Saginaw River – Commercial Shipping Season Report – 2022
By Todd Shorkey
The 2022 shipping season is now in the
books for the Saginaw River and the number of vessel passages and cargo
deliveries trended upward, surpassing the numbers from the previous season. Along the way, there were a number of
positives. From first time visitors, maintenance
dredging of the shipping channel, a few out of the ordinary cargos, and along
the way, again some excitement to make it an interesting season. After a decline in traffic last season, the numbers
rebounded this year with over 30 more deliveries, making the 2022 season the
second busiest on the Saginaw River in the past 14 years, with only 2020 having
more traffic during that span. While it
is good to see the increase, it is still a far cry from the 333 vessel passages
that were recorded during the 2005 season.
I feel the need to mention this every year, but the recognition is
warranted and it is worth mentioning again:
A lot of hard work continues to be put in by our industry leaders, not
just here on the Saginaw River locally, but across the entire Great Lakes
region. These leaders continue to work
for improvements in infrastructure and to diversify the type’s products
transported by water. This allows for
more opportunities to utilize maritime assets to move product, moving it more
economically and more efficiently than other modes of transportation. More than ever, this continues to be
important as traditional high volume cargo such as coal and taconite are under
pressure. Coal fired, electric power
generating plants continue to be shut down, retired and taken off-line. On the Saginaw River, Consumers Energy’s J.C.
Weadock plant was retired in 2016 and then torn down in 2020. The Dan E. Karn plant, is scheduled to have
its remaining coal fired units shut down in May of 2023, ending coal deliveries
here, of which there were 16 during the 2022 season. It continues to be my hope that the work
being put in now by these leaders in Great Lakes Shipping will continue to lead
to more opportunities for commercial shipping and better things to come in the
future. One only has to look to the Port
of Monroe on Lake Erie to see the rewards and positives as a result of this
hard work. The following report is a look
back on the 2022 commercial shipping season here on the Saginaw River,
utilizing the information and data I have collected during this time period.
The 2022 season officially started
on April 11th with the arrival of the Algoma Central vessel, Algoma
Intrepid, delivering a cargo to the Wirt Sand & Stone Fertilizer Terminal
in Essexville. The season ended when the
Interlake Steamship Company tug Dorothy Ann and self-unloading barge Pathfinder,
arrived on January 2nd, 2023, breaking thin ice on the Saginaw River
to unload a split cargo at the Wirt Stone Docks in Bay City and Saginaw. The 2022 season on the Saginaw River lasted
for a total of 265 days, only 4 days fewer than in 2021. The start of the 2022 season was 4 days later
than in 2021, with the end of the season one day later than in 2021.
For the 2022 commercial shipping
season, there were a grand total of 192 commercial vessel passages on the
Saginaw River, representing an increase of 31 more passages than the 2021
season. These passages were made by 36
different vessels, representing 17 different vessel management companies. These numbers are both increases, as there
were 31 different vessels and 14 companies represented in 2021.
Looking at other numbers from the 2022 season, deliveries were made to a total of 14 individual docking locations along the banks of the Saginaw River. Some of these dock locations serve more than one product or type of customer. One of these is the Wirt Dock in Essexville, where in addition to sand and store cargo, fertilizer is also delivered to the dock and placed in domed storage buildings. The second would be the Port Fisher Slip, where aggregate cargo is delivered for Bay Aggregates and liquid asphalt is offloaded for Bit-Mat Products of Michigan and placed in their liquid storage tanks. A third would be the Port Fisher Terminals Dock, where foreign saltwater vessels can offload various cargo items such as wind turbine components, industrial machinery, or other bulk cargo, and tug/barge units or tankers can deliver liquid cargo such as calcium chloride or liquid fertilizer. With this in mind, these were the same 17 facilities that had received cargo in 2021. The individual dock seeing the most vessel traffic in 2022 was the Port Fisher Terminals/Bay Aggregates Dock in Bay City, with 43 vessel deliveries. This is six more than recorded during the previous season. The second most deliveries went to the Holcim Cement dock in Essexville with 26, followed by the Wirt Stone Dock in Bay City with 25 deliveries and the Wirt Stone Dock in Saginaw with 24 deliveries. These top docks accounted for 61% of the total commercial vessel deliveries in 2022. The two largest companies, Fisher and Wirt, each with multiple docks along the Saginaw River, accounted for a total of 66% of all commercial vessel deliveries. In all, accounting for split cargos by some vessels, which unloaded at two or more different docks during the same visit, there were 225 deliveries to the various docks along the Saginaw River. This is 31 more actual dock deliveries than during the 2021 season.
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The Rand Logistics, Inc./Grand
River Navigation tug, Olive L. Moore, paired with the self-unloading barge
Menominee, once again defended their title of “Workhorse of the Saginaw River”,
again making more trips to the river in 2022 than any other vessel. The pair logged 38 visits this season, 15
more than in 2021. Olive L.
Moore/Menominee have held this title 16 out of the past 17 years, logging an
incredible 615 visits to the Saginaw River since 2006! In second place was Interlake Steamship
Company’s, Paul R. Tregurtha, who had 16.
Rounding out the top five most frequent vessels are Interlake’s Dorothy
Ann/Pathfinder with 15, Inland Lakes Management’s, Alpena with 12, and a three
way tie between H. Lee White, Iver Bright, and Samuel de Champlain/Innovation
with 8 visits each.
