Ice Still Thick as Spring Shipping Season Ramps Up

The St. Marys River remains a slow-motion puzzle this week, even as the Soo Locks hum with activity. The Coast Guard's icebreaker fleet—including USCGC *Spar*, *Mackinaw*, and Canadian cutter *Judy LaMarsh*—has assisted 23 upbound and 20 downbound commercial vessels since the locks opened, but heavy ice in the West Neebish Channel continues to jam the works. The *American Mariner* pushed downbound for Toledo over the weekend with *Judy LaMarsh* running alongside in Whitefish Bay. Meanwhile, *Stewart J. Cort* and *Federal Nagara* remain anchored above DeTour, waiting for the channel to open up, while the newcomer *Ocean7 Ranger*—a saltie making her first Great Lakes run—heads toward Duluth. Upstream on Superior, conditions were equally hairy. The *Lee A. Tregurtha*, which departed Duluth Friday for sea trials after engine work at Fraser Shipyards, got trapped in thick ice not far offshore and needed the *Spar* to cut her loose. After a quick spin in open water, *Tregurtha* returned to load ore at CN instead of making for Marquette as originally planned. The *James R. Barker*, meanwhile, made a rare call at Conneaut, Ohio, on Friday to discharge iron ore after anchoring for weather Thursday. Gale warnings still grip Superior this afternoon, and a clipper system races across Huron with colder air following Monday night. Lake Erie and Ontario sit well above winter datums—Erie at 2.34 feet, Ontario at 2.69 feet—but don't expect easy transits yet. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also made news this week: the new tug *R.G. Pearce*, a 76-footer that arrived from Conrad Shipyard in Louisiana just months ago, headed to her home port at Sault Ste. Marie on Easter Sunday. She's named for a 35-year Soo Locks veteran. A sister tug, *H.J. Lawson*, is still to arrive on the lakes. The real story is patience. Ice in the Neebish Island Ferry channel—packed hard by unfavorable winds and upstream backlog—will likely stay put for two weeks, until weather breaks and the ice naturally clears. For now, captains and icebreaker crews are locked in the annual spring dance: inch by inch, mile by mile, waiting for the lakes to give way.