Duluth-Superior starts shipping season

Duluth-Superior starts shipping season    Minnesota's Port of Duluth-Superior starts the new shipping season Thursday with the scheduled afternoon departure of the vessel James R. Barker.
   The vessel spent the winter in layup at MERC's Superior Midwest Energy Terminal. It will be loaded with coal headed for Presque Isle, Mich. This is the third year in a row that the Barker has been the first outbound vessel.
   The port's first inbound laker will arrive shortly after the Soo Locks open on March 25. The Soo Locks, located at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., are the gateway that allows large lake vessels to move bulk materials such as iron ore, coal, limestone, cement and salt between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes.
   In advance of the locks opening, operators will fit-out five other lakers that wintered in Duluth-Superior and plan to sail this season, including the American Century, American Integrity, John G. Munson, Roger Blough, and American Spirit. All are scheduled to load and depart March 23-25, the port authority said.
   Some final repairs need to be completed on the H. Lee White prior to sailing in mid-April; three other lakers (American Victory, Adam E. Cornelius and Edward L. Ryerson) are not scheduled to sail at this time and will remain at Fraser Shipyards.
   A handful of lakers are already moving on Lakes Michigan and Huron, including the Great Lakes Trader, Philip R. Clarke and Joseph L. Block, shuttling pellets across those lakes to replenish critically low iron ore inventories at steel mills.   
   The St. Lawrence Seaway locks (the Montreal-Lake Ontario section and the Welland Canal) will reopen on March 22, but the Port of Duluth-Superior won't see its first 'saltie' arrive for a few weeks. Last year, the port's first saltie was the Federal Elbe on April 7.
   'Overall tonnage for the Port of Duluth-Superior was up 28 percent at the close of the 2010 navigation season compared to the previous year when we were hardest hit by the recession,' said Adolph Ojard, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. 'Led by an 80 percent rebound in iron ore shipments for steelmaking, the port also saw strong performances in limestone, coal and wind turbine components, coupled with a 68 percent surge in grain exports.
   'As long as consumer confidence continues to improve and this nation's economic recovery can be sustained, we should see another strong navigation season in 2011 and continue to build back to more typical season averages over the course of the next couple of years,' Ojard said.