Update: WITTE 1404 Confusion

Earlier this summer I reported that barge PAV 101, built by Erie Shipbuilding in 2007, had been renamed WITTE 1404. There had already been a WITTE 1404, however. That barge was sold earlier this year to Steelmac Barge Hire Company Ltd. of Gibraltar, and has been renamed ISAAC 1874.

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This WITTE 1404, shown here on April 14, 2008 under tow of tugs FLATTOP and DON HENRY, is now the ISAAC 1874.

Historical: MICHIPICOTEN in Drydock, March 2008

Below are photos of the MICHIPICOTEN in drydock at Erie Shipbuilding during March, 2008. The MICHIPICOTEN was in for propeller shaft repairs and various other work.

Photos courtesy of the former Erie Shipbuilding LLC.

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MICHIPICOTEN in drydock.


Another view.


View from inside the drydock.


Starboard-side view of the MICHIPICOTEN.


Close up of the hull resting on the blocks in the drydock, one of the largest on the Great Lakes.


Another view with the KAREN ANDRIE in the background.


With the propeller pulled from the vessel. In the background the barge WITTE 1404 is under construction.

DONJON MARINE LEASES SHIPYARD

Donjon Marine, owners of Erie-built WITTE 4003 and several deck barges built here, signed a long-term lease with the Port Authority today to take over the former Erie Shipbuilding property. All of the company's employees will hopefully be back to work sometime in the near future.

Erie Shipbuilding News

Today's Erie Times News is reporting that the Erie County Redevelopment Authority sued Erie Shipbuilding for almost $100,000 worth of an unpaid loan and interest.

The same article, meanwhile, reports that the Erie Western-Pennsylvania Port Authority is negotiating a lease for the shipyard with a new consortium of companies that includes Erie Shipbuilding, New York-based SMH Capital (an investment firm) and New Jersey's Donjon Marine, a former customer of Erie Shipbuilding's whose orders include the WITTE 4003 and several deck barges. The company negotiating the lease is known as Newco, which is not the name it will operate under; Newco is also the name under which Erie Shipbuilding first negotiated its lease with the Port Authority in October 2005.

Time will tell what the future holds for Erie Shipbuilding, however, one thing is certain: anything that brings more jobs and work to the facility will be better than what is occuring at the yard now - virtually nothing.

VICTORY/JAMES L. KUBER Due, PRAIRIELAND Returned to Water; STORM Waits Weather, Miscellaneous News and Notes

Tug VICTORY and barge JAMES L. KUBER, laden with stone from Cedarville, are due in Erie at around 0100 Wednesday morning. This is the duo's fourth visit of the season to the port of Erie. This is also the duo's first trip out after a temporary layup in Menominee, Michigan.

Tug PRAIRIELAND was returned to the water at Erie Shipbuilding yesterday. I'm not sure yet when the tug will return to Dunkirk, NY, as there was no activity on the tug today.

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy vessel STORM, of Kings Point, New York, stopped at Wolverine Marina today at 1300 to wait for stormy weather on Lake Erie to subside. Ironic, isn't it?

The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting a Waterways Management Study on Erie Harbor and is requesting feedback from users of the harbor. More information can be found on the Coast Guard's 9th District Notices to Mariners #41 of 2009, located online here as a PDF file.

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STORM in slip A-22 at Wolverine Marina.


Another view.


Stern view.

PRAIRIELAND Tow Arrives

At around 2300 last night, tug PRAIRIELAND arrived in Erie under tow of DON HENRY and FLATTOP and was docked starboard-side to at Erie Shipbuilding in the West Slip. The round trip for tug DON HENRY took about 18 hours to complete, with 13 of those under tow fighting waves up to six feet high on the westbound voyage from Dunkirk.

It is unknown at this time how long repairs to the PRAIRIELAND are expected to take.

Video: BUCKEYE Towed into Erie for Barge Conversion

At 0830 on Sunday, December 4, 2005, the OLIVE L. MOORE, assisted by the Ashtabula-based Great Lakes Towing tug NEW YORK, towed the BUCKEYE into Erie harbor to Erie Shipbuilding, where over the coming months the vessel would be converted into the barge LEWIS J. KUBER. Below is video of that event.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting more video from years past as I get it converted and uploaded. Next up will be a video from April 5, 2002 of the tugs IOWA and RHODE ISLAND moving the RICHARD REISS from the Mountfort Terminal to the West Slip. I hope to have that up by sometime next week.

In addition, I will be posting videos from as far back as 1993 as I get them onto the computer and edit them.

