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By JOHN FLESHER | Source: Chicago Tribune

Day after day, ships longer than three football fields depart Great Lakes ports after picking up or delivering loads of iron ore, coal and other cargo. Reaching open water, crews wash the decks with high-powered hoses.

It’s called “cargo sweeping,” because residues that spill onto decks during loading and unloading are swept overboard. The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that 1 million pounds of such debris is washed into the lakes every year.

… But shippers say requiring them to collect the residue, move it onshore for treatment and flush it into municipal wastewater systems would impose ruinous costs. A Coast Guard report last month estimated the price tag at $51.8 million up front, plus $35.7 million a year — more than the annual profit for the entire industry.

“What some are proposing could mean the end of Great Lakes shipping and the movement of cargo by more expensive and less eco-friendly modes of transportation,” said Glen Nekvasil, spokesman for the Lake Carriers Association, which represents U.S.-flagged freighters on the Great Lakes.

Nice analysis of the conflict, quotes from both sides at the Chicago Tribune >>

Source: Lake Carriers Association

Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 4.4 million net tons in August. While the total represents an increase of 12 per cent compared to a year ago, shipments in August of 2007 were sluggish, said the Lake Carriers’ Association.

“The five-year average is the better barometer,” said the Association, “and in that regard, this August was off the pace by nearly 100,000 tons.”

Although water levels have risen, the dredging crisis continued to limit the amount of stone vessels could deliver to customers. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jeff Alexander | Source: The Muskegon Chronicle

Ocean freighters spew twice as much soot into the air as previously believed and tugboats are among the worst maritime offenders when it comes to air pollution, according to a new government study.

“Commercial shipping emissions have been one of the least studied areas of all combustion emissions,” said Daniel Lack, a NOAA scientist who led the study.

Researchers studied plumes of black smoke from 96 different ships, including cargo freighters, tankers, ferries, large fishing boats and tugs. Most of the boats were sampled in the Houston Ship Channel.

James Weakley, executive director of the Lake Carriers Association, said lake freighters that operate exclusively within the Great Lakes emit less soot than ocean ships. The reason: Lake freighters burn a lighter grade of diesel fuel, which produces less soot than the thicker fuel ocean freighters use.

“A straight comparison between an oceangoing ship and a laker is not a fair comparison,” said Weakley, whose group represents 63 U.S.-flagged ships on the Great Lakes.

Tugboats emit nearly a gram of soot per kilogram of fuel burned — twice as much as any other vessel type, according to the researchers. They attributed the disproportionate amount of soot emissions from tugs to the thick, tar-like fuel the small but mighty vessels burn in their engines.

“Tugboats are a huge source of black carbon that may be underreported or not reported at all in emissions inventories compiled by ports,” Lack said in a press release.

Weakley said lake freighters, which are equipped with bow thrusters to improve maneuverability, use tugboats less often than ocean freighters. He said freighters are the cleanest way to move large volumes of cargo; freighters haul about 200 million tons of cargo on the Great Lakes annually.

“If you take into account the economies of scale and the tons of cargo moved per mile of fuel consumption, our ships move a ton of cargo from Duluth to Detroit on one gallon of fuel,” Weakley said. “That’s a distance of about 800 miles on one gallon of fuel — you couldn’t get that kind of mileage in a Toyota Prius.”

Much more about this study and previous studies at the Muskegon Chronicle >>

Bob VandeVusse | Source: The Holland Sentinel

Delays have continued to plague coal deliveries in Holland for the past week. The expected load on the Manistee was canceled.

It has been reported that Lower Lakes Towing has signed a major transportation contract for ore pellets with Essar Steel Algoma, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. That means that their vessels Manitowoc, Manistee, Maumee and Calumet may be unavailable for coal and stone loads. That could create a hardship for docks in small harbors like Holland, as those vessels in the 600-foot range are ideal for harbors like ours.

