Earl W third vessel to run aground in Muskegon Harbor in 2007
November 16, 07 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Posted by Robert C. Burns and Chad D. Lerch | Source: The Muskegon Chronicle
A Great Lakes freighter was forced to turn back because of shallow water in the Muskegon harbor Tuesday afternoon, the third such shipping incident since midsummer.
But this time, it wasn’t one of the 1,000-foot super-freighters that have had trouble negotiating Muskegon’s outer harbor in recent months. It was the 630-foot Earl W, an aggregate hauler headed for the Mart Dock.
The Earl W was bringing in about 19,000 tons of limestone for Verplank Dock Co., said Nathan Gates, the company’s sales and logistics manager.
The ship’s captain, forewarned about the “shoaling” — or buildup of sand on the lake bottom — that has occurred between Muskegon’s outer pierheads, proceeded slowly and backed off at the first contact with the bottom, Gates said.
The ship proceeded across the lake to Manitowoc, Wis., and is expected to off-load several thousand tons before returning to Muskegon for a second try.
