DONJON'S NEWEST BARGE DEPARTS

Tug VIGILANT I arrived in Erie this morning at 0830 and docked at Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair, astern of the FARRELL 256.

At 1115 the VIGILANT I entered the graving dock and turned around behind newly-completed WITTE 4004, faced up and pushed the WITTE 4004 out of the dock. The WITTE 4004 was moored on the east side of the shipyard.

VIGILANT I then moved over to the West Slip and hooked up to the FARRELL 256, moving the barge into the drydock for more repair work. The barge will be docked next to the A-390 when the Andrie barge arrives this weekend and is put into drydock.

VIGILANT I then hooked up to the WITTE 4004 and departed with the barge, bound down the Seaway for Valleyfield, where it will reportedly meet up with the tug ATLANTIC SALVOR and barge WITTE 1007 to be taken to New York City.

Also of note, the Erie Western Pennsylvania Port Authority was recently awarded a $700,000 grant to extend the rail siding at Donjon's yard.

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VIGILANT I inbound Erie at 0830 this morning.


Side view.


Stern view.


Docking on the west side of Donjon's yard.


VIGILANT I moves the WITTE 4004 out of drydock.


Docking the barge on the east side of the yard.


A few minutes later, VIGILANT I's crew works with shipyard employees to moor the FARRELL 256 into drydock.


Starting to back the FARRELL 256 out of the slip. This is the barge's third trip into drydock since arriving in Erie last October.


Backing out.


Turning to line up for the drydock.


WITTE 4004 departing, powered by VIGILANT I.


Another view.


Close up. The barge is a sister to the 2007-built WITTE 4003, constructed at Erie Shipbuilding LLC.


VIGILANT I providing the power to the barge. They are currently a little less than two hours out of Port Colborne, at a speed of 6.7 knots.


Stern view.


Clearing the piers.

Lakeshore Towing Finishes Dredging; Announcing Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair; Notes on Donjon Marine; Miscellaneous News and Notes

Lakeshore Towing Services completed dredging of the Old Ore Dock on Friday. Although the job was not complete ice is beginning to form in the harbor and is making it impractical to continue to dredge. However, the company was able to get quite a bit of dredging done.

The Old Ore Dock will likely have to be dredged every few years, as ships docking there stir up sediment with their propellers and that sediment is deposited along the east side of the dock, where ships dock to unload. With more sediment deposited there ships must load less cargo to dock there, and dredging is a cheaper alternative to getting more ships into the dock.

Donjon Marine has announced the formation of their new shipyard, Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair (DSR). DSR has purchased the assets of Erie Shipbuilding and is working under a new long-term lease with the Erie Western-Pennsylvania Port Authority to establish a shipbuilding and ship repair facility at the yard. No word as to yet as to what their first projects will be, or what will become of the tug CLYDE VANENKEVORT and barge ERIE TRADER that were under construction at the yard. Rumors floating around were that the tug would be finished and go to the ocean to push an oil barge, but I'm not sure if that will happen.

Longtime readers of the Erie Shipping News will recall that Donjon is the largest customer Erie Shipbuilding ever had, with their order for a dumpscow (WITTE 4003) and five deck barges (WITTE 1401, WITTE 1402, WITTE 1403, WITTE 1404, and WITTE 1405). In addition, their then-subsidiary Port Albany Ventures ordered several other deck barges. Less than a month ago Donjon sold their 1/2 interest in PAV to their partner. I'm not sure if that was related to their purchase of ESB, but sources tell me that Donjon is extremely serious about making the shipyard the best facility possible. The only disadvantage DSR will have is that the facility only has about 4,000 feet of dock space, some of which is falling apart, particularly on the east side of the property adjacent to the Old Ore Dock.

Donjon also operates a full-service marine operation that includes towing and salvage.

In other harbor news and notes, EDGAR B. SPEER and PRESQUE ISLE should be arriving in Erie sometime after the first of the year for winter layup. PRESQUE ISLE will, as usual, be going to the Mountfort Terminal where the cofferdam will be installed on the vessel to allow for replacement of the ever-problematic shaft seals.

WOLVERINE Arrives; COURAGE Due; Miscellaneous News

WOLVERINE finally arrived in Erie at 1730 yesterday afternoon, turning in the harbor and docking at the Mountfort Terminal at 1900 with stone from Meldrum Bay and Bruce Mines. The WOLVERINE spent the rest of the evening unloading and departed for Marblehead, Ohio at 0045 hours this morning.

AMERICAN COURAGE, with stone from Calcite, is due in Erie at 0130 on Saturday morning.

DAVIKEN is currently unloading part of her cargo at Montreal, and is expected to depart for Erie sometime on Saturday, and if weather and and the availability of Seaway pilots cooperates, should arrive here on Monday or Tuesday.

An article in the Erie Times News today quotes Port Authority Executive Director Ray Shreckengost as saying that the Port of Erie is on pace to have one of its best seasons in years.

Lakeshore Towing staff has spent the past several days working on the installation of a new breakwater at Perry's Landing Marina. The $244,000 breakwater was constructed by Great Lakes Towing Company of Cleveland, based on a design by Erie Shipbuilding Director of Engineering John Chapman.

And finally, tug TENACIOUS has finally cleared the Welland Canal pushing the WITTE 4003. The TENACIOUS will take the barge as far as Quebec City.

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WOLVERINE docking on Thursday night.


Another view.


The new breakwater at Perry's Landing Marina.


FLATTOP and barge 502 alongside the breakwater.

