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by Tina Lam | Source: Detroit Free Press

Heavy snow and rains since last winter have made the lakes rise. Scientists aren’t sure whether this will last, but they’re hopeful. The temperatures, moisture and ice cover next winter will be critical.

“If we get two more good, normal winters with normal precipitation, then we’d have a turnaround,” said Cynthia Sellinger, deputy director of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lake Superior, which beat its 1926 record low last fall, rebounded to within 4 inches of its long-term average in July. Lakes Erie and Ontario are 2 and 4 inches, respectively, above their July averages.

Lakes Michigan and Huron are up 8 inches, though still lagging more than a foot below their normal July levels. Lake St. Clair is up 10 inches from last year and down just 2 inches from its normal for July.

… Ships on the Great Lakes that carry coal, iron ore and cement for industry moved slightly more cargo in June than they did a year ago, but they’re still loading light because some harbors still are too shallow, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association in Cleveland.

Despite 16 inches more water in Lake Superior last week compared with a year ago, the Wenonah ferry from Grand Portage, Minn., to Isle Royale National Park still is not running. Last summer was the first in 30 years the 149-passenger boat couldn’t get to the island.

Read why the lakes rebounded, further impacts and mid-term forecasts all at the Detroit Free Press >>

By Paul Srubas | Source: Green Bay Press Gazette

Remote operation of Green Bay’s three downtown bridges would compromise safety and inconvenience shippers, motorists and pedestrians, Green Bay’s bridge tenders say.

… the consulting firm doing the study says that operating three bridges from a single bridge house could result in a safer, more convenient operation and a cost-savings.

Currently, three bridge tenders operate the Ray Nitschke Memorial, Walnut Street and Don A. Tilleman bridges over the Fox River — opening them for freighters and pleasure crafters and closing them for vehicles and pedestrians.

Clark Dietz Inc., a consulting firm out of Wausau, has been studying the possibility of one bridge tender operating all three bridges.

Tenders operate multiple bridges in Milwaukee, Menasha and Manitowoc and soon will be operating two bridges in Sturgeon Bay, according to Mark Porlier of Clark Dietz Inc.

The purpose of remote operation is to cut costs, improve safety and reduce wear and tear on equipment, all without loss of the level of service to boating, shipping and land-based traffic, Porlier said.

Read the full story, including bridge tender interviews and projected financials, at the Green Bay Press Gazette >>

Source: Chicago Tribune

Researchers want to know if the bottom of Lake Erie is littered with cannonballs and other ammunition from a pivotal naval battle that was part of the War of 1812.

With the help of an $18,000 federal grant, the Great Lakes Historical Society will survey the lake floor this summer using sonar and magnetic wave technology.

The U.S. victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie, fought in September 1813, helped the Americans secure control of the lake and made a hero of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

The lake’s bottom may have powder kegs and other debris from ships on both sides…

Read more on the technology, goals for this neat project >>

Source: Farm and Dairy

PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — The Stone Laboratory will host guest lectures through the summer at Gibraltar Island.

All lectures begin at 7:45 p.m. and conclude at 9 p.m.

Each lecture is preceded by a short lecture on current research at 7 p.m.

Members of the public are welcome and can take the Put-in-Bay Water Taxi from the Boardwalk Restaurant Dock at 7:15 p.m. before each lecture.

A short tour of Gibraltar Island will be provided before the lectures.

Lecture dates:

• June 12: Global warming: science or religion, Chris Korleski, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
• June 19: A brief history of Stone Laboratory and update on the current status of Lake Erie, Jeff Reutter, Ohio State University
• June 26: Geology of the Great Lakes: three billion years of spectacular scenery in the making, Charles E. Herdendorf, OSU
• July 3: Hypoxia alters species distributions and interactions: implications for food webs and fisheries, Stu Ludsin, OSU
• July 10: Fisheries Management and Research in Ohio, Ray Petering, Ohio Division of Wildlife
• July 24: Threats, impacts, adaptation, and opportunities for the Great Lakes related to climate change, Brent Sohngen, OSU
• July 31: The university system of Ohio, Eric Fingerhut, Ohio Board of Regents
• Aug. 7: Ships are cool!, James H. I. Weakley, Lake Carriers’ Association
• Sept. 6: Stone Laboratory open house, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Contact the Stone Laboratory office for information at 614-285-1800.

