Late season scheduling oddities...

[Old Man]

The Whitefish Bay vessels anchored in the forties and fifties resembled cities with the houses widely spaced. There is no escaping the fact that they were beautiful. In looking back one could think that there were more boats anchored there, at times, than are actively sailing now. There certainly were more fleets represented.

[Chief1]

And all the good Galley Dept’s kept 10 days of food on hand.

[Guest]

Weather events obviously happen delaying ships. It’s part of the business and is always a possibility. Though some ships can have a change of orders to keep moving, the Great Lakes shipping platform is built on getting cargoes from Lake Superior and bringing them down. You simply get in line after weather events and things eventually clear out. Weather events with their respective delays can often be predicted so it isn’t a shock to anyone when a full fledged storm warning is coming. Crews enjoy the downtime. Why worry? Boatnerd shouldn’t worry either. It’s ok.

[Steamboater]

Last Thursday morning (Dec. 5) we awoke to an ais map showing a “parking jam” on both sides of the Soo locks. Somewhere around 15 ships were anchored! Because they’re mostly weather related; these situations “come out of the blue”
mostly. I am going to guess that the shipping companies build flexible planning into their dealings re scheduling with their clients. Looking for comments from any of you who’ve been caught up in such scenarios and done that job either shipboard or shoreside. People with shore jobs get all upset with sudden/unexpected changes at work.