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Even though with some shipping declines it may not seem as important for building the new lock, the Great Lakes region and shipping in general, especially flowing through the Soo Locks is vital not only to the US but the entire North American economy. Studies showed that if the Poe Lock closed for any semi-long duration of time it would put a very large percentage of Americans out of work (in terms of unemployment rates). So yes, the new Soo Lock is by all means absolutely necessary unless we want to ride a tightrope that could lead to a similar economic downturn to scale of the 2009, 1982, or possibly worse.

with the previous post is the new lock at the soo really necessary? 30 years ago probably but not today. government always puts the horrse before the cart!

The McCarthy actually handles mostly ore cargoes in recent years, most of the coal has been handled by her fleetmate American Century and Interlake's Paul R. Tregurtha.

CSLFAN wrote: ↑February 20, 2023, 10:35 pm How many times have we heard this..."Paint dosen't haul cargo". Go back to the days when ships were fun to photograph...P&H, Soo River, Misener and Paterson just to name a few....the holds were filled to the brim with cargo. Yes, I have seen the McCarthy close up not to long ago and she is not alone. No paint equals rust. I wonder if the majority of her cargo is coal and she may be out of a job soon.

You may have a point about the McCarthy possibly being out of a job soon in the future. I believe you are going to start seeing less maintenance and upkeep being done to some of the thousand-footers that are likely to be retired within the near future. It is possible that a few of the thousand footers will be receiving their final drydock surveys within the next few years.

I heard that it is a lack of parts, or time to get big parts fixed.

It is an expensive business keeping a ship in a graving dock. Also there are others behind the McCarthy in the schedule that don't want to sit a wait for their work to be done because there's a ship waiting for parts.

at one time in the winter they use to sand blast the hulls from the ice in the north slip in point edward. definetly a no no today. also there were between 4 and 6 deck hands to eep the old girl spruced up. today? perhaps 2

Why would they float the McCarthy out of the drydock without a rudder and prop missing? Unless they don’t have the parts to fix her. Maybe there not going to run her this year and use her for parts for the other footers in the fleet.

Many years ago we passed a P&H or Soo River boat moored at a wharf in the Welland Canal....along side the boat was a guy standing in a 12 foot aluminum boat....he had a paint roller on a pole and was painting the boat black...you will never see that again.

How many times have we heard this..."Paint dosen't haul cargo". Go back to the days when ships were fun to photograph...P&H, Soo River, Misener and Paterson just to name a few....the holds were filled to the brim with cargo. Yes, I have seen the McCarthy close up not to long ago and she is not alone. No paint equals rust. I wonder if the majority of her cargo is coal and she may be out of a job soon.

Based on the photos in today's news post it appears that the McCarthy's starboard rudder is not on the vessel.

The McCarthy was floated out of the graving dock today and the Indiana Harbor has gone in.

Doesn't look like there's any worry of extra paint taking up valuable cargo tonnage on the McCarthy.

Yup, it appears McCarthy will be going a decade + now without getting cleaned up. Paint might not haul cargo, but it can help protect the steel from corrosion.

If there is any painting on the McCarthy its probably going below the waterline. As the bean counters say, paint doesnt haul cargo.

There doesn't look like any sign of paint happening to the Walter J McCarthy. She is still in the drydock though.

Are any of our friends from Sturgeon Bay able to tell if the Walter J. McCarthy is getting a spruce up and paint job while in drydock?

...sorry, the Gott is on the face...the Indiana Harbor is at Berth 15...

The Edwin H. Gott was floated out of the large graving dock yesterday and the Walter J. McCarthy was docked.

After some shuffling the Gott is now on Berth 15.

Not exactly Sturgeon Bay activity...but Marine Traffic over Bay Ship has an interesting look!

The Indiana Harbor arrived at Bay Ship late this morning. She was plugged in at Berth 15.

The Mark W. Barker arrived at Bay Ship this morning, coming in through the ship canal and backing into berth 2 at about 8:45am.

The Indiana Harbor will be the last vessel on the list to arrive at Bay. Per AIS she just came under the Mackinac Bridge.