Superior ice stalls shipping

[Lee Borgersen]

                        Lake Superior ice stalls shipping

 Apr 1, 2014

If you can’t beat Lake Superior, you may as well take advantage of down time. That’s the attitude of Interlake Steamship Co. when it comes to the Mesabi Miner and a chipped propeller blade. The Miner was moored and tipped next to the Duluth Seaway Port Authority dock Tuesday as a crew fixed the damage the ship suffered last year.

  things at a standstill
“Lake Superior is very difficult right now,” Interlake President Mark Barker said. “We’ll wait. There’s no point in going out there now.”

The Miner made one run to Taconite Harbor for coal last week, but changing conditions left it in the port this week. The Coast Guard also is taking some down time this week before resuming its ice-breaking runs to Two Harbors and Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened Monday, but, like the Soo Locks that opened March 25, ships haven’t been able to pass through.

Two lakers full of taconite from Two Harbors  still are stranded above ice-clogged Whitefish Bay on the east end of Lake Superior. The Cason J. Callaway and John G. Munson had been escorted across the lake last week by the Coast Guard’s ice cutter Mackinaw. A third ship, the Presque Isle, had to turn back for Duluth after two minor hull fractures were found on its starboard side.

Last week, the Mackinaw crashed through the Soo Locks and cut a path to Duluth along with two smaller cutters — the Morro Bay and Katmai Bay. They left the convoy to open the port in Thunder Bay, and the Morro Bay suffered ice damage to its rudder and soon was back in Duluth.

The difficulties on the Great Lakes have forced patience, Barker said.



Workers labor by the port propeller of the Mesabi Miner on Tuesday afternoon. The ship is moored by Lake Superior Warehousing while it is being repaired.