Soo Locks Open for 2016
At 12:01 a.m. today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officially opened the Soo Locks for the start of the 2016 shipping season. The locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan are among 16 locks that form the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system which extends from Duluth, Minnesota to the Atlantic Ocean. Together these 16 locks lift or lower ships 600 feet – the height of a 60 story building. Since the Soo Locks closed in January, the Corps has been busy executing winter maintenance, repair and rehabilitation projects. Projects included the installation of a hydraulic system for the Poe Lock; anchorage repairs and dewatering bulkhead coating replacement on the Poe Lock; and work on the MacArthur Lock’s electrical modernization.
LCA's Ryan Retires
George J. Ryan will end his 20-plus year career as President of Lake Carriers' Association on January 15. Ryan will retire as one of the longest serving President's in the Association's 123-year history. James H. I. Weakley will succeed him. "George's contributions to the U.S.-Flag Great Lakes fleet are immeasurable," said James R. Barker, Chairman of The Interlake Steamship Company, one of the largest U.S.-Flag operators on the Lakes. "He safely navigated the industry through the economic tribulations of the mid-1980s when America's steel industry, Great Lakes shipping's largest customer, teetered on the brink of extinction. When it appeared the Jones Act would be sacrificed in a U.S./Canada trade agreement, it was George who awakened a slumbering U.S.
