Saginaw River Passages - November 3rd

The Saginaw River welcomed its first salt water vessel in four years on Sunday Morning, with the arrival of the tanker, Elevit.  Assisted by the tug Gregory J. Busch, Elevit called on the Dow Chemical dock in Essexville.  Alpena was inbound Sunday evening, calling on the Lafarge Cement dock in Essexvillle to unload.  Both vessels were expected to be outbound on Monday.

The last saltie to call on the Saginaw River was the OXL Lotus, on July 5, 2009.  She didn't sctually make it to the river, but rather anchored out in Saginaw Bay, with the tug Gregory J. Busch and barge STC 2004 making seven trips between the her and the Consumers Energy dock in Essexville to unload the cargo.  Before that, the Onego Merchant was the last saltie to actually travel up the Saginaw River, arriving on June 22, 2006, to unload totes of granulated sugar at the Sargent dock in Zilwaukee for Michigan Sugar Company.

Elevit inbound at Smith Park in Essexville with the tug Gregory J. Busch trailing behind.
Thank you to Patrick Caauwe for allowing me to use his great photo