SIDSEL KNUTSEN DEPARTS; MANITOWOC DUE

Lakeshore Towing tug FLATTOP removed the oil containment boom from around the SIDSEL KNUTSEN as the vessel completed loading of biodiesel at the Mountfort Terminal. The KNUTSEN's crew finished preparing for their overseas journey and the SIDSEL KNUTSEN, loaded with 5,000 tons of biodiesel produced at Lake Erie Biofuels and shipped down to the port via rail, departed at 1845.

The KNUTSEN is bound for Rotterdam with this load of biodiesel, the second of many that will move through the port this season.

Meanwhile, the former EARL W. OGLEBAY, which last visited the port of Erie on July 6,2006, is returning to the port tomorrow under the ownership of Lower Lakes Transportation. MANITOWOC is due at 0915 with stone from Stoneport, Michigan.

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SIDSEL KNUTSEN at dock after removal of the oil-containment boom.


Warming up the engines in preparation for departure.


Backing away from the dock.


SIDSEL KNUTSEN turns away from the dock.


Turning.


KNUTSEN in the channel.


Close up.


The writing on the cabin is what is typical of all chemical tankers.


Stern view.


KNUTSEN turns in the channel.


Outbound.


Even at a distance the KNUTSEN, at 167-meters long, appears huge.


Outbound with the Erie Pierhead light in the foreground.

LANSDOWNE to be moved from Buffalo by May 1; Former Erie Visitors to be renamed

LANSDOWNE, which has been languishing in Buffalo since being towed from Erie in July, 2006, wil be moved from the city of Buffalo by May 1, according to an article in today's Buffalo News. Specialty Restaurants has promised the city of Buffalo that the vessel will be moved by that date; the mayor of Buffalo has threatened to levy fines of $1,000 per day if the vessel isn't removed by then. I will continue to follow this story.

In another follow-up to a story of several weeks ago, Lower Lakes Towing and subsidiary Grand River Navigation have announced new names for three recenty purchased vesses, all of which visited Erie in 2007. The WOLVERINE, EARL W., and DAVID Z. will be renamed ROBERT S. PIERSON, MANITOWOC, and CALUMET, respectively. All three vessels are now under the new registry.

In Erie Shipbuilding news, the next deck barge under construction, Hull 109, has been named WITTE 1403 for Donjon Marine.

Carmeuse Group closes on deal to purchase O-N Minerals Erie Parent; Frequent Erie Visitor, WOLVERINE, to be reflagged

Carmeuse Lime and Stone, a Pittsburgh-based subsidiary of Belgium's Carmeuse Group, has completed purchase of the Oglebay Norton Company, the Cleveland-based parent of O-N Minerals Erie. Carmeuse announced the completion Wednesday, saying that they were planning on moving 50 Oglebay jobs from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. I have no word yet as to how this may affect the Erie operation.

WOLVERINE, a frequent Erie visitor over the years, and her sisters, EARL W. and DAVID Z., both of which are also frequent Erie visitors, have been purchased outright by Rand Logistics, whose Grand River Navigation subsidiary had been operating them under time charter from Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Company, for $20 million dollars. Rand announced that WOLVERINE would be transferred to their Canadian subsidiary, Lower Lakes Towing, and be reflagged Canadian before the coming season. Therefore, Erie will likely see less and less of this vessel in the future.