American Valor (Valo)

[Guest]

Yes! Correct. Should have remembered that as I hauled a load from there to Detroit a couple years ago. Thanks for the reminder.

[garbear]

I believe USS entered into a joint agreement to build a mini mill soon. Can’t remember the name of the partner company. USS stock is now rated as junk status and was below 10$ a share as of late summer.

Believe it is Big River Steel. They have a mill in Arkansas.

[Guest]

I believe USS entered into a joint agreement to build a mini mill soon. Can’t remember the name of the partner company. USS stock is now rated as junk status and was below 10$ a share as of late summer.

[Guest]

Nearly all the iron ore moved on the lakes depends on the integrated mills. In the next year about 2 million tons of iron ore (direct reduced) will be for the HBI plant being built in Toledo. The HBI will be for the mini-mills in the midwest mini-mills.

Direct Reduced pellets and HBI briquets are the future for the lakes. They command a higher price then iron ore pellets, because becuase they are a premium product that's ready to be used in the EAF of the mini-mills.

The mini-mills command over 70% of the US raw steel production in the United States. Now they are getting into the market that was the domain of the integrated mills. Steel for the automotive industry.

Some integrated mills will survive, but only the most efficient and lowest cost producers. Dofasco in Hamilton is considered the lowest cost integrated mill in North America while US Steel's mill in Granite City is considered to be the highest cost integrated mill. If US Steel had not reopened it, then they might not have had to shutdown a blast furnace in Ecorse.

I don't think the HBI and Direct Reduction pellets would replace the current ore tonnages. Aren't these products generally of higher iron content ? In that case, less is needed to produce a given amount of liquid iron. Also, blast furnaces create a lot of related tonnage for GL ships. Coal to make coke, fluxstone (i.e limestone and dolomite), blast furnace trim. If integrated mills disappear there will still be traffic for the lakes but far less to serve the needs of mini-mills.

[DCN]

Until now virtually all the ore transported on the lakes has been destined for integrated mills. Iron ore is iron oxide and needs to be converted into metallic iron before it can be made into steel, that’s the purpose of a blast furnace. Pig iron, the product of a blast furnace, is metallic iron with a carbon content of around 3-5 percent. In an integrated mill this is fed directly into the steelmaking furnaces where, along with the addition of some scrap, the carbon content is reduced resulting in steel. Of course there are thousands of different alloys of steel that can be made, each with a different chemistry.

That variety of different alloys is a problem with minimills that use only scrap metal as their raw material. While there are many grades of scrap that enable a fairly precise control of what goes into a furnace charge, inevitably an alloy with unwanted elements get into the mix. To dilute these unwanted elements they add pig iron which is a “clean” form of iron being made directly from iron ore.

An alternative to pig iron for minimills is Direct Reduced Iron (DRI). There are a variety of methods to make DRI but is basically comes down to the same chemical process as in a blast furnace but at a lower temperature. Iron ore goes in and the end product, instead of being molten iron, is a spongy mass that is often compressed into briquettes. These briquettes can be fed into an electric furnace in place of pig iron.

The new Cleveland Cliffs plant being built in Toledo in the first large scale direct reduced iron facility on the Great Lakes. As I understand it the plant will consume around 3-4 million tons of ore a year to produce about 2 million tons of iron briquettes. Around 50 million tons of iron ore have been produced in the U.S. in recent years. There was also the Mesabi Nugget plant in Minnesota roughly a decade ago that produced a nugget of metallic iron from a modified type of taconite pellet. I think a few test loads of these nuggets were shipped out of the Hallett Docks in Duluth. The project was a joint venture between Steel Dynamics and Kobe Steel and the nuggets would have been used in Steel Dynamics electric furnaces instead of pig iron.

As for the future of shipping ore on the lakes I don’t think it’s going away any time soon, the geography is just too convenient to make lake shipping the most efficient option. While there is much doom and gloom about the future of the integrated steel mill I don’t think the blast furnace is going extinct just yet, but only the huge furnaces will survive. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more DRI plants built around the lakes in the future by both integrated and minimill based steel companies.

DCN

[Guest]

Nearly all the iron ore moved on the lakes depends on the integrated mills. In the next year about 2 million tons of iron ore (direct reduced) will be for the HBI plant being built in Toledo. The HBI will be for the mini-mills in the midwest mini-mills.

Direct Reduced pellets and HBI briquets are the future for the lakes. They command a higher price then iron ore pellets, because becuase they are a premium product that's ready to be used in the EAF of the mini-mills.

The mini-mills command over 70% of the US raw steel production in the United States. Now they are getting into the market that was the domain of the integrated mills. Steel for the automotive industry.

Some integrated mills will survive, but only the most efficient and lowest cost producers. Dofasco in Hamilton is considered the lowest cost integrated mill in North America while US Steel's mill in Granite City is considered to be the highest cost integrated mill. If US Steel had not reopened it, then they might not have had to shutdown a blast furnace in Ecorse.

