IMMEDIATE RELEASE             January 21, 2004

The Port of Duluth-Superior’s last outbound cargo vessel of the season occurred earlier than anticipated due to inclement weather.

Lower Lakes Towing, Ltd.’s, Saginaw departed at 7:45 a.m. today (January 21), while major ice problems in the St. Marys River below the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., caused the last five vessels scheduled to load at the same facility to be cancelled.

The Saginaw departed Superior’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe taconite facility with about 16,000 metric tons of iron ore pellets destined for Nanticoke, Ont.

Great Lakes Fleet, Inc.’s Cason J. Callaway and John G. Munson, Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s Stewart J. Cort and Burns Harbor, and Interlake Steamship/Lakes Shipping’s Paul R. Tregurtha, each originally scheduled to also visit the BNSF facility, will instead proceed to their respective winter berths.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extended the navigation season at the Soo Locks for 10 days to midnight January 25. Severe ice conditions in the Rock Cut channel of the St. Marys River system had Great Lakes Fleet, Inc.’s, Edgar B. Speer stuck fast since early Sunday (January 18). Ten additional vessels were delayed behind her awaiting downbound passage.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Mackinaw, Biscayne Bay and Katmai Bay, the Purvis tug Reliance from Sault, Ont., Van Enkevort Tug & Barge, Inc.’s, Joyce L. Van Enkevort from Bark River, Mich., and Upper Lakes Towing Co., Inc.’s, Joseph Thompson Jr. from Escanaba, Mich., are presently on the scene assisting the vessels.

The Port of Duluth-Superior’s last vessel movements of the season are now scheduled to occur January 23, with the arrival of Great Lakes Fleet, Inc.’s Edwin H. Gott and Cason J. Callaway for winter berthing (tentative winter berthing schedule attached).

The Port’s final outbound cargo vessel last season occurred January 10 with the departure of Oglebay Norton Marine Services Company’s Oglebay Norton from the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railway taconite facility.

CONTACT: Lisa Marciniak, Port Promotion Manager, Phone 218-727-8525

More Press Releases, 2004