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OLIVE L. MOORE tows the BUCKEYE into the channel toward Presque Isle Bay, December 4, 2005.


Another view.


Close up of the tug OLIVE L. MOORE.


Close up of BUCKEYE. In a few months, the cabins will be completely removed and the barge will be unrecognizable as the same vessel it is on this day.


Great Lakes Towing tug NEW YORK, out of Ashtabula, Ohio, assisted the tow.


Stern view of the tow.


Close up of the BUCKEYE.


A few minutes later, on this cold December morning, the tow is in the West Slip.


NEW YORK holds the BUCKEYE alongside as Erie Shipbuilding employees moor the vessel.

Winter Work Underway on BLOUGH, PRESQUE ISLE

Every year, around the time the Soo Lucks close on January 15, the vessels that make up the U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes fleets, with a few exceptions, lay up for the winter and their crews head home to their families for a well-deserved vacation. At this time, scores of shoreside personnel go to work. Led in Erie by Great Lakes Electrical Services and Erie Sand & Gravel, and supported by various outside contractors, these firms are tasked with completing repairs and upgrades to the vessels before they begin the new season about ten weeks after laying up.

This winter, Great Lakes Electrical Services and Erie Sand & Gravel have a long list of projects worth several hundred thousand dollars to be performed on the ROGER BLOUGH and PRESQUE ISLE while they spend the winter in Erie.

On the BLOUGH, these include engine room piping and electrical repairs, overhauling a generator and installing a rewound generator, repairs to the ECPINS navigation system and other pilothouse electronics, flooring repairs in the crew quarters, and ballast valve upgrades.

On the PRESQUE ISLE, overhauls of both the starboard engine and a generator, and various other engine room work are the main tasks scheduled for the winter. In addition, repairs to the ship's unloading system and conveyors are on the agenda, as long as a great deal of ballast tank steel replacement. The steel replacement is the reason the tug and barge were separated this winter; their separation allows the normal winter ballast to be pumped from the barge to allow the work inside the ballast tanks.

Yearly work to keep the vessels in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard and American Bureau of Shipping regulations is also scheduled for both the BLOUGH and PRESQUE ISLE.

In other harbor news, Erie Shipbuilding LLC remains closed as the company works to secure financing to continue construction on a new 135' tug and 740' self-unloading barge they are in the process of building. I have received confirmation through several sources that the new tug is scheduled to be named CLYDE VANENKEVORT, after the father of shipyard President Dirk S. VanEnkevort. Tentatively, the new barge, being constructed for VanEnkevort Tug & Barge subsidiary Erie Trader LLC, is scheduled to be named ERIE TRADER. The unit, when complete, will be utilized primarily to haul stone to and from various Great Lakes ports for LaFarge North America on a long-term contract.

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ROGER BLOUGH at dock on Sunday.


Stern view.

SHIPYARD LAYS OFF WORK FORCE

I have received word that Erie Shipbuilding, due to problems stemming from obtaining funding to continue building the new tug-barge unit the company is building, has laid off its entire work force. Reports are that the layoff is only planned to be for two weeks.

I will update as I learn more.

Erie Shipbuilding Update

I have also been informed that Erie Shipbuilding is currently in talks with SEACOR Marine, an operator of offshore vessels servicing the gas and oil exploration industries and a subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings, for SEACOR to buy part of the shipyard's operations.

At this time it is unknown what SEACOR plans to do with its stake in the operation, but as SEACOR is a large operator of chemical tankers, offshore vessels, articulated tug-barges and harbor tugs, they could be interested in new construction at the yard.

Time will tell what becomes of this situation and what the future holds for Erie Shipbuilding LLC.

Erie Shipbuilding Update

Erie Shipbuilding LLC continues construction on the new 840-foot-long tug and barge unit worth $50 to $60 million dollars. Construction on the barge recently began, and the tug's hull is already in place in the drydock and is waiting on engines that have yet to be delivered.

The company, however, despite this contract, has not been immune to the recent global economic slowdown, having recently laid off more than half of its work force. The company has also cut back to just one shift.

HOLLYHOCK in Port to Replace Buoys; Wisconsin Dispute with Federal Goverment Could Mean Good News for Erie Shipbuilding

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter HOLLYHOCK arrived in Erie this morning at 0630 and docked at Coast Guard Station Erie to load the winter markers that have been stored on the pier since last spring. After loading them, the HOLLYHOCK proceeded into Presque Isle Bay at 0800 and spent the morning replacing the summer buoys in Erie harbor with the unlit winter markers before moving through the piers to the outer channel this afternoon.

