NOTE: For the month of March 2024, I will be uploading footage I recorded during the 2023 shipping season but haven't previously posted. Early in the shipping season, I made the decision to reserve some video clips so we would all have something to enjoy during the off-season while we wait for ships to return to action. If you haven't seen it already, I recently posted my video showing the highlights of the 2023 shipping season. It can be viewed here: • 35 Great Lakes Freight...
Here is the CSL Niagara seen departing Duluth, Minnesota on April 3, 2023 after loading taconite pellets at the Canadian National dock in West Duluth. She bound for Nanticoke to deliver her load. The tugboat Missouri was on hand to make sure the harbor ice was sufficiently broken up for the Niagara's departure. As the Niagara made her way through the shipping canal, she sounded a single blast from her horn. I'm not sure if this was meant as a form of salute or if it served another significance. Sometimes a single long blast is sounded by ships departing the dock, but she was far from the dock at this point. Also, she let out a single blast on arrival too, so clearly she wasn't signalling her departure on that occasion. If you would like to see the Niagara's arrival from the day before, see here: • CSL Niagara - Battered...
What a difference a year makes! The spring 2023 season saw a lot of ice in the Duluth harbor... plus a lot of ice built up along the shoreline, with some even spilling onto the south pier. In contrast, the spring 2024 shipping season is likely to start out in late March with little or no ice after a very mild winter. While the ice does make for interesting ship watching, I'm sure the captains will be happy to not have to deal with it at the start of this approaching season. I'm glad I have this video reserved from last spring, if only as a reminder of what the shipping season can be like most years.
Launched in 1971 under the name J.W. McGriffin, the CSL Niagara has sailed for Canada Steamship Lines her entire career. In 1998-1999, her forebody section and self-unloading system were replaced, giving her a new lease on life. With the change in her forward hull also came a change to her current name. The CSL Niagara is now 740 feet in length and 78 feet in width. These dimensions make her a "Seaway Max" vessel... meaning she is the maximum size that can travel the canals and locks that separate the Great Lakes from the St. Lawrence Seaway. She has a maximum cargo capacity of 37,700 tons. Her self-unloading system features two tunnel conveyors that feed a single loop-belt elevator that discharges cargo at the end of a 257-foot boom. She can unload at a rate of 5,400 tons of iron ore per hour (or 3,900 tons of coal per hour).
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Негізгі бет Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары CSL Niagara - Pushing Through the Spring Ice
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