Indiana Harbor News

Mokena, Ill. based Middle River Marine, LLC announced it has struck a deal to acquire the assets of Chicago's Kindra Lake Towing LP.With the acquisition, Middle River will expand its affreightment, towing, fleeting and terminal services to customers on the Illinois Waterways, including Lake Michigan. The agreement will expand MRM’s bulk material logistic operations with the addition of five vessels, marine equipment and a harbor slip in South Chicago.“Our people make the difference and we’re happy to welcome new coworkers to expand the MRM team,” said Aaron Halcomb, president of Middle River Marine. “For our customers, this further extends our ability to economically…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' FY2020 Work Plan release on Monday places dredging at the forefront.“We welcome the FY 2020 Work Plan released by the Army Corps,” said William P. Doyle, CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America. “We’re ready – our dredging companies are hard at work on projects and continue to build new dredging ships for America’s ports, waterways and beaches.”The Work Plan is based on the FY2020 Energy and Water Development appropriations bills signed into law by President Trump in December 2019.In December 2019…

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.

The Ports of Indiana is a statewide port authority, established in 1963, which operates three ports: two on the Ohio River, one on Lake Michigan. Port officials refer to the three as “America’s Premier Inland Port System.” They cite location, location, location, providing access via two critical freight arteries – the Great Lakes and the Inland Waterway System and proximity to the world’s most productive industrial and agricultural regions. The Ports is the only statewide port authority in the Midwest.

The 1,004-foot M/V James R. Barker has sailed from the Twin Ports with a new specialized cargo: 60,000 tons of Mustang superflux pellets – the first shipment of its kind since the new pellet production began at Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.’s United Taconite mine last month. The specialized Mustang pellets, which will be used for the automotive industry and other markets, contain a higher level of calcium added to dolomite and limestone than the standard taconite pellets. Production of Mustang pellets began in May…

Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 5.8 million tons in April, an increase of 8.8 percent compared to a year ago, the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) reported. Shipments topped the month’s five-year average by nearly 21 percent. Shipments from U.S. Great Lakes ports totaled 5.3 million tons in April, an increase of 6.8 percent, while loadings at Canadian terminals in the Seaway jumped 35 percent to 507,000 tons. The month also witnessed the final shipment of iron ore from Escanaba, Mich.

The Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) announced that the 2016 shipping season on the Great Lakes began on March 2 when the tug/barge unit Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder loaded 4,600 tons of iron ore at Cleveland Bulk Terminal for delivery to ArcelorMittal Cleveland at the end of the navigable portion of the Cuyahoga River. That much iron ore will keep the mill in operation for about one day. The vessel could have delivered another 4,100 tons, but the Cuyahoga River is notorious for silting up over the winter, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not dredge the river again until mid-May. The next vessel to get underway will be the cement carrier G. L. Ostander/Integrity on March 7, LCA said.

The Port of Duluth-Superior said it will welcome seven ships for winter layup this year. The firs tvessel Indiana Harbor laid up early on November 3 for a repowering project is already underway at Fraser Shipyards on the Herbert C. Jackson, in dry dock since early December. The Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie are set to close at midnight on Friday, January 15. By then, four more wintering vessels are expected to have arrived in the Twin Ports beginning Thursday morning with the anticipated arrival of the Edwin H. Gott, followed Friday or later by the American Century, the Kaye E. Barker and the Philip R. Clarke. The last laker, the thousand-footer Paul R.

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted a medical evacuation of a 36-year-old man from a freighter in the Straits of Mackinac Thursday evening. Just before 6 p.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, received a report of a crew member who was experiencing shortness of breath, pain in his left arm and tightness in his chest aboard the Mesabi Miner, a 990-foot U.S. flagged motor vessel en route to Indiana Harbor, Indiana. Another crew member aboard the vessel, with medical training, was monitoring the man and reported him as conscious and ambulatory. Sector Sault Ste. Marie watchstanders directed the launch of a boat crew from Coast Guard Station St.

