Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Well it looked like "history repeated itself with the Algobay using
the Mac Lock instead of the Poe Lock due to her increased size!"
She used the Mac Lock yesterday on her trip downbound through
the Soo Locks and I suppose that she received special permission
to do so and possibly due to traffic back-up at the locks as well.
She locked through downbound at around 0900 hours yesterday
August 24th at the Soo. When will CSL try to use the Mack with
their 740 footers since ACM received special permits on theirs?

The Poe Lock was closed for about 15 hours. When it reopened both the Algobay and Algowood received special permission from the Lockmaster to use the Mac to help alliviate the backlog of ships.

A few years ago the COE announced that if a shipping company submited blueprints and applied for prior approval that in some cases vessels up to 740 x 78 would be allowed to use the Mac Lock.

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't the Anderson lock through the Mac quite a few years ago. if they did I would assume they would have to cable their way in. -Harve

I also noticed on the archives of the Soo Camera images from
August 21st, that the Algowood also used the Mac Lock as well
and she is also 740 feet in length which is 10 feet longer than
what is normally allowed in the Mac Lock. More than likely it had
to do with the repairs on the Poe Lock thus, it created a backup
of vessels for the Poe Lock thus, they let a few over 740 use the
Mac Lock to try and free up the traffic for the locks yesterday.

The Mac Lock is normally used by vessels up to 730 feet. However, in the case of emergency, vessels up to 767 feet can use the lock. Most likely it locked through just after there were problems with the Poe Lock that caused some delays. Hope this helps, Andrew

In looking at yesterday's Soo Camera images it shows the Algobay
entering the Mac Lock at about 1300 (1 P.M.) I am just curious
to why they let her use the Mac with her larger size of 740 X 78?
Wouldn't her new size restrict her use to only the Poe Lock now?
I did notice other vessels Roger Blough, James R. Barker and the
Lee A. Tregurtha all using the Poe Lock at about the same time
the Algobay used the Mac.