MANITOU Arrives, Layup Update

Tug MANITOU arrived light from Port Huron, Michigan this morning and docked on the north face of Erie Shipbuilding. The tug is in port to assist with icebreaking and moving vessels around the harbor.

Meanwhile, crews are working at Erie Shipbuilding this morning to flood the drydock to remove the KAREN ANDRIE and barge A-397 from drydock. The duo, once removed from drydock, will likely depart Erie to begin another season carrying petroleum products on the Great Lakes. MICHIPICOTEN will follow the ANDRIE/A-397 into drydock.

The engine room crew on the CASON J. CALLAWAY has reported back to the ship. Tentatively, the CALLAWAY is scheduled to sail sometime around the 20th or 21st of the month.

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MANITOU docked at Erie Shipbuilding this morning.

Tug MANITOU Due

Tug MANITOU should be arriving in Erie, light tug, tonight around 2100 hours.

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.

Historical: Drydocking the PAUL R. TREGURTHA, 1994-95

Another drydocking done by Erie Marine during the winter of 1994-95 was the PAUL R. TREGURTHA. In addition to a five-year survey, the TREGURTHA, the longest ship on the lakes, received a new paint job.


PAUL R. TREGURTHA shortly after being moved into drydock in late January.


TREGURTHA, painted, a few weeks later.

ANDRIE, A-397 Almost Finished

Work on the KAREN ANDRIE and barge A-397 is progressing within drydock at Erie Shipbuilding and within the next week or so the duo should be removed from drydock. As I wrote yesterday, the pair shoud leave around March 15 to begin hauling petroleum products throughout the Great Lakes.

Tentative Sailing Dates

Crews are working feverishly as the clock winds down on winter layup for ships in the port of Erie. Tentatively, the KAREN ANDRIE and A-397 should sail sometime around March 15. The CASON J. CALLAWAY will follow around March 21, reportedly, with the PRESQUE ISLE following about four days later.

I will update when I know more exact dates.

Follow Up: Scrapping of Erie Visitor CALUMET

Several months ago I wrote here about the demise of the CALUMET, a frequent Erie visitor during the course of her 78 years on the Great Lakes.

The vessel has laid at International Marine Salvage since November awaiting scrapping, which has yet to begin. The vessel went aground during the seiche condition on Lake Erie on January 30 and is now hard aground and listing to starboard, secured to the shore to prevent the vessel from rolling over.


CALUMET hard aground at International Marine Salvage in Port Colborne on Sunday.


Profile of the classic laker.


Starboard view. Note all of the lines securing the vessel to shore.


Stern view.

Erie Shipbuilding Winter Update

Erie Shipbuilding is finishing up work on the KAREN ANDRIE and A-397 and is busy setting blocks in the drydock for MICHIPICOTEN.

The first of the next two deck barges is finished and crews are currently waiting for paint to dry on it. The four sections of the second barge are awaiting assembly.

Cargos Shipped Through the Port of Erie: Locomotives

One of the less frequent cargos shipped through the port of Erie are locomotives built by GE Transportation.

GE Transportation, long Erie County's largest employer, manufactures diesel locomotives for the domestic and foreign markets. Although most of the locomotives it manufactures are for the domestic market, a number of them are for international customers. This poses a problem as far as shipping the units is concerned, as there is obviously no rail link between the United States and Europe, Asia, Australia or South America.

Therefore, locomotives built for international buyers have to be shipped via water. Although most of them are shipped via coastal ports, the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 gave GE another option -- the port of Erie.

Over the years GE has infrequently used the port to ship locomotives via foreign-flagged heavy-lift ships. One of the first shipments was in November 1963, when the BELKARIN loaded locomotives for Thailand.

On June 1, 1967, the BELEVELYN arrived in Erie and loaded 14 locomotives. Twelve of these were bound for Honduras and two for Panama. Fifteen years later, on November 29, 1982, the American-registered ASHLEY LYKES loaded locomotives for Tunisia.

The past decade has seen four shipments of new locomotives from GE depart through the port of Erie. In October, 1997, the PROJECT ARABIA arrived in port to load locomotives GE was shipping to Brazil. A year later, the first of three shipments to the Quebec, North Shore & Labrador Railroad, an iron-ore railroad linking Port Cartier, Quebec, with iron ore mines north of there, departed aboard the FAIRLOAD. These Dash 9-44CW locomotives were at the time GE's most modern.

