Boatnerd Discussion Forum

AIS now shows Orsula no longer grounded but underway. Appears to be moving 4.8 near Kingston

Anyone heard what the plans are for the Orsula? Doesn't seem like there's any hope of exiting the system before closing.

I wonder if she'd layup at the elevator in Prescott?

The winter of 1964-65 would see the Orient Merchant, Olau Gorm, Van Fu & Flying Independent remain in the Lakes when a severe freeze shut down the Seaway early. Archangelos wintered at Port Weller 1979-80 after a grounding late in the season. Samaru stayed in the lakes the winter of 1979 and departed in 1988. Federeal Rhine spent the 1986-87 winter in lay-up at Detroit due to lack of contracts.

The last salties to spend the winter on the lakes were the Archangelos and Namaru in December 1979. Archangelos had grounded on a shoal near Crossover Island and was too badly damaged to traverse the Seaway. So it wintered at Port Weller. Namaru had issues that prevented her from clearing the lakes in time.

What was the salty to spend the winter on the lakes?

I remember in the past salties having to spend the winter on the lakes. In a couple cases they laid up the ship, hired a keeper and flew the crew home. I would think that depending on the weather and ice that the seaway would stay open on a day to day, case for case basis so that everyone can get out. You would think in warmer years with less ice he seaway would try and accommodate shipping as much as possible. It always seems that the closing date is case in stone regardless of weather and ice.

Is there a possibility that one or two salties could be spending the winter on the lakes if the ice situation deteriates further? I recall that a few ocean vessels had to say on the lakes in the sixties when they couldn't clear the system due to ice or mechanical problems.

They have three ice breakers assisting and also two tugs. USCG Neah Bay is stationed at the Marine Base between Eisenhower and Snell locks. She is working on keeping the track clear in that area from the Wilson Hill anchorage down.

CCGS Griffon is working in the Beauharnois sector maintaining the track from Lake St. Francis to the lock.

CCGS Martha L Black is working from Lake St. Louis down to the lock at St. Lambert. The Ocean Golf and La Prairie are stationed at Cote Ste Catherine lock and St. Lambert lock respectively. The do a lot of work cutting ice off lock walls with their bows. Last night Ocean Golf had to pull Federal Kivalina out of the lock at Cote because she was jammed in the entrance. At the moment CSL Laurentien seems to be in the same predicament. Any ship with a 78 foot beam in the lower canal can easily get stuck when ice slides into the lock with the ship.

For the last two days there has been a steady stream of ships moving down bound. A backlog of salties has been cleared, but there are still six more above Iroquois with Federal Sakura approaching Iroquois as I write this.

However, they have been promising the up bound ships that have been waiting for two to three days that they will get their turn. This may clear the anchorage at St. Zotique out where tow tows and Algoma Navigator have been waiting, but they have to get the ships cleared out of the south shore canal first, and that may take all night!

In a few days the temperatures are going to nose dive into the
-20C area which will cause many delays for any ships remaining in the system. Good luck to them.

They've always been scheduled to allow ships through the lower Montreal-Lake Ontario Section after the Seaway officially "closes" on Christmas Eve until December 30th with "Special Written Permission" as per Seaway Notice #9. I think this is a fairly normal practice and is one that the shippers count on.
More interestingly though they've recently clarified in Seaway Notice #11 that the last upbound vessel must call in at CIP 2 (below the South Shore Canal in Montreal) no later than noon on the 29th. Vessels downbound must call in at Cape Vincent no later than 0200 on the 28th. There are a couple more interesting details in the above mentioned Notices as well if you look into them.
Can they extend this even further with all the vessels stuck in the seaway? I suppose so. Realistically though, we're having a hard enough time as it is with delays of several hours expected at almost every lock due to ice formation!

It's all according to the ice. There have been vessels stuck on the wrong side of the locks before.

With the recent backup of traffic in the Seaway along with the ice problems, lack of pilots for the salties and issues with the locks themselves they extended the closing date I believe I read to now December 30. With the lineup of traffic that is only four more days so, do they really think and expect to get this resolved and also cleared up by then? Is another extension of the closing possibly in the works if they can't get things fixed up by December 30?