into a false sense of security regarding icebreaking resources.

“We’ll do ourselves a great disservice if we breathe a sigh of relief, declare the winters of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 a 100-year occurrence, and say the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards have enough icebreaking resources. They don’t.”

The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015 authorizes another heavy icebreaker for the Lakes, but funds for the $200 million vessel have yet to be appropriated. The association is confident funding will come.

“The new icebreaker has lots of horsepower behind it. In the House, Reps. Candice Miller (R-MI), Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Sean Duffy (R-WI) are laser-focused on the issue. In the Senate, Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) are leading the way on it.”

In addition to a second heavy icebreaker, the association is calling for the U.S. Coast Guard to accelerate modernization of its aging 140-foot-long icebreaking tugs by moving the work from its yard in Baltimore to Great Lakes shipyards.

LCA’s State of the Lakes report also addresses last summer’s 20-day closure of the MacArthur Lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, calling it a “wake up call” that a second Poe-sized lock is desperately needed. Again, there is forward progress to report.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will produce an Economic Reevaluation Report that will reassess the lock’s benefit/cost ratio. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) called for twinning the Poe Lock in his January 2016 State of the State address. Not long after that the Ohio House of Representatives voted 93-0 to pass a resolution with the same goal. The momentum is building.”

A Department of Homeland Security report on the need for a second Poe-sized lock to connect Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway issued on March 4 forecasts almost 11 million Americans would lose their jobs if the Poe Lock was down for 6 months and the nation suffer a $1.1 trillion decrease in economic activity.

LCA remains concerned that the government has yet to enact a uniform, federal standard for ballast water and urges passage of S. 373, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act that requires vessels entering the Lakes from the oceans to treat their ballast and lakers continue to employ their time-tested best management practices.

While progress has been made on the dredging crisis, more than 17 million cubic yards of sediment still clog the Great Lakes Navigation System. LCA calls on Congress and the Administration to 1) continue to increase annual funding for dredging as called for in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 so that outlays from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) equal receipts no later than 2025; and 2) allocate 10 percent of HMTF outlay to the Lakes each year.

The association stresses that once again unfair trade in steel is having significant and negative impacts on Great Lakes shipping and its customers and urges Washington to enact and enforce trade laws that protect America from predatory trade laws.

Lake Carriers’ Association


3/16 - Milwaukee, Wis. – The U.S. Coast Guard presented the crew of the cargo ship Joseph L. Block with a lifesaving award in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Saturday.

Capt. Amy Cocanour, the Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan commander, presented the Capt. David P. Dobbins Award to Raymond Sheldon, Thomas Garvey, David Schwarz, Keith Breyfogle, Basil Friend, Joyce Greenisen, Aaron Vonsprechen, Stephen Kowalski, Michelle Fetterly, Betty Benish, Guy Curtis, Roger Long, Carlos Ledezma, Kyle Long, Jeffrey Thompson, David Morrow, Nicholas McCall, Larry Noirot, Glenn Woodford, Ronald Fey, David Deverin, Shawn Bowman, and Gary Warner for their role in saving the life of a boater in Lake Michigan, August 2015.

The Capt. David P. Dobbins Award recognizes outstanding action accomplished while conducting a search and rescue mission on the Great Lakes.

The crew of the 714-foot cargo ship diverted from its course to respond to a sinking 28-foot vessel 10 miles off of Port Washington, Wisconsin, Aug. 24, 2015. The crew hoisted the lone boater out of the frigid Lake Michigan water and safely onto the Joseph L. Block, where the man was assisted by members of the Coast Guard and Ozaukee County Marine Division.

“Despite its commercial endeavors, the crew showed initiative and dedication by saving the life of a fellow Great Lakes mariner, upholding the legacy of Capt. Dobbins,” said Cocanour.

Capt. David P. Dobbins was the first superintendent of the U.S. Lifesaving Service of the Great Lakes, and distinguished himself by performing and organizing numerous heroic rescues during his career. In memory of his heritage, initiative and dedication, the award is presented to individuals who perform distinguished search and rescue acts on the Great Lakes.

After the presentation, Cocanour introduced a representative from Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s office to share a letter he wrote to the crew honoring them for their role in the rescue.

USCG


3/16 - Grand Haven, Mich. – The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association says its mission is to preserve and interpret Michigan’s submerged maritime history. The Holland-based non-profit organization has certainly done that, since its inception in 2001.

The MSRA has found 18 Great Lakes shipwrecks, and annually look for more. It's been said that things that are lost only will be found when they want to be found.

The organization’s most recent discovery was last July when they found the John V. Moran ship, which sank off the coast of Muskegon, Michigan, in 1899. Finding the Moran was on the MSRA’s bucket list for 2015. They found the lost vessel four days after their expedition began.

It is now 2016, and spring is about to begin, which means the MSRA has already determined which lost wrecks they plan to hunt for - and hopefully discover - over the course of the next six months.

The shipwreck they hope to find this year has been one of the Great Lakes’ greatest mysteries since it was lost 87 years ago and, if ever found, is considered to be one of Lake Michigan’s “Holy Grails.”

The ship’s name was Andaste.

Read more, see photos and watch a video at www.wzzm13.com/news/local/michigan-life/long-lost-document-may-be-final-clue-to-finding-andaste/83424498


3/16 - Duluth, Minn. – Northshore Mining will reopen operations in mid-May in what is the biggest good news to hit Minnesota’s Iron Range in months. Cliffs Natural Resources announced Monday that its Northshore taconite operations, with a mine in Babbitt and processing and shipping center in Silver Bay, would restart May 15 after sitting mostly idle since November.

Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs president and CEO, said the domestic steel business is starting to pick up and steel mills are ready to buy more taconite pellets.

“As our clients’ order books improve and their need for pellets approach more normal levels, we are pleased to announce that we are bringing back to work our dedicated employees at Northshore,” Goncalves said in a statement.

Reaction was, as expected, positive among Iron Rangers who have seen a string of layoffs since early 2015.

“The sun peeked through on the Iron Range this morning,” Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said on a foggy Monday morning. “It is a big deal. A big deal.”

Bakk and other Iron Rangers said the company will call back its 540 employees gradually “in waves” to begin producing pellets in just 60 days.

“We’re very fortunate to get our people back to work. Some of them could go back as early as April 1,’’ said Scott Johnson, Silver Bay mayor.

Johnson said most of the Northshore workforce has remained the area, with older workers who had been through layoffs before helping to bolster spirits of the younger workers.

“My sense is most people stayed. The older guys have been through these cycles," he said.

“But we’re just fortunate to have this layoff end. Had it gone into May and beyond, I think a lot of the younger guys would have had to make some major life decisions on whether to stay.”

“It’s absolutely wonderful. Even the kids are happy up here because their parents are going back to work," said Andrea Zupancich, mayor of Babbitt, who said not knowing when the layoffs would end, or even if they would end, had cast a pall on the community that, like Silver Bay, was built entirely to serve the mining operations.

Most Northshore employees have been off work for several months because Cliffs customers, eastern Great Lakes steel mills, haven’t been making as much steel and don’t need the taconite iron ore pellets that Northshore produces.

That decline in U.S.-made steel has been blamed on the “dumping” of cheap foreign steel in the U.S. by Chinese and other steel companies trying to get rid of excess steel capacity they don’t need at home.

But U.S. trade officials have been taking action to impose tariffs on that illegally dumped steel, some as high as 266 percent, and steel mill utilization in the U.S. has bounced back from about 62 percent in December to more than 73.6 percent last week. That’s up 7.6 percent from the same week in 2015 and nearly 3 percent from the week before, according to new data from the American Iron and Steel Institute.

“It’s not going to be a win until we get all the mines up and running. But it’s a positive sign after months and months and months of bad news," U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told the News Tribune.

Klobuchar has worked with fellow Minnesota Democrats Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Rick Nolan to get steep trade sanctions imposed on illegally dumped steel and to step up U.S. enforcement of those sanctions.

“I am gratified and pleased to see that the pressure we’ve been putting on the (U.S. International Trade Commission), Department of Commerce and the White House to hold these cheating countries accountable is paying off,” Nolan said in a statement.

The Northshore reopening is a sign of hope after more than a year of bad news that has seen more than 2,000 steelworkers laid off, hundreds of related jobs lost and seven of the state’s 11 major mining-related businesses shut down.

“I am hopeful that this action is the first of many signs that Minnesota’s taconite industry is recovering," Franken said.

Kelsey Johnson, the newly appointed president of the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota, said the announcement Northshore would reopen “is positive news for the industry, the operation’s employees and local communities" and encouraging but that additional work is needed to stop unfairly traded steel from entering the U.S. and sapping demand for domestic steel and iron ore.

Goncalves in late January vowed to reopen Northshore and idled United Taconite in Eveleth sometime this year but stopped short of saying when. As of Monday there was still no word on when United, idled since last summer, would reopen.

In addition to Northshore and United, Cliffs also co-owns and operates Hibbing Taconite and the Empire and Tilden taconite operations in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as well as an iron mine in Australia. The financially troubled company, which is struggling to reduce its debt and rally its sagging stock price at a time when global demand is down for its ore, has in the past two years shed two Canadian iron ore mines and all of its U.S. coal holdings.

Goncalves said Northshore will resume production of a special taconite pellet in Silver Bay that can be used to make directly reduced iron — a product used to make steel in electric arc steel mills, considered a growing market. Most Minnesota taconite goes to blast furnace steel mills which have been declining in production in recent years.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton used the news Monday to urge state lawmakers to pass a bill to extend unemployment benefits for steelworkers still off the job. That bill is working through the process.

“This is great news for 540 laidoff miners who are headed back to work. But thousands of laidoff workers on the Iron Range are still hurting," Dayton said in a statement. “That is why I urge the Minnesota House of Representatives to take action this week to retroactively extend their unemployment benefits for 26 weeks.”

