Saint Lawrence News

The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) announced it has acquired a 62-year-old fireboat from the city of Cleveland, Ohio.The vessel, Anthony J. Celebrezze, was constructed in 1961 by Paach Marine in Erie, Pa. and was used by the Cleveland Fire Department until it was replaced with a new vessel, Garret A. Morgan, in June 2023 and put up for auction.Auction data shows the vessel was sold on November 14 for just over $41,000, including a 12.5% buyer's premium.GLT said its Great Lakes Shipyard division is very familiar with the Anthony J.

The 2022 Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS), scheduled to be held Nov. 15-17, 2022, hosted by Argonne National Laboratory at the Argonne campus in Lemont, Illinois, recently unveiled the full conference program, packed with experts with insights on the challenges facing the inland waterway systems.Click here to read the fulll program for MRS 2022MRS is an annual international event focused on risks involving the global maritime transportation system (MTS). For the MRS, the U.S. Coast Guard partners with the sponsor…

The 2022 Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS) is scheduled to be held Nov. 15-17, 2022, hosted by Argonne National Laboratory at the Argonne campus in Lemont, Illinois. MRS is an annual international event focused on risks involving the global maritime transportation system (MTS). For the MRS, the U.S. Coast Guard partners with the sponsor, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and the hosting agency. MRS began in 2011 and has grown in size, scope and interest. The MRS event will be followed by the U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard said its In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) Program has passed the halfway point in its effort to upgrade the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems on the service’s 140-foot bay-class icebreaking tugs.The HVAC upgrade on Coast Guard Cutter Katmai Bay was completed on June 1—20 days ahead of schedule—in Cheboygan, Mich., near the tug’s homeport of Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.Meanwhile, Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay arrived at Coast Guard Yard…

The theme of Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS) 2022 is “The Importance of Inland Systems to the MTS.” The global MTS consists of numerous inland networks that connect the major transnational and inland ports. The United States has more than 25,000 miles of navigable waters, which can carry around 630 million tons of cargo annually. Barges carry the bulk of the commodities on the inland river networks while freighters carry the commodities on the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway. About 60 percent of the U.S. farm exports travel through inland waterways.

The America’s Marine Highways Program is one of several grant programs administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) to promote more effective use of the nation’s navigable waterways. This particular program was established by Congress in 2007 to provide grants for projects that would promote water-borne alternatives to available landside transportation services, especially for freight carried by trucks.Consistent with this specific goal, the program’s statutory authority…

All passengers have safely debarked a passenger vessel that ran aground and began taking on water in the Saint Lawrence River near Alexandria Bay, N.Y., Thursday afternoon.The U.S. Coast Guard said it received a report at 1:17 p.m. that the tour boat Island Duchess, operated by Uncle Sam Boat Tours, had run aground with 134 passengers on board for a day cruise. All passengers were transferred via responding assets from multiple assisting agencies to another USBT-operated vessel…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) announced it has taken delivery of its new 118-foot icebreaking tug, the Seaway Guardian, in Massena, N.Y. Built by Gulf Island Shipyards in Houma, La., the vessel is the first new tug to join SLSDC since the Seaway opened 61 years ago.The new $24 million tug will primarily be used for buoy maintenance and ice management on the St. Lawrence Seaway, replacing the long-serving 62-year-old Robinson Bay, which the SLSDC will maintain as backup.

U.S. Great Lakes ports reported mixed results in June with aluminum, road salt and grain shipments holding strong despite the coronavirus pandemic, while shipments of commodities related to steel production and manufacturing have continued to slide.Additionally, the St. Lawrence Seaway reported that from April 1 to June 30, nearly 11.7 million metric tons of cargo was shipped via the bi-national trade corridor. While these volumes were down 8% compared to the same time period in 2019, cargo shipments improved in June narrowing the year-over-year decline.Craig H.

While St. Lawrence Seaway cargo volumes decreased during the past two months due to economic shifts related to COVID-19, industry leaders said the binational trade and transportation corridor is ready to play its part in the economic recovery efforts in the coming months. Meanwhile, with an increased focus on commodity diversification through project cargo, international shipments of wind energy components in the Great Lakes region are taking off.Overall St. Lawrence Seaway tonnage from March 15 through May 31 totaled 7.7 million metric tons, down 10% compared to the same time period in 2019.

The first ocean-going vessel of 2020 arrived Monday at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, thereby commencing this year's international shipping season at the Great Lakes port.Port officials welcomed the M/V Muntgracht, a 466-foot general cargo carrier, after her five-day voyage through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the deepwater port on Lake Michigan. Due to the current global pandemic precautions, the ceremonial Steel Stein, a long-running tradition at the port, was canceled this…

The St. Lawrence Seaway’s 62nd navigation season kicked off on Tuesday with the transit of the Canadian-flagged cement carrier NACC Argonaut through Lock 8 on the Welland Canal.Then, in the early hours on Wednesday morning, first U.S.-flag commercial vessel transited the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., signaling the start of the U.S. fleet's 2020 sailing season.The Seaway’s Montreal / Lake Ontario section will open on April 1 this year, eight days after the opening of the Welland Canal.

