Saginaw River Report - May 2026

There were 15 commercial vessel passages on the Saginaw River for the month of May 2026, with 10 different docks receiving a total of 19 deliveries of product accounting for split cargo loads delivered to more than one dock.  These passages represent 11 fewer than recorded during May 2025.  Looking at long-term averages, the 15 passages in May were below all of them with the 5-year average at 22 passages, 10-year average at 21, the 15-year average at 19 passages, and the 20-year average at 19 commercial vessel passages for the month of May.

The total number of commercial vessel passages for the year-to-date is 16, which is 19 fewer than last year.  I knew the season had been slow, I didn’t realize it had been this slow.  Looking at the averages, the 16 passages for the year to date is quite a bit less than all the long-terms with the 5-year average being 32, 10-year average at 30, the 15-year average at 27, and the 20-year average at 29 vessel passages for the year to date as of the end of May.

During the month of May, there were 14 deliveries to the docks on the lower half of the Saginaw River, located in Essexville and Bay City, and 5 deliveries to upper river docks, located in Zilwaukee, Carrollton, and Saginaw.  5 vessels carried split loads with cargo unloaded at more than one dock.  For the year-to-date, there have been 15 lower river deliveries and 5 upper river deliveries, with 5 split loads.

The vessels making deliveries to the Saginaw River in May were Samuel de Champlain/Innovation (3), Defiance/Ashtabula (2), Manitowoc (2), Algoma Buffalo (2), Olive L. Moore/Menominee, Algoma Innovator, Iver Bright, Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder, Algoma Compass, and Alpena