Cleveland-based Cliffs said it sticks by its earlier projections that it will produce about 16 million tons of taconite iron ore this year at its Minnesota and Michigan operations. The company expects to produce taconite for about $55 per ton and be able to deliver it to customers for about $60 per ton.

International iron ore prices have risen dramatically in recent weeks, from less than $40 to above $50 last week and has been as high as $63 in some Chinese markets. It closed at $57.35 per ton Friday, up 50 percent so far this year.

Duluth News Tribune


Take extra precaution on Ontario waters, Coast Guard warns

3/16 - Boaters hitting Ontario waters early this season should take extra precaution, warns the Canadian Coast Guard.

Regular boating season doesn't start until April, which means boaters are at a greater risk of life-threatening injuries should any accidents occur.

"Last year we were dealing with ice and couldn't get on the water," said Peter Garapick, superintendent of search and rescue for the Canadian Coast Guard. "This year, where boaters can put their boats in the water at the boat ramps, we've got to ask them to be sure they've done everything to be safe before they get in the water."

He cautions that lifeboat stations on the Great Lakes, Georgian Bay and St. Lawrence River don't reopen until next month.

Garapick said there are financial challenges that prevent the Coast Guard from deploying extra resources earlier than planned.

Despite the recent stretch of unseasonably warm temperatures, boaters heading out early this year should dress for much colder weather because the waters are still quite frigid, Garapick explained.

Anyone who falls in the water will still suffer from hypothermia quite quickly.

"You've got then, 10 minutes before your fingers and hands and legs go numb and you can't move," he said. "You have one hour before you're unconscious from cardiac arrest due to hypothermia."

CBC


Help wanted: Master of Isle Royale vessel Ranger III

3/16 - Licensed Master (Ranger III), Isle Royale National Park - Houghton, Mich. This position functions as Master of the Isle Royale National Park-operated vessel, Ranger III, a 165’, 650 gross ton passenger (H), tank (D) and miscellaneous cargo (I) vessel. The Ranger III provides logistical support and commercial passenger/freight service during the months of April – October to a wilderness island national park located approximately 70 miles north of park headquarters in Lake Superior. During the off-season months (November – March), this position will be duty stationed at park headquarters in Houghton, Mich. The Master is responsible for all aspects of vessel operations, administration, and maintenance.

Requirements include a Master of Steam or Motor Vessels, minimum 1,600 gross tons for the Great Lakes and Inland, First Class Pilot License and Radar Observer (unlimited) endorsement. This is a permanent-full time, federal government position, with a competitive wage and benefits package. Contact Randy Rastello, Chief of Maintenance, at [phone], for further job related information or with questions. Please email resumes/qualifications to ([e-mail]) or mail to: Isle Royale National Park, 800 E Lakeshore DR, Houghton, MI.


Today in Great Lakes History March 16 On 16 March 1901, ARGO (steel passenger/package freight propeller, 173 foot, 1,089 gross tons) was launched at the Craig Ship Building Company (Hull #81) at Toledo, Ohio, for the A. Booth Company. She left the Lakes in 1917, and was last recorded in 1938, out of Brest, France.

BUFFALO (Hull#721) was launched March 16, 1978, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin by Bay Shipbuilding Corp., for the American Steamship Co.

On 16 March 1883, The Port Huron Times announced that the passenger and package freight steamer PICKUP would be built in Marine City, Michigan and would run on the St. Clair River between Port Huron and Algonac. The machinery from the burned steamer CARRIE H. BLOOD was to be installed in her. In fact, her construction was completed that year and she went into service in September 1883. Her dimensions were 80 foot x 19 foot x 7 foot, 137 gross tons, 107 net tons.

The Niagara Harbor & Dock Company, a shipbuilding firm, was incorporated on 16 March 1831, at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

On 16 March 1886, the tug MOCKING BIRD was sold by Mr. D. N. Runnels to Mr. James Reid of St. Ignace, Michigan. Mr. Runnels received the tug JAMES L. REID as partial payment.

1924: MOHAWK of the Western Transit Co. was known as a fast ship. It was built at Detroit in 1893 and was renamed AMERICA in 1916. It was cut in two to exit the Great Lakes and re-assembled at Montreal for East Coast service. The ship was renamed BERMUDEZ in 1921 and sank in the Erie Basin at Brooklyn on March 16, 1924, with the stern resting on the bottom and the bow afloat. The hull was pumped out but scrapped at New York in January 1925.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/17 - Saginaw, Mich. – After years of declining commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River, it was encouraging to see an increase in commercial shipping traffic for the 2015 season. The following is a look back at what took place along the banks of the Saginaw River during this past year.

The 2015 shipping season officially started on April 9th, with the arrival of the tug Samuel de Champlain and her cement barge, Innovation. The pair called on the Lafarge Cement dock in Essexville, starting the season 20 days earlier than the 2014 season opener. The 2015 season came to a close on December 23rd, when Mississagi, departed the Sargent dock in Zilwaukee. This was seven days earlier than the 2014 close, for a season lasting 228 days. For 2015, there were a total of 132 commercial vessel passages. That is 22 more than the previous season. These passages were by 27 different vessels, representing 13 different companies, a decrease of four different vessels and one less shipping company as compared to the 2014 numbers.

Looking at some of the other statistics from the 2015 season, there were 14 docks receiving cargos in 2015. This was two less than in 2014, as the GM dock in Saginaw, and the Bit-Mat dock in Bay City did not receive any commercial vessel cargoes this season. The GM Dock typically received coal and the Bit-Mat dock liquid asphalt. The dock that saw the most traffic in 2015 was the Bay Aggregates Dock in Bay City, seeing 31 vessel deliveries, four more then 2014. Coming in second was the Wirt Stone Dock in Bay City, with 25 cargo deliveries, six more than the previous season, and the Wirt Stone Dock in Saginaw coming in third, with 22 cargo deliveries. These three docks accounted for 48 percent of all vessel deliveries to the Saginaw River in 2015. The top two docks, Bay Aggregates and Bay City Wirt, were top two for 2014 as well. In all, accounting for split cargos by some vessels that unloaded at two different docks on the same visit, there were 162 deliveries to the various docks along the Saginaw River. This is 41 more actual dock deliveries than in 2014.

Without question, the workhorse of the Saginaw River continues to be the tug Olive L. Moore, paired with the self-unloading barge Lewis J. Kuber. The pair made 55 trips to the river, which is 14 more trips than they made in 2014, and the most visits in a single season they have ever made to the Saginaw River. This represents 47 more visits than the next highest visitor, Algoway, which had eight. Algorail and H Lee White both had seven passages each, followed by the tug G.L. Ostrander and her cement barge, Integrity, with six. This is the ninth year in a row that the Olive L. Moore – Lewis J. Kuber have had the most passages. Over this nine-year period, they have visited the Saginaw River a total of 380 times!

Lower Lakes Towing/Grand River Navigation, as they have for a number of years now, logged the most visits by a fleet in 2015, with 63 vessel passages. This was four more than 2014, and was the ninth year in a row for LLT/GRN in the #1 position, accounting for 48 percent of the vessel passages on the Saginaw River. The next busiest fleet was the American steamship Company with 26 passages, and then in third was Algoma Central Corporation with 15. These three companies accounted for 79 percent of all deliveries on the Saginaw River in 2015.

There were a number of vessels that were visitors to the Saginaw River in 2014, that did not make a delivery here in 2015, namely John J. Boland, Dorothy Ann – Pathfinder, Defiance – Ashtabula, Michipicoten, Robert S. Pierson, Saginaw, Everlast – Norman McCloud, Harbour Feature and YM Saturn. The list of boats that were not visitors in 2014, but made a return to the Saginaw River in 2015 were: American Century, Buffalo, Walter J. McCarthy, Jr. and the Herbert C. Jackson. The Chem Norma made her first-ever delivery to the Saginaw River in 2015. The tugs Manitou, Kimberly Anne, Kathy Lynn, and Matt Allen were also visitors. The USCG cutter Hollyhock made visits to work aids to navigation in the Saginaw River Entrance Channel, and the tall ships Playfair, Pathfinder, Nina and Pinta all made visits. The tug Gregory J. Busch was also up and down the Saginaw River numerous times.

There were a few notable stories during 2015. Crews from the King Company continued maintenance dredging of the Saginaw River shipping channel, working the lower river, while crews from Dean Marine & Excavating worked out in the Saginaw Bay, dredging the entrance channel to the Kawkawlin River. Finally, as mentioned earlier, neither the GM dock in Saginaw nor the Bit-Mat dock in Bay City received any cargo deliveries by water this season. This is the first time since I have been logging vessel passages that this has happened.

The upcoming 2016 season will hopefully be a safe and profitable one for everyone involved. Ice will not be an issue to start the season and there is almost none to be found anywhere on the Great Lakes or her rivers and bays. Hopefully we will also see some vessels that have not visited in some time, as well as a few new vessels that have never made up trip up the Saginaw River. We will also see if any maintenance dredging will continue.


On 17 March 1995, a fire started on the AMERICAN MARINER's self-unloading conveyor belt from welding being done on the vessel at the Toledo Ship & Repair Company in Toledo, Ohio. About $100,000 in damage was done. The Toledo fire department had the blaze out in half an hour.

The tanker LAKESHELL reportedly leaked over 21,000 gallons of Bunker C oil into the St. Lawrence River on March 17, 1982, after suffering a crack in her cargo compartment caused by striking an ice floe.

GEORGE R. FINK was launched March 17, 1923, as a.) WORRELL CLARKSON (Hull#174) at Toledo, Ohio, by Toledo Ship Building Co., for the Kinsman Transit Co.

On 17 March 1916, CITY OF MIDLAND (wooden propeller passenger-package freighter, 176 foot, 974 tons, built in 1890, at Owen Sound, Ontario) burned at the Grand Trunk Railway dock at Collingwood, Ontario, while fitting out for the coming season. No lives were lost.