The buoys will be left on the North Pier at Coast Guard Station Erie and will be returned to the water in early May next year.

A dispute over a ballast-water permit between the state of Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources and the federal Environmental Protection Agency could be good news for Erie Shipbuilding. New rules from the EPA requiring a permit for ballast water discharge have not been certified by the state of Wisconsin. This mans that starting December 19 any vessel entering a Wisconsin port and discharging ballast water will be in violation of the federal Clean Water act.

If that happens, two major ship repair companies, Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay and Fraser Shipyard in Superior, will not be allowed to receive any vessels for repairs. This could be good news for Erie Shipbuilding, as vessels seeking repairs would be forced to look to other shipyards for repair work.

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HOLLYHOCK replacing Buoy 9 in Erie Harbor this morning.


Lifting the buoy.


Dropping it over the side.


With the buoy set, HOLLYHOCK moves to buoy 11.


Approaching the buoy.


HOLLYHOCK lifts Buoy 11 out of the water.

PINEGLEN DEPARTS

PINEGLEN, after a short stay in drydock at Erie Shipbuilding, departed upbound for Duluth, Minnesota at 0535 today. The PINEGLEN was in drydock less than two days, which is the shortest drydocking Erie Shipbuilding has done to date.

PINEGLEN Update

PINEGLEN is now resting on the blocks at Erie Shipbuilding for repairs. There is a small crane in drydock and crews today were working at the stern of the vessel. The exact nature of the repairs is unknown at this time.

VICTORY, KUBER Visit; Two Deck Barges Emerge as PINEGLEN Enters Drydock

Tug VICTORY and barge JAMES L. KUBER (formerly the steamer RESERVE) arrived in port this morning at 0115 and began unloading stone from Calcite at the Old Ore Dock. The KUBER finished unloading at around 0930 and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon hours undergoing repairs at the Old Ore Dock before departing for Stoneport at 1615 this afternoon.

This morning Lakeshore Towing tugs FLATTOP and DON HENRY entered Erie Shipbuilding at around 0815 and emerged with the newly-built deck barge ESB 112 in tow. The trio slowly worked its way west of the West Slip, at which time the PINEGLEN backed away from the slip. FLATTOP and DON HENRY then moved ESB 112 into the southeast corner of the West Slip. After completing that, the duo moved the next deck barge, ESB 113, into position astern of ESB 112. PINEGLEN then proceeded bow-first into the drydock, securing at the south end of the drydock. Crews at Erie Shipbuilding immediately began pumping the drydock out, allowing the PINEGLEN to settle on the blocks in the drydock.

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JAMES L. KUBER unloading this morning.


Another view.


PINEGLEN backing away from the West Slip.


ESB 112 being towed into the West Slip.


Moving the barge into the slip.


Pushing the barge.


Stern of the barge approaching the pier.


Close up of FLATTOP and DON HENRY.


Returning for ESB 113.


FLATTOP pulls ESB 113 into the West Slip.


Another view.


PINEGLEN moves into the drydock.


In the drydock with the gate being winched back into place.


KUBER at dock this afternoon.


Backing away.


KUBER/VICTORY outbound.


KUBER in the channel.


Stern view.


JAMES L. KUBER still maintains the classic lines of the steamer RESERVE.


One VICTORY leads another VICTORY outbound. These are two of 84 vessels named VICTORY registered in the United States.

PINEGLEN ARRIVES

PINEGLEN arrived in Erie this afternoon at 1345, was escorted into the harbor by Lakeshore Towing's tugs FLATTOP and DON HENRY and docked in the West Slip this afternoon. Tomorrow, PINEGLEN will be moved into drydock at Erie Shipbuilding for repairs.

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PINEGLEN underway in Lake Erie approaching Erie harbor.


Another view.


Stern view.


At buoys 3 and 4, approaching Erie harbor.


Another stern view of the PINEGLEN on her first ever visit to Erie.


PINEGLEN picks up an escort near the Mountfort Terminal.


Tug FLATTOP escorting the PINEGLEN through Erie harbor, standing by to assist if necessary.


DON HENRY (mistakenly identified by one of the PINEGLEN's wheelsmen as Don Cherry, after the CBC "Hockey Night in Canada" announcer) stands by the stern of the CSL bulk carrier.


Approaching the West Slip.


Stern view.


Docking.


All secured for repairs at Erie Shipbuilding.


Another view.