German propulsion manufacturer SCHOTTEL said it has been selected to equip a newly built harbor tugboat for the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) with medium-sized azimuth thrusters. The vessel is under construction at the U.S. shipyard Washburn & Doughty in Maine. The HT-60, the smallest in the harbor tug series developed by the Seattle-based naval architecture firm Glosten, is scheduled for delivery in 2021.Craig Middlebrook, Deputy Administrator of the SLSDC, said, “This new vessel will be used to carry out a variety of construction and maintenance duties for the U.S.

The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) has placed an order for a newbuild ASD (Z-drive) harbor tug to be delivered by Washburn & Doughty Associates, Inc. of East Boothbay, Maine.Craig Middlebrook, Deputy Administrator of the SLSDC, said, “This new vessel will be used to carry out a variety of construction and maintenance duties for the US portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, including routine maintenance of lock gates, maintenance and positioning of aids to navigation…

The Great Lakes Seaway Partnership hosted Capitol Day in St. Paul, Minnesota yesterday to meet with Governor Tim Walz and other key legislators to share insights on the critical role of the Great Lakes Seaway system in maintaining a vibrant regional, national and global economy.“Commercial navigation on the Great Lakes Seaway system is an economic driver — both broadly in the United States and Canada — but, especially, in Minnesota. More cargo moves in-and-out through Minnesota ports than any other Great Lakes state and supports over 6…

As privately owned, luxury yachts near the size of the average cruise ship, behold a new option, which is anything but commonplace: The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. At 624 feet and 11 decks, her exterior profile resembles a sleek superyacht design, not a cruise ship on the horizon. Launched in October 2018 at Hijos de J. Barreras Shipyard in Vigo, Spain, the flagship of the new brand is now in outfitting and interior finishing. The project was co-managed by The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Marriott and Tillberg Design of Sweden.

U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Hands-Free Mooring Technology Fully Operational at all St. Lawrence Seaway Locks.The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) today announced that Hands-Free Mooring (HFM) technology is fully deployed throughout the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The new technology revolutionizes the method for locking vessels through the Seaway and is the most important technological advance since the Seaway’s opening in 1959.“This new technology is a significant modernization of the St.

A.P.M Moeller-Maersk (Maersk) has informed the search for the missing seafarer who fell overboard from the Maersk Patras on May 19, 2019, has been suspended.“It is with regret we have received the news that the search and rescue operation was unsuccessful and we must conclude that we have lost our colleague. It is a tragic situation for the family and we have offered them our full support. My deepest condolences and thoughts go to them,” says Søren Toft, COO of A.P. Moller - Maersk, the largest container shipping line by market share.On 19 May 2019 at approximately 9:30 am local time, the 2nd Officer of the vessel Maersk Patras fell overboard into the Saint Lawrence River (Canada) north east of the junction with Saguenay River.Several vessels including Maersk Patras…

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) was developed with the sole goal of improving maritime safety by allowing ships in proximity to one another to automatically exchange information regarding their name, course, speed, type, cargo, etc. The exchange of this information would allow conning officers on each ship to make better decisions regarding the possibility of close encounters and the need to change course and/or speed. It would also make it easier for one ship to contact the other by radio-telephone to hopefully remove any doubt. To that extent, AIS has largely worked as intended, although collisions continue to occur.It did not take long, though, for governments to get involved.

On June 22, 2018, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a federal government reorganization proposal entitled “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century”. The 132-page document is subtitled ‘Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations’. I have not read the entire report, but I have examined those portions that relate to maritime issues. I find those portions to be uniformly ill-advised.Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once wrote: “A page of history is worth a volume of logic.”  The authors of this proposal should brush up on their history.

The new study by the Department of Transportation Great Lakes - Saint Lawrence Seaway says that shipping  supports more than 237,000 jobs and billions in economic activity.A year-long study of the economic impacts of the entire Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system is a definitive and detailed report documenting the many contributions made by the Great Lakes Seaway system to federal, state/provincial and local economies.The study reports that in 2017 maritime commerce supported: 237,868 jobs, $35 billion in economic activity, $14.2 billion in personal income and local consumption expenditures and $6.6 billion in federal, state/provincial and local tax revenue.The study also highlights the specific economic benefits of key navigation infrastructure, such as the St.

Algoma Central Corporation, the largest fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers on the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Waterway, is adding the crews from 27 of its vessels to an expanding network of whale watchers. For the first time, the crews on Algoma’s self-unloaders, bulkers, tankers and cement carriers will collect data about the whales they see on their journeys this summer."Algoma is committed to providing sustainable and environmentally responsible marine transportation,” said Gregg Ruhl, Algoma’s Chief Operating Officer.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation marked the opening of the Seaway’s 60th navigation season today, with the transit of the newly built Algoma Niagara through Lock 3 on the Welland Canal. State-of-the-art ships such as the Algoma Niagara serve as a key part of the supply chain serving to bolster the competitiveness of North American industry. Over 227,000 jobs are supported by cargo moving over the Great Lakes / Seaway System. Terence Bowles, President and CEO of The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC), noted in his opening address that 2018 marked both the 60th navigation season for the waterway and the 20th anniversary of the SLSMC. Created in 1998 as a not-for-profit corporation, the SLSMC succeeded the former St. Lawrence Seaway Authority.