In 1945 Stadium Boat Works of Cleveland Ohio launched the SOUTH SHORE (US. 247657) for Miller Boat Line of Put-In-Bay, Ohio. She carried 6 autos and 120 passengers. In 1973, she was sold to Beaver Island Boat Company until retired at the end of the 1997 season. In April of 1999, sailed to Chicago where she was docked at the foot of Navy Pier as a storage vessel for Shoreline Cruises.

1906: SOVEREIGN, a steel hulled passenger ship that operated on the St. Lawrence in the Montreal area, was destroyed by a fire at Lachine, Quebec. The vessel was rebuilt that year as IMPERIAL and remained in service until 1928 when the boilers and hull were condemned.

1916: CITY OF MIDLAND, a passenger and freight steamer for Canada Steamship Lines, caught fire at the Grant Trunk Railway Dock in Collingwood and was a total loss.

1973: A wild late winter storm swept into Goderich off Lake Huron on March 17-18. Eleven ships got loose, while only the PATERSON (i) remained fast at the dock. It sustained bow damage when struck by fleetmate MONDOC (iii). Varying amounts of damage were inflicted to other ships.

1980: SUNPOLYNA was built in 1956 and provided service for Saguenay Shipping between Eastern Canada and the West Indies. The ship first came through the Seaway in 1963 and, on May 16, 1967, it ran aground near Thorold. It was sailing as d) TEMERAIRE when abandoned by the crew on March 17, 1980, in position 28.16 S / 21.04 W after the hull had cracked. The ship was en route from Santos, Brazil, to Mina Qaboos, Oman, and, after drifting to northwest for several days, sank on March 21.

[yachtsmanwilly]

United States now collecting tariffs on hot-rolled steel imports

3/18 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are collecting tariffs on hot-rolled steel imports from seven countries after the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a finding Tuesday they were dumping steel here.

Customs agents are charging between 3.97 percent and 49.05 percent extra on imports from Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, in anticipation of a final ruling on duties that will come this fall. Imports of hot-rolled steel from those countries– which is used to make cars, appliances and machinery – increased by 73 percent over the last few years, according to the International Trade Administration.

"The outcomes of these investigations are critical to domestic steel producers, the workforce, and surrounding communities that have been harmed by the ongoing surge of unfairly traded hot-rolled steel products," Steel Manufacturers Association President Philip K. Bell said. "Massive global overcapacity in steel is causing problems around the world, and the U.S. cannot continue to be the market of last resort for the world's overcapacity problem."

U.S. steelmakers can compete with anyone in the world, but need the federal government to ensure international trade laws are being enforced, Bell said.

ArcelorMittal, U.S. Steel and other domestic steelmakers filed the trade case in August, alleging illegal subsidies by foreign nations and steel dumped at less than it costs to make, or less than it sells for back in its home country.

"With more than 12,000 ongoing layoffs across the American steel and iron ore mining industry, plus tens-of-thousands of steelworkers jobs depending on this decision – it sends a strong signal that our government will enforce international trade laws to defend American manufacturing jobs," USW International President Leo W. Gerard said.

Gerard said China's overcapacity was causing the flood of cheap imports, which has snatched 23 percent of the market share so far this year.

"If we allow illegal trade practices to choke the American manufacturing sector and its workers, we foolishly undermine our country’s ability to compete globally, and dangerously undermine our national security," he said.

NW Indiana Times


Sen. Ron Johnson named 2016 Great Lakes Legislator of the Year

3/18 - Toledo, Ohio – Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (R) has been named 2016 Great Lakes Legislator of the Year by the largest labor/management coalition representing shipping on America’s Fourth Sea Coast.

The award is presented annually by Great Lakes Maritime Task Force (GLMTF) to a legislator who has helped advance waterborne commerce on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway and will be presented at a ceremony at Bay Shipbuilding Company in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on March 19.

“Senator Johnson has demonstrated time and again that Great Lakes shipping has his full support,” said Thomas Curelli, President of GLMTF in 2016. “From the start he has fully recognized that Great Lakes shipping is a linchpin in both the Wisconsin and national economies and called for better maintenance of ports and waterways and more effective prioritization of federal spending on dredging and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects.

Curelli, who is also Vice President of Engineering, Environmental Services and Governmental Affairs for Fraser Shipyards, Inc., noted that increased funding has enabled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the dredging backlog on the Lakes. “However, more than 17 million cubic yards of sediment still clog Great Lakes ports and waterways, so we will need Senator Johnson’s support for a provision in the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 that requires 10 percent of HMTF funding go to the Great Lakes Navigation System.”

Senator Johnson’s Chairmanship of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is another benefit to the Lakes.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ navigation locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, are critical to the Great Lakes economy,” said Brian D. Krus, 1st Vice President of GLMTF and Senior National Assistance Vice President of American Maritime Officers. “The Department of Homeland Security recently estimated that a six-month outage of the Poe Lock would result in almost 11 million unemployed Americans and a $1.1 trillion decrease in economic activity. Senator Johnson’s oversight of the nation’s critical infrastructure helps keep the Corps focused on maintaining the ‘Soo’ Locks’ critical navigation link between the Great Lakes.”

James H.I. Weakley, 2nd Vice President of GLMTF and President of Lake Carriers’ Association added that “It is appropriate that the award will be presented at a Wisconsin shipyard because domestic and military vessels provide more than 1,000 family sustaining jobs for Wisconsinites. The normal maintenance and modernization work U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleets are performing at the shipyards in Sturgeon Bay and Superior this winter are pumping approximately $50 million into the Wisconsin economy. Two repowering projects are adding another $50 million to that total.”

Protection of the environment is a top priority for Senator Johnson. Repowering vessels lessens the carbon footprint of Great Lakes shipping, but equally important is federal legislation that effectively regulates ballast water. “We appreciate Senator Johnson’s support for the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (S. 373), as it would establish a uniform, federal standard for ballast water discharges. Senator Johnson worked to ensure that Great Lakes concerns are specifically addressed in the bill.”

Senator’s Johnson focus on bolstering the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking resources on the Great Lakes was yet another reason for his selection has Great Lakes Legislator of the Year.

“Most people think icebreaking is primarily for the iron ore and coal trades,” said John D. Baker, 3rd Vice President of GLMTF and President Emeritus of the ILA’s Great Lakes District Council, “but the St. Lawrence Seaway is also heavily dependent on the Coast Guard keeping the shipping lanes open. Ocean-going vessel operators will not take the chance on being trapped on the Lakes over the winter or suffering significant ice damage when the Seaway opens in late March. Senator Johnson fully supports the Coast Guard building another heavy icebreaker and accelerating the modernization of its other icebreaking assets.”

With his selection as Great Lakes Legislator of the Year, Senator Johnson becomes the third Wisconsin legislator to receive the award since its inception in 1998. Previous recipients are Rep. David R. Obey (D) and Rep. Mark Green (R).

Lake Carriers’ Association

In 1967, under the command of Captain Ray I. McGrath, the Columbia Transportation Company's HURON (steel propeller self-unloader bulk freighter, 415 foot, 4,810 gross tons, built in 1914, at Ecorse, Michigan) cleared Fairport, Ohio, and headed to Toledo, Ohio for a load of coal. She was the first freighter to sail in the new season. She sailed on the same day that the U. S. Steel's Bradley Fleet of seven vessels started fitting out.

On 18 March 1906, the Goodrich Line's ATLANTA (wooden propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 200 foot, 1,129 gross tons, built in 1891, at Cleveland, Ohio) was sailing from Sheboygan, Wisconsin for Milwaukee. When she was 14 miles south of Sheboygan, fire was discovered in the aft hold and quickly spread to the engine room. She ran out of steam, making the fire pumps inoperable. There were 65 persons aboard and Capt. Mc Cauley gave the order to abandon. The fish tug TESSLER came to help and only one life was lost. As the TESSLER was steaming to port, the Goodrich Line's GEORGIA came into view and took on all of the survivors. The hull of the ATLANTA was beached by the TESSLER. Later, the burned hull was purchased by D. O. Smith of Port Washington.

ARSENE SIMARD (Hull#404) was launched March 18, 1972, at Sorel, Quebec, by Marine Industries Ltd., for Branch Lines Ltd.

PERE MARQUETTE 21 (Hull#209) was launched March 18, 1924, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. She was christened by Mrs. Charles C. West, wife of the president of Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co.

The straight-deck bulk carrier SYLVANIA (Hull#613) was launched March 18, 1905, at West Bay City, Michigan by West Bay City Ship Building Co., for the Tomlinson Fleet Corp.

On 18 March 1890, CITY OF CHICAGO (steel sidewheeler, 211 foot, 1,073 gross tons) was launched at West Bay City, Michigan by F. W. Wheeler & Co. (Hull#68) for the Graham & Morton Line. CITY OF CHICAGO was lengthened to 226 feet at Wheeler's yard one year later (1891). She was again lengthened in 1905-06, this time to 254 feet. On the same day and at the same yard the 3-mast wooden schooner A.C. TUXBURY was stern launched.

On 18 March 1928, M. T. GREENE (wooden propeller freighter, 155 foot, 524 gross tons, built in 1887, at Gibraltar, Michigan) burned to a total loss near Brigdeburg, Ontario, on the Niagara River.

1923 The wooden steamer JAMES P. DONALDSON was built in 1880 and often worked in the lumber trade. At the end, it was used by N.M. Paterson & Sons Ltd. to bring wet grain to the company elevator for drying. The ship caught fire at the Canadian Lakehead on this date and the remains were sunk off Isle Royale, Lake Superior, on May 6, 1923.

1991 The Canadian Coast Guard ship GRIFFON collided with the fishing trawler CAPTAIN K. sinking it in Lake Erie. Three lives were lost.

[yachtsmanwilly]

The c.) CHEMICAL MAR of 1966 sustained severe damage when sulfuric acid leaked into the pump room while she was discharging her cargo at the island of Curacao on March 21, 1982. Flooding occurred later and the vessel was declared a constructive total loss. She was scrapped at Brownsville, Texas in 1983. From 1979 until 1981, CHEMICAL MAR was named b.) COASTAL TRANSPORT for the Hall Corp. of Canada. She never entered the lakes under that name.