The coal delivery on the Wilfred Sykes has been delayed, as well. It is now expected to load today and arrive early Monday morning.

Read the full article at the Holland Sentinel >>

Source: Sandusky Register

… new research on the effects of global warming on Lake Erie, to be discussed in a paper being prepared for submission to the Journal of Great Lakes Research, suggests that Lake Erie’s water level could fall as much as 1.2 feet by 2050.

That has important implications on the area’s economy, because it would hurt Great Lakes shipping, Wuebbles said.

“One inch could cause a very huge impact,” he said.

Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers Association in Cleveland, said he is not an expert on global warming, but his organization has calculated the effect of shallower water, whether it’s caused by global warming, lack of dredging or another reason.

When one of the 1,000-foot vessels with U.S. flags in the Lake Carriers Association lose one inch of water, it means the ship can carry 8,000 tons less cargo, Weakley said. That’s enough coal to provide three hours of electricity for Greater Detroit. That one-inch loss means the U.S.-flagged Great Lakes fleet — 63 ships total, including the 13 1,000-footers — would carry 400,000 fewer tons a year.

One “laker,” as the freighters are called, can carry as much cargo as 2,800 trucks, Weakley’s group says.

Full story on many levels of impact, lively comments at the Sandusky Register >>

By COREY LAROCQUE | Source: Niagara Falls Review

When massive lakers like the Robert S. Pierson and Canada Steamship Lines Laurentien are cruising through the Welland Canal, it takes more than a mile for them to stop.

It’s one of the reasons the Allanburg lift bridge over the canal stays up longer than the Glendale bridge. Vessels move faster in that straightaway stretch than they do on other sections of the canal that connects lakes Erie and Ontario.

It means the Allanburg bridge has to be up longer, because a ship would need more time to stop if there were a problem, says John Chalmers, operations support coordinator for St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.

…Not only do controllers manage the movement of ships and lift bridges on the canal, they’re responsible for security, using a network of closed-circuit cameras along seaway property.

The operations centre is also the canal’s emergency response centre in the event of a fire or other emergency aboard a ship. And one controller is responsible for deploying the seaway company’s employees where they need to be.

…”What we’re striving for, as a corporation, is to get ships through in 12.5 hours or less 90 per cent of the time,” said Chalmers.

Ship captains can count on getting through the Welland Canal in that period of time about 84 per cent of the time. On average, it takes 11 hours for a ship to travel through the canal.

Very neat behind-the-scenes look at Seaway Operations, including photo of the ops center, at the Niagara Falls Review >>

Source: Duluth Seaway Port Authority

Higher Great Lakes water levels, continued strong coal shipments and a windfall of wind turbine traffic all contributed to strong tonnage totals through July, yet Duluth-Superior’s maritime commerce is lagging slightly behind last year’s record-setting pace, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority reported today.

All cargo through July totaled 21 million short tons, 6.5 percent behind 2007, which is remarkable considering grain shipments were down 62 percent compared to this timeframe last year.

Lake Levels Up.

Above average spring rainfall in all of the Great Lakes basins raised lake levels well above their levels of a year ago. Lake Superior is 16 inches above last year’s level, and forecasted to rise an additional inch over the next 30 days, enough to allow vessels to depart Duluth-Superior with as much as 14 additional inches of draft compared to the end of last year’s shipping season.

Each inch of draft means about 270 tons of cargo for the largest domestic lakers and about 100 tons for typical Seaway vessels. The remaining Great Lakes range from 6 to 13 inches above their levels of a year ago, and despite some seasonal declines forecasted for Lakes Erie, Michigan-Huron and Ontario, all (with the exception of Erie) are expected to remain above 2007 water levels over the next few months.

Coal Leads Commerce.

