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Peter Passi | Source: Duluth News Tribune

If you’re in the market for a retired Coast Guard buoytender, this could be your lucky hour.

The Coast Guard Cutter Sundew soon could go up for auction.

The vessel’s current owner, the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, has quietly been shopping the Sundew around in recent weeks.

… the Sundew has proven less of a tourist draw than he hoped. The DECC initially tried charging visitors individual admission to the Sundew but decided to package it with the more popular William A. Irvin, a retired laker, because of sparse ticket sales.

Even though people who pay for admission to the Irvin now can tour the Sundew for no additional fee, Hom said only about 5 percent of visitors have set foot aboard the retired cutter in recent years.

Read the full story, options at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Source: The Beacon, Column

Last week I began writing about a trip my brother, Tom Allen, took on the lake freighter Herbert C Jackson July 2-10. His friend, Charlie Ontko, had invited Tom to go on a working trip on this boat. They left from Toledo, loaded with coal, went across the western end of Lake Erie, up Detroit River, Lake St Clair, St Clair River and most of the length of Lake Huron.

… On July 5 the Herbert C Jackson was traveling “light ballast” (no freight) as she made her way out the St Mary’s River, through Whitefish Bay and thence onto mighty Lake Superior. Destination: Duluth, Minnesota, at the extreme western end of the lake.

The weather was good, sunny and fine. However, the water temperature of Superior was only 48 degrees so that kept things cool. The guys wore jackets or sweatshirts most of the time.

On Saturday night, just as darkness was coming down, they passed the Keweenaw Peninsula jutting out from the Michigan shore. Tom called home and said they were close enough to see lights from vehicles on shore.

…At Superior they loaded coal for Marquette, Michigan. They didn’t get off the boat at all because they were waiting for officials to check their identification papers. Soon they were underway again, back out the river and heading toward where they would round the Keewenaw Peninsula and then “short-cut” down to Marquette.

At Marquette they unloaded the coal, moved to another dock and loaded iron ore pellets. Tom told us later that the loading and unloading procedures are fascinating. The boat carries ballast water and while loading and unloading the boat is kept level fore and aft. Sometimes loading is slowed while ballast water is pumped out. The crew can actually load freight faster than they can pump water out!

… In the Detroit River, the mail boat came out to meet them. Called by the sailors, “mail in a pail”, a pail is let down and mail and other items are transported to or from the freighter in a closed bucket. Also, another sailor came aboard at this time, leaving the smaller boat and climbing up a ladder on the side of the big boat. Since the Herbert C Jackson was so heavily loaded and low in the water, the new man coming aboard did not have far to climb. Again, all this happened while the two boats were underway and, again, is “routine”.

Lots more to read of Tom’s 8 days on the Herbert C Jackson at The Beacon >>

Source: Business North

The Port of Duluth-Superior, which has been emerging as a key link in the wind energy supply chain worldwide, marks another milestone this week as the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Flinterland, loaded with 54 wind turbine blades manufactured here in North America, heads to the port of Suape, Brazil.

Those 54 blades were trucked to Duluth earlier this summer, where crews from Lake Superior Warehousing assembled the blades into stackable transport frames. “They do great work up there (in Duluth),” says Susan St. Germain, Director of Projects at TransGroup. “Because of LSW’s expertise and willingness to assemble those frames onsite, we were able to put two, 37-meter blades on each truck from the factory…which saved money and cut our carbon footprint in half…”

Read the full story, details & quotes at Business North >>

Source: Duluth News Tribune

For sale: Prime waterfront property, centrally located with spectacular views of Lake Superior, Park Point, Canal Park and the Lift Bridge.

The catch? A list of restrictions and requirements — including agreeing to maintain the structure’s historic designation and allowing unrestricted government access.

The federal government is putting the light tower next to the Aerial Lift Bridge on Duluth’s south breakwater on the auction block Sept. 16.

