by Duluth Guest » October 17, 2017, 9:27 am
Theoretically, it's likely possible but probably very impractical. The angle that the gravity chutes would create when they came to rest against the hatch coaming of the vessel would be far from aligned with opening of the pocket in the dock. I would think you'd get a massive amount of spillage. The shallower vessels, Miner, Barker, Tregurtha and Spirit, I don't think have an issue with clearance beneath the chutes but rather how far the chutes are from the edge of the hull; the gravity chutes may not reach when they begin to settle low in the water. The Presque Isle and Blough both have huge hatches on deck to account for this. At any rate, the amount of time it would take to shuffle them between docks, wait for the trains to reload the dock ( since there isn't much forward and aft room to shuffle at the chutes) then clean up the mess afterwards, is probably longer than waiting and loading at the ship-loader. You can be the judge by the photos below. There is a video link at the very end that illustrates how the 50 ft vessels fit beneath the chutes as well.
[img]http://duluthshippingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/nickindharbjackman07012012.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newsthumbsb/images-09-4/10-prisle-11-10-09tc.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/thumb/presqueisle-3-29-02-dc-pg.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newsthumbsb/images-10-2/2-PRTregurtha-4-11-11-MS.jpg.jpg[/img]
[url]https://youtu.be/G7rdneh7fGI[/url]