Northern Minnesota News

Coast Guard aids to navigation teams throughout the Ninth Coast Guard District has begun restoring the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway aids to navigation system. Slightly more than 11 percent of the operation has been completed so far. Operation Spring Restore involves placing approximately 1,216 navigational aids, including lighted and unlighted buoys and beacons. Roughly half of the aids in the region are taken out of service during the winter months due to decreased vessel traffic and to minimize damage from ice and inclement weather. This is known as Operation Fall Retrieve.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw returned to Chicago on December 3, 2016 as this year’s “Christmas Ship” loaded with 1,200 Christmas trees. Each year, the Coast Guard partners with the Chicago Christmas Ship Committee to participate in the two-day event depicting the annual Chicago tradition from the early 1900s, combining the trip with the cutter's annual aids-to-navigation mission as part of Operation Fall Retrieve. This annual operation affects 1,233 lighted and unlighted buoys and beacons throughout the Great Lakes.

Coast Guard aids to navigation teams throughout the Ninth Coast Guard District completed restoring the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway aids to navigation system, Friday, following a late start to the operation due to the extended ice season. Operation Spring Restore involves restoring approximately 1,222 navigational aids, including lighted and unlighted buoys and beacons. Roughly half of the aids in the region are taken out of service during the winter months due to decreased vessel traffic and to minimize damage from ice and inclement weather. This is known as Operation Fall Retrieve.

In anticipation of the coming ice season and to ensure the safety of vessels transiting the Great Lakes Basin, earlier this week the Coast Guard 9th District began its annual retrieval of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway System seasonal aids to navigation, the largest domestic ATON recovery operation in the U.S. Operation Fall Retrieve, which affects lighted and unlighted buoys and beacons, commenced Tuesday with a goal of retrieving 1,278 navigational aids. The operation is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 28.

A family-owned and operated company founded in northern Minnesota in 1942, Mack began as a welding company to support the forestry and mining industries, but quickly reinvented itself as a crane attachment manufacturer specializing in material handling. Today, this focus is highlighted by Mack’s expanding range of clamshell buckets and grabs for the stevedoring industry, particularly well serviced from the company’s current base on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. Of Mack’s approximate annual sales of $7+ million, roughly 15 percent can be attributed to direct exports.

The Ninth Coast Guard District begins its annual retrieval of the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Seaway System seasonal aids to navigation before ice forms. In a massive task Operation Fall Retrieve, which includes lighted and unlighted buoys and beacons has begun, with a goal of retrieving 1,282 navigational aids, and should be completed by Dec. 28, 2012. The aids, approximately half in the region, are taken out of service during the winter months due to decreased vessel traffic and to minimize damage from ice and severe weather. The Ninth Coast Guard District’s aids to navigation system facilitates safe and efficient maritime activity in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway region by marking safe passage for domestic, international, commercial and recreational vessel traffic.

River locks around St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn. were expected to close on Tuesday due to rising water conditions, further delaying the latest tow arrival to St. Paul in the last 30 years. "We're looking at having to close the three Twin Cities locks. We've hit 1997 flood levels, and we may have to close locks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 5a on the Mississippi," said Dennis Erickson, chief of operations for the Army Corps of Engineers in St. Paul. The closings affect 120 miles of the upper Mississippi River from Minneapolis south to Winona, Minn. Based on current weather forecasts for the area, the Army Corps of Engineers anticipated closing the locks to all river traffic from April 10 through April 20. Water levels on the Mississippi have risen more than two feet in the Minneapolis-St.

The U.S. Navy will christen Freedom, the first littoral combat ship (LCS) at 10 a.m. EDT Sept. 23, during a ceremony at Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette, Wis. The future USS Freedom acknowledges the enduring foundation of our nation and honors American communities from coast to coast which bear the name Freedom. States having towns named Freedom include California, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The 378-foot Freedom will be the first U.S. Navy ship to carry this class designation. Birgit Smith will serve as ship’s sponsor. She is the widow of Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, who was killed in action in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.