Saginaw River Passages- -May 29th

The tug Zeus and her tank barge arrived on the Saginaw River overnight, calling on the Dow Chemical dock in Bay City. She unloaded through the day and was outbound for the lake Saturday evening. Manitowoc was back on the Saginaw River Saturday afternoon, calling on the Wirt Stone dock in Bay City. After lightering there, she continued upriver to the Wirt dock in Saginaw to finish. Manitowoc was expected to be outbound Sunday morning. The 100' luxury motor yacht, Sassy, called on the Bay Harbor Marina Saturday evening and departed for the lake a few hours later.

Saginaw River Passages - May 28th

Undaunted - Pere Marquette 41 upbound at Cass Avenue

Manitowoc arrived on the Saginaw River on Thursday with a split load. She stopped at the Lafarge stone dock in Essexville to lighter before continuing upriver to the Lafarge stone dock in Saginaw to finish. Manitowoc turned in the Sixth Street Basin Friday morning and headed for the lake. On her way out, Manitowoc passed the inbound tug Undaunted with her barge Pere Marquette 41. The pair, making their first trip to the Saginaw River in 2010, were headed up to the Wirt Stone Dock in Saginaw to unload. Undaunted - Pere Marquette 41 finished their unload and were outbound for the lake Friday evening.


Tug Undaunted close up

Saginaw River Passage - May 25th

Indiana Harbor arrived on Tuesday, calling on the Consumers Energy dock in Essexville to unload coal. She finished her unload, backed from the dock and turn near Light 12 before heading for the lake.

Saginaw River Passages - May 22nd

Manitowoc returned early Saturday morning for her second visit in three days, this time calling on the Burroughs dock in Zilwaukee. Once unloaded, she turned in the Sixth Street basin and was outbound for the lake, late Saturday morning.

Saginaw River Passages - May 20th

Manitowoc upbound at the Essexville Ranges

While the sky was blue above the Saginaw River on Thursday, the boats on the water were Gray. Manitowoc was inbound Thursday morning with a split load. She stopped at the Bay City Wirt dock to lighter before continuing upriver to finish unloading at the Wirt stone dock in Saginaw. About 45 minutes behind Manitowoc was her fleet mate, Saginaw. Saginaw traveled upriver to the Buena Vista dock in Saginaw to unload.

Saginaw approcching Independence Bridge

This was the first visit of 2010 for both vessels and the first visit since 2006 for the Saginaw to her namesake river. Manitowoc and Saginaw were both outbound Thursday evening.

Saginaw clear of Manitowoc at Bay City Wirt

Saginaw River Passage - May 17th

Over the weekend, Ryba Marine's tug, Tenacious, arrived on the Saginaw River with more dredging equipment and barges for the upper river dredging project. On Sunday, Tenacious was moving barges from the Essroc Dock in Essexville, upriver to the Sargent dock in Zilwaukee, which has been the staging area for the upper river project.

Saginaw River Passages - May 13th

After a somewhat steady April, traffic on the Saginaw River has slowed down so far in May. Two vessels visited the river on Thursday however. Indiana Harbor was inbound Thursday morning, calling on the Consumers energy dock in Essexville to unload coal. She was followed a few hours later by the tug Invincible and barge McKee Sons who stopped at the Bay Aggregates dock in Bay City to unload. Indiana Harbor backed out of the river during the early afternoon and then turned in the Saginaw Bay at Light 12 before heading for the lake. Invincible-McKee Sons were outbound late Thursday afternoon.

Saginaw River Passage - May 10th

The Algoway was outbound from the North Star dock in Essexville on Sunday afternoon. She had arrived earlier in the morning to unload potash.

Saginaw River Passage - May 9th

After sitting at anchor in the Saginaw Bay since early Saturday morning due to strong winds and low water levels, that reached nearly -20 inches at one point, Algoway began making her trip inbound Sunday morning, bound for the North Star dock in Essexville to unload potash. She was expected to be outbound later in the day .

Saginaw River Passages - May 4th

The Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber departed the Bay Aggregates dock early Tuesday morning after unloading and headed for the lake. Later in the morning, the tug Barbara Andrie, with the barge A-390, departed the Dow Chemical dock, also headed for the lake. The pair had arrived on April 18th and after unloading at Bit-Mat, tied up at the Dow dock, where they have been since.

Saginaw River Passage May 3rd

The workhorse combo of the Saginaw River, tug Olive L. Moore & barge Lewis J. Kuber, were back again late Monday afternoon for their seventh visit of the season. The Moore & Kuber backed into the Bay Aggregates dock and were there unloading Monday evening.

End of April Traffic Report

With the month of April in the books, shipping on the Saginaw River is looking much brighter this year than in 2009. There were 18 commercial deliveries to Saginaw River docks this April, as compared to only 7 in 2009. Nine different vessels made these deliveries. If you compare April's totals to the average from the past six years, you can see that the 18 passages are close to the average of 22.

Saginaw River Passages - April 30th & May 1st

Algoway inbound Saturday morning
A trio of vessels were on the waters of the Saginaw River on Friday and Saturday. Two from Algoma Central Marine and one from K&K. Algoway was inbound on Friday, but low water levels in the river prevented her from going all the way up river to the Sargent dock in Zilwaukee to unload like planned, so she tied up at the Essroc dock in Essexville to wait for more favorable conditions. Algoway finally headed upriver to Zilwaukee Saturday morning.

The Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber were inbound later on Friday with a split load. The pair stopped at Bay City Wirt to lighter before continuing upriver to finish unloading at the Wirt Stone dock in Saginaw.

Algorail outbound Saturday late afternoon

The Algorail was inbound late on Friday, calling in the Buena Vista dock in Saginaw to unload. This was her first visit of the 2010 shipping season.

All three vessels were outbound throughout the afternoon and evening on Saturday.