Saginaw River - 2023 Year in Review

Saginaw River – Commercial Shipping Season Report – 2023

The 2023 shipping season for the Saginaw River is now complete, and while the overall number of commercial vessel passages declined from the previous year, it still ended up being a very interesting season with a few exciting firsts along the way. The downturn in the number of vessel passages can be attributed to two things: The elimination of the use of coal at the Consumers Energy, Dan E. Karn power plant in Essexville and no new deliveries of wind turbine components for wind farm projects. After sixteen coal deliveries to the Consumers Energy power plant in 2022, that number was zero in 2023. Also in 2022, there were eleven deliveries of wind turbine components such as blades, tower segments, hubs, and nacelles. Again, that number dropped to zero in 2023. If you factor in the resulting twenty seven lost loads from these segments, the number of deliveries in 2023 would have been ahead of last season by a small number, so it is encouraging to see the other markets remaining stable and even increasing as in the case of the cement market. Even though the number of passages declined in 2023, the season was still fourth busiest on the Saginaw River over the past 15 years. I don’t think we will ever see the big 300 plus vessel passage seasons that we did when I first started keeping track of these vessel passages during the early to mid-2000’s, but there are areas in which we could see increased traffic in the future. I have to mention and reiterate this every season, because the recognition is definitely warranted and worth mentioning again: A lot of hard work continues to be put in by the industry leaders, not just here on the Saginaw River locally, but across the entire Great Lakes region. These leaders continue to actively pursue improvements in infrastructure and to diversify the type of products that are transported by water. The resulting victories, when they happen, allow more opportunities to utilize maritime assets to move products, moving it more economically and more efficiently than other modes of transportation. More than ever, this continues to be crucial as traditional high volume cargo such as coal and taconite are seeing changes. Coal fired, electric power generating plants continue shutting down, are being retired, and taken off-line. Many changes are also happening in the steel industry, with changes in company ownership, production and steel-making methods. On the Saginaw River, there are no longer any coal fired electrical generating units. Consumers Energy’s Dan E. Karn plant, has only has two remaining electrical generating units, powered by natural gas and oil. The plant is currently scheduled to be retired completely in 2031. As it does each year, 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 going forward into the future.
The following report is a look back on the 2023 commercial shipping season here on the Saginaw River, utilizing information and data that I have collected over this period.

The 2023 season officially started on March 12th with the arrival of the tug Samuel de Champlain and cement barge Innovation, delivering a cargo of powdered cement to the Holcim Cement Dock in Essexville. The season then ended the same way it began, with a cement delivery to the Holcim Cement Dock, this time by the Steamer Alpena, arriving on January 4th, 2024, during a string of unseasonably warm weather and no ice in sight on the Saginaw River. The 2023 season on the Saginaw River lasted for a total of 299 days, 34 days longer than in 2022. The start of the 2023 season was 32 days earlier than in 2022, with the end of the season two days later than in 2022.

For the 2023 commercial shipping season, there were a grand total of 171 commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River, representing a decrease of 21 passages compared to the 2022 season. These passages were made by 33 different vessels, three fewer than the previous year, representing 14 different vessel management companies, also three fewer than last year.
Looking at other numbers from the 2023 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, there were 16 facilities that had received cargo in 2023, one fewer than in 2022 due to the elimination of coal deliveries at Consumers Energy in Essexville. The individual dock seeing the most vessel traffic in 2023 was the Port Fisher Terminals/Bay Aggregates Dock in Bay City, with 42 vessel deliveries. This is one less than recorded during the previous season. The second most deliveries went to the Wirt Stone Dock in Saginaw with 33, followed by the Wirt Stone Dock in Bay City with 32 deliveries and the Holcim Cement dock in Essexville with 31 deliveries. These top docks accounted for 57% of the total commercial vessel deliveries in 2023. The two largest companies, Fisher Companies and Wirt, each with multiple docks along the Saginaw River, accounted for a total of 55% of all commercial vessel deliveries. Wirt Family Docks had a total of 84 deliveries, with Port Fisher docks accounting for 49 deliveries. In all, accounting for split cargos by some vessels, which unloaded at two or more different docks during the same visit, there were 244 deliveries to the various docks along the Saginaw River. This is 19 more actual dock deliveries than during the 2022 season. These numbers show that over 70 vessels arrived with split loads, unloading at more than one dock.
The following table outlines the docks delivered to along with the number of vessels stopping there:

2023 - Saginaw River - Dock Deliveries

Port Fisher/Bay Aggregates Dock - Bay City 42
Wirt Stone Dock – Saginaw 33
Wirt Stone Dock – Bay City 32
Holcim Cement Dock – Essexville 31
GM Dock - Saginaw 23
Saginaw Rock Products/Burroughs Saginaw Dock 20
Wirt Sand and Stone Dock - Essexville 16
Saginaw Asphalt/Buena Vista Dock – Saginaw 15
Burroughs Materials/Levy Dock - Zilwaukee 11
Burroughs North Dock - Essexville 6
Port Fisher/Occidental Chemical Dock – Bay City 5
Wirt Sand & Stone Fertilizer Dock - Essexville 3
U.S. Paving & Stone Materials Dock - Carrollton 3
Sargent Dock - Zilwaukee 2
Port Fisher/Bit-Mat Products Dock – Bay City 1
Port Fisher Terminals Dock – Bay City 1

Total Deliveries 244

This year, I also broke down the number of visits to the lower river docks, or docks between the mouth of the Saginaw River and Liberty Bridge, of which there are nine, and the upper river docks, or docks near the Zilwaukee Bridge to the Sixth Street Turning Basin, of which there are seven. There were a total of 133 deliveries to lower river docks and a total of 85 deliveries where the vessel had to pass through the Bay City draw bridges on their way to the upper river to unload at Saginaw area docks.

