Biodiesel Update; TENACIOUS Expected; Lakeshore Towing Remains Busy

CLIPPER TOBAGO remains sitting quietly in port, as loading of her Europe-bound cargo of biodiesel from Lake Erie Biofuels has yet to begin. Loading should commence sometime later this week. Crews will be racing the clock to complete loading and have the TOBAGO out of the St. Lawrence Seaway before it closes at 2359 hours on December 24.

In response to a question I received earlier today, there are plans to deploy a containment boom around the TOBAGO during the loading process. Cargoes of fuel and oil have passed through the port numerous times in the past; however, this is the first time in at least 25 years that there is a cargo of any type of fuel product passing through the port. In the 1960s both Sun and Shell Oil were active in the port of Erie.

Late this morning the CSX local delivered five boxcars to the Mountfort Terminal to load paper products brought in by the W.N. TWOLAN and McALLISTER 132 in early November. Three more boxcars remain on a rail siding near the Bayfront Parkway. More are on the way to load the cargo that has sat at the terminal for over a month.

Tug TENACIOUS should be arriving in Erie later this evening.

Lakeshore Towing (website recently updated) remains busy dredging the Old Ore Dock and completing other projects. Already 1,200 cubic meters of material have been moved to the Confined Disposal Area near the South Pier; twelve trips with barge 501 have deposited this material there. Lakeshore is to remove 5,000 cubic meters of sediment that has built up alongside the dock and prevented ships from docking alongside while loaded. If the weather holds they will remove another 5,000 cubic meters from farther out in the slip. Another barge, built from sections of the former breakwater at Perry's Landing Marina and measuring 40'x30', could be in service as early as this week to help carry the dredged sediment to the disposal site.

Meanwhile, divers from Lakeshore, in conjunction with Marine Services of Erie, continue work on the new breakwaters at Perry's Landing Marina. When completed the breakwaters will catch the seas from the northwest, protecting the docks and boats in the marina.


CLIPPER TOBAGO at dock on Monday afternoon


An O.N. Minerals employee secures the area around the TOBAGO.


Dredged material is pumped into the CDA.


DON HENRY, FLATTOP, and barge 501.


FLATTOP.


Dredged material is pumped into the disposal area. Note how much material is visible.


Dredged material is pumped off of the 501.


Marine Services of Erie's LOW BIDDER at Perry's Landing Marina.


Close up of the new breakwall.