Historically the Port’s No. 2 cargo, coal shipments eclipsed iron ore during the early months of the 2008 shipping season and continue as the Port’s maritime commerce leader to date. The clean-burning, low-sulfur coal shipped via the port’s Midwest Energy Resources Company terminal reached 9.9 million tons through July (three percent above last year’s level). Total iron ore shipments through July of 8.9 million tons were running 12.4 percent behind 2007 tonnage totals to date. Iron ore shipments are expected to increase in the second half of the shipping season.

Project Cargo on Track.

Project cargo shipments at the Clure Public Marine Terminal continue to be strong. Wind turbine component cargo handled by Lake Superior Warehousing Co. is Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Lake Carriers Association

The Lake Carriers’ Association says the US-Flag Great Lakes fleet moved 11.4 million net tons of cargo on the Great Lakes in June, an increase of about 80,000 tons compared to a year ago.

The June float was, however, 220,000 tons below the month’s five-year average.

“Higher water levels have helped increase payloads, but the dredging crisis remains real,” said the company. “Vessels transiting the St Marys River, for example, were able to load another 10-12 inches deeper than a year ago, but were still losing more than a foot of draft compared to 1997, a period of near record high water levels.”

“As a result, while top cargos this June were roughly 2,000 tons greater than a year ago, the month’s largest cargos were still 5,000 tons or more below what vessels were able to carrying during the period of high water.”

For the year, US-Flag carriage stands at 39.1 million tons, a slight decrease from a year ago, but more than 700,000 tons off the five-year average from the first half of the year.

Source: Lake Carriers’ Association

Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 4.2 million net tons in July, a decrease of 4.8 percent compared to a year ago, and a drop of nearly 9 percent compared to the month’s 5-year average.

Although water levels are rising, not all ports are benefitting to the same degree. For example, a large integrated tug/barge unit was able to deliver 34,442 tons of stone to a customer at the southern end of Lake Michigan, yet when destined for Lake Superior docks, its cargos fell to 30,411 tons and 30,144 tons. The water level on Lake Superior has been rising quickly, but lack of dredging still forced the vessel to lightload by 4,000 tons or more.

For the year, the Lakes limestone trade stands at 16 million tons, a decrease of 4.4 percent compared to the same point in 2007. Shipments are more than 10 percent behind the 5-year average for the January-July timeframe.

Source: Lake Carriers Association

The U.S.-Flag Great Lakes fleet moved 12 million net tons of cargo on the Great Lakes in July, a virtual tie with a year ago. The July float also was roughly 170,000 tons above the month’s 5-year average.

Rising water levels again boosted vessels’ payloads, but nothing can restore the tonnage that has been lost to the dredging crisis this year.

For example, a 1,000-foot-long U.S.-Flag Laker saw its top cargo climb to 67,474 tons of iron ore in July. However, had the vessel been able to carry this much cargo on each trip this year, its year-to-date total would be 1,416,000 tons instead of 1,331,000 tons. The dredging crisis has cost just this one vessel 85,000 tons of iron ore.

Furthermore, that 67,474-ton cargo still does not represent the vessel’s maximum carrying capacity. The vessel is designed to carry more than 71,000 tons per trip. An adequately dredged navigation system would have allowed the vessel to deliver nearly 1.5 million tons through July.

The same is true in the coal trade. Another 1,000-foot-long vessel was able to carry 65,443 tons in a single trip at month’s end. If that was how much the ship had loaded on each of its 26 trips this year, it would have delivered 1.7 million tons of low-sulfur coal to utilities in the U.S. and Canada. Instead, the vessel has moved 1,625,000 tons through July. And again, even that 65,443-ton cargo is roughly 4,000 tons below the vessel’s rated capacity.

For the year, U.S.-Flag carriage stands at 51.1 million tons, a slight decrease from both a year ago and the 5-year average for the January-July timeframe.

Sharon Hill | Source: The Windsor Star

Lakes St. Clair, Huron and Superior are at their highest levels in the last four years.

“They’re all up,” Ralph Moulton, manager of the water level information office at Environment Canada, said Tuesday.