The company leading the way with the most cargo deliveries to the Saginaw River during the 2022 season was far and away Rand Logistics, Inc. Their subsidiaries, Lower Lakes Towing and Grand River Navigation tallied 81 vessel passages, an increase of 9 deliveries over 2021 and accounted for 42% of all deliveries in 2022. They have now been leading the way on the Saginaw River for 15 of the past 16 years. The Interlake Steamship Company/Interlake Logistics Solutions logged the second most visits with 37 trips, an increase of 16 from 2021. Coming in third place was Holcim Cement/Andrie, Inc. with 14 deliveries to the Saginaw River, up 3 trips from the 2021 season. These three companies accounted for 69% of all deliveries on the Saginaw River in 2022. Rounding out the top five companies were Inland Lakes Management with 12 trips and Vroon BV/Iver Ships with 8. There were a number vessels that were visitors to the Saginaw River in 2021 that did not make a return visit here in 2022. They were Algoma Compass, James R. Barker, Michipicoten, tug Zeus, who was paired with the tank barge Robert F. Deegan, and tug Sharon M I, who was paired with the barge Huron Spirit. There were also the following salt water vessels who had been here during the 2021 season: BBC Oregon, Melissa, and Minervagracht. There were some first ever visits to the Saginaw River in 2022, those being BBC Kwiatkowski, Nunalik, Charlie, Sophia, and Sloman Discoverer. Other old friends back on the river in 2022 who have also been here in the past were BBC Song, BBC Eagle, Happy River, Happy Rover, and American Courage. The tug Leonard M. was also back, now pushing Huron Spirit in place of Sharon M I, and tug Candace Elise, now paired with the barge Robert F. Deegan, in place of Zeus, who is now off the Great Lakes.
Other vessels on the Saginaw River during the 2022 season were the tugs Paul L. Luedtke, Karl E. Luedtke, Michigan, Kurt R. Luedtke, Lauren A., J-Krab, and Pennsylvania. The tug Manitou was a regular fixture on the Saginaw River, spending a large amount of time docked at the Holcim Cement dock in Essexville, standing by to assist 17 vessels on the Saginaw River during the season. Research vessels Tanner, Channel Cat, Spencer F. Baird, and NOAA vessel 5033 were all on the Saginaw River, along with the visit from the sailing vessel NAO Trinidad. Government vessels included the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock, U.S, Coast Guard Cutter Spar, making her first ever visit to the Saginaw River, and a U.S. Corps of Engineers survey vessel.
Some notable stories from the 2022 season:
- I In February 2020, it was announced that Wilkinson Minerals would be opening a facility on the Saginaw River, just east of the Independence Bridge in Bay City, and begin pumping salt brine from a large deposit known as the Sylvania Sandstone Formation. In April 2021, they announced they would be “tripling their investment” of $50 million to $150 million in Bay City. Wilkinson Minerals has stated that “the company will produce both liquid and dry salt products, with the liquid products primarily shipped out on the river”. In the April 2021 report, plans were to have the plant up and running by late 2023 or early 2024. In 2022, some work has begun at the site. This is positive news that things are moving in a forward direction on this project!
- Maintenance dredging finally took place on the Saginaw River Entrance channel out on the inner Saginaw Bay in 2022, once the bird nesting season had ended on the disposal island and spoils were allowed to be placed there. Crews from Luedtke Engineering, out of Frankfort, Michigan carried out the work.
- The saltwater vessel Happy Rover, who visited the Saginaw River on June 6, 2022, caught fire on August 21st while in drydock at Damen Ship Repair in Schiedam, Rotterdam. The fire was located near the front of the vessel and was contained in that area. No injuries were reported.
- BBC Song arrived at the Port Fisher Terminals Dock carrying a cargo of desugarization separators, evaporators, and pressure vessels to be installed at the Michigan Sugar Plant in Bay City. The unique cargo is part of a $75 million dollar project to take sugar out of molasses, which is a byproduct of the sugar making process, allowing Michigan Sugar to produce an additional 80 million pounds of sugar annually without planting any additional sugar beets.
- The saltie, Nunalik, arrived on the Saginaw River May 22nd, carrying two pleasure yachts. She tied up at the Port Fisher Terminals Dock in Bay City to unload this unusual cargo.
As the shipping industry continues
to evolve, adapt and move forward, it is still hoped that commercial traffic on
the Saginaw River will remain stable and hopefully grow as the products and materials
handled here continue to expand. Hopefully
the 2023 continues to expand on the success of the 2022 season and will be a
safe and profitable one for everyone.
Here is wishing you all a safe and
prosperous shipping season in 2023!
Disclaimer: Please know that information
contained in this report is 99.9% accurate and error free. I work extremely hard striving to make this
information as accurate as possible, but please remember, there is always the
possibility there may have been a vessel passage or dock delivery that I missed,
as tracking vessels on the Saginaw River for the entire season is not an easy
or an exact science. Thank you for
taking the time to read my year-end report.
I hope you find it informative and enjoyable. I will see everyone again in 2023 for my 19th
season of logging commercial vessel movements on the Saginaw River.
Thanks for your support,
Todd A. Shorkey
.JPG)
