Two Harbors Traffic Jam

[Yooper]

Woodtick had a point an earlier post said that cliffs closed their UP mine, there were two mines, the empire closed which shipped primarily out of escanaba, the Tilden is still operating and ships out of Marquette

[Terminal_ Manager]

We've loaded up to 3 vessels simultaneously in Two Harbors, Duluth can load 2 vessels at the same time.

[Guest]

The ore dock in Duluth has a day-shift only, and in regards to the gravity ore docks, ships with a hull depth greater than 50-feet won't fit under the chutes.

[garbear]

Why don't they just use the chutes?

In cold weather like we've been having the pellets freeze in the pockets, plus the gravity docks are very labor intensive.

[garbear]

To go off subject here, it looks also like the BNSF Ore Dock is also having a backup of traffic as well with lots of ships there loading and a few going to anchor to await traffic at the dock.

Why not use the CN/Old DMIR dock in Duluth?

Different mines ship out of different ports. The ore thru Two Harbors is Minntac and Minorca. The ore thru Duluth is Minntac and United Taconite.

[ZenithBoatWatcher]

Why don't they just use the chutes?

[Guest]

[quote="Denny"]To go off subject here, it looks also like the BNSF Ore Dock is also having a backup of traffic as well with lots of ships there loading and a few going to anchor to await traffic at the dock.

Why not use the CN/Old DMIR dock in Duluth?

[Guest]

To go off subject here, it looks also like the BNSF Ore Dock is also having a backup of traffic as well with lots of ships there loading and a few going to anchor to await traffic at the dock.

The BNSF ore dock relies on a very long conveyor system to move pellets from the storage yard to the dock. It's long had problems operating in cold weather.

[Guest]

Cliffs Michigan still has an operating mine, that ore is currently shipped out of Marquette

No one said Cliffs was closed. Just said closed UP mining operations which there are several over the years. Probably everyone knows Cliffs still operates in the UP and ships out of Marquette.

[Yooper]

Frozen taconite ore more than likely causing the delay along with other weather factors

[Woodtick]

Cliffs Michigan still has an operating mine, that ore is currently shipped out of Marquette

[Guest]

I was listening to the CN rail scanner a few nights ago. The below zero weather is causing rail delays from the Range to Two Harbors. He was telling train workers he appreciated their patience. I imagine sitting in a locomotive for hours in bad weather isn't a lot of fun. Not sure, but assuming with all the ore arriving to offload it isn't moving swiftly at the shiploader. Ain't summertime anymore!

[Mr Link]

Also, as noted in another recent thread, there is no currently active direct rail route between Superior Wisconsin and Escanaba. The shortest route goes through Appleton, which is halfway down the state of Wisconsin. Plus this route is already busy with other rail traffic.

[garbear]

To go off subject here, it looks also like the BNSF Ore Dock is also having a backup of traffic as well with lots of ships there loading and a few going to anchor to await traffic at the dock. Busy time at the Ore Docks right now in both Two Harbors as well as in Superior as the ships try to get in their last loads of the season. In another off topic question, just wonder how much if any of this traffic that is loading in Two Harbors, Superior and Duluth right now would've loaded at Escanaba had the Ore Dock there been opened and also shipping Taconite Ore Pellet loads? One can forever debate along with wonder on the answer to that question. Don't fault me for my thinking here just trying to make some cents is all on a cold day!

I would say none of the ore that's being loaded in the Twin Ports/North Shore would have been loaded in Escanaba. The ore shipped out of Escanaba was from the Cliffs-Michigan operations and now closed UP operations. Also probably the reason they are using only one dock in Two Harbors is because the gravity docks are pretty labor intensive and cold weather. Not an easy load out of the gravity docks in this type of cold.

[Denny]

To go off subject here, it looks also like the BNSF Ore Dock is also having a backup of traffic as well with lots of ships there loading and a few going to anchor to await traffic at the dock. Busy time at the Ore Docks right now in both Two Harbors as well as in Superior as the ships try to get in their last loads of the season. In another off topic question, just wonder how much if any of this traffic that is loading in Two Harbors, Superior and Duluth right now would've loaded at Escanaba had the Ore Dock there been opened and also shipping Taconite Ore Pellet loads? One can forever debate along with wonder on the answer to that question. Don't fault me for my thinking here just trying to make some cents is all on a cold day!

[Guest]

It looks like the docks in Two Harbors is starting to get a bit of a back up. It looks like they are only loading one ship at a time. I have seen two ships on each side of the dock before. Are they able to load from both sides or just the one? If it is just the one side, then why do ships sometimes park on the other side just to have to move? Thanks Justin