Lake Superior, which affects the levels of the other Great Lakes and had dropped to record lows a year ago, is 41 cm higher than it was last year at this time, Moulton said.

Lake Huron is 23 cm higher and Lake Ontario is 31 cm higher than a year ago.

… David Cree, president of the Windsor Port Authority, said he’s hoping lake levels will keep rising.

“The higher water levels this year are good news for everybody in the industry,” Cree said. “If the trend of the last four to five years had continued … it would have been a real issue this year and next year. We’re hoping now that’s bottomed out and we’re on an upward trend in lake levels.”

The same amount of cargo goes through the Windsor port but during times of low lake levels it takes more ships to move goods on the lakes because the ships have to carry less.

Read the full story, with more stats & quotes at the Windsor Star >>

By Susan Bence | Source: WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio

For months, cement has been delivered to Milwaukee for the now-almost-completed Marquette Interchange freeway project. Most of that cement arrived aboard the St. Mary’s Challenger. It’s the oldest working boat on the Great Lakes.

Even to the untrained eye, this oil-fueled century-old boat is magnificent. It’s one of only two Great Lakes vessels still powered by a steam engine.

I had hoped for a gangplank, but we climb aboard up a tall ladder. We meet Captain George Herdina when we not too gracefully climb aboard.

Herdina’s dream was to work on large Great Lakes vessels and he’s been living that dream for 45 years. The quiet, almost shy, man calls the St. Mary’s his little condo in the water.

Right now Herdina’s little condo is unloading 85 hundred tons of cement powder. They pick it up across the lake in Charlevoix, Michigan. Read the rest of this entry »

By Craig Davison | Source: News-Dispatch

Peter Laman, port director of Burns Harbor, said the largest products of import and export [for the Ports of Indiana] are coal, grain, steel, limestone and fertilizer. The port handles 15 percent of all U.S. steel trade with Europe.

He said most ships can carry about 20,000 tons or the equivalent of 800 truck loads.

The three ports in Indiana contribute about $3.5 billion and 23,000 jobs to Indiana, Laman said.

Questions pressed on the possibility of a multimodal facility and any relationship it could have with the port. Laman made statements it would be feasible in the future, but made no commitments and said he was not involved in any discussions with any groups.

Laman said they would look for transportation links that made sense for moving cargo in the state that make logistical sense.

Full story at the News-Dispatch >>

Source: Lake Carriers’ Assn.

Iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes remained strong in June. Loadings totaled 6.4 million net tons, an increase of 2.6 percent compared to both a year ago and the month’s 5-year average.

The trade was down from May’s total of 7.3 million tons, but that month was a period of stockpile replenishment as well as meeting current production demands.

Although there has been some recovery in water levels, the dredging crisis remained a millstone around Great Lakes shipping’s neck in June. Only three iron ore cargos topped 65,000 tons during the month, so even the best cargos represented only 91 percent of vessels’ rated carrying capacity. The worst case was when a vessel left the loading dock only 81 percent full because the receiving port is so in need of dredging.

For the year, the Lakes iron ore trade stands at 25 million tons, an increase of 9 percent compared to a year ago. Shipments are 8 percent ahead of the 5-year average for the first half of the year.

Lake Carriers’ Association represents 16 American corporations that operate 63 U.S.-Flag vessels on the Great Lakes. These vessels carry the raw materials that drive the nation’s economy: Iron ore and fluxstone for the steel industry, limestone and cement for the construction industry, coal for power generation…. Collectively, these vessels can transport more than 115 million tons of cargo a year when high water levels offset the lack of adequate dredging of Great Lakes ports and waterways. More information is available at www.lcaships.com

Source: Crain’s Chicago Business

The Illinois International Port District should be disbanded since it has done little to develop maritime business at the Port of Chicago in the past 25 years, according to a new report from the Civic Federation of Chicago.

