The Alder left her dock at 8:30 on Tuesday morning (see picture). That was the first ship movement of the new season. An expected blizzard later today will bring the Alder back to the dock this afternoon rather than making a one-day training run to Lake Superior, as originally planned.
The Alder just leaving her dock on March 17th, 2009
The Alder just leaving her dock on March 10th, 2009
The beginning of the shipping season has been delayed from an expected departure of the James R. Barker on March 17th to her departure date now set for March 29th. That delay was caused in large part by the bad economy that is seeing steel mills closing on the lower Great Lakes and because of that, taconite mines on the Iron Range laying off workers on what seems like a regular basis for the past several weeks.
The dramatic drop in automobile sales has a great deal to do with the downturn, although the recession is so widespread that it is hard any more to pinpoint any given cause. However, the Barker was and will load coal, much of which is taken to Detroit Edison, the home of the declining automobile market in the US. Steel plants are heavy users of electricity, two good reasons for a ship owner not to hurry getting their boats out of winter layup only to wait around for cargos. As mentioned below, most do not expect all 12 boats that spent the winter here to leave, even by early April, if at all this season.
