Ship Samuel Risley News

Last night’s arrival of United States Coast Guard Cutters Alder and Mackinaw signaled that the 2019 commercial shipping season is soon to commence for the Port of Duluth-Superior and the entire region.The Alder and Mackinaw made their way across Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, opening a 100-foot lane in the ice that will be widened soon by Canadian Coast Guard Ship Samuel Risley in support of breakout efforts that will also include local tugs from the Great Lakes Towing Company and Heritage Marine.

Rear Adm. June E. Ryan, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District, was welcomed aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Samuel Risley by Assistant Commissioner Julie Gascon and Captain Signe Gotfredsen of the Canadian Coast Guard, Central and Arctic Region Monday. After a relatively mild winter on the Great Lakes escorting ships through ice and preventing ice jams, the Samuel Risley was upbound through the Soo Locks and the St. Marys River to Lake Superior for further icebreaking at the Port of Thunder Bay and buoy-tending duties.

Icebreaking vessels from the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards are scheduled to break ice in the North Channel of the St. Clair River, Friday. Canadian Coast Guard ship Samuel Risley will break ice in the river near Algonac, Mich., and Harsens Island. Due to concentrated ice buildup, the water levels in the area rose between 15 and 20 inches overnight prompting the Clay Township Emergency Operation Center and Champion’s Auto Ferry to request Coast Guard assistance. Throughout the remainder of the winter, U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers will continue to respond in the St.

Continued icebreaking operations from the U.S. The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards are jointly continuing Operation Coal Shovel, the seasonal domestic icebreaking operations in the southern part of Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair and Detroit River systems, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. As of Sunday, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) icebreakers have logged 493 icebreaking hours and assisted 53 vessels since beginning Operation Coal Shovel on January 8. Operation Coal Shovel’s mission…

U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews helped to keep commerce moving on the Great Lakes by breaking ice for bulk carrier CSL Laurentien in eastern Lake Eerie on March 27. The crews encountered plate ice as thick as 3 feet and ice ridges as tall as 8 feet. The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay, homeported in Cleveland, work with Canadian Coast Guard Ship Samuel Risley to escort the CSL Laurentien through the ice. uscgnews.com

Three icebreaking cutters worked together to keep traffic moving through the St. Mary’s River. The  U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, a 240-foot icebreaker homeported in Cheboygan, Mich., along with Coast Guard Cutter Alder, a 225-foot buoy tender with ice-breaking capabilities homeported in Duluth, Minn., and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Samuel Risley assisted vessels in the ice-bound river. The Mackinaw, CCGS Samuel Risley along with the Coast Guard Cutter Alder, freed the motor vessel Manitowoc from an ice plug in the vicinity of Whitefish Bay.