Bonne Bay on Connors Point

03/24/2025

10/26/2024

Interlake's "Queen of the Lakes", Paul R. Tregurtha (1981), arrives off Lake Superior with the sunrise for another load of low sulfur coal last week (October 17th, 2024).

05/21/2024

Duluth's Aerial Bridge last night with Lake Superior fog and harbor reflections.

(May 16th, 2024).

05/11/2024

Mother’s Day has been a very bittersweet day for me these past 8 years…but 1 thing that has Never changed, is my Thankfulness & Love for my Mother! ❤️ Our Heavenly Father Blessed me with a Beautiful Mother, one who has taught me so much while here on this earth & so much after she left us! Happy Heavenly Mothers Day Mom…with Much Love & Gratitude, Your Daughter. 🥰

03/22/2024

The 1,004 foot American Spirit becomes the first ship of the 2024 shipping season to pass under the Duluth aerial lift bridge on Thursday night. (Photo courtesy - Mike from Vibe with Mike)

02/23/2024

Twin Ports Layup Fleet #8: John J. Boland (1973)

Last but not least, the Boland arrived here in Superior back on January 21st, 2024 after 77 cargo trips that took them all over the upper lakes carrying a wide variety of cargo. They began operations on March 22nd, 2023 when they departed from the Pinney A&B Dock in Ashtabula for Marquette.

About half of their trips, 36 to be exact, involved them loading limestone cargoes at almost every Carmeuse and Holcim quarry. Although they mostly loaded aggregate at Calcite (18), they also loaded at Meldrum Bay, Port Inland, Cedarville, Drummond Island, Stoneport, and Marblehead. They unloaded this cargo at miscellaneous docks throughout the upper lakes including those operated by Verplank, Carmeuse, Holcim, Edward C. Levy and others. They also loaded sand 10 times at the Sand Products mine in Brevort, Michigan for Buffalo. Finally, they loaded slag at Indiana Harbor on 4 occasions for Verplank docks at Grand Haven (3) and Muskegon (1).

Between trips running limestone and aggregate, the Boland was also tasked with supplying Holcim and St. Marys cement plants with coal and petroleum coke. They loaded coal 12 times from Chicago (5), Sandusky (5), and Toledo (2) for Alpena (4), Charlevoix (1), and other miscellaneous docks. They loaded petroleum coke 4 times (mostly at MERC in Superior) for Alpena (3) and Charlevoix (1).

Their less common loads included iron ore pellets (loaded in Superior 3 times and twice in Marquette for Algoma Steel (3), Burns Harbor (1) and Cleveland (1)) and Gypsum, which was loaded twice at Port Gypsum for Waukegon, Illinois.

Here, the Boland sits at Hansen-Mueller's Elevator M in Superior just after sunrise on February 21st, 2024.

02/22/2024

Twin Ports Layup Fleet #7: Paul R. Tregurtha (1981)

The "Queen of the Lakes" had 40 cargoes trips during the 2023 shipping season. Their season began at the CSX docks in Toledo when they departed on March 24th last year for their first coal run; they ended their season making a historic visit to Fraser Shipyards, a first in her career, on January 18th, 2024.

As per usual, they mostly ran low sulfur coal from MERC in Superior to DTE energy plants at Belle River (unloaded at St. Clair) and Monroe in Michigan. Of her 34 trips involving low sulfur coal, about 13 included the partial loading of petroleum coke for the Monroe plant.

With the slow decline of coal cargoes due to power plants switching over to natural gas, the Paul R. Tregurtha has been hauling more and more ore loads ever year. This past season, they loaded iron ore 6 times for customer Cleveland-Cliffs. They loaded at CN #6 in Duluth (3), CN #2 in Two Harbors (1), BNSF #5 in Superior (1), and they made a rare visit to Silver Bay (1). These cargoes were delivered to Indiana Harbor (2), Burns Harbor (2), Cleveland (1), and the TORCO dock in Toledo (1) (February 16th, 2024).