MONTREAL, QC – The bulk carrier Federal Beaufort arriving at the Port of Montreal Friday afternoon from downstream, reportedly struck the tanker Hinch Spirit, which was stationary and moored alongside at Section 35 while receiving bunkers.

The Hinch Spirit reportedly sustained damage to her port quarter and starboard side, while the Federal Beaufort sustained damage to her bow.

No injuries have been reported. Both vessels are currently moored alongside, awaiting divers and an investigation by Transport Canada.

Janey Anderson – Ship Junkies – Lakes, Locks & Rivers (LL&R)

SUPERIOR, WI – Walter J. McCarthy Jr. arrived under the Duluth Aerial Bridge Friday at 8 p.m. CST headed for the Superior Midwest Energy terminal dock (SMET) to load coal. This will be the last vessel to load at that dock, which has been decommissioned.

Walter J. McCarthy Jr, arrives under the Duluth Aerial Bridge Friday night headed for the SMET dock. [Roger LeLievre]

The city of Superior and the Duluth-Superior Port Authority are looking for businesses to take over the site, according to the city.

Know Your Ships

DETROIT, MI – The oceanographic research vessel Neil Armstrong stopped in Detroit Friday to fuel. By 9 p.m. she was headed upriver and will pass Port Huron in the dark.

R/V Neil Armstrong fueling in Detroit Friday. [Neil Schultheiss]

The 238-foot ship is traveling through a network of rivers, locks, and inland waterways on an 11-day journey to Lake Superior. After voyaging 2500 nautical miles, it will stop in Duluth on Nov. 9.

Neil Schultheiss

Waterspouts could form Friday and Saturday over the waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. At the same time, a Gale Warning is in effect for the open waters of Lake Michigan, which could see waves build as high as 12 feet amid high winds. The Gale Warning is forecast to end tonight, according to the National Weather Service team in Grand Rapids.

The waterspouts could be a fun thing to see – from a distance. Today and Saturday will be prime time for these over-the-water funnels to develop over Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, according to the Toronto-based International Centre for Waterspout Research.

Why the waterspout outbreak now? The weather conditions are perfect, with colder air blowing over the comparatively warmer surface water of the Great Lakes.

MLive Chief Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa has explained the set-up for these water funnels, and why fall can be prime time to see them. “The perfect set-up for multiple waterspouts is a very cool blast of air from the northwest, a cold front and an upper-level low pressure system. Each of these ingredients has their own special part in forming a waterspout. A waterspout forms when cold air at 5,000 feet up and higher moves over the Great Lakes region. The large temperature difference between the air aloft and the … surface water creates an unstable situation.

“In weather, unstable means the air aloft is heavy and wants to fall to the ground. The warm air at the water surface is light and wants to be higher in the atmosphere. The two air masses get on the move, going lower with the cold aloft and higher with the warmth at the surface. As the air switches places, a rotation can also start.”

M Live

See more here.

Towing shackle on Michipicoten’s bow Thursday. [David Schauer]

Purvis recently wrapped up scrapping the laker Mississagi.

On June 8, 2024, the Michipicoten suffered hull damage while traveling near Isle Royale in Lake Superior. The ship’s crew reported hearing a loud bang while the vessel was in deep water. The ship began taking on water, and at one point reached a 15-degree list. The crew was able to issue a distress call and start pumps that alleviated the list to five degrees. The distress call was met by the MV Edwin H. Gott, which waited with Michipicoten until the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard. Michipicoten sailed for Thunder Bay, ON, under her own power with escorts from the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard. While in port, divers inspected the hull and determined the likely cause may have been metal fatigue. Divers discovered a nearly four-meter (13 foot) crack in the hull. The divers placed a temporary patch on the crack.

On June 20, 2024, Michipicoten arrived at Superior from Thunder Bay under her own power, escorted by the tugboat Helen H, bound for Fraser Shipyards for inspection and repair, however Transport Canada never approved her return to service after repairs. In 2026, Michipicoten was acquired by Algoma Central Corp.

David Schauer

Lake Superior waves crash ashore west of Munising, MI, Thursday, [Roger LeLievre]

The National Weather Service issued gale warnings for most of Lake Superior Thursday, with northerly winds of 35 to 45 knots expected across the lake. The strongest winds will occur over the central waters, with wave heights building to 15 feet. Along the shoreline, wind gusts between 35 and 45 mph will be common Thursday morning, gradually diminishing from west to east through Friday morning.

Several vessels on Lake Superior were hugging the north shore. Kaye E Barker was tucked in L’Anse Bay at the southern end of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Mesabi Miner was anchored in Goulais Bay on the Canadian side above the locks. Ebroborg, Lee A. Tregurtha and American Mariner were on the hook above DeTour. James R. Barker was anchored north of Mackinac Island while American Spirit was stopped west of the Mackinac Bridge.

A man was swept into Lake Superior from the shore at Marquette’s Presque Isle Park on Thursday, police said, and is still missing.

M Live

The R/V Neil Armstrong, which departed its home port of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, October 28,  is expected to arrive in Duluth on November 9 after passing through the Welland Canal on Thursday.

The University of Minnesota Duluth is working with the research vessel to detect and observe neutrino interactions in Lake Superior. Neutrinos are the most abundant particles that have mass in the universe, and they pass through everything. They are very difficult to detect, so studying them requires special instruments.