By Mike Nizza | Source: New York Times

The attacks of Sept. 11 transformed ports of entry into points of anxiety, but the job itself didn’t get any easier — just as illegal drugs slipped through loopholes, so did potential security threats. While no attacks have originated at the ports, reminders that they are vulnerable are frequent — from the Sept. 11 Commission’s final report to the uproar over a proposal to allow a Dubai company manage some operations at U.S. ports.

Today’s reminder is from the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress that studied one important part of port security known as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). In exchange for lighter — and faster — scrutiny at U.S. ports, the federal incentive program requires companies shipping cargo from overseas to follow a list of security precautions.

Unfortunately, those protocols are not being faithfully followed abroad, opening the door to terrorists, the study concluded.

Read full story, download PDF of GAO report, at the New York Times >>

By Tom Elko | Source: Twin Cities Daily Planet

Ballast water — the water that large ships take on to stabilize themselves when they’re running without cargo aboard — is a hot topic in Minnesota and in Washington, D.C., these days.

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy recently won a court ruling forcing the Minnesota Pollution Control Authority (MPCA) to take immediate action to prevent the spread of VHS. The MPCA was already in the process of developing a ballast water control policy but encountered resistance from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which advocates for federally standardized regulations.

More to the story, interesting quotes at the Twin Cities Daily Planet >>

Source: CSL

MONTREAL — Canada Steamship Lines, a division of The CSL Group Inc. (CSL), has entered into an agreement with Fednav Ltd. of Montreal to purchase four of that company’s ocean-going Handysize bulk carriers. The vessels, all sister ships, currently sail as the Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Superior. The ships each have a summer deadweight capacity of 35,630 tons, and, at 222.48 metres in length and 23.13 metres in width, are full-size Lakers designed for Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Waterway trade.

The first of the vessels will be delivered in December 2008, and the balance by December 2009. They will all be re-flagged Canadian, creating approximately 120 new jobs for Canadian seafarers. The Lake Ontario and Lake Superior will be assigned Read the rest of this entry »

By Dan Bellerose | Source: Sault Star

Nearly a month into the commercial shipping season, a small fleet of United States Coast Guard icebreakers continues working the upper approach to the Michigan Soo Locks.

The 3,500-ton heavy icebreaker Mackinaw and three 660-ton icebreaking tugs, the Katmai Bay, the Biscayne Bay and the Neah Bay, re-established commercial shipping tracks Wednesday on ice-clogged Whitefish Bay.

Nine freighters, six downbound and three upbound, were delayed overnight Tuesday due to deteriorating conditions.

“Large ice floes of significant thickness broke loose from the western shore (of Lake Superior) earlier in the week and collapsed previously-laid shipping tracks,” said Mark Gill, operations manager of USCG Group Sault.

Plate ice was up to 75 centimetres [about 29 inches] thick, he said.

…“Whitefish Bay is the last significant ice left to deal with on all of the Great Lakes,” he said. “Our work, if all goes well, should be done for another season in a week to 10 days.”

More quotes, explanation of ice and Coast Guard operations the Sault Star >>

by Kelli B. Kavanaugh | Source: ModelD Media

The Detroit Wayne County Port Authority was awarded two transportation grants for its public dock and terminal to be sited at the foot of Bates Street.

The funding allocations, one from the federal government and another from the state, brings its total amount raised for the project to $15 million, enough to construct its first phase.

… “In the short term, we’ll be able to accommodate all vessels that are out there today,” he says. “In the long term, it will be a full-scale, international-slash-domestic terminal.”

Another phase will build an offshore wharf that can dock larger ships than can currently be handled. Kerr says that funding sources have already been identified for the next two phases.

In other port news, the United States Department of Homeland Security has elevated the strategic value of the Port of Detroit from Tier III to a Tier II, which means that it is guaranteed funding on an annual basis from the federal government.

Read the full story about the Terminal plans at ModelD Media >>

By MIKE FORNES | Source: Cheboygan Tribune

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Heavy ship traffic is reported in the vicinity of the Soo Locks, St. Mary’s River and Whitefish Bay as the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw and other icebreaking vessels are hustling to assist those in need.

The Mackinaw has been actively conducting icebreaking operations in Whitefish Bay and the lower St. Mary’s River over the last week.