…The federal government decided last year that it no longer needs the 107-year-old light… The government made the tower available at no cost to any qualifying government agency, nonprofit, school or community development organization willing to use it for educational, recreational or historic preservation purposes. But with no takers, the U.S. General Services Administration decided to put it on the auction block.

The structure, properly called the “Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Inner Light Tower,” will come with many strings. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a new owner must maintain the structure’s historic designation and conduct a photographic survey. The owner must get a lease from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before the property is transferred. The winning bidder must obtain written approval from the government before making any alterations or improvements to the property. And the Coast Guard would reserve an unrestricted right to enter the structure to service, replace or move the still-operating aids to navigation.

“Outside of that, it’s yours,” Ullenberg said.

Read the full story, photos and how to place a bid (you know you want it!) at the Duluth News Tribune >>

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 »

See Also:

• Tall ships to arrive between 4 and 6 p.m. Thursday - Duluth News Tribune
• Duluth Maritime Festival Official Website

Steve Kuchera | Source: Duluth News Tribune

The Twin Ports will be treated this week to a spectacle not seen in decades — three stately tall ships sailing into harbor.

“You would probably have to go back to the late 1800s or early 1900s before you had a number of tall sailing ships in the harbor at the same time,” said Gene Shaw, director of public relations for Visit Duluth, which is helping sponsor the Duluth Maritime Festival.

The three-day festival will feature entertainers, crafts, food and a focus on Duluth’s maritime history. Its centerpiece will be the ships Madeline, Niagara and Pride of Baltimore II.

The Niagara and Pride of Baltimore II are replicas of ships from the War of 1812, while the Madeline represents the type of schooner that was widely used to carry cargo across the Great Lakes during the mid to late-1800s.

“They are wonderful, wonderful tools to teach us about our past,” Pat Labadie said. “In 1870, there were 2,000 sailing ships on the Great Lakes. There were a consistent stream of them in the 1860s and ’70s.”

What happened to the old schooners, more about the Festival at the Duluth News Tribune >>

by Jeff Alexander | Source: The Muskegon Chronicle

A potential showdown is brewing between state and federal agencies over the U.S. Coast Guard’s longstanding practice of allowing freighters to wash unlimited amounts of coal and other cargo residues into the Great Lakes.

Each year, the Great Lakes shipping fleet washes upwards of two million pounds of cargo residue — primarily coal, limestone and iron ore — off freighters and into the lakes. The practice, used since the 1930s, prevents cargo residues from contaminating subsequent loads of other materials.

Federal law and an international treaty prohibit ships from dumping waste into the Great Lakes. But the practice has continued because Congress in 1993 approved a temporary policy, a loophole essentially, that allowed it on an interim basis. The Coast Guard now wants to make that policy permanent.

… “Minnesota solid waste rules prohibit the disposal of solid waste into waters of the state of Minnesota, including Lake Superior,” said Paul Eger, assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, in a letter to the Coast Guard.

Eger disputed the Coast Guard’s claim that cargo residues washed off ships sink quickly and do not harm water quality.

“Coal has been observed and collected by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on the shoreline beach of Minnesota Point, Duluth,” Eger said. “This coal did not dissolve or dissipate in the waters of the lake, but instead floated and accumulated along the beach in Duluth.”

Michigan officials said they were unaware freighter operators washed cargo residues into the lakes until 2006, when The Chronicle first reported on the practice.

“Such discharges appear to be in violation of Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act,” said Rich Powers, chief of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Bureau, in a letter to the Coast Guard.

More to the story — quotes, rebuttals and study results — at the Muskegon Chronicle >>

Source: USCG

WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard has published a proposed rule for dry cargo residue discharges on the Great Lakes and is seeking public comment. Public meetings will be held next week in Duluth and Cleveland.

The proposed rule would require Great Lakes bulk dry-cargo carriers to keep records of and report 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.

