Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 19, 2006 2:47:36 GMT -5
PORT:As the season comes to a close, shipyards prepare for annual maintenance.
BY PETER PASSI
DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
The Soo Locks will close Sunday, marking the end of another Great Lakes shipping season.
While laker crews head for home, workers at Fraser Shipyards in Superior are shifting into high gear. The shipyard's work force swells from20 people to more than 100 when vessels tie up for the winter.
On Friday, Jesse Mehtala of Superior was preparing dry dock blocks for the 730-foot American Mariner. The 10,000-ton laker will spend this winter out of the water resting on the blocks. Crews will inspect the vessel (including its prop, sea valves and thrusters), make repairs and give it a fresh coat of paint.
Mehtala said this is his sixth or seventh winter working at Fraser. "It can be cold, but it's good money," he said.
Lisa Marciniak, port promotion manager for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, confirmed as much. She said every ship that winters in the Twin Ports generates about $800,000 worth of work. With 11 lakers slated to tie up this winter, that could mean $8.8 million for the local economy.
Marciniak said that in recent winters the port has hosted an average of 12 vessels.
Gene Walroos, general superintendent of Fraser Shipyards, said his crews will set foot on every ship that ties up for the winter here, regardless of where it's docked.
The winter layup won't last long, and there's much work to be done before the first lakers set off in late March. Engine systems, electronics -- and about anything you could name on a ship -- will be inspected, maintained, repaired and replaced, if necessary, during the brief lull.
Mike Luzaich, another seasonal worker at Fraser, said it's common to put in 12- to 14-hour days, particularly as the end of the winter layup approaches.
Lake carriers and the port are coming off a decent season, Marciniak said. Although final figures aren't yet available, she expects the amount of freight handled in Duluth and Superior this season will slightly exceed the 41 million metric tons that moved through the port the previous year. While taconite shipments slipped a bit, she said coal and grain tonnage grew. She predicts total grain movements will climb about 8 percent from last year's levels.
Marciniak credits a good wheat harvest and bottlenecks in the Mississippi River's barge system for the stronger grain shipments. Some grain that usually flows through the river system was diverted to the Twin Ports in the wake of last year's gulf storms.
While a strong year for lake carriers can put fleet operators in a spending mood, it's not the most important factor, Walroos said.
"They're probably less concerned about what happened in the past than what next season looks like."
BY PETER PASSI
DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
The Soo Locks will close Sunday, marking the end of another Great Lakes shipping season.
While laker crews head for home, workers at Fraser Shipyards in Superior are shifting into high gear. The shipyard's work force swells from20 people to more than 100 when vessels tie up for the winter.
On Friday, Jesse Mehtala of Superior was preparing dry dock blocks for the 730-foot American Mariner. The 10,000-ton laker will spend this winter out of the water resting on the blocks. Crews will inspect the vessel (including its prop, sea valves and thrusters), make repairs and give it a fresh coat of paint.
Mehtala said this is his sixth or seventh winter working at Fraser. "It can be cold, but it's good money," he said.
Lisa Marciniak, port promotion manager for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, confirmed as much. She said every ship that winters in the Twin Ports generates about $800,000 worth of work. With 11 lakers slated to tie up this winter, that could mean $8.8 million for the local economy.
Marciniak said that in recent winters the port has hosted an average of 12 vessels.
Gene Walroos, general superintendent of Fraser Shipyards, said his crews will set foot on every ship that ties up for the winter here, regardless of where it's docked.
The winter layup won't last long, and there's much work to be done before the first lakers set off in late March. Engine systems, electronics -- and about anything you could name on a ship -- will be inspected, maintained, repaired and replaced, if necessary, during the brief lull.
Mike Luzaich, another seasonal worker at Fraser, said it's common to put in 12- to 14-hour days, particularly as the end of the winter layup approaches.
Lake carriers and the port are coming off a decent season, Marciniak said. Although final figures aren't yet available, she expects the amount of freight handled in Duluth and Superior this season will slightly exceed the 41 million metric tons that moved through the port the previous year. While taconite shipments slipped a bit, she said coal and grain tonnage grew. She predicts total grain movements will climb about 8 percent from last year's levels.
Marciniak credits a good wheat harvest and bottlenecks in the Mississippi River's barge system for the stronger grain shipments. Some grain that usually flows through the river system was diverted to the Twin Ports in the wake of last year's gulf storms.
While a strong year for lake carriers can put fleet operators in a spending mood, it's not the most important factor, Walroos said.
"They're probably less concerned about what happened in the past than what next season looks like."