Saginaw River Passages - September 25th-27th

A pair of American Steamship Company vessels and one from Grand
River Navigation/Lower Lakes Transportation called on Saginaw River Docks
in the past three days.  H. Lee White was first in, calling on the
Burroughs North dock in Essexville on the 25th.  American Mariner was
next, stopping across the river from her fleet mate and unloading at the
Bay Aggregates dock in Bay City on the 26th.  Very early on the morning
of the 27th, Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber were inbound, traveling all
the way up to the last commercial dock at the Sixth Street Turning Basin,
and unloading at the Lafarge Stone dock in Saginaw.

Saginaw River Passages - September 23rd & 24th

The Saginaw River was busy on Thursday, with three vessels transiting the river.  Algorail was the first, arriving on the 23rd and stopping at the Essexville Wirt Sand and Stone dock. and then the Buena Vista dock in Saginaw.  She was followed by Samuel de Champlain - Innovation, who called on the Lafarge Cement dock in Essexville.  Last in was Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber, who unloaded a split cargo at the Bay City and Saginaw Wirt Stone docks.  All three vessels were outbound on the 24th.

Saginaw River Passages - September 17th

September 17th saw the Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber were outbound on the Saginaw River after unloading at the Wirt Stone dock in Saginaw earlier in the day.  The pair had earlier dropped a partial cargo at the Bay City Wirt dock before heading up to Saginaw.  On the 16th, the Algoway had unloaded potash at the North Star dock in Essexville.

25th Anniversary of the Jupiter Explosion on the Saginaw River

September 16th marks the 25th Anniversary of the explosion of Cleveland Tankers, Jupiter, on the Saginaw River.  I was working on one of the first responding fire engines that day and remember it like it just happened.  The following are links to both a very well done article by Andrew Dodson of the Bay City Times/MLive.com and a video with interviews clips.

Jupiter Explosion 25th Anniversary Article

Video Interviews

Saginaw River Passage - September 3rd

The Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber were back on the Saginaw River, on a very rainy Thursday afternoon, calling on the Lafarge Stone dock in Saginaw.  This was their 32nd trip to the Saginaw River this season.  They were outbound late Thursday evening.

The King Company tug, Matt Allen, was tied up at the Lafarge Cement dock in Essexville Wednesday evening.  King is conducting Dredging operations out in the Saginaw River Entrance Channel, near to Confined Disposal Island in the Saginaw Bay.

Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber inbound at Cass Avenue

Matt Allen at the Lafarge Cement Dock in Essexville - 9/2/15

Vessel Passage Report - August 2015

Commercial vessel deliveries on the Saginaw River totaled 18 for the month of August.  This was one less compared to the same month last season.  Looking at the long term averages, August 2015 had two less commercial vessel passages than the 5-year average and six less than the 10-year average.

Looking at the 2015 shipping season to date, there have been 82 commercial vessel passages as of August 31^st.  This number represents a big increase over the 2014 season, when there were 60.  Comparing this to the 5-year average, we again see an increase for 2015 of four commercial vessel passages.  The 10-year average however comes in at 104 passages for the season through the end of August, so although traffic is increasing, we are still behind where we once were.

Saginaw River Passages - August 24th - Sept 1st

Recent commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River:

8/25 - American Century  - Consumers Energy dock in Essexville to unload coal

8/26 - Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber - Bay Aggregates dock in Bay City and Burroughs dock in Zilwaukee to unload aggregates

8/30 - Algoway - Sargent Dock in Zilwaukee to unload salt

9/1 - Olive L. Moore - Lewis J. Kuber - Bay City and Saginaw Wirt Stone docks to unload aggregates