Tuesday July 15, 2008 in Duluth, MN
Holiday Inn
200 West First Street

Duluth, MN 55802
218-727-7492

Thursday July 17, 2008 in Cleveland, OH
The Forum Conference Center
One Cleveland Center
1375 East Ninth Street
Cleveland, OH 44114
216-241-6338

For those who are unable to attend but would like their voices heard, the notice of proposed rule making can be viewed online at http://www.regulations.gov/. Once in the site, under “search” enter docket number “USCG-2004-19621.” Comments can be submitted online at http://www.regulations.gov/, by mail to Docket Management Facility (M-30), U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, D.C., 20590-0001, by fax at 202-493-2251 or in person at Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday except holidays. Public comment must be received via one of these methods above means not later than July 22.

by Chuck Frederick | Source: Duluth News Tribune

“What is that building without a roof that can be seen in Lake Superior from the Lakewalk? We are puzzled!”

… the structure [is known] as “the cribs,” because that’s how it’s referred to on federal lake charts, [or] more intriguingly, as “Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum.”

… “It is the ruins of an energetic but short-lived commercial enterprise by [the] Whitney Brothers of Superior,” the marker reads. “It was Harvey Whitney’s brainchild.

“The structure was a sand [and] gravel hopper, built in the winter of 1919 and abandoned in 1922. It was a frantic era of Duluth construction in 1919, and Harvey was looking for efficiencies for his sand and gravel operation. He didn’t like the canal congestion, especially in the heavy summer months. He took a chance that the city would revive efforts to rebuild the Outer Harbor Breakwater, which had been abandoned in 1872.

“Sand from the lake around the Apostle Islands and gravel from Grand Marais were hauled to Duluth on the scow, Limit, using the steam tug, William A. Whitney,” the marker continues. “The Limit was tied to the concrete foundation structure and unloaded to the steel hopper with two steam-powered clam shells. A large conveyor belt on a trestle carried the materials to shore where they were dropped on top of a tunnel into which trucks would maneuver for loading.”

… While their sand and gravel hopper idea was ingenious … it could only have worked when Lake Superior was calm. Which was practically never.

Read the full story, see photo at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Source: USCG

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), today announced the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program compliance date for owners and operators of facilities located within Captain of the Port Zones Buffalo, Duluth, Detroit, Lake Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie will be Oct. 31, 2008.

Additional ports will be announced in the coming weeks, and the Coast Guard will provide at least 90 days notice prior to enforcement. Compliance will be phased in by Captain of the Port Zone between Oct. 15, 2008 and April 15, 2009, after which all ports must be in compliance and all credentialed mariners must be in possession of a TWIC. A framework showing expected future compliance dates by COTP Zone has been posted on the U.S. Coast Guard’s Homeport Website, http://homeport.uscg.mil/twic.

Workers are encouraged to enroll as soon as possible and are able to pre-enroll for TWIC online at www.tsa.gov/twic. Pre-enrolling speeds up the process by allowing workers to provide biographic information and schedule a time to complete the application process in person. This eliminates waiting at enrollment centers and reduces the time it takes to enroll.

TWIC was established in the Maritime Transportation Security Act and the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act to serve as an identification program for all Coast Guard credentialed mariners and personnel requiring unescorted access to secure areas within a port. The program is progressing steadily and has opened more than 130 fixed enrollment centers and dozens of mobile sites nationwide. More than 350,000 workers have enrolled to date and thousands more are processed each week.

Additional information can be found at http://homeport.uscg.mil/twic and www.tsa.gov/twic

by Linda Hanson | Source: Duluth News Tribune

Four people from the Twin Ports Ministry to Seafarers strode up the gangway of the BBC Rosario as it rested in its berth at the Duluth port terminal.

They came Monday bearing smiles and offers to help the international crew, many of whom are away from their families for long stretches.

The captain and crew of the Antigua-flagged ship, which was unloading a cargo of mammoth wind turbine parts, warmly welcomed the visitors. Capt. Adrian Muflic, who is from Romania, said nearly every port has a seamen’s center and they are important to the crews.

“It gets in your heart and soul,” he said.

… Some of the crew had spent the previous evening at the Seafarers Center at 2024 W. Third St., using the phones to call home and the computers to check their e-mail. During the ship’s stay in Duluth, some crew members also got rides in the ministry’s vans to go shopping.