NOTRE DAME VICTORY was floated from the drydock on March 21, 1951, three months and two days after she entered the dock, and was rechristened b.) CLIFFS VICTORY.

MARLHILL was launched on March 21, 1908, as a.) HARRY A. BERWIND (Hull#40) at Ecorse, Michigan by Great Lakes Engineering Works for G. A. Tomlinson of Duluth, Minnesota.

Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s GEORGE F. BAKER was sold to the Kinsman Marine Transit Co., Cleveland, Ohio on March 21, 1965, and renamed b) HENRY STEINBRENNER.

On 21 March 1874, the two schooners NORTH STAR and EVENING STAR were launched at Crosthwaite's shipyard in East Saginaw, Michigan. They were both owned by John Kelderhouse of Buffalo, New York.

On 21 March 1853, GENERAL SCOTT (wooden side-wheeler, 105 foot, 64 tons, built in 1852, at Saginaw, Michigan) was tied up to her dock on the Saginaw River when she was crushed beyond repair by ice that flowed down the river during the spring breakup. One newspaper report said that while the vessel was being cleaned up for the new navigation season, a seacock was left open and she sank before the spring breakup.

1959: The retired sidewheel steamer WESTERN STATES, known as S.S. OVERNIGHTER, caught fire while waiting to be scrapped in 1959. The vessel had last sailed in 1950 and had briefly served as a flotel at Tawas, MI, before being sold for scrap. Final demolition of the hull was completed at Bay City later in the year.

1970: The West German freighter WILHELM NUBEL made one trip through the Seaway in 1959. It sustained machinery failure as c) SAN GERASSIMOS following an engine room fire on this date in 1970. The vessel was traveling from Galatz, Romania, to Lisbon, Portugal, with a cargo of maize and had to be abandoned by the crew. While taken in tow by the tanker STAVROS E., the ship sank in heavy weather in the Ionian Sea.

1998: Three crewmembers were killed by phosphine gas when they went to assess flooding damage in #1 hold after the MARIA A. encountered heavy weather on the South Atlantic. The ship, en route from Argentina to Jordan with wheat, put into Paranagua, Brazil for repairs. The ship had been a Seaway caller as RIGHTEOUS beginning in 1979 and as AFSAR in 1986. While renamed ARIA later in 1998, the British built bulk carrier was never repaired and was either scuttled or scrapped.

3/20 - Tuesday at 8 a.m. Vessel Traffic Service St. Marys River will open the waters between Nine Mile Point and Sawmill Point also known as the West Neebish Channel.

Also on Tuesday USCGC Mackinaw will transit down the West Neebish Channel then up the Middle Neebish Channel to position check Aids to Navigation in advance of Friday’s Soo Locks opening and the start of the 2016 Great Lakes navigation season. There will be no interruption to Neebish Island ferry service.

USCG


3/20 - Green Bay, Wis. – The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing to investigate a September incident near Chambers Island when more than 30 boats were damaged in a sudden wake.

According to the Department of Natural Resources report, on Sept. 5 a wake that came into North Bay of Chambers Island – possibly caused by a passing littoral combat ship (LCS), the USS Milwaukee – struck the more than 30 boats. Many of the boats near the island’s shore were tethered together. The ship, which was being constructed at Marinette Marine at the time, was undergoing sea trials when the incident occurred.

Just before the USS Milwaukee passed Chambers Island, another ship, a Canadian laker Algoway, passed through on its way to Green Bay.

According to a 228-page DNR report, “Based upon statements and videos obtained, it is very unlikely that the wake that was produced by the Algoway was the wake that caused the damage to the boats in North Bay.”

DNR conservation warden Mike Neal conducted the investigation. The report includes statements from boat owners, a report from the operator of the USS Milwaukee, diagrams of the incident, and photos of damage. The report also included several videos of the incident.

Videos provided by the DNR at first show large waves gently rocking the boats. Moments later larger waves cause boats to collide and people on the shore of Chambers Island to be knocked over. Screams can be heard as large waves hit the shore. One person suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the incident.

According to the report, more than 50 people were involved in the incident. Of the boat owners, only 22 people contacted Neal with information and damage estimates. The estimates totaled $170,140.98.

The reports ends with a statement about how state law requires operators to operate boats "in a safe manner" and not to "produce a hazardous wake or wash." If this occurs the operator of the boat "is responsible for any damages that are caused by creating such a wake or wash."

According to the Door County District's Attorney's office, District Attorney Raymond Pelrine and Neal discussed the case but it was never referred to the office for criminal charges.

From the DNR's investigation it was determined the county did not have jurisdiction in this case because of where the wake started, said Chris Groth, DNR conservation warden supervisor.

“The wake that hit the shoreline was probably generated in Michigan,” Groth said. This does not mean that charges may not be brought in the future.

The Wisconsin DNR only handles recreational boat accidents, Groth said. The Coast Guard handles commercial boat incidents like the USS Milwaukee. The Coast Guard is still looking into the incident, said Ensign Zach Hall, assistant public affairs officer at Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan.

“Unfortunately the investigation is still ongoing at this time, so I can’t give you much more information than that,” Hall said.

Green Bay Press Gazette


How preservationists hope to get 114-year-old steamship running up Hudson River

3/20 - It sounds like the perfect pitch for an idyllic summer afternoon, for New Yorkers and visitors alike. During a humid Saturday, escape Manhattan not via a stuffy train or traffic-clogged highway, but on a breezy day trip aboard a vintage steamship. While en route to scenic points along the Hudson River, travelers onboard can gaze at gorgeous scenery while sailing upriver, perhaps after staking out a spot on the on-deck beer garden. In the evening, after enjoying towns such as Beacon or West Point, guests can float home while entertaining themselves on the open-air ballroom, appointed in turn-of-the-century decor.

It sounds like a great idea, except that it isn’t new. Regular passenger boats, specifically the Hudson Dayliner, used to sail up and down the river as recently as the early 1970s. And, if the preservationists and boat fanatics behind the S.S. Columbia Project have their way, it’s an idea whose (second) time has come. According to Liz McEnaney, the executive director of the organization, which seeks to restore a vintage steamship for just such a route, recent developments in New York only reinforce the populist push to rediscover the waterfront. What better way to experience the city and state’s surfeit of scenery than on board a boat?

"Look at the recent success of Brooklyn Bridge Park," she says. "There’s a movement of people wanting to get out on the water."

If all goes to plan, the group will be able to satisfy some of that demand, perhaps as early as next summer. After years of effort, including millions in fundraising and extensive restoration, the group recently transported a vintage passenger steamship from Detroit to Buffalo, New York, a partially repaired, turn-of-the-century vessel they hope can sail up the Hudson River by the middle of 2017. The organization has raised $4 of the $5 million needed to get the boat to New York City, after which they expect to spend up to five years and additional millions (perhaps up to $18 million in total) restoring the ship to its former glory at a boatyard in Kingston, New York.

The non-profit S.S. Columbia Project, incorporated in 2002, came about due to the efforts of Richard Anderson, a New York art dealer who was obsessed with the dayliners that used to run along the Hudson and wanted to find a way to recreate the experience.

"When we present our plan to older crowds of New Yorkers who are in their 70s and 80s, they remember the commercials," says McEnaney.

Anderson found what he believes was the answer in Detroit, the S.S. Columbia, a 207-foot-long vessel which had been decommissioned in 1991, and sat docked and decaying behind a steel plant. While the current state of the main deck—which not too long ago was covered in peeled paint the texture of phyllo dough—doesn’t suggest it, this boat was once a grand dame, a famous passenger ferry that brought visitors to Boblo Island and a now-closed amusement park. Originally designed by Frank Kirby and Lewis O. Keil, a celebrated marine architect and interior designer, the vessel was one of many luxury wooden steamships designed by the duo, boasting five decks, Corinthian pilasters, mahogany panels and leaded glass, as well as a nearly 10,000-square-foot, open-air ballroom.

In the later half of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century, steamships like these crisscrossed waterways across the northeast, the north’s answer to Mississippi River paddlewheelers. The "white flyer" passenger steamers that ran up the Hudson were known nationwide. The Columbia, the oldest of these boats still running, offers a connection to this lost era of transportation.

When Anderson and other supporters bought the ship more than a decade ago, however, it was a fixer-upper of epic proportions. Detroit preservationists, especially William Worden, had tried and failed to restore the boat year earlier, though they did get it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While Anderson passed away three years ago, other supporters took up the cause, finally raising enough to move the Columbia from Michigan.

When the ship was finally moved in steps to New York state, first to the Ironhead shipyard in Toledo, Ohio, where it sat for the better part of a year, and then across Lake Erie to Buffalo last September, it needed plenty of attention. At one point, the wooden vessel was wrapped in plastic, and shrink-wrapping is perhaps the worst way to treat a timber ship. Two tons of zebra mussels were removed from the double hull, which left parts of the ship below the waterline looking more "swiss cheese" than McEnaney and others would have liked. That led to an extensive replacement of more than two-thirds of the hull, along with 950 steel rivets (the steel skeleton remains in remarkably good condition). After the ship was parked in Buffalo for the winter, the group, afraid of the damage that might come from a frigid winter, built trusses to support the ship in case of snow accumulation. Manhattan-based McEnaney, whose phone was set to show Buffalo weather, was happy this year saw little snowfall.

This year, as it remains docked in Buffalo, the boat will host a site-specific theater piece—a "great way to get people on the boat"—and hopefully attract enough attention to finish the final funding push for the move.

The S.S. Columbia has a circuitous journey ahead of it. Too big to take the Erie Canal, it will journey across the Niagara River, through the Welland Canal and onto Lake Erie, past the Thousand Islands, through Quebec, around the coast of Maine, and come through New York harbor. It’s an exciting trip for a boat that spent most of its life on the Detroit River, as well as those, like the Coast Guard, who followed its slow progression east.

