Great Lakes Icebreaking: Important Safety Message

The Canadian Coast Guard, in partnership with the United States Coast Guard and the Ontario Provincial Police, has issued a safety message for all ice surface users near icebreaking operations and shipping routes in the Great Lakes as follows:

Icebreaking operations will be carried out in the following areas of the Great Lakes
Canadian Coast Guard and/or United States Coast Guard will be conducting icebreaking operations as they escort the laker MV Algomarine from Lake Michigan into Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, where it will travel to Owen Sound for a winter lay-up. Operations for these areas are expected to take place on January 25 and 26, 2014. However, dates and routes are subject to change with little or no notice due to weather, ice conditions, shipping schedules or other unexpected situations.

Broken and fragmented icy tracks left behind by icebreaking operations and other ship traffic may not freeze over immediately. Newly fallen snow may obscure icebreaker and ship tracks and changes in weather contribute to unsafe ice conditions that may remain long after the ships have left the area.

All ice on or near the planned shipping routes and icebreaking operations should be considered unsafe during and after ship transits through these routes. The Canadian Coast Guard, the United States Coast Guard and Ontario Provincial Police are advising everyone to stay clear of these areas.

The Coast Guard requests this information be shared among all surface ice users.