AMERICAN COURAGE Due

AMERICAN COURAGE, with stone from Port Inland, is due in Erie at 0730 on Tuesday, May 1.

THOMPSON Departs

With repairs complete, the tug/barge unit JOSEPH H. THOMPSON/THOMPSON JR. departed Erie Shipbuilding at 1820 hours today, bound for Stoneport, Michigan to load stone. She's due there at 0100 on Friday. Below is a series taken as she departs the eastern slip of ESB and turns in the harbor, outbound for the lake.

AMERICAN VALOR's Visit

Below are photos of the AMERICAN VALOR taken today. The VALOR arrived at 0815, docking at the Old Ore Dock, and finished unloading at 1745 this afternoon, backing slowly away from her berth alongside the THOMPSON and departing for Calcite, Michigan, in ballast. After her departure the J.S.St. JOHN moved from the Mounfort Terminal to the Old Ore Dock to be unloaded of her cargo of sand. The ST. JOHN was outbound to dredge another cargo of sand at 2100 tonight, an unusually late departure for her as she starts her two-run daily routine.

AMERICAN VALOR Arrives

AMERICAN VALOR arrived in Erie at 0815 this morning and is now moored at the Old Ore Dock, aside the JOSEPH H. THOMPSON/THOMPSON JR. A full report and photos will follow sometime later today.

AMERICAN VALOR Due

AMERICAN VALOR, with stone from Cedarville, Michigan, is due on Tuesday at 0815. This is her second visit since being renamed last June and the first visit for the ex-ARMCO since she was repainted this winter. After unloading in Erie she heads to Calcite to load for Duluth.

First Ship Arrives, Decides to Stay For Awhile; Boland Arrives; Erie Management Group Continues to Chase a Rainbow

The tug/barge unit JOSEPH H. THOMPSON/JOSEPH H. THOMPSON JR. arrived in Erie at 0400 today to become the first vessel of the 2007 shipping season, arriving with stone from Calcite, Michigan for the Old Ore Dock.

However, the THOMPSON JR., which had been plagued by troubles with the differential in the propellor shaft since last year's repowering at Erie Shipbuilding, decided to spend some more time in port with the troubles, and early this afternoon moved across the slip to the east wall of Erie Shipbuilding. She'll be here a couple of days.

The JOHN J. BOLAND arrived at 0700 with stone from Calcite, backing into Erie harbor and tying up at the Mounfort Terminal. The BOLAND departed at around 1500 this afternoon.

Erie Management Group continues to chase dreams of starting a container shipping service out of Erie, having recently acquired control of Great Lakes Feeder Lines, Inc. The company supposedly will start shipping containers through Erie this year; however as of yet they have not acquired the vessel they list on their website. EMG tried to beat Erie Shipbuilding out for the lease of the shipyard in 2005 on the basis that they would make it a multipurpose shipyard, container facility and warehouse; however at the time they asked the Port Authority to make $9,000,000 in upgrades to the facility before they even took over the facility. Seeing is believing and I'll believe this container service is the real thing once it has been up and running for several sucessful, profitable seasons. Several companies have tried to start container services similar to this one on the Lakes over the years, with little, if any sucess at all.

While along the harborfront today I noticed a CSX locomotive pull a train full of rail construction equipment up along the siding closest to Erie Shipbuilding. I'm not sure if this is for the construction of the new rail siding into the yard. I'll see what I can find out.

Erie Historical Arrivals- April 22, 1947; Notes for Tomorrow's Arrivals

Although tomorrow's arrivals of the JOSEPH H. THOMPSON/THOMPSON JR. and JOHN J. BOLAND constitute a busy day for Erie given the present state of shipping, the two-vessel day would be considered slow by 1947's standards. From the April 22, 1947 Erie Dispatch-Herald:

Arrivals:

REISS BROTHERS, from Superior with ore. Cleared same day light for Superior.
WILLIAM A. REISS, from Superior with ore. Cleared same day light for Superior.
DAMIA, in ballast from Montreal. Cleared same day with coal for Montreal.
FRANK BILLINGS, in ballast from Chicago.

Departures, other than listed above:
J.C. WALLACE, light for Superior.
ARCTURUS, light for Superior.

A ride along Erie's waterfront today revealed a large empty space at the Old Ore Dock. This is likely where the THOMPSON will unload. The BOLAND will likely begin unloading at the Mounfort Terminal before shifting to the Old Ore Dock to finish. The THOMPSON is next due in Stoneport on Tuesday to load stone. Watch tomorrow for photos and video of the beginning of Erie's shipping season.

TWO DUE TO OPEN ERIE'S SEASON

Erie's season is due to open with a bang tomorrow morning as two vessels arrive in the early morning hours with stone from Calcite, Michigan. The tug/barge unit JOSEPH H. THOMPSON JR./JOSEPH H. THOMPSON will be arriving at 0300 to unload stone, and following her at 0630 will be the American Steamship Company's JOHN J. BOLAND.

The J. S. ST. JOHN made her first trip of the season to dredge sand yesterday.