American Steamship Company (ASC), a subsidiary of GATX Corporation, and Chicago’s John G. Shedd Aquarium are working collaboratively in pursuit of their common goal of protecting the Great Lakes, and now they’re taking that message to communities along the shores. One of ASC’s 1,000-foot vessels, the MV Indiana Harbor, is displaying each organization’s logo along with the slogan “Working Together to Keep the Lakes Great.” The vessel travels throughout the Great Lakes region including ports in western Lake Superior, southern Lake Michigan, Detroit and Cleveland.

Cleveland—The U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet is returning to service to keep industrial America on the mend. The first vessel to get underway was the tug/barge unit DOROTHY ANN/PATHFINDER on March 5. The vessel will spend the month shuttling iron ore within Cleveland Harbor. Next to sail was the cement carrier SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN/INNOVATION. The tug/barge unit left its winter berth in Cleveland on March 7 and sailed to Alpena, Michigan, where it loaded cement to resupply silos in Chicago. The self-propelled laker JOSEPH L.

Investment Averages $1.4 Million Per Vessel Maintaining and Modernizing U.S.-Flag Lakers Will Keep Great Lakes Shipyards Busy This Winter. More than 1,200 boilermakers, welders, electricians and other skilled craftsmen will be hard at work this winter maintaining and modernizing U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters when they lay up between late December and mid-January. The major U.S.-flag operators will invest more than $75 million in their 56 vessels so the fleet will be ready to replenish stockpiles of iron ore, coal, cement, salt and limestone when shipping resumes next March.

Thanks to a significant increase in funding for dredging on the Great Lakes in FY08, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was finally able to start reducing the backlog of sediment that is clogging the Great Lakes Navigation System announced Great Lakes Maritime Task Force in its 2008 Annual Report released March 20. “Congress really stepped up to the plate and gave the Corps nearly $140m to dredge Great Lakes ports and waterways in FY08. The outlook for FY09 initially was not as positive. The Bush Administration’s final budget proposed to slash the Lakes’ dredging appropriation by nearly $50m. “Thanks to the Great Lakes delegation, the omnibus bill did bring the Lakes’ dredging appropriation back up to $125m, an increase of $35m over what the Bush Administration had proposed.

In 1970, the U.S. Congress designated the Great Lakes region as the U.S.' fourth seacoast; which, while geographically inaccurate, is completely on target in terms of the importance of trade within that area. One of the most important waterways, the region is home to the U.S.-Flag Lakes fleet, perhaps the most vibrant segment of the U.S. Merchant Marine. In terms of sheer numbers, the fleet is not large; with only approximately 70 large self-propelled vessels and tug/barge units in the dry- and liquid-bulk trades and another 20 smaller tug/barge units engaged in primarily moving liquid-bulk products. However, in a typical shipping season, the U.S.-Flag Lakes fleet will haul upward of 115 million tons, or almost half a ton for every person living in the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.

U.S.-Flag shipments of dry-bulk cargo on the Great Lakes in June totaled 11.4 million net tons, a decrease of 3 percent compared to a year ago. However, the June total represents the second month in a row in which the gap between this season and last has narrowed significantly. The 2002 season began with a 20-percent decrease in April, the first full month of navigation in the dry-bulk trades, but May float was down by 9.4 percent. Another positive sign in June was the sailing of three idled lakers. Oglebay Norton Marine Services Company activated its BUCKEYE on June 8 and its COURTNEY BURTON on June 15. Both vessels are mid-sized self-unloaders. Interlake Steamship sailed its 1,000-footer JAMES R. BARKER on June 29.

Dry-bulk cargo movement on the Great Lakes totaled 162.3 million net tons in 2002, a decrease of 1.4 percent compared to 2001 and a drop of 6 percent compared to the 5-year average. Iron ore shipments totaled 58.9 million net tons in 2002, an increase of 5.8 percent compared to 2001, but a decrease of 9.2 percent compared to the 5-year average. North American raw steel production totaled an estimated 101.7 million tons in 2002, an increase of 2.4 percent compared to 2001, but the amount of steel made in Basic Oxygen Furnaces that turn pellets into hot metal fell 4 percent to an estimated 50.1 million net tons. The Lakes iron ore trade was essentially non-stop in 2002.