Cargo Business Newswire

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

60 ships delayed by ice at Great Lakes gateway

Approximately 60 ships were stranded at the Soo Locks on Friday, prevented from entering Lake Superior due to record ice that's eight-feet thick. Carrying everything from limestone to iron ore, the backup is having a ripple effect on companies awaiting crucial cargo.

"We're in this process of start and then wait and then start and then wait," said Adele Yorde, the public relations manager for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

Three icebreakers were escorting the vessels in convoys of five.

The ice problem is so serious, an 800-mile trip in March that should have taken three days from Duluth to Lower Michigan took two weeks.

The ice caused a 43 percent decrease in iron ore shipments in March, year-over-year, according to Craig Pagel of the Iron Mining Association.

Port Authority officials say Duluth won't see its first saltie of the season for another week or two, which would be the latest season start on record.

For more of the Northland News Center story: northlandsnewscenter.com