PILGRIM Raised

The fishing tug PILGRIM has been raised. Last Saturday crews attempted unsuccessful to lift the tug, and managed to sometime between then and today. Other than a scratched up paint job the tug amazingly doesn't look too bad for spending the winter on the bottom.


PILGRIM on Saturday morning.


PILGRIM at dock on Thursday.

Erie Historical Arrivals

On this date in 1947, the W. D. CALVERLEY JR. arrived with corn from Chicago, and the BEN E. TATE arrived with coal from Sandusky for Perry Furnace Co. The TATE cleared the same day light for Sandusky, and the CALVERLEY departed the next day bound for Lake Superior.

Erie Shipbuilding Prospects Looking Up

Things are looking up for Erie Shipbuilding. Construction for the new dumpscow continues and is due to wrap up in late June or early July, pending American Bureau of Shipping approval. At the same time, six 165 foot deck barges for the same operator are due to be delivered in June, July, August, and possibly September, depending on how well construction progresses.

The company is preparing to begin construction on the new 840-foot tug/barge unit that will be a sister to the JOYCE L. VANENKEVORT/GREAT LAKES TRADER, according to Saturday's Erie Times-News.

Meanwhile, at Friday's Port Authority meeting, the Authority board approved construction of a new $300,000 to $400,000 building at the north end of the yard's fabrication shop. The building will house part of an assembly line process. The building should be completed within 3 to 4 months.

Things are truly looking up for a yard that just two short years ago had absolutely no prospects for ever doing anything again, as Metro Machine had abandoned the yard.

Local Fleet Fitout

Work crews have begun preliminary work on the sand dredge J.S. St. JOHN to fit her out for the new season. She should be sailing within the next week or so.

Dinner cruiser VICTORIAN PRINCESS has now been moved from her layup berth back to her dock on the east side of Dobbin's Landing. She will soon begin offering dinner cruises for the new season.

Within the next couple of weeks the Port Authority's water taxis AQUABUS I, AQUABUS II, and CANADIAN SAILOR should be moved from their winter storage at Erie Shipbuilding and placed back in the water. The rest of the local fleet--party fishing boat EDWARD JOHN, sightseeing tour vessel LADY KATE, and Fish & Boat Commission research vessel PERCA, should be back in the water for another season soon as well.

And within the next ten days or so Erie Sand & Gravel should be getting its first load of stone of the season. While out and about yesterday I noticed a 20-car CSX train loaded with stone leaving the Bayfront track and returning to CSX's main line, having left the Mounfort Terminal. I noticed that each car was marked with a load limit of about 72.5 tons. At this rate, the train could load roughly 1450 tons, or less than 10% of a normal load received by Erie Sand. If the port continues to ship product out by rail, this could be a good season for the port of Erie.

Ferry News

The double-ended ferry NINDAWAYMA, laid up and rotting in Montreal, was recently sold to Upper Lakes Group. The former ONTARIO No. 1 was used in Georgian Bay between the ports of Tobermory and South Baymouth, Ontario. She assisted the ferry CHI-CHEEMAUN on this route, until it was proved that there was no need for two of them. Since then she's been rotting in layup in various Canadian ports.

All the information I'm getting indicates that she will be refitted and returned to service on the proposed truck-ferry route between Erie and Nanticoke. The Port Authority is working in conjunction with Upper Lakes to get this off the ground, and all proposals had called for this service to start in 2008. Now it actually looks like this might happen. In the past it had all seemed to be a pie-in-the-sky dream.

In other news, officials of Norfolk County, Ontario, report in today's Erie Times-News that the proposed Erie to Port Dover fast-ferry is almost completely up to the Erie Port Authority. Although a 49-passenger ferry will start running between the two ports either this year or in 2008, the 46-car, 200 passenger ferry that the Erie Port Authority wants would cost $20 million and is still years away, according to the article.

Signs of Spring and Thing to Look Forward to

Spring is in the air in Erie harbor. Lakeshore Towing's towboat WOLVERINE is now back in the water and moored at their dock at Wolverine Marina.

Coast Guard Station Erie's 47-foot motor lifeboat, 47241, has been removed from the winter storage building on Station Erie's property, sporting her crew cut- the removal of her flying bridge that allows her to be stored in the building. Crews are busy preparing her for her return to the water.

CG Station Fairport Harbor's 47-foot lifeboat, 47283, was moored at Station Erie today. I'm not sure if she's there for repairs, or just a visit. In the past 47283 has come to Erie to be hauled out of the water for repairs.

Looking forward, some important dates for the shipping season:

April ?- Arrival of the first vessel of the season.
May 1- USCGC HOLLYHOCK will arrive to replace the winter buoys in Erie harbor (approximate).
June ?- Erie Shipbuilding's Hull 101 will be delivered to her owner.
August 27- Barring another dock-wall collapse, Erie's Cruise Terminal will open with the arrival of American Canadian Caribbean Line's GRANDE MARINER.
December 1- USCGC HOLLYHOCK will arrive to replace the summer buoys in Erie harbor (approximate).


47241 and 47283 at Station Erie