A beam of neutrinos is already positioned by Fermilab that runs through Lake Vermilion and Lake Superior. The Neil Armstrong will deploy sensor frames on the lakebed of Lake Superior several miles offshore near Two Harbors. These frames are 30 feet tall and weigh

R/V Neil Armstrong is on the Great Lakes headed for Duluth.

8,000 pounds each. When it’s dark at night, they will be able to detect neutrino particle beams underwater. They anticipate detecting several NuMI beam neutrinos per day during the experiments.

The neutrino detectors will be removed as lake conditions allow in the spring or early summer of 2027. You can read more about the project in depth from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Six years ago, the U.S. Navy announced plans to construct two ships in a new Ocean Class of research vessels and in 2010, awarded WHOI the no-cost lease to operate the first of the ships. Two years later, the Navy announced the first ship would be named Neil Armstrong and its sister ship, to be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, would be named Sally Ride. The 238-ft. Neil Armstrong is the newest ship in the U.S. academic fleet, and one of just seven in that fleet capable of accessing all but ice-covered areas of the global ocean.

The R/V Neil Armstrong is the most technologically advanced ship in the U.S. academic fleet. The ship contains two multi-beam echo sounders designed to operate at different depths, making Neil Armstrong and, when completed, Sally Ride, the only ships in the UNOLS fleet equipped to conduct high-resolution seafloor surveys almost anywhere the ship can sail.

The ship’s three acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) can scan the water column at different frequencies to reveal the invisible structure of water at varying depths and resolutions, and a multi-beam, multi-frequency echosounder, the EK-80, can not only detect the presence and abundance of marine life beneath the ship, but also offers the potential to differentiate among species of fish and other marine life hidden beneath the surface.

From an engineering standpoint, as well, the ship is state-of-the-art. In addition to clean-burning diesel-electric generators, variable-frequency DC propulsion means less wear-and-tear on critical components and higher efficiency. The new ship’s integrated controls provide access to virtually every critical system, from propulsion and navigation to electrical load to heating and air conditioning to ballast, on touch screens in the engine room and bridge. The navigation system can be monitored and diagnosed from shore.

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – Seaspan Shipyards has announced the award of Algoma Steel Inc. and Stigterstaal Canada as the primary steel plate suppliers for up to six multi-purpose icebreakers (MPI) for the Canadian Coast Guard. The new agreement, valued at about $182 million, establishes the supply of up to 24,000 metric tons of Canadian-made structural steel — 4,000 metric tons of steel plate per vessel — to support Seaspan’s construction of the CCG’s MPI vessels under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy. This agreement is the result of strong collaboration between Seaspan, Algoma and Stigterstaal, building upon the companies’ strategic partnership established in 2025 to further strengthen Canada’s domestic steel and marine manufacturing industries.

Today’s announcement reflects the companies’ shared commitment to strengthening Canada’s defence industrial base and building resilient domestic supply chains capable of supporting Canada’s long-term sovereign shipbuilding and Arctic security objectives.

As part of the largest order of polar-class steel in the mill’s history — which includes Seaspan’s flagship heavy polar icebreaker, the future CCGS Imnaryuaq — Algoma will produce structural steel for the MPI program, one of the biggest shipbuilding initiatives ever undertaken for the Canadian Coast Guard with up to 16 vessels on Seaspan’s orderbook.

Leveraging Stigterstaal’s expertise in marine steel processing and distribution, and Algoma’s strong reputation for producing high-quality sustainable Canadian steel, the two companies are creating certainty and long-term value for Canada’s marine and defence industries.

Designed in Canada by Seaspan’s world-class icebreaker design team, the Canadian Coast Guard’s multi-purpose icebreakers will operate year-round in Canada’s most demanding Arctic and offshore environments. Measuring approximately 100 metres in length with a displacement of nearly 9,000 tonnes, the ships will accommodate a crew of 50 personnel and feature advanced diesel-electric propulsion with Polar Class 4 (PC4) icebreaking capability. The vessels will provide the Canadian Coast Guard with enhanced icebreaking, search and rescue, environmental response and maritime sovereignty capabilities while supporting Canada’s presence in the North. All MPIs will be built in Canada at Seaspan Shipyards in British Columbia, ensuring the future of Canadian maritime defence is built by Canadian workers with Canadian steel.

This partnership with Algoma and Stigterstaal aligns with Seaspan’s broader efforts to increase the use of Canadian-made materials in shipbuilding under the NSS and foster collaboration across the country’s industrial base. Through the NSS, Seaspan is delivering tangible industrial and regional benefits to the marine industry across Canada boasting a supply chain that includes more than 880 Canadian companies resulting in more than $3 billion in contracts.

Seaspan has built a highly skilled workforce in Canada with the skillset needed to weld steel thick enough to go through Arctic ice. Using Canadian materials, Seaspan is sharpening Canada’s strength at sea equipping the Canadian Coast Guard with the next generation of polar icebreakers to keep Canada’s coastlines protected.

Soo Today

Read more here.

Rendering of the future CCGS Imnaryuaq. [CCCS]

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CLEVELAND – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes increased 11.4 percent from last year to a total of 4.9 million tons.  Shipments were 1.5 percent above the month’s 5-year average. Year-to-date, the iron ore trade stands at 37.1 million tons, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to October 2025. Through October, iron ore loadings are 5.2 percent below their 5-year average.

Lake Carriers’ Association