TENACIOUS Departs

TENACIOUS and WITTE 4003 departed Erie Shipbuilding at 0430 this morning, bound for the Welland Canal and eventually her new home in New Jersey.

TENACIOUS/WITTE 4003 Scheduled to depart Wednesday; DAVIKEN due in Montreal for Erie; Final Voyage of the CALUMET; Erie Shipping News turns One

This morning the tug TENACIOUS shifted from her berth in front of the WITTE 4003 and turned around, securing in the notch of the barge and lashing up to it. The crew of the tug TENACIOUS reports that they are waiting on paperwork and expect to depart sometime on Wednesday.

JAMES A. HANNAH and barge HANNAH 5101 passed on waiting weather in Erie, choosing to press on toward her final destination of the Nicholson Dock in Detroit (Ecorse), Michigan, in ballast from Tracy, Quebec. The duo had spent all day Sunday and much of Monday waiting weather in Port Colborne, Ontario so the crew probably decided it was better to keep going.

Bahamian-registered bulker DAVIKEN is due in Montreal, Quebec at around 0500 on Friday. After unloading for a day, she'll sail for Erie, where she'll arrive sometime on Tuesday, November 27 with cargo from Antwerp, Belgium.

Former Erie visitor CALUMET arrived at Wharf 12 of the Welland Canal in Port Colborne, Ontario, on Monday morning so that employees of her owner, Lower Lakes Towing Company, can remove equipment from the 1929-built vessel before it heads for the scrapper's torch in Port Colborne.

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One year ago today I launched Erie Shipping News. Since that first post, I've added 203 more, along with more photos than I'm willing to count right now. And along the way I've met a lot of great people. I'd like to thank everyone who has made this possible for me: Eric Guerrein and his staff at Lakeshore Towing, Ned Smith and the staff at Erie Shipbuilding, and Rich Pompeani and his staff at Great Lakes Electrical Services, along with every other contributor and viewer of this blog. And lastly, I'd like to thank my family for their constant support and encouragement.

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TENACIOUS secured in the stern of the WITTE 4003.


Bow view of the WITTE 4003 and TENACIOUS


Stern view.


A crane from Erie Shipbuilding lifts one of the chains on the bow of the WITTE 4003 onto the deck of the barge.

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CALUMET, downbound out of Lock 8 of the Welland Canal, passes the JAMES A. HANNAH and barge on Monday.


The classic CALUMET.


Stern view of the CALUMET.


A short distance north of Lock 8 in the Canal, the CALUMET turns around to head back upbound to Wharf 12.


Heading to the layup dock.


Stern view of the CALUMET.


Letting off steam from the winches and machinery and pumping off ballast for the last time.


This is the last dock the CALUMET will ever secure to under her own power.

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Three other vessels in the Welland Canal on Monday have previously called on Erie. The upbound ALGONORTH visited Erie on July 8, 1997, when it docked at the West Slip for a tour by the governors of Great Lakes states. The conference, held in Erie that year, was hosted by then-Governor Tom Ridge and the ALGONORTH was here to show off a prototype ballast water filtering system.

The tugs DONALD C. HANNAH and JAMES A. HANNAH have both waited weather in Erie in the past. The DONALD C. HANNAH was the most recent one, having last visited Erie on December 30 and 31, 2004, when it docked at the Mountfort Terminal.


JAMES A. HANNAH waiting at Wharf 12.


Stern view.


DONALD C. HANNAH pushing a barge upbound at Allenburg, Ontario.


ALGONORTH upbound.

TENACIOUS Inbound; JAMES A. HANNAH Possible

Ryba Marine's tug TENACIOUS is inbound Erie at this time bound for the shipyard. Dump scow WITTE 4003 is completely ballasted and appears ready to leave.

For the past hour the TENACIOUS has been in radio contact with the tug JAMES A. HANNAH. The HANNAH, westbound on the lake pushing the empty tank barge HANNAH 5101, is considering entering Erie harbor to secure at the Old Ore Dock to wait winds that are gusting up to 40 mph on Lake Erie tonight.

This is not the tug TENACIOUS's first visit to Erie. On November 22, 2005, the tug stopped in Erie to wait weather while on her delivery trip from Philadelphia to Cheboygan, Michigan. The tug was in port for six days on that occasion.


TENACIOUS tied up at the Old Ore Dock on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2005.


Stern view on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2005.


TENACIOUS, with her pilothouse down, at dock on Saturday, November 26, 2005.

CROW Moves, CSX Suffers Derailment on Bayfront Track

On Tuesday, the tug CROW moved from her position north of the WITTE 4003 and is now moored south of the barge, facing north in the West Slip.

Wednesday afternoon at 1500, as the train was backing into the rail siding leading into the Erie Coke plant, the CSX local train suffered a derailment of one engine and two empty coke cars. The train tripped the signal at West 6th and the Bayfront Connector, delaying traffic for almost an hour until the signal was fixed.


CROW tied up in the West Slip on Wednesday.


Bow view.


CROW and the WITTE 4003.


CSX engine 6097 derailed aside of West 6th Street.


Another view. Note how far off the rails the empty coal hopper is.

CROW, WHITE Arrive

Port Albany Ventures' 86-foot long, 1963-built canal tug CROW arrived in Erie this morning at 0630 and docked ahead of the WITTE 4003 at the West Slip. The tug has no ETD at this time.

The H. LEE WHITE arrived in Erie at 1820 this evening with stone from Calcite, docking at the Old Ore Dock to unload.


CROW at dock


Side view


Stern view


WITTE 4003


Another view of the tug CROW


H. LEE WHITE inbound


Stern view.