The saga continues on the upper Great Lakes. The commercial shipping season was supposed to begin on March 21 with the opening of the locks at Ste. St. Marie. (This is the typical time each year.) That was postponed to March 28 because of heavy ice. Meanwhile, no vessels, except an icebreaker, have gone through the locks because of impassable ice.
Reports today are the that the shipping industry is basically standing down and keeping ships across the upper lakes in whatever port in which they are lying. Last week a convoy of large ships (800 to 1,000 footers) headed out across Lake Superior led by USCG icebreakers. Of that group, one thousand footer limped back into the Duluth harbor with a fractured hull. Another thousand footer limped back with bent propellers. One USCG icebreaker had to be towed back into port because the ice had wrecked its rudder system. Two other fully loaded freighters are stuck in the ice somewhere on the eastern part of the lake awaiting the USCG Mackinaw (the heaviest icebreaker on the Great Lakes) to rescue them. To the best of my knowledge, this is unprecedented in Great Lakes shipping history.
Ahh, the joys of global warming.
David Sorenson
Duluth, MN
The saga continues on the upper Great Lakes. The commercial shipping season was supposed to begin on March 21 with the opening of the locks at Ste. St. Marie. (This is the typical time each year.) That was postponed to March 28 because of heavy ice. Meanwhile, no vessels, except an icebreaker, have gone through the locks because of impassable ice.
Reports today are the that the shipping industry is basically standing down and keeping ships across the upper lakes in whatever port in which they are lying. Last week a convoy of large ships (800 to 1,000 footers) headed out across Lake Superior led by USCG icebreakers. Of that group, one thousand footer limped back into the Duluth harbor with a fractured hull. Another thousand footer limped back with bent propellers. One USCG icebreaker had to be towed back into port because the ice had wrecked its rudder system. Two other fully loaded freighters are stuck in the ice somewhere on the eastern part of the lake awaiting the USCG Mackinaw (the heaviest icebreaker on the Great Lakes) to rescue them. To the best of my knowledge, this is unprecedented in Great Lakes shipping history.
Ahh, the joys of global warming.
David Sorenson
Duluth, MN