Cmdr. John Little, the Mackinaw’s captain, said Wednesday that conditions of plate ice from 12 to 30 inches thick with brash ice of more than six feet remains in most of Whitefish Bay.

Little said his ship and crew have conducted more than 50 vessel assists to commercial shipping within the last few days alone while also conducting five direct assists to ships beset in heavy ice, freeing them to resume their transits.

“Some of these assists came within the narrowest portions of the lower St. Mary’s River in the turns of Winter Point, Johnson Point and Stribling Point,” Little continued.

Also conducting superb efforts as a part of “Team Taconite” are the cutters Biscayne Bay, Katmai Bay and Neah Bay; all three 140-foot ships are assisting vessel transits in the lower river while Mackinaw works in very thick shifting ice in Whitefish Bay.

“Tuesday’s weather has really thrown Operation Taconite a curve as winds in Whitefish Bay were at 40 knots from the north and previously established tracks are rapidly closing,” Little added.

More quotes, details to this excellent story at the Cheboygan Tribune >>

By NICOLE GERRING and BOBBY AMPEZZAN | Source: Times Herald

One of the favorite pastimes of Blue Water Area residents — ship watching — officially kicked off this weekend.

Pat and Don Walls of Holly occasionally spend time at the Maritime Center on weekends.

“I’ve been watching the boats for a long time,” said Pat, noting she and her husband own a cottage in Rogers City on Lake Huron, where the ships pick up loads of limestone, which is used to make steel.

The Walls also enjoy taking trips to Great Lakes destinations such as Sault Ste. Marie and Ludington.

More to the story, photos from Blessing of the Fleet at the Times Herald >>

by Dan Bellerose | Source: The Sault Star

“[Ship t]raffic is moving but it’s moving slowly. . . . We have more ice than resources to deal with it at present and it has slowed movement to a crawl.”

…The ice itself isn’t abnormally thick, but it’s the second-largest ice-cover accumulation in the last dozen years, according to the U.S. National Weather Service, and the difficulty is getting the broken ice to flow downstream rather than congest, Gill said.

Icebreakers are encountering 46 to 76 centimeters (18 to 30 inches) of plate ice throughout the length of the St. Mary’s and up to 96 cm of brash ice.

… Usually, three 660-ton Bay-class icebreaking tugs patrol the lower St. Mary’s during breakout. But only two are available this spring and one of them, the Biscayne Bay, out of St. Ignace, has seen limited duty this week due to propulsion problems.

The Mackinaw was relocating from Whitefish Bay and the upper St. Mary’s to the lower St. Mary’s on Wednesday afternoon to assist the Katmai Bay, out of the Michigan Sault. Its hoped the Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker Samuel Risley will be downbound from Thunder Bay in the coming days.

Ice congestion in the lower river system has upbound traffic moving in two- to five-vessel convoys, with an icebreaker escort, and three such convoys had moved since Tuesday. But there has been no downbound traffic and five vessels were waiting to move out early Wednesday afternoon.

More to this excellent story at the Sault Star, click to read >>

Source: GLSW

The Great Lakes Fleet’s 767-foot long Cason J Callaway was the first ship to lock through the Soo Locks on Tuesday, March 25, 2008.

The Callaway may have been an unlikely recipient of the honor, after having become stuck in the ice off the Port of Erie for 9 hours shortly after her departure from winter lay-up last weekend. The Callaway and fleetmate Presque Isle then also became caught in the ice near Lime Island in the St. Mary’s River on Monday. The ships were freed from the ice by the USCG Cutter Katmai Bay, and continued north to the Soo Locks, arriving late Monday evening.

The Callaway was not the only ship headed for the Soo and hoping for the ‘top hat’ honors on Tuesday. The vessels Paul R Tregurtha, Arthur M Anderson, Charles M Beeghly, Edgar B Speer, James R Barker and Kaye E Barker were all upbound for Duluth, having left layup in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on Sunday and Monday. Three of those vessels had been expected to arrive at the western end of Lake Superior before the Callaway, but were delayed by thick ice in the bay of Green Bay for over 12 hours.

The first ship expected downbound at the Soo is the Edwin H Gott, a 1,000-footer fleetmate of the Cason J Callaway, carrying iron ore from Two Harbors, MN to Gary, IN. The Gott is expected at the Soo Tuesday morning, weather and ice conditions permitting.