Baie Comeau arrived at Sandusky's Norfolk Southern dock today, took a partial coal load, and left for Toledo to top off at CSX. Two rail-served coal docks on opposite sides of the same short run to complete one cargo is not a routine south-shore day. The data does not say whether the short load at Norfolk Southern was a supply constraint or a trim calculation, so that question stays open. What the record shows is plain: one vessel, two terminals, one coal cargo, one day.
Sandusky readers will recall the Gazette noted Baie Comeau's arrival there last Sunday. She is back, and this time she did not leave with a full hold.
Monroe was the busiest port in today's report: New York/Double Skin 509A and Karen Andrie/Endeavour arrived while Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41 cleared for Port Colborne, Manitowoc pushed north for Calcite, and Florence Spirit set course for Montreal. Three out, two in.
Toledo sent Exeborg to Windsor and Clyde S. VanEnkevort/Erie Trader to Detroit; Algoma Bear cleared for Sandusky. Federal Asahi and Wilf Seymour/Alouette Spirit remain at Midwest Terminals.
Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder departed Marblehead for Cleveland today. The July 9 report shows she had returned to Amrize at Marblehead to load limestone; if that reload went as reported, limestone is the likely cargo on this leg, though the July 10 entry does not confirm it.
Lake Ontario leads the system at 3.82 feet above Low Water Datum at Rochester. Lake Erie follows at 3.29 feet above datum at Cleveland, comfortable clearance for coal-laden vessels working Sandusky and Toledo on loaded drafts. Lake Michigan stands at 2.47 feet, Lake Huron at 2.17 feet, and Superior at 1.81 feet, the shallowest of the five gauges reported today.
A weak cold front pushed south of Lake Erie today; high pressure at 30.10 inches returns through the weekend and holds into early next week, Erie waves near one foot. Lake Huron carries a lingering chance for showers and thunderstorms near Lake St. Clair and western Erie through this morning as the front stalls, waves near two feet. Lake Michigan has turned northerly with patchy dense fog possible across the southern half, waves near one foot. Superior is the calmest corner: a 30.0-inch high building toward 30.1 to 30.2 inches by the weekend.
Steve Hughes grew up in Marquette watching ore freighters work the docks while his father John, then an NMU geography professor, pointed out what was moving and why. He could not have guessed he would spend three decades at sea and retire as captain of the M/V Paul R. Tregurtha, the longest vessel on the Great Lakes. Hughes, who lives in Duluth, plans to step down in December. His father is 97. "The distinction is more symbolic than operational," Hughes said of the Tregurtha's record length: exactly the kind of remark a man raised on a watching dock eventually makes.