Five years later, the STELLAPRIMA loaded 12 GE AC4400CW locomotives for the same raiload. The Quebec, North Shore & Labrador railroad has no connection to another railroad, which is why the units are shipped by ship to Port Cartier, which is on the St. Lawrence River.

The most recent shipment that GE used the port of Erie for occured on June 16, 2006, when the STELLANOVA arrived in Erie to load 6 AC4400CWs for Port Cartier. Hopefully, GE will continue to use the port of Erie for shipments.

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STELLANOVA loads locomotives (to the left of the photo, under tarps) at the Mountfort Terminal on June 16, 2006.

Erie Shipbuilding Completing Hull 108

Erie Shipbuilding Hull 108, another new deck barge of the same dimensions as the previous one, should be complete within the next few weeks. The barge is the first of two more the shipyard is building along the same lines.

Erie Shipbuilding remains busy this winter; I hope to have a full report sometime next week.

2008 Erie Cruise Schedule

After seeing only one cruise ship visit the port in 2007, Erie will do marginally better this season, as the GRANDE MARINER of American Canadian Caribbean Cruises visits the port of Erie twice. The GRANDE MARINER, which visited Erie only once during 2007 when it visited on August 27, will arrive in Erie on June 26, 2008, and visit again on August 24.

The MARINER, however, will not be using the Cruise Boat Terminal at the foot of Holland Street. The terminal, built in 2002, has yet to see a cruise ship dock there and likely won't until at least 2010. Currently the building houses the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol offices.

Historical: BUCKEYE Conversion, Part 3 of 3

Today's entry in the BUCKEYE conversion gallery takes us from July through September 2006, when the barge LEWIS J. KUBER and tug OLIVE L. MOORE departed Erie Shipbuilding on their first trip.


LEWIS J. KUBER retains the Oglebay Norton name and colors on August 2, 2006.


On August 8, the name is painted on the port side of the barge for the christening ceremony that took place the next day.


The starboard side, however, did not receive the markings for some time.


Workers perform some welding on the stern on August 9.


By the morning of August 15, the name LEWIS J. KUBER had been applied to the bow; however, the Oglebay Norton fleet logo remained.


That afternoon, the markings were painted out.


Done working, a shipyard employee is hoisted back over the barge.


Mated with tug OLIVE L. MOORE on September 9. Four days later the vessel would sail in the middle of the night.


OLIVE L. MOORE in Erie harbor on August 24.

Historical Layups: 1970-71

The following is a list of ships that spent the winter of 1970-71 in Erie harbor:

A.S. GLOSSBRENNER
J.S. ST. JOHN
JOHNSTOWN
LAKEWOOD
NIAGARA
SIDNEY E. SMITH JR.
SPARROWS POINT

Of these, the GLOSSBRENNER today sails as the ALGOSTEEL, the SPARROWS POINT as barge LEWIS J. KUBER, and the J.S.ST. JOHN.

Erie Historical: BUCKEYE Conversion, Part 2

Part 2 of the BUCKEYE Conversion gallery takes us through the beginning of July, 2006, with the BUCKEYE being moved out of drydock.


BUCKEYE in drydock, February 26, 2006.


Another view.


Another view as the vessel is in drydocked with the pilothouse removed.


By April 8, 2006 a forward lookout house has been fabricated and added to the bow of the barge.


The newly reregistered LEWIS J. KUBER is assisted out of drydock by LOW BIDDGER, FLATTOP and DON HENRY on July 3, 2006.


An overhead view on a hot (85 degree) July morning.


Being turned.


Turning.


The barge's bow thruster is used to turn the KUBER.


In the West Slip.


Winched forward.


KUBER is winched forward.


July 5 finds the KUBER sitting at the pier with tg JOSEPH H. THOMPSON JR. behind her.


Stern view on July 6.

EMS Called to Erie Shipbuilding

At around 5:00 this afternoon, fire and ambulance services were called to Erie Shipbuilding, where an employee reportedly fell from a ladder. No word on the extent of the employee's injuries, but they are not believed to be overly serious.


A fire engine from the fire station on East Avenue at Erie Shipbuilding on Sunday afternoon.


CASON J. CALLAWAY at dock on Saturday afternoon.


VICTORIAN PRINCESS in the East Canal Basin.


Lakeshore Towing's dock.


MICHIPICOTEN in the West Slip.