Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Koch owns the Pine Bend refinery south of St Paul, MN. They produce pet coke as a result of refining heavy Canadian crude. I don't think the Marathon St Paul Park refinery produces coke.

Phillips 66 in Billings, MT also produces pet coke. Not sure if they would rail it to Superior.

The Cenovus refinery in Superior is also producing petcoke. It is a byproduct of refining heavy crude oil, that many midwest refineries have switched to.

Per the publicly available ship-loading layout sheet linked here: https://www.dteenergy.com/content/dam/d ... rrival.pdf

These days, some of the ships loading at the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal on the double-destination runs to St. Clair, MI and Monroe, MI seem to be taking a roughly 50/50 mix of coal and petroleum coke to Monroe. On trips like this, the loads going to St. Clair have so far always seemed to be just coal. Having part of the delivery slated for Monroe being petroleum coke is a relatively new development, I only remember noticing it on the SMET load plan during the past few years.

On the load plan sheet listed above, if one sees the origin code "KOCH" that indicates petroleum coke coming from a Koch company refinery, I think in or near St. Paul, Minnesota.

So a sample line from one of the loads that includes petroleum coke looks like this:

St. Clair FUEL 100% SCM (52-92) 38,000 1,3,5 TPT Monroe 15,000 COM-Hold 4 15,000 KOCH-Hold 2 30,000 2,4 68,000

That indicates that the ship is carrying:
a. about 38,000 short tons of coal in holds 1,3, and 5 for unloading at St. Clair,
b. 15,000 short tons of coal for Monroe in hold 4
c. 15,000 short tons of petroleum coke for Monroe in hold 2

Not sure but, for years the coal has always come by rail from Montana along with Wyoming at the Powder River Basin there. It is then stored once it reaches Superior and the MERC/SMET Coal Terminal then it is loaded onto the ships then. Until just a few years ago, I didn’t even know or realize it was Coke going to Monroe as I took it personally granted it was all coal. Hope that this helps.

It’s just Western Coal split between St Clair and Monroe. No Pet Coke.

Where would the pet coke come from?

As of 8:55 a.m. on Wednesday, April 23 the Paul R. Tregurtha is now at the Soo Locks locking down on their first downbound trip of 2025. They have their usual “split” load of coal and pet. Coke both for the DTE Power Plants of St. Clair & Monroe, Michigan respectively. Big Paul certainly looks great with her new paint job! Can’t wait to someday see them in 2025 while out on the St. Clair River along with the Oberstar, Munson and the Joe Block all of which got new paint jobs this Winter and they all look great!

The Paul R. Tregurtha just arrived at the Duluth Ship Canal in Duluth just a few minutes ago today, April 21 on their first trip of the year. They have a new paint job too and they look great! Can’t wait to see them in 2025 on the St. Clair River.

For anyone who’s a Paul R. Tregurtha fan and follower I give and bring you all great news then. The Queen is back! Yes folks, she left from her Winter Lay Up at Sturgeon Bay this morning on April 19. They were the last 1,000 footer to sail and Fit Out this Spring. It certainly is great news to see and to hear that the Queen is back out and sailing again. She’s been my favorite ship now for over 30 years and she always will be. So welcome back PRT and to the Queen. Calm Seas, Fair Winds and Sunny Skies and Days to the PRT and her crew and Captain in 2025! Safe Sailings this season to you and can’t wait to see you again on the St. Clair River sometime in 2025! 3 Long and 2 Short.