[Guest]

How much of the ore transported on the Great Lakes depends on the integrated mills? What kind of demand will mini mills provide for vessels in the future?

[Guest]

Exactly, there is no future for the integrated steel mills in the US. The three blast furnaces shut down recently will never reopen. A "temporary" shutdown will become a permanent one. Next casualty to come in the future could be US Steel. I expect they'll be bought out by a foreign company as has happened to all the other integrated steel companies in the US.

The Arcelor Mittal #3 furnace recently shutdown at Indiana Harbor West will definitely never operate again. They described it as a temporary shutdown but also inferred it needs a reline to operate again. There's no way that future demand would ever reach the level to justify a $100 million investment to restart the furnace. Sad to say, but it's a matter of when, not if, integrated steel making will end in the US.

[Guest]

Exactly, there is no future for the integrated steel mills in the US. The three blast furnaces shut down recently will never reopen. A "temporary" shutdown will become a permanent one. Next casualty to come in the future could be US Steel. I expect they'll be bought out by a foreign company as has happened to all the other integrated steel companies in the US.

[Guest]

Lol,, whatever. I live in USA. You know what I meant. STANDARDS! The old VALOR is getting a new lease on life.... maybe. I surely expect to see some older active vessels head to the cutters torch if and when she comes out. The old integrated mills are in trouble despite a booming economy.If they can’t make it now it spells bigger trouble when the next downturn comes along. With the US auto companies ceding the small car market to the Asian manufacturers, that is a lot of Iron not being used that was previously made and sold to ford, gm, Chrysler. Even with tariffs the amount of high grade imported steel is still high enough to hurt the old mills. Great to see the new nugget plant being built in Toledo and the new interlake build. Mini mills will continue to push the old integrated mills to extinction as also pressure from the EPA will too.Sad to see the demise of the older vessels that many of us on this blog worked aboard and also enjoyed as boatnerds.

[johnfrombrighton]

I watched the repowering of an LLT ship (I think the Mississagi, maybe Michipicoten) at the North Slip in Sarnia. A new engine arrived on a railcar that parked on a siding at the Cargill grain elevators. Right across the road from the dock, there were also very large (1/4 the size of a flat-bed trailer) wooden boxes that contained engine parts.

It looked like large pieces of the deck(s) & the smoke stack were cut away. A very large (Mammoet) crane lifted these pieces to the ground & then lowered the new engine into the engine room.

That's the really short version of what I saw happen. Was really neat to watch the whole process.

[GuestfromEU]

It will need extensive refit and upgrade work just as the Saginaw , ex JJ boland and the michipicten, ex hoyt lol. Removal of asbestos, new wiring, fire prevention , etc. to bring it to Canadian osha standards.

Right on about the plethora of work needed, but a small note...it's Transport Canada standards. OSHA does not even apply to US flagged ships.

[Guest]

It will need extensive refit and upgrade work just as the Saginaw , ex JJ boland and the michipicten, ex hoyt lol. Removal of asbestos, new wiring, fire prevention , etc. to bring it to Canadian osha standards.

[Guest]

They've done repowerings at Sarnia before. She'll have to be drydocked for a hull survey and regulatory inspections. Possibly Toledo for that, but the repowering can be done in Sarnia - several LLT vessels have had such work done at that port.

[Bookworm]

Where is the work going to be done on the valor? Where she sits in Toledo or will they do it in sarnia?

Sarnia doesn't have a ship yard.

[Bob]

Where is the work going to be done on the valor? Where she sits in Toledo or will they do it in sarnia?

[clarkjol]

The Rand Logistics news release announcing the purchase of the American Valor states; The Valor will sail for the 2021 shipping season.
Re-powering to be accomplished first.

[Laker Capt]

As far as I know the ship hasn’t been moved yet and don’t know as far as if there’s been any activity aboard her? To answer your question of any official plans announced, it’s been in the boatnerd news as far as her being acquired by Rand Logistics and possibly having it repowered in the next year or so. So bottom line, she’s now gone to Rand Logistics with the plan to bring her out probably next year or so and also having het get re-powered as well. I believe she will still be 767 X 70 as far as her length and width go. Hope that I’ve answred your questions here.

Thank you, much apperciated

[Denny]

As far as I know the ship hasn’t been moved yet and don’t know as far as if there’s been any activity aboard her? To answer your question of any official plans announced, it’s been in the boatnerd news as far as her being acquired by Rand Logistics and possibly having it repowered in the next year or so. So bottom line, she’s now gone to Rand Logistics with the plan to bring her out probably next year or so and also having het get re-powered as well. I believe she will still be 767 X 70 as far as her length and width go. Hope that I’ve answred your questions here.

[Laker Capt]

Has this vessel been moved, or is there any activity on her?
Have any official plans been announced?