"Even the Coast Guard rarely sees a 114-year-old steam ship," says McEnaney. "That’s something really special."

Talking to McEnaney about the multi-year project, it’s clear the organization is prepared for a long restoration, but also impatient to let others experience the S.S. Columbia. That’s why they’re planning a phased restoration, with planned runs on the Hudson before the entire structure is restored. The idea is to replicate an archeological-like experience, so people can see progress as they ride.

For a ship that was basically a glorified ferry and party boat for most of its life, the S.S. Columbia Project has high hopes for the role of the restored steamship: an educational center teaching STEM subjects, a cultural and arts venue presenting floating exhibitions, as well as a driver for tourism and a means to connect the city to the Hudson Valley.

The final step in the boat’s journey hopefully comes next year, when it gets docked at the boatyards in Kingston, New York, 90 miles up the Hudson, for the beginning of the multi-year restoration project. With a $1.2 million grant from the state, the process of bringing the ship back to its former glory will be much like restoring a classic hotel or older building. The organization even found original 1902 blueprints for the ship, another part of the past helping get this boat on the water once more.

"We’ve been left with this gift of a roadmap," says McEnaney.

Curbed.com


On 20 March 1885, MICHIGAN (Hull#48), (iron propeller passenger-package freight steamer, 215 foot, 1,183 tons) of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad was sunk by ice off Grand Haven, Michigan.

The sidewheeler NEW YORK was sold Canadian in 1877, hopefully at a bargain price, because when she was hauled out on the ways on 20 March 1878, at Rathburn's yard in Kingston, Ontario, to have her boiler removed, her decayed hull fell apart and could not be repaired. Her remains were burned to clear the ways.

On 20 March 1883, the E. H. MILLER of Alpena, Michigan (wooden propeller tug, 62 foot, 30 gross tons, built in 1874, at East Saginaw, Michigan) was renamed RALPH. She was abandoned in 1920.

1938: ¬ A fire of an undetermined cause destroyed the passenger steamer CITY OF BUFFALO while it was fitting out for the 1938 season at the East 9th St. Pier in Cleveland The blaze began late the previous day and 11 fire companies responded. The nearby CITY OF ERIE escaped the flames, as did the SEEANDBEE.

2011” ¬ The Indian freighter APJ ANJLI was built in 1982 and began visiting the Great Lakes in 1990. It was sailing as c) MIRACH, and loaded with 25,842 tons of iron ore, when it ran aground 3 miles off the coast of India on March 20, 2011. Four holds were flooded and the crew of 25 was removed. The hull subsequently broke in two and was a total loss.


3/19 - Port Huron, Mich. – The city of Port Huron could be getting some help keeping the Black River Canal open. Port Huron City Manager James Freed has proposed Port Huron Township and Fort Gratiot help foot up to half of the cost of the dredging, and in return their residents get access to Lakeside Park at city rates.

Freed said it costs the city about $25,000 to $30,000 a year to dredge the canal, although it could be more or less depending on weather. When the canal fills with sediment at its Lake Huron end it becomes impassable for boaters.

Under the proposed agreement, the townships would each pay 25 percent of the canal’s dredging costs, with a cap at $8,500. The city would cover the remaining cost.

Steve Bruen, a member of the Black River Boat Club in Port Huron Township near the canal, said he’s glad the townships and city are looking at covering costs to dredge together.

“They do dig it out, but then it fills in, depending on how the winds and storms are out on the lake. Sometimes it fills in pretty quickly,” he said of the canal. “It’s used a lot. If you were ever out there particularly on a weekend on the lake near the mouth, there’s just a steady stream of boats.”

All three municipal boards will have to approve it for it to go into effect.

“This should make members of the boating community very, very happy,” Freed said. “It’s these types of collaborative efforts (that show) what good things can come from us working together and how we can find solutions to common problems.”

Port Huron Times Herald

Shoaling present at Little Lake Harbor

3/19 - Little Lake Harbor has shoaled to less than four feet across the entrance between Little Lake Harbor Light "2" (LLNR 14540) and Little Lake Harbor Light "3" (LLNR 14545). The aids to navigation will continue to be maintained, however transiting into this harbor is not recommended due to the shoaling.

Gray’s Reef Passage to open
Captain of the Port Sault Ste. Marie will open Gray’s Reef Passage Monday at 8 a.m. Aids to Navigation in Gray’s Reef Passage have been position checked and found to be on station watching properly.

USCG



W. R. STAFFORD (wooden propeller bulk freighter, 184 foot, 744 gross tons, built in 1886, at W. Bay City, Michigan) was freed from the ice at 2:00 a.m. on 19 March 1903, by the Goodrich Line’s ATLANTA. When the STAFFORD was freed, the ice then closed around the ATLANTA and imprisoned her for several hours. Both vessels struggled all night and finally reached Grand Haven, Michigan, at 5 a.m. They left for Chicago later that day in spite of the fact that an ice floe 2 miles wide, 14 miles long and 20 feet deep was off shore.

CARTIERCLIFFE HALL was launched March 19, 1960, as a.) RUHR ORE (Hull # 536) at Hamburg, Germany, by Schlieker-Werft Shipyard.

INDIANA HARBOR (Hull#719) was launched March 19, 1979, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by Bay Shipbuilding Corp.

CITY OF GREEN BAY was launched March 19, 1927, as a.) WABASH (Hull#177) at Toledo, Ohio, by Toledo Ship Building Co., for the Wabash Railway Co.

ALFRED CYTACKI was launched March 19, 1932, as a.) LAKESHELL (Hull#1426) at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd.

On 19 March 1886, the PICKUP (wooden passenger/package freight steamer, 80 foot, 136 gross tons, built in 1883, at Marine City, Michigan, was renamed LUCILE. She lasted until she sank off the Maumee River Light (Toledo Harbor Light), Toledo, Ohio, Lake Erie, on August 8, 1906.

1916 The canal-sized PORT DALHOUSIE saw only brief service on the Great Lakes. It was built in England as TYNEMOUNT in 1913 and came to Canada as PORT DALHOUSIE in 1914. It left for saltwater in 1915 and was torpedoed and sunk by UB-10 while carrying steel billets to Nantes, France. It went down March 19, 1916, south and west of the Kentish Knock Light vessel and 12 lives were lost.

1978 BELKARIN was a Norwegian cargo carrier that made one trip inland in 1963. It struck a sunken warship in Suez Bay on March 19, 1978, as c) NAHOST JUMBO and the engine room was holed. The vessel, en route from Aqaba, Jordan, to Holland, settled in shallow water. The hull was refloated in January 1979 and sold for scrap.

1990 On March 19, an explosion in a container on board the Norwegian freighter POLLUX at La Baie, QC, killed two sailors, seriously injured a third as well as 7 Alcan dock employees. The ship made its first trip up the Seaway coming to to Port Weller Dry Docks May 18 for repairs. It was renamed there and left the lakes in August as d) NOMADIC POLLUX. This ship returned inland in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and was back as e) BALTICLAND in May 2004.

1993 An explosion and fire rocked the tanker SHIOKAZE in the North Sea en route to Rotterdam killing one member of the crew. The vessel had first been a Seaway trader in 1986 and returned in 1998 as DILMUN TERN bound for Hamilton with palm oil. It was scrapped, after 30 years of service, arriving at Alang, India, on June 14, 2010, as c) THERESA III.

2002 A hull crack of close to 13 feet was found on LAKE CARLING off Cape Breton Island while traveling from Sept-Iles to Trinidad with iron ore. Originally ZIEMIA CIESZYNSKA, the vessel first came to the Great Lakes in 1993 and was renamed LAKE CARLING at Chicago in October. The crack widened to 25 feet before the vessel could reach safety but the damage was repaired and it returned to service. The original name was restored in 2004 and the vessel was last on the lakes in 2009.

2003 A fire in the after end of the CALEDONIA on the Heddle Dry Dock in Hamilton was contained to one deck. The vessel was there for conversion to a sailing ship and the work was eventually completed. The ship had visited the Great Lakes as the coastal freighter PETREL in the late 1970s but was much more at home around Maritime Canada and Hudson Bay. As a sailing ship, it carries 77 passengers and visits Caribbean ports.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/22 - Duluth, Minn. – The first two U.S.-flag lakers are on schedule to depart the Port of Duluth-Superior Tuesday, signaling the start of the 2016 commercial shipping season at this, the farthest inland port on the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system.

Between 3:30–4 a.m., the Edwin H. Gott is scheduled to move from its winter berth at the Clure Public Marine Terminal and pass beneath Duluth’s famed Aerial Bridge en route to the CN Dock in Two Harbors to fuel and load iron ore pellets. Shortly thereafter, another ship in the Great Lakes Fleet, the Philip R. Clarke, also will fuel and head to Two Harbors.

Both vessels, with deliveries to make to steel mills on the lower lakes, will proceed across Lake Superior toward Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to line up in a downbound queue to await the opening of the Soo Locks at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, March 25. [Note: The Welland Canal opened at 8 a.m. Monday; the Montreal/Lake Ontario section of the St. Lawrence Seaway opens Wednesday.]

The Paul R. Tregurtha, which spent winter layup at the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal, is scheduled to load coal there on Thursday before departing that evening for the St. Clair Power Plant in Michigan. Two additional vessels that wintered over in the Twin Ports –Kaye E. Barker and American Century – are scheduled to depart later this month. Herbert C. Jackson, which is undergoing a major repowering project at Fraser Shipyards, won’t sail until sea trials are completed in June.

From the list of vessels heading upbound through the Soo Locks, it looks like the port will welcome its first two inbound lakers over the weekend with anticipated arrivals of the Stewart J. Cort and the Burns Harbor on Saturday. The first Canadian laker should arrive early next week. It’s difficult to predict with any certainty at this point in time the arrival of the port’s first saltie, which must still cross the Atlantic and transit the full length of the waterway.

