|
Great Lakes Maritime Task Force Newsletter
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great Lakes Maritime Task Force
Nearly 80 shippers, carriers, port authorities, shipyards, vessel pilots, longshore labor, shipboard unions and others are currently members of the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force, an organization devoted to promoting all aspects of the Great Lakes shipping industry.
|
|
Member Profile
Central Dock Company
Central Dock is a receiving facility located in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The business primarily takes in aggregates, limestone and sand but occasionally handles power equipment for the two local nuclear power plants. Average tonnage is 375,000 per year.
Dredging is critical to the Central Dock since it is located at the shallow end of the St. Joseph River. Without dredging it would be difficult for freighters to reach the facility. Commercial shipping is important to the St. Joseph Harbor region, providing for the maintenance of the lake piers by the Corps and the presence of the Coast Guard.
Commercial shipping has a long history in Benton Harbor including the shipping of farm produce to Chicago and the receiving of lumber in the 1800's by schooners. Tourists came by luxury cruise ships operated by Graham and Morton Shipping Company in the early to mid 1900's. The port meets today's needs of aggregates, road salt and cement.
|
61 U.S.-Flag Lakers Greet New Year
The active U.S.-Flag Great Lakes fleet totaled 61 vessels on January 1, the highest total since 2004. Although most of the fleet laid up shortly after the Soo Locks closed on January 15, a few U.S.-Flag Lakers continued to load iron ore out of Escanaba, Michigan. That dock is expected to keep shipping into the first week of February. Also, Canadian-Flag Lakers were running coal from Lake Erie ports to Canadian power plants after mid-January.
|
It's Full Ahead for the Shipyards In Winter
Winter is the great challenge for the Great Lakes shipyards. They have only about two and one half months to maintain and modernize the fleet. For some vessels, the work is rather basic, like replacing some steel in a hold. For other vessels, it's more involved, like rebuilding an engine. Two of the four American yards on the Lakes are GLMTF members: Bay Shipbuilding Company in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and Erie Shipbuilding, LLC in Eire Pennsylvania. We hope the yards in Toledo, Ohio, and Superior, Wisconsin, will become members. The U.S. -build requirement of the Hones Act is one the core tenets of the GLMTF.
|
Donald Keefe Represents Union Member
Donald Keefe is the new President of Districe No. 1-PCD, MEBA. He will represent the vessel officers' union on the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force.
|
|
GLMTF Endorses Key Findings of Seaway Study
The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway (GLSLS) Study demonstrates that the waterway remains an important element in the North American economy. The GLSLS fulfills a vital transportation function for both the Great Lakes region and the economy of the North American industrial core. The study confirms, the producers and manufacturers who use the GLSLS "account for about one third of the North American economy." The study also recognized the environmental benefits of the Seaway since water transportation is significantly more fuel efficient.
The study identified the critical need for dredging as one of the most important issues facing the GLSLS. The study made the following important points on dredging:
- sediments gathered during maintenance dredging activities are often clean and can be reintroduced to the water column in areas adjacent to the dredging site;
- approximately 10 percent of the two to four million cubic meter of annual maintenance dredging consist of contaminated sediment;
- less dredging proportionally is required on the GLSLS compared to other North American navigation systems; and
- dredged material can create new habitats.
|
|
News articles
Port Clinton News Herald, Jan. 4, Coast Guard starts breaking ice
Times Herald, Jan. 5, Lake Levels nearing record lows
Green Bay Press Gazette, Jan. 7, Bay Shipbuilding keeps Great Lakes fleet afloat
Toledo Blade, Jan. 7, Lake Erie water level could plunge 3 to 6 feet
Buffalo News, Jan. 7, Buffalo's rebirth
The Plain Dealer, Jan.10, Steel shipments within Lakes could boost port
WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, Lake levels causing pricey problems
The Muskegon Chronicle, Jan.11, Foreign species hitching rides on ship hulls
International Falls Daily, Jan. 14, Oberstar reflects on session, $23 billion bill includes project important to Minnesota and the Great Lakes
Owen Sound Sun Times, Jan.14, Bruce County asked to take up low water cause
Niagara Falls Reporter, Jan. 15, Capt. Van Cleve, a Handy Seafaring Man
The Grand Rapids Press, Jan 16, New rules hope to stop Great Lakes invaders
Chronicle Herald, Halifax, Jan. 17, Short-sea shipping services on radar
Port Huron Times Herald, Jan. 17, Soo Locks closure ends official shipping season
Green Bay Press Gazette, Jan. 17, Proposal targets invasive species in the Great Lakes
WEAU-13, Eau Claire, Jan. 18, Great Lakes Grants
Detroit Free Press, Jan.18, Fighting Great Lakes invaders at sea
WZZM, Grand Rapids, Jan. 18, Barrier to keep "jumping" fish out of Great Lakes not complete
Business North, Duluth, Jan. 18, Ballast demonstration project critical to protecting Great Lakes
Globe and Mail, Jan.19, Entering Great Lakes? Flush first
Superior Telegram, Jan. 19, State allocates $5 million to fight invasive species
Water Technology Online, Jan. 21, New Treatment: Great Lakes ship ballast water
Leelanau Enterprise, Jan. 23, Steady decline in lake levels: Sad fact of life
News 10 Now, Syracuse, Jan. 24, Protecting the Great Lakes
Editorials
Northville Record, Michigan, Jan. 17, Phil Power: State's water resources must be protected
Sheboyan Press, Jan 23, US must shut door to invasive species
Toledo Blade, Jan 24, Seaway Study Concerns
Bradenton Herald, Bradenton, Florida, Jan. 27, US shipbuilders grapple with labor shortage
Washington Post, Jan. 27, Great Lakes' Lower Levels Propel a Cascade of Hardships
|
|
|
|
|