… The ministry mainly visits foreign vessels because that’s where the greatest needs are. While the Twin Ports Ministry to Seafarers is the largest such ministry in town, Duluth Gospel Tabernacle and Jehovah’s Witnesses also have volunteers who visit ships.

Much more to this touching story at the Duluth News Tribune >>

by Peter Passi | Source: Duluth News Tribune

“Gary was the magic man, in terms of marketing the port,” said Davis Helberg, former executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

“No one else has done for the port’s cargo profile what Gary Nicholson did,” he said.

One of Nicholson’s primary orders of business was to mend fractured labor relations with the port’s longshoremen, a move that improved productivity, said Adolph Ojard, who succeeded Helberg as director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority five years ago.

He said Nicholson also was quick to recognize and market the port’s ability to quickly and efficiently transload cargo between ships, trucks and trains. With access to four separate railroads, shippers who use the Twin Ports often benefit from more competitive rates.

Chuck Hilleren, president of Guthrie-Hubner Inc., a Duluth ship agent, said “Because of his background in rail, trucking and marine operations, he could put the whole package together.”

… Despite the pressures and rigors of the job, Clarke said Nicholson was always a pleasure to work with.

“He was always true to his word. If Gary said he’d do something, he did it,” Clarke said.

Nicholson’s work ethic was impeccable as well, Clarke added.

“He’d stay up with you for 24 hours straight, if that was what it took to get the job done.”

“Much of what you see today in the port has Gary Nicholson’s fingerprints on it,” Helberg said.

In Nicholson’s memory, his friends and family have established the G.W. Scholarship Fund, to support students in the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Transportation and Logistics program. Memorials may be sent to the UWS Advancement Office, P.O. Box 2000, Superior, WI 54880.

Please read more about Gary’s work and legacy at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Cmdr. Michael Lebsack will relieve Cmdr. Gary Croot as Commanding Officer Marine Safety Unit Duluth at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center Thursday, June 26. Captain Mark Huebschman, Commanding Officer of Sector Sault St. Marie, Mich. will preside over the ceremony.

During the ceremony Commander Croot will be recognized for his superior leadership and service while serving as Marine Safety Unit Duluth’s Commanding Officer from June 2005 to June 2008. Highlights during Commander Croot’s tour included:

• Championed dramatic improvements to the Port’s Area Maritime Security Committee process and built strong partnerships critical to the success of many highly visible joint exercises.
• Directed a comprehensive in-depth investigation aboard the S/S KAYE E. BARKER ultimately leading to dramatic fleet-wide improvements of propulsion boiler safety.
• Aligned scientific authorities and natural resource trustees to assist in the development of ballast water treatment regulations; mitigating future environmental damage to the Great Lakes’ ecosystem.
• Oversaw 646 domestic and foreign vessel inspections, 238 waterside facility inspections, 86 marine casualty investigations, and 72 pollution responses.

Implemented the Transportation Worker Identification Credential enforcement requirements for the western Lake Superior area.

Steve Kuchera | Source: Duluth News Tribune

Perhaps as early as today, a new buoy will appear on Lake Superior off of Duluth.

The 10-foot-tall buoy — painted yellow, sporting solar panels and crowned with amber light — doesn’t mark a navigational lane or an underwater hazard. It is part of a scientific project to gather information on the lake’s weather, temperature and currents in greater detail than ever before.

The buoy is one of three sets of instruments the research vessel Blue Heron is placing across the lake in the coming days.

“We’re trying to better understand how the lake is responding to changes in the environment, partially with respect to global warming,” Large Lakes Observatory Director Steven M. Colman said. “We’ve seen it respond in some unexpected ways.”

Read about the new buoy and submerged sensors being set, at the Duluth News Tribune >>

John Myers | Source: Duluth News Tribune

The group will explain its mission, offer the latest water-level information and take public questions and input Monday night at the Depot in Duluth, one of several public sessions this month across the Great Lakes region.