All vessel arrival/departure times are estimates and may change without notice.

Hopes are tonnages will improve this season.

“Despite warm temps and virtually ice-free conditions across the Lakes, we couldn’t compensate for the downturn in iron ore last year. Sub-par growth in China coupled with the dumping of foreign steel into U.S. markets caused a commodity recession across the board. Those declines in production at mines and mills are reflected in overall 2015 tonnage for the Port of Duluth-Superior being off more than 12 percent last year,” said Vanta Coda, Duluth Seaway Port Authority executive director.

“There are still some formidable challenges along the Great Lakes, but nowhere near what the fleets were facing last year,” he added. “Our Congressional delegation led the charge in taking significant trade action in the past six months which has made huge inroads with unfair global trade practices. We all anticipate a slow start to the 2016 shipping season as headwinds still exist in commodity pricing, but the steel market and U.S. producers should begin to stabilize this year.”

Duluth Seaway Port Authority


Hat tipped to a new Seaway shipping season

3/22 - St. Catharines, Ont. – The Thunder Bay moved through Lock 3 on the Welland Canal Monday, marking the opening of what promises to be an unsettled season of shipping on the Great Lakes.

The ship was carrying a load of road salt from Windsor to Bowmanville and is making the first transit of the canal two weeks early this year. Whether that early start is a harbinger of good things to come remains to be seen.

Terry Bowles, president and CEO of St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., was optimistic in addressing an audience gathered at the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre for the Top Hat Ceremony, which celebrates the opening of the navigation season on the canal.

Bowles emphasized that the seaway serves as a vital trade artery. The early spring is a bonus. Last year at this time the lakes were clogged with ice.

“We certainly welcome the warmer weather,” Bowles said. “A return to an opening in the third week of March provides our clients with the opportunity to move cargo in a timely manner, and make the most of the navigation season.”

Allister Paterson, president of Canada Steamship Lines, which owns the Thunder Bay, said the forecast for shippers is “pretty gloomy.” Statistics back that up. The seaway handled almost 9.5 per cent less traffic by tonnage in 2015 compared to 2014.

Paterson said an economic slowdown in China is having an impact on shipping worldwide. The industry underwent an expansion and added ships to its fleets when China’s economy was booming. “With China slowing down, we have too many ships chasing not enough cargo,” he said.

Bowles believes there is reason for optimism on the seaway. A lower Canadian dollar may spur more Canadian exports this year.

“The combination of a rebound in Canadian manufacturing activity, a solid U.S. economy, and the prospect of more trade with Europe brings about several catalysts which may boost seaway tonnage,” said Bowles.

Patterson praised the seaway corporation’s modernization program, which Bowles said is now more than 50 per cent complete. Upgrading locks with hands-free mooring is an example, Bowles said.

“We are making steady progress in bringing about gains in efficiency and safety for all concerned, ensuring a highly competitive transportation system for years to come,” he added.

Francois Allard, director of marine distribution for K+S Windsor Salt Ltd., told Monday’s crowd the seaway transportation network is the most cost-effective way to reach markets and it minimizes the impact on the environment.

The Thunder Bay’s trip to Bowmanville takes almost 1,000 truckloads off Ontario highways, he said.

“It’s important that all levels of government continue to invest in infrastructure along this waterway, and we applaud the modernization of the lock system.”

The Top Hat Ceremony is held annually at Lock 3. The museum presents a top hat to the captain of the first ship through the waterway. This year it was to Capt. Jason Church.

Museum director Kathleen Powell the said the top hat harkens back to the days of the canal’s founder, William Hamilton Merritt. He would likely have worn one at the first opening of the canal in 1829.

St. Catharines Standard


Port of Milwaukee director expects steady 2016

3/22 - Milwaukee, Wis. – Port of Milwaukee director Paul Vornholt expects shipping volumes to be about the same this year as they were in 2015 when roughly 2.3 million metric tons came through the port.

“That’s probably a good outlook for us,” he said, noting that downturns in the energy sector and other markets make for a challenging environment.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is opening this week, marking the start of the 2016 shipping season. Vornholt said the two lake freighters currently at the port will be heading out today or tomorrow in advance of the complete opening of the seaway.

Vornholt said mild winter means this year’s opening is a little on the early side, but the season usually gets underway by the end of March.

The 2,286,285 million metric tons shipped in 2015 was a decrease of just over 11 percent from 2014. Despite the decrease, Vornholt said he still expects the port will return over $1 million to the city when it finalizes its record keeping later this year.

Vornholt said the challenge for the port is to remain competitive with all modes of transportation. While the seaway offers an advantage on logistics, he said the port also has to compete with east coast ports when cargo can be sent via rail or truck.

He highlighted two examples from 2015 where the logistics of shipping via the seaway were an advantage. One was a 40-foot high rotary kiln manufactured in West Allis and sent to Ontario, Canada. The other was two mining shovels, one from Caterpillar and another from Joy Global, sent to South Africa and Sweden respectively.

Vornholt said the port is very susceptible to the broader economy and changes in industries like manufacturing and construction can alter the port’s performance.

Milwaukee Business News

Ore puncher Reuben Pingel, 102, a living tribute to a bygone era

3/22 - Ashland, Wis. – The south shore of Chequamegon Bay is silent now. Long gone are the five ore docks and eight coal and lumber docks that once lined the shore and bustled with activity. Gone too are the burly, hardworking musclemen who manned these docks from about 1871 to 1965.

In a way, these men were the real Ashland Oredockers. But around town they were known simply as, “ore punchers” or “barmen.” Reuben Pingel was an ore puncher. And at 102, he is the oldest and the last surviving man in Ashland who punched ore fulltime for a living.

“I think so, too,” Reuben said of his place in Ashland’s history. Troubled by bad knees, Reuben has been a resident of Court Manor for five years, but his mind seems as sharp and strong as his body once was.

Reuben punched ore on the Chicago Northwestern dock No. 3. There were three Northwestern docks at one time, all made of wood, unlike the Soo Line dock, built in 1916 of concrete and steel.

Pilings from the old wooden docks still poke out of the water, serving as headstones to mark this long-dead industry. Only the base of the 1,800-foot Soo Line dock – once Ashland’s gleaming signature piece on the lakefront – remains.

Reuben worked as an ore puncher from 1953-’56. He also worked from 1948-’57 as a shoemaker in Ashland. And he had a 14-year career as a sailor on the Great Lakes (1937-’47 and 1957-’59), serving as a second assistant engineer. His first ship was the SS Pontiac.

During World War II, Reuben tried to enlist in the armed forces, but was denied. He was told his work as a sailor, delivering iron ore to make steel to fuel the war effort, was service enough.

In 1958, Reuben served as a crew member on the maiden voyage of the ill-fated SS Edmund Fitzgerald. In fact, before that voyage, Reuben had worked on the Fitzgerald in a shipyard in River Rouge, Mich., making the vessel fit for the Great Lakes.

In 1956, when work closed down on the Northwestern dock, Reuben too shut down his ore-punching career. Reuben and his buddies in the ore-punching fraternity knew the true meaning of hard, back-breaking work, with 10-12-hour shifts, sometimes seven days a week.

These men did not punch ore with kid gloves. Instead, they used eight-foot-long steel bars that weighed more than 30 pounds. No need to work out at home, because their job was to pump iron all day long.

“They were real heavy,” Reuben said of the bars. When asked how heavy, he just grinned and said, “too heavy.”

To do their work, the ore punchers perched precariously on eight-inch wooden planks atop the ore cars. Each car had a trap door at the bottom that, when opened, would allow the iron ore to fall down into the huge pockets on the sides of the ore dock. More often than not, the ore refused to cooperate. So the ore punchers used those heavy bars to literally punch the stubborn ore that would sometimes clog the opening at the bottom of each car.

“It was terrible,” Reuben recalled. “Sometimes it was just about like concrete.” And it was extremely dangerous work, too.

“You had to be pretty careful how you stood on those little planks.” Reuben recalled. “Oh, it was dangerous on those planks with the bars. You had to be careful all the time.”

Reuben said he never feared for his life, but recalled “some of the men I was with had some pretty close calls. At least one got killed. If you jammed at something with it (the bar) and you missed it, the bar might pull you right in on it.”

Often, Reuben said, the bar would slip from a puncher’s hands, “and they were gone down in the chute.” There is, no doubt, an impressive collection of these steel bars resting forever at the bottom of Chequamegon Bay.

The ore cars were mammoth, standing 10-feet high and each able to hold 55 tons of iron ore. Train engines would push the cars out on the docks in what were called “shoves” of 25 cars at a time. The Northwestern dock, made of Douglas fir, was built to hold four shoves, or 100 cars at a time.

During World War II and the Korean War, the Northwestern dock would often load four ore boats at a time; two on each side. Often battling stiff, cold winds, the ore punchers did their high-wire act more than 70 feet above the water line. There were sheds on the docks where the men took shelter for lunch or when it rained, Reuben said.

“Usually you just waited for the weather to clear,” he said. “It usually didn’t take too long before you went out again.”

Surprisingly, Reuben said he was not worn out at the end of the long workday. “Not really,” he said. “You just had to, I don’t know, make it go.”

In the spring of 1933, Reuben was a member of the second class to graduate from DePadua, a high school in Ashland that existed from 1928-1967.

Reuben, who never smoked, was an outstanding basketball player at DePadua. He was an imposing 6-foot-4 center with broad shoulders and huge hands. At 102, his handshake is still strong and firm.

At DePadua he teamed with some of the better basketball players in the school’s history; men such as John Simmons and Ray Kuzzy Sr. Simmons became a local legend as an athlete and was a masterful pool player. To shoot pool against Simmons was a guaranteed opportunity to lose money.

And it was Simmons, a wheelsman on the Fitzgerald, who perished with 28 of his shipmates when she sank in Lake Superior in 530 feet of water on Nov. 10, 1975. When lost, the Fitzgerald was just 17 miles from safe harbor in Whitefish Bay.

