The sign above made Park Pointers happy today; it is the beginning of the end of the Aerial Bridge north tower paint job. Still one lane though. It is possible the work may complete later today; the bridge may go up for the first time in 2 months and it is even possible that a boat, the James R. Barker, might come under later today. As a friend of mine used to say, "Watch but don’t bet on it." DSN-TV (Duluth Shipping News TV has the web camera video on the bridge now and probably for the rest of the day. (2:50 pm: Note: the bridge went up around 2:30 this afternoon and the Barker came in via the Superior entry about the same time. Stop by and take a look)
… except perhaps for the J.A.W. Iglehart at the upper left. She has been there for two years now, and is probably retired for good from her career carrying cement on the Great Lakes. The Canadian Navigator came into port this morning and will follow the John D. Leitch (she came in Tuesday morning) loading iron ore pellets at the CN Dock in West Duluth. She is just moving into Murphy Fuel to take on fuel while she waits for the CN Dock. Behind her and to our right, the John G. Munson is also getting ready to load iron ore pellets at the CN. She will move there later today from her winter berth there at the Port Terminal. Probably sometime tomorrow, she will depart with her cargo for Gary. Further to the right, you see the American Century at her winter berth at the Port Terminal. And in the foreground, a train of empty cars is moving into position at White Box Duluth Storage (formerly Cargill) to load barley for Shakopee. Eventually, the barley will find its way into bottles of beer from Anheuser-Busch.
The Coast Guard cutter Mobile Bay pulled up to the dock at the DECC early Sunday morning, March 21st. Earlier this season, they were part of a large effort to break up the ice in the St. Clair River, an operation that obviously succeeded in its task as commercial vessels are now moving easily. They were called to check out the ice conditions in the Keweenaw and the Apostle Islands but the ice was thick there and it was too early to send the ice fishermen back to shore. Those fishermen are lucky they don’t have to share their part of the lake with commercial traffic as much as Duluth Superior. The ice fishermen here were told to leave a week or more ago so the Alder could begin to clear the shipping channels for the approaching commercial traffic. So with too much ice at those destinations, the ice breaker Mobile Bay were sent to Duluth where they brought more ice in on their bow than they saw in the harbor. But Duluth is a good place to stop to take care of the necessities of life such as food, garbage and a little rest and relaxation. They will leave Tuesday morning for the Soo, although still ready for a change in plans as ice conditions change.
The Mobile Bay is 140 feet long and has a crew of 19 on board. When they aren’t breaking ice, they can usually be found pushing their 120 foot barge in front of them. The barge is back at their home port of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. When the ice is gone, they switch over to their other personality, a buoy tender. Since they don’t have a deck large enough hold the buoys they pick up and drop off, they bring the barge along for that. The barge also has a crane on board, something the Mobile Bay lacks since she is primarily an ice breaking cutter.
The 2010 shipping season got off to a dark start when the James R. Barker departed the Twin Ports between the Superior piers at 3:12 earlier this morning. Meanwhile, between the Duluth piers, seen here several hours later, the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge was shedding her winter skin so she could show the world her new paint job and perhaps more importantly, lift herself up to welcome the first visitor to go underneath her in several months, probably before the end of this month. Click here for live video of the bridge (It is not up very often; i am testing a variety of cameras and settings now) with the new Duluth Shipping News live video channel, still in test mode in case you don’t see anything.
The sign above made Park Pointers happy today; it is the beginning of the end of the Aerial Bridge north tower paint job. Still one lane though. It is possible the work may complete later today; the bridge may go up for the first time in 2 months and it is even possible that a boat, the James R. Barker, might come under later today. As a friend of mine used to say, "Watch but don’t bet on it." DSN-TV (Duluth Shipping News TV has the web camera video on the bridge now and probably for the rest of the day. (2:50 pm: Note: the bridge went up around 2:30 this afternoon and the Barker came in via the Superior entry about the same time. Stop by and take a look)