The taxpayer advocacy group, which released a highly critical report Monday on the Port District’s operations and accountability as a public agency, recommends that responsibility for the Port of Chicago on the Far South Side be turned over to the City of Chicago.

…the district lacks a long-range strategic plan to increase maritime traffic or industrial development.

The Civic Federation says the district’s last significant port improvement was in 1981 when it opened Iroquois Landing, a 100-acre freight terminal at the mouth of the Calumet River.

Read the full story, download the PDF report at Crain’s Chicago Business >>

Source: LCA

The Lake Carriers Association reports that trade on the Great Lakes continues to suffer from a lack of investment in dredging. Despite an increase in shipments of both coal and iron ore in May over the same period last year, top loads again represented only about 90 percent of the largest vessels’ designed carrying capacity. As a result, coal shipments in May were limited to 4.4 million net tons.

Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 7.3 million net tons in May, an increase of 15.4 percent compared to a year ago, and some 16.4 percent better than the month’s 5-year average. Rising water levels and high steel demand have helped push trade levels up, but many of the largest vessels could have carried another 5,000-6,000 tons per trip if sufficient dredging was carried out, says the LCA.

Source: Seaway Channel

Even though there was an 8 percent increase in iron ore tonnage, total cargo movement by U.S. flag laker vessels on the Great Lakes dropped by 2 percent in the month of May compared to last year’s figures. On the bright side however, the 5-year average for the May tonnage float (approximately 11.9 million net tons) was met this past month according to the Lakes Carriers’ Association (LCA).

The downturn was more painfully felt in terms of stone and coal tonnage …

Full story, causes and statistics at the Seaway Channel >>

Source: Lake Carriers’ Association

The Lake Carriers’ Association says shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 4.2 million net tons in May, a decrease of 3.4% compared to a year ago. However, May stone cargos were nearly 11 per cent off the month’s five-year average.

“While demand remains sluggish in some markets, the dredging crisis continued to limit deliveries,” said the Association.

“A comparison of three cargos carried by the same vessel illustrates the debilitating effects of inadequate dredging. All three cargos were loaded at the same Michigan quarry. The first totaled 25,619 tons, or only 90 per cent of the vessel’s rated carrying capacity. Subsequent cargos slipped even more, first to 23,297 tons, and then to 21,751 tons.”

“Had the vessel been to deliver full loads, its customers would have received 86,000 tons of limestone. Instead, they received 70,667 tons.”

“For the year, the Lakes limestone trade stands at 7.4 million net tons, a decrease of nearly 6.7% compared to the same point in 2007. Shipments are more than 14% behind the five-year average for the January-May timeframe.”

Source: Duluth News Tribune

Shipments of taconite rose as limestone shipments fell on the Great Lakes in May, according to reports issued by the Lake Carriers Association today.

U.S. vessels delivered 7.3 million tons of taconite pellets in May — 15.4 percent more than they did during the same month last year and 16.4 percent more than the five-year average.

Higher water levels helped, with some lakers able to carry about 1,200 tons more per trip than last year.

Yet the Lake Carriers Association continues its call for increased dredging, saying that if shipping channels were restored to their prescribed depths, some of the larger lakers could carry another 5,000 to 6,000 tons of taconite each trip. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Import Industry News

The Coast Guard has made its proposed rule for dry cargo residue discharges on the Great Lakes publicly available through a notice of proposed rule making in the Federal Register that also announces the availability of the draft environmental impact statement prepared in support of the proposed rule.

The proposed rule would require Great Lakes bulk, dry-cargo carriers to keep records of loading, unloading, and sweepings of dry cargo residues and would encourage carriers to use control measures to reduce the amount of dry cargo residue entering the waters of the Great Lakes. The rule would continue to allow the discharge of non-toxic and non-hazardous bulk dry cargo residues in certain areas of the Great Lakes.

Full story, link to the Notice at Import Industry News >>