Ice breaking worries: Lake Carriers worry about Coast Guard capacity


Ice breaking worries: Lake Carriers worry about Coast Guard capacity

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The U.S. Coast Guard has nine ice breakers ready to work this winter, down significantly from the 1990s. The Canadian Coast Guard has two.

And the Lake Carriers Association that represents shipping companies worries that capacity to won’t keep freighters moving as ice begins to form across the Great Lakes.

With ice forming in Lake Superior, the Great Lakes are .4% covered in ice.

“We continue to voice our concerns that both the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards need to take this seriously and put more icebreaking resources in the Great Lakes and repower the current aging assets to ensure they can continue to break ice,” said Lake Carriers President Jim Weakley in a news release.

Ships that can’t get through the ice can cost companies and the U.S. economy millions of dollars a year, he said.

The Coast Guard had 798 requests for assistance last year, said Lt. Paul Rhynard, Coast Guard public information officer for the Great Lakes. “Whenever there’s a need, we’re available.”

See video of ice breaking on Lake Erie.

The Soo Locks between Lake Huron and Lake Superior close Jan. 15.

Regardless, Rhynard said the Coast Guard is committed to keeping shipping lanes open so salt, fuel and other necessities can get to port. Last year, the Coast Guard kept waterways open about 95 percent of the time.

But he shares the Lake Carriers’ concerns.

“It’s like anything else. We have aging infrastructure,” Rhynard said. “We do have cutters that undergo repairs. Some of them are definitely getting older. We have a finite amount of resources.”

At times, the boats have broken down, so they can’t help with ice breaking. Last year in eastern Lake Superior and the St. Mary’s River, dozens of idled commercial ships were stranded for days.

The Great Lakes icebreaking territory is divided into two separate operations: “Coal Shovel,” run by the Coast Guard out of Detroit, and “Taconite,” run by the Coast Guard out of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Cleveland station of the Coast Guard has two ice breakers, Neah Bay and Morrow Bay.

Currently, Rhynard said the Coast Guard is busy pulling navigation buoys out of the water. After Dec. 28, the Coast Guard is on standby for ice operations.

“Keeping waterways 100 percent open is what we strive for,” he said.

The nearly record-high water levels could complicate ice breaking this winter, especially with ice floes that may cause jams in rivers and cause flooding.

“Icebreaking is essential to minimizing damaging impacts to shoreline communities from ice,” Justin Westmiller, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for St. Clair County, Michigan, said in the news release.

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The Great Lakes are .4% covered with ice.


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