John Nevin, policy adviser with the International Joint Commission, said the commission wants to know whether changing the rules on how dams and gates are operated might help buffer against broad water-level changes over the long haul.

That might help waterfront landowners on Georgian Bay who have been left far from the water’s edge, or Great Lakes freighters that have been forced to reduce loads to account for shallower harbors and slips.

Read the full story at the Duluth News Tribune >>

by JOHN FLESHER | Source: AP/mlive.com

For more than a century, the Stannard Rock lighthouse existed for one purpose: warning mariners away from a deadly reef lurking just below the surface of Lake Superior.

Now it has a new mission. Scientists have placed equipment atop the 110-foot-high structure, hoping to determine how much of the giant lake’s water is being sucked into the atmosphere.

… It’s widely believed that evaporation causes about half the water loss each year from Lake Superior, said Jay Austin, assistant professor with the University of Minnesota at Duluth’s Large Lake Observatory.

But the numbers are based on computer models. The Stannard Rock experiment is intended to provide the first direct evaporation measurements.

Read the full story at mlive.com >>

Have photos of the Tall Ships? Send them in — we’d love to share them!

Terry Mattson | Source: Budgeteer News

With more than 20,000 square feet of sail and thousands of nautical miles between them, the three tall ships — the U.S. Brig Niagara, the Pride of Baltimore II and the Madeline — will drop anchor at the Harbor Drive docking area behind the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Thursday, July 31. The U.S. Brig Niagara and the Pride of Baltimore II are replicas of the War of 1812 clipper ships, while the schooner Madeline is modeled after an 1840s freighter.

All three majestic vessels will be available for tours on Aug. 1, 2, and 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Special thanks to our Maritime Festival major sponsors including title sponsor Owens Yacht Sales, Inc., which presents the U.S. Brig Niagara; the Duluth Seaway Port Authority brings you the Pride of Baltimore II; the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Downtown Waterfront presents the Madeline.

Read about all the festive plans throughout this summer in Duluth at the Budgeteer News >>

Source: Duluth News Tribune

The movement of giant wind turbines through the port of Duluth has created a boomlet of economic activity for the region, just the kind of clean, green jobs that will flourish when the U.S. turns away form oil and coal in the battle against global warming.

That was the message Tuesday from leaders of environmental, labor and political groups who say U.S. action is needed to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and push the nation’s economy toward green energy.

The groups released “Job Opportunities for Green Economy,’’ which looked at current jobs and potential in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.

Authors projected major increases in jobs for welders, electricians, electrical engineers, equipment operators and truck drivers, saying most of the jobs needed in the transition to new energies already exist.

Read the full story, photos at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Source: USCG

DULUTH, Minn. — Coast Guard Station Duluth medically evacuated a 42-year-old crewman from a dredge barge after his foot became wedged between a wire rope and a bit near the Blatnik Bridge today at approximately 10:30 a.m.

The station arrived on-scene just minutes after receiving the call for assistance, and crewmembers prevented a near-amputation by applying direct pressure to the man’s leg.

Once on-scene, they also conferenced with the flight surgeon, who recommended medical evacuation.

The crew transferred the man to awaiting Emergency Medical Services, which then transported him to St. Marys Hospital.

Upon transfer, the man was in shock.

Marine Safety Duluth is conducting an investigation of the injury.

by Matthew R. Perrine | Source: Duluth Budgeteer News

Unless you get “bridged” by a passing ship, continue your walkabout back over in Canal Park at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center. Besides being a beloved museum that can easily keep you busy for an afternoon (great for those “rare” rainy days), the visitor center also offers up free access to bathrooms and water fountains and, best of all, there’s a kiosk inside that will clue you in to the day’s ship traffic.

If you’re never experienced the arrival or departure of a Great Lakes 1,000-footer (a personal favorite being the American Century), do yourself a favor and find out when the next one is coming in.

Read this lengthy, detailed piece at the Duluth Budgeteer News >>