In 1959, Reuben made the decision to quit sailing, a career choice that, unwittingly, might have saved his life. “My appointment was to be on the Fitzgerald, second assistant engineer, when I quit. That was 1959, I think,” Reuben said.

His family played a huge role in that decision. As his son, Tom, said: “Mom hauled him home. The boys were getting a little rowdy.”

Reuben Pingel said he could not recall how much he was paid as an ore puncher, but he remembers the job and what he liked the least.

“The work!” he said, drawing laughter from those around him. But it was a good job, he said, and more important, it employed a lot of men looking to feed their families.

His son, Tom, remembers his dad, in bib overalls stained with iron ore, coming home from a long day on the dock. “He had bibs on and they were always red,” Tom said.

In the winter, Reuben did repair and maintenance work on the dock to prepare for the next season. That too, was a dangerous proposition.

“I was on a bridge crew during the winter time. I was throwing a chain over a bar and it flipped and caught me here,” he said, pointing between his eyes. “And it split my head open a little bit.”

Gainful, steady employment and being able to provide for his family were the best things about ore punching.

But Reuben – a get-to-the-point, honest man – won’t pretend that ore punching was a glorious profession. In the twilight of his life he doesn’t see himself as heroic or special for playing a part in Ashland’s ore-shipping history. It was a job. And he said, matter-of-factly, “it was just another thing that comes along.”

Looking back on his days as an ore puncher, Reuben remembers, “The danger of it. Those heavy bars.” And he remembers the end of an era.

“The last few years they got a shaker,’’ Reuben said of a device that clamped onto the ore cars and freed up the ore with vibrations. “So instead of everybody barring all the stuff down, they shook it down.” When the shakers came on the scene fewer and fewer men were needed to punch the ore, Reuben said.

Those ore punchers have long ago faded from the scene and onto the pages of Ashland’s history. They’re all gone now, save one.

Long live Reuben Pingel.

Ashland Daily Press



On 22 March 1922, the Goodrich Transit Company purchased the assets and properties of the Chicago, Racine and Milwaukee Steamship Company. This sale included two steamers: ILLINOIS (steel propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 240 foot, 2,427 gross tons, built in 1899, at S. Chicago, Illinois) and PILGRIM (iron propeller passenger/package freight steamer, 209 foot, 1,921 gross tons, built in 1881, at Wyandotte, Michigan).

The GULF MACKENZIE sailed light March 22, 1977, on her maiden voyage from Sorel to Montreal, Quebec.

The tanker COMET (Hull#705) was launched March 22, 1913, at Lorain, Ohio by American Ship Building Co. for the Standard Transportation Co. of New York.

THOMAS W. LAMONT (Hull#184) was launched March 22, 1930, at Toledo, Ohio by Toledo Shipbuilding Co. for the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.

March 22, 1885 - The Goodrich steamer MICHIGAN was crushed in heavy ice off Grand Haven, Michigan and sank. Captain Redmond Prindiville was in command, Joseph Russell was the first mate.

On 22 March 1873, TYPO, a wooden schooner/canaller, was launched at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She cost $25,000 and was commanded by Captain William Callaway.

On 22 March 1871, Engineer George Smith and two firemen were badly scalded on the propeller LAKE BREEZE when a steam pipe they were working on blew away from the side of the boiler. They were getting the engines ready for the new shipping season.

On 22 March 1938, CITY OF BUFFALO (steel side-wheeler passenger/package freight vessel, 340 foot, 2,940 gross tons, built in 1896, at Wyandotte, Michigan) caught fire during preparations for the spring season while at her winter moorings at the East Ninth Street dock in Cleveland, Ohio. She was totally gutted. The hulk was towed to Detroit for conversion to a freighter, but this failed to materialize. She was cut up for scrap there in 1940.

On 22 March 1987, the pilothouse of the 1901, steamer ALTADOC, which was used as a gift shop and 2-room hotel near Copper Harbor, Michigan, was destroyed by fire.

1973: The Swedish built NORSE VARIANT first came to the Great Lakes in 1965 just after completion. On March 22, 1973, the vessel was en route from Norfolk, VA, to Hamburg, Germany, with a cargo of coal when it ran into an early spring storm with 40 foot waves southeast of Cape May, N.J. The vessel was overwhelmed and sank with the loss of 29 lives. Only one man survived.

2006: The Collingwood-built Canadian Coast Guard ship SIR WILFRID LAURIER came to the rescue of those aboard the passenger ship QUEEN OF THE NORTH when the latter sank with the loss of two lives off the coast of British Columbia.

[yachtsmanwilly]

3/23 - Duluth, Minn. – Commercial shipping is underway this season at the Port of Duluth-Superior, signaled by the departure of the first outbound laker. The Duluth Seaway Port Authority says the Edwin H. Gott left the Twin Ports about 4 a.m. Tuesday. It's en route to Two Harbors for a load of iron ore.

The laker, along with the Philip R. Clarke, will head across Lake Superior toward Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., where they'll wait for the Soo Locks to open on Friday. Both lakers are making deliveries to steel mills on the lower Great Lakes.

Duluth-Superior is the farthest inland port on the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system.

The Associated Press


3/23 - Muskegon, Mich. – The St. Lawrence Seaway opened Monday, March 21 kicking off a pivotal shipping season for the Port of Muskegon.

"I think there is a lot of excitement on the water this year, maybe even more than normal," said Muskegon County Commissioner Terry Sabo. "It's the beginning of a new era."

West Michigan's Port of Muskegon faces a landmark year for better or worse in 2016. The B.C. Cobb power plant is scheduled to close, and the port is no longer receiving shipments of coal that historically accounted for roughly half of the shipping tonnage received each year.

The total tonnage of freight moved is one factor the Army Corps of Engineers considers when deciding which ports and harbors to dredge and do maintenance work on. Harbors handling more than 1 million tons annually are classified as a high-use commercial harbors.

But Ben Cross, chairman of Muskegon County's Port Advisory Committee said that last year the Port came close to meeting the mark by shipping large amounts of raw materials, like loose stone or road salt, to the Verplank and Lafarge docks.

"They were just under a million tons," Cross said. "Nothing is certain, but as the numbers are looking right now, I think we'll exceed that million-ton threshold."

Read more, plus view additional content, at this link



U.S. facing looming shortage of merchant mariners

3/23 - By 2022, the United States will need “70,000 new people” for the nation’s maritime fleet, but the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., and the six state maritime academies only graduate 900 per year and are at capacity, Paul Jaenichen Sr., the head of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), told the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee on Tuesday.

He added that even with a new military-to-mariner program for separating service members—and other programs like it—the real issue is now those individuals would get credit for the necessary licenses required. He told the panel American mariners are “also a very aging work force” that could aggravate the shortfall in the future.

Addressing existing requirements for mariners in support of global power projection, Jaenichen said that while the administration can meet the requirement for immediate deployment, “the first crew rotation is critical.” After four to six months, he said, there were “not enough [mariners] for sustained operations.”

He predicted “a perfect storm” after 1 January 2017, when licensing requirements change. For MARAD that means that drawing on a pool of recently retired mariners likely would not be possible. The retired mariners to remain current under the regulations would have to pay for required training out of their own pockets.

At the same time as that shortage of merchant mariners, the ships in the National Defense Reserve Fleet and its subset, the Ready Reserve Fleet, also are aging—averaging almost 40 years old. Some are steam-powered, needing parts that are no longer made. In the commercial vessels in Maritime Security Program, owners see government cargo contracts—including food-aid shipment and movement of military equipment from Afghanistan and Iraq—declining, and an overcapacity of shipping globally driving prices lower.

Like the American-flagged and government-owned fleet, questions surface about the viability of service-life extension spending on training ships. For example, the training ship Empire State is 55-years-old and could cost $104 million in a service-life extension program. “I cannot guarantee spending that amount of money will” give 10 years, three years or even no more service.

Jaenichen said, “The stipend [to American ship owners] is the only place to go” to keep the U.S.-flagged fleet in operation. The administration has asked for $3.1 million per ship as a stipend. He said industry estimates that it cost $4.6 million more to operate an American ship over an international competitor last year, and the stipend this year would be $5 million.

“Industry has told us that is the right number. he entire global industry is losing money.” He added later in answer to a question that this loss of business is the prime reason American shippers either scrap vessels or reflag them. “If they are losing money, they are not going to stay” in the Maritime Security Program, which provides the stipends for up to 60 “commercially viable, military useful, privately-owned U.S.-flag vessels and crews operating in international trade.”

Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Lyons, the No. 2 officer in Transportation Command, said, “We’re right at the margin of moderate [to] high risk” in terms of aging ships in the Ready Reserve Fleet and the nation’s ability to crew mariners. The Ready Reserve Fleet is made up of government-owned vessels and was created in 1976 “to rapidly deploy equipment and materiel” in times of crisis on combat to humanitarian aid operations.

Jaenichen said the nation needs 40 more ships under its flag to have sufficient mariners to meet military surge capacity.

Lyons added there are questions, based on experiences in earlier conflicts, about the willingness of foreign owners with foreign crews to go into harm’s way to deliver necessary supplies and equipment to American forces operating in combat.

Both argued against repealing the 1920 Jones Act, designed to keep American maritime industry competitive. U.S. shipyards now have 32 vessels on their books, including two roll-on, roll-off cargo ships, Jaenichen said. “If you take away the building [in American shipyards] requirement,” the effect “would be traumatic” on the maritime industrial base and “not something that can be recovered quickly.”

The Maritime Administration is hoping to release for public comment a strategic maritime assessment document in a few months. It will be the first such document in decades.

USNI News


3/23 - The Norwegian freighter Dione was built at Porsgrunn, Norway, and completed in 1956 for Chr. J. Reim. The 258 foot, 9 inch long vessel could carry 4,160 tons at deep-sea draft in two cargo holds.

