Boatnerd Discussion Forum

A couple of other factors that come into play as to why ships use Marquette and not Escanaba and that is the equipment at the ore dock dock in Escanaba are worn out and need extensive repairs. CN was using the ore dock at Escanaba to handle iron ore from the Empire Mine, but that stopped when the mine closed in 2016. If my memory serves me correctly, CN Rail also used the ore dock to handle movements of iron ore from Minnesota via Stevens Point, WI, especially during the Winter.

Probably mainly because Cleveland Cliffs owns the ore dock in Marquette and the LS&I Railroad that connects the mine to the dock. They don't own the track and dock at Escanaba: Canadian National does. So they would have to pay CN to haul the ore and operate the dock. That means another party to pay, plus Cleveland Cliffs would no longer have complete control over the flow of ore from mill to dock.

Maybe someone can answer this one;
Why ship ore out of Marquette, run east thru the Locks, down the St Mary's then back west again to northern Lake Michigan, when you could rail maybe 60 miles to Escanaba and not have to deal with the draft restrictions of the locks?
That would leave a boat with a straight shot down the lakes to the mills around Chicago.
The ore is on a train anyway to get from the mines down to the Marquette harbor, why not scoot it a little bit further and be on Lake Michigan ?
Are the economics of water borne XPort THAT advantageous ??