The tug-barge units were busy on the Saginaw River during 2023, with four of the top five spots for total number of visits taken by tug-barge combos. Again for 2023, as has become the norm on the Saginaw River, 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”, making more trips to the river in 2023 than any other vessel. The pair logged 39 visits this season, one more than in 2022. Olive L. Moore/Menominee have held this title 17 out of the past 18 years, logging an incredible 654 visits to the Saginaw River during this time! In second place was Interlake Steamship Company’s, tug Dorothy Ann, paired with the self-unloading barge Pathfinder who had 15. Rounding out the top five most frequent vessels are Samuel de Champlain/Innovation with 14 visits, G.L. Ostrander/Integrity with 9, and Sam Laud, the only non-tug/barge combo in the top five with 8 visits.

The fleet leading the way with the most cargo deliveries to the Saginaw River during the 2023 season was far and away Rand Logistics, Inc. Their subsidiaries, Lower Lakes Towing and Grand River Navigation tallied 83 vessel passages, an increase of two deliveries over 2022 and accounted for almost half of all deliveries in 2023 at 49%. They have now been leading the way on the Saginaw River for 16 of the past 17 years. The Interlake Steamship Company/Interlake Logistics Solutions logged the second most visits with 27 trips, a decrease of 10 visits from 2022. Coming in third place was Holcim Cement/Andrie, Inc. with 23 deliveries to the Saginaw River, up nine trips from the 2022 season. These three companies accounted for 78% of all deliveries on the Saginaw River in 2023. Rounding out the top five companies were Algoma Central Corp. with 15 visits and Inland Lakes Management with seven.

There were a number vessels that visited the Saginaw River in 2022 that did not make a return visit here in 2023. These vessels included local favorite Paul R. Tregurtha, and the tug Leonard M. There were also the following salt water vessels who had been here during the 2022 season not making a return visit: Sloman Discoverer, Charlie, Sophia, Nunalik, BBC Song, BBC Kwiatkowski, BBC Eagle, Happy River and Happy Rover.

Vessels back on the river in 2023 who did not have a visit in 2022 were Algoma Compass, Robert S. Pierson, tug Meredith Ashton, and the salt water vessel Minervagracht. The tug Sharon M I was also back, pushing the barge Huron Spirit in place of Leonard M. There were also a number of first ever visits in 2023. Interlake Steamship Company’s brand new Mark W. Barker made five trips here, McKeil Marine Ltd’s recent acquisition, Northern Venture made her first trip here and the Nova-Algoma Cement Carrier NACC Antigua also had her first trip to the Saginaw River.

Other vessels on the Saginaw River during the 2023 season were the tug Manitou, U.S. Fish and Wildlife vessel Spencer F. Baird, U.S.E.P.A. vessel Mudpuppy II, and NOAA vessel 5033. Government vessels included the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spar, U.S, Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay, and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey vessel.
Some notable stories from the 2023 season:

- 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 late 2023 or early 2024. In 2023, some site clearing was completed, but no other visible work is underway and it is unknown when the company will begin operation.

- On June 22nd, the Great Lakes Towing tug North Dakota arrived on the Saginaw River to begin her stay, stationed here for the immediate future. Docking at the old Lafarge Cement Dock in Carrollton, North Dakota assisted at least eight vessels during the 2023 season, including Algoma Buffalo, Iver Bright, Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder, Samuel de Champlain/Innovation, NACC Antigua, Algoma Intrepid, and Minervagracht. It is unknown how long the G-Tug North Dakota will remain stationed here on the Saginaw River, but the word is that it will be as long as there is a need and work for her to do.

- The NACC Antigua was a surprise visitor during the 2023 season, delivering a cargo of powdered cement to the Holcim Cement dock in Essexville. Her cargo originated in Algeria in North Africa. The demand for cement was up this season and local suppliers could not keep up with this demand, so in an effort to keep customers happy and have product available to them, the NACC Antigua cargo was ordered. The Holcim dock received 31 deliveries in 2023, up from 26 last season.

- The self-unloading barge Joseph H. Thompson, pushed by the tug Laura L. VanEnkevort made her last ever visit to the Saginaw River on June 24th, before heading to the Marine Recycling Corporation in Port Colborne, ON to be scrapped. The Thompson was a frequent visitor to the Saginaw River over the years, pushed by the tug Joseph H. Thompson, Jr. and then later the Laura L. Vanenkevort. So long old friend…..

- Minervagracht was the only salt water vessel to make a delivery from overseas to the Saginaw River in 2023. She called on the Port Fisher Terminals Dock in Bay City on November 17th, carrying process equipment for the Hemlock Semiconductor Plant in Hemlock, Michigan.

- Interlake Steamship Company’s new vessel, Mark W. Barker, made five visits to the Saginaw River in 2023, between May 27th and July 4th. This was the first season in operation on the Great Lakes for the Barker. Built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, she is the first new laker to be built on the Great Lakes in more than 35 years. Mark W. Barker is a very versatile vessel, capable of carrying a wide range of cargo to virtually any dock on the Great Lakes.

As the shipping industry continues to change, evolve, adapt and move forward, it is the hope that commercial traffic on the Saginaw River will at least remain stable and hopefully grow as the products and materials handled here continue to evolve and expand. Hopefully 2024 continues to expand on the success of the 2023 season and will be a safe and profitable one for everyone.

Here is wishing you all a safe and prosperous shipping season in 2024. Thank you for following me during the year, supporting my social media pages, attending my presentations, and commenting on my photos! Your support means more than you know.

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 2024 for my 20th season of logging commercial vessel movements on the Saginaw River.

Thanks for your support,

Todd A. Shorkey
Saginaw River Images

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