Breaking the ice on the Great Lakes

Breaking the ice on the Great Lakes

Weakley

   While the recent economic recession has played havoc on the U.S.-flag Great Lakes carriers' bottom lines, the heavy ice conditions on the water during the winters are equally burdensome.
   To help remedy this problem, the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force said it's crucial the U.S. Coast Guard enhances its icebreaking capabilities on the lakes or the industry will continue to suffer undue losses.
   The Coast Guard operates one new icebreaker, the Mackinaw, for a total of eight icebreakers on the Great Lakes. However, five of these icebreakers were built in the 1970s and are prone to breakdowns.
   'We need an additional icebreaker, a twin to the Mackinaw,' James H.I. Weakley, head of the task force and president of the Lake Carriers' Association, told American Shipper in an interview at the task force's annual Informational Briefing on Capitol Hill Thursday evening.
   In addition, he said it's important the Coast Guard permanently transfer another smaller icebreaker to the lakes. The Coast Guard temporarily transferred one underused icebreaker, the Penobscot Bay, from the East Coast to the lakes this winter, Weakley said.
   Canada has significantly downsized its icebreaking fleet on the lakes. In the early 1980s, Canada had seven Great Lakes icebreakers. Now the fleet is down to two vessels. Under a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Canada, the U.S. Coast Guard will dispatch its icebreakers to assist vessels in Canadian Lake waters.

USCG Makinaw

   For several days in mid-January, while the Mackinaw assisted a single Canadian vessel in Thunder Bay, 13 U.S.-flag Lake ships were stopped in the Detroit/St. Clair River system, while the U.S. Coast Guard struggled to free a tanker stuck in the ice ahead of them.
   Some of these trapped vessels failed to obtain their final loads for the season. Mark W. Barker, president of The Interlake Steamship Co., said four of his company's vessels lost at least 200,000 tons of iron ore and coal while sitting in the ice.
      Some U.S.-flag Lakers have ice-strengthened bows, but the vessels need assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard when ice packs begin reaching three- to five-feet thick. Two years ago, these operators sustained $1.3 million in ice-related damages to their vessels.
   'We can run in decent ice,' Barker said. 'At some points we just can't get through without the help of icebreakers.'
   The Lake Carriers' Association, which represents 18 American corporations that operate 64 U.S.-flag Great Lakes vessels, backs recent legislation proposed by Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to build a sister ship to the Mackinaw. 'Otherwise each winter we face raw material shortfalls at steel mills, power plants, and construction sites throughout the region,' Weakley warned. ' Chris Gillis