On Sept. 12, 1956, Dione arrived at Montreal on a voyage from Fowey, England, to Sheboygan, Wis., with 1,920 tons of china clay on board. The vessel was an occasional pre-Seaway trader and was back through the new waterway for two trips in 1961.

The vessel was lengthened to 303 feet, 3 inches in 1963 increasing cargo capacity to 5,460 tons deadweight.

Dione was sold on several occasions, becoming b) Cargonaut in 1972, c) Tolmi in 1973 and d) Doxa in 1978. During these years the ship was reported to have had registry in the Cayman Islands, Nicaragua, Liberia and Panama.

Doxa ran aground arriving at Barranquilla, Colombia, in heavy weather, during a voyage from Callao, Peru, to Trinidad, on Feb. 13, 1979. The voyage resumed after temporary repairs but the work was inadequate and the former Great Lakes trader sank off Santa Marta, Colombia, 37 years ago today.



The National Transportation Safety Board unanimously voted on March 23,1978, to reject the U. S. Coast Guard's official report supporting the theory of faulty hatches in their EDMUND FITZGERALD investigation. Later the N.T.S.B. revised its verdict and reached a majority vote to agree that the sinking was caused by taking on water through one or more hatch covers damaged by the impact of heavy seas over her deck. This is contrary to the Lake Carriers Association's contention that her foundering was caused by flooding through bottom and ballast tank damage resulting from bottoming on the Six Fathom Shoal between Caribou and Michipicoten Islands.

On 23 March 1850, TROY (wooden side-wheel passenger/package freighter, 182 foot, 546 tons, built in 1845, at Maumee, Ohio) exploded and burned at Black Rock, New York. Up to 22 lives were lost. She was recovered and rebuilt the next year and lasted until 1860.

On 23 March 1886, Mr. D. N. Runnels purchased the tug KITTIE HAIGHT.

The 3,280 ton motor vessel YANKCANUCK commanded by Captain W. E. Dexter, docked at the Canadian Soo on 23 March 1964, to officially open the 1964 navigation season for that port. Captain Dexter received the traditional silk hat from Harbormaster Frank Parr in a brief ceremony aboard the vessel. The ship arrived in the Sault from Windsor, Ontario. Captain Dexter said the trip from Windsor was uneventful and he had no trouble with ice. This was the first time a ship from the Yankcanuck line had won the honor of opening the Sault Harbor.

1986: EBN MAGID visited the Seaway in 1970 as a) ADEL WEERT WIARDS and was on the cover of Know Your Ships for 1971. Following 2 explosions and a fire at sea at the end of January, the vessel docked this day at Milford Haven, U.K. to be unloaded. It was then sold to Belgian shipbreakers.

[krush]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3506491/Emory-president-Students-scared-Trump-2016-chalk-signs.html

HILARIOUS!

[skycheney]

Mar 23, 2016 20:47:46 GMT -5 krush said:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3506491/Emory-president-Students-scared-Trump-2016-chalk-signs.html

HILARIOUS!

Wow! If I was going to make this stuff up, I couldn't do that good of a job as a comedian. Funny, but sad. If you're scared of chalk, wait til ISIS comes to behead you.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Probably a bunch of weasel dick little sand pigmentally gifted individuals that need to finish up waterboarding 101 then get circumcised without the benefit of anesthesia. Even though this is in the wrong thred, we'll let it go. Its too insane not to! ws


Port of Monroe has seen rebirth as an active seaport

3/24 - Washington, D.C. – In December 2015, when Monroe, Mich., Mayor Robert E. Clark addressed the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce during his State of the City address, he referred to 2015 as “The Year of the Port.”

As Michigan’s only port district, the Port of Monroe has witnessed a rebirth as an active seaport and gained the attention of the entire Great Lakes transportation industry achieving its highest tonnage throughputs since the port’s creation in 1932. The port subsequently received the first commercial port funding of its kind from the State of Michigan for major infrastructure improvements.

In 2015, the port achieved its second highest tonnage numbers on record as 2,417,843 metric tons of cargo were delivered to port tenants along the River Raisin. This throughput being just 2,165 metric tons less than the record numbers of the 2014 season and essentially a tie for another all-time high. Commodities through the port included staple cargoes of coal, limestone, synthetic gypsum, and liquid asphalt while also handling natural gas pipeline sections, wind blades, and containers carried by the first European vessels to call upon the port since the 1960’s.

Port Director Paul C. LaMarre III, a third generation member of the working Great Lakes maritime trade, says: “The Port of Monroe’s rejuvenation is a true testament to positive relationship building within a community and an industry.” LaMarre goes on to say that “Cargo breeds cargo. If you are able to show that you can move materials across your dock efficiently and economically while defining the positive impacts to your community and industry as a whole, impactful growth is inevitable.”

Yet, LaMarre attributes recent success to one partner in particular, Anthony Gray, president of DRM Terminal Services who was chosen as the Port’s terminal operator in 2014 and has made immeasurable investment in personnel and equipment to ensure the port’s ability accommodate rapid cargo growth and sustainable partnerships.

Another such partnership is with the port’s largest tonnage producer, DTE Energy’s Monroe Power Plant. The port and DTE Energy formed the first partnership of its kind between a public port and public utility for the management of a product – the Port now manages and markets a large portion of the synthetic gypsum produced as a byproduct of the flue gas desulphurization process at the plant.

With the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway on March 21 – nearly two-weeks earlier than last year – the Port of Monroe has a record number of vessel calls scheduled, the first of which is anticipated to arrive on or about March 28. Poised for continued growth, the Port and its partners are destined for a prosperous 2016 shipping season and increased international tonnage through the Seaway.

In addition to cargo activity, the Port of Monroe will be at the center of major dredging and construction activities with an additional appropriation of $1.1 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for dredging in the port’s turning basin and the construction of a new riverfront intermodal dock with over $3.6 million in funds received through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The Great Lakes Seaway Partnership


Rise in electrical deficiencies on commercial vessels prompts Coast Guard reminder

3/24 - Cleveland, Ohio – Due to an increase in reported electrical deficiencies on commercial vessels, the Coast Guard is warning commercial vessel owners to inspect their vessels' wiring before getting underway in the spring.

Coast Guard marine inspectors have discovered that a number of vessels have significant electrical deficiencies that can pose safety hazards and cause marine-engine causalities, and inspectors will spend additional time during inspections examining electrical systems as a result.

Some examples of common discrepancies include:

• Dead-ended wiring: When equipment is changed or removed, new wiring is installed. Often the old wiring is not removed or properly put in a junction box. This poses a shock hazard if the wiring is still energized.

• Compromised watertight integrity: When wiring that penetrates a watertight bulkhead is replaced, the penetration must be made watertight. If it is not properly addressed, the watertight integrity and fire boundary of the space becomes compromised.

• Wire Chafing: Wire runs that are susceptible to vibrations and movements need adequate protection where pinch points and rub hazards exist. Excessive wear can compromise the sheathing and insulator. This can cause a circuit short or fault and in some cases result in a component failure or fire.

• Deteriorated wiring: Wiring exposed to water can become deteriorated over time, compromising the integrity of the sheathing and insulator. This can cause a circuit short or fault and in some cases result in a component failure or fire.

Ultimately, vessel masters are responsible for vessel safety. Routine inspections of vessels' electrical systems should be conducted. It should not be assumed that all discrepancies are identified during fit-out exams. Some items require attention and troubleshooting beyond the scope of an annual exam.

Servicing and maintenance of electrical systems should be conducted by appropriately trained personnel and in accordance with applicable regulations and standards.

USCG


ALPENA (Hull#177) was launched on March 24, 1909, at Wyandotte, Michigan, by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the Wyandotte Transportation Co.

IRVIN L. CLYMER was launched March 24, 1917, as a.) CARL D. BRADLEY (Hull#718) at Lorain, Ohio, by American Ship Building Co. the third self-unloader in the Bradley Transportation Co. fleet.

The SAMUEL MATHER was transferred on March 24, 1965, to the newly-formed Pickands Mather subsidiary Labrador Steamship Co. Ltd. (Sutcliffe Shipping Co. Ltd., operating agents), Montreal, Quebec, to carry iron ore from their recently opened Wabush Mines ore dock at Pointe Noire, Quebec to U.S. blast furnaces on Lakes Erie and Michigan. She was renamed b.) POINTE NOIRE.

PETER ROBERTSON was launched March 24, 1906, as a) HARRY COULBY (Hull#163) at Wyandotte, Michigan, by Detroit Ship Building Co. for the L. C. Smith Transit Co., Syracuse, New York.

On 24 March 1874, the 181-foot, 3-mast wooden schooner MORNING STAR was launched at E. Saginaw, Michigan, by Crosthwaite.

On 24 March 1876, CITY OF SANDUSKY (wooden side-wheel passenger/package freight vessel, 171 foot, 608 gross tons, built in 1866, at Sandusky, Ohio) burned and sank in the harbor at Port Stanley, Ontario.

On 24 March 1876, MINNIE CORLETT (wooden scow-schooner, 107 gross tons, built before 1866) was sailing light from Chicago, Illinois, to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan when she stranded and then sank. No lives were lost.

1905: The wooden passenger and freight carrier LAKESIDE was built in Windsor in 1888. It spent most of its life operating between Niagara and Toronto. During fit out on this date in 1905, the ship sank at the dock in Port Dalhousie when water was sucked in through the seacock after the engine filling the boiler shut down. The hull was refloated and returned to service until the DALHOUSIE CITY was built in 1911.

1981: The West German freighter ANNA REHDER first came through the Seaway in 1967 when it was two years old. It was sold and renamed LESLIE in 1973. The captain last reported his position on this date in 1981 and that they were encountering heavy weather while en route from Boulogne, France, to Umm Said, Qatar. There was no further word and it is believed that the ship went down with all hands in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain. A ring buoy was later found north of Cape Finnestere.

[krush]

I accidentally put in wrong thread because I was so overwhelmed that somebody invaded my safe space.