Despite the unseasonably mild weather in the southern end of Lake Michigan, you won’t see any more Great Lakes freighters pulling into the local harbor in St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, or anywhere else on the lake, until late March.
That’s the word from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, who announced this afternoon that the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie are officially closed to navigation until March 25th. The Corps will use that time to perform critical maintenance on the lock structures.
Lt. Col. Greg Turner, District Engineer for the Army Corps, says, “The Soo Locks are vital as a single point of passage for shipping from the upper to lower Great Lakes,” and adds, “Maintaining our existing infrastructure and building the new lock are keys to providing a resilient link in the Great Lakes navigation system now and in the decades to come.”
With the annual closure, vessel traffic ceases through the Soo Locks for the season. This year during the closure, the Poe Lock will be de-watered. Crews are busy with a variety of maintenance projects in preparation to reopen in March.
The MacArthur Lock has repairs partially completed to the gate operating machinery. Additional work taking place includes inspection of gate anchorages, electronics updates and operating shelter maintenance.
Work on the Poe Lock includes gate structural repairs, gate anchorage link replacement, gate stressing checks, gate tieback installation, repairs to concrete gate sills, emptying valve and valve machinery repairs, electronics updates and debris removal from the drainage system. The Poe Lock will also undergo a formal periodic inspection.
The last vessel to traverse the Poe Lock for the 2019-2020 shipping season was the 1,000-foot freighter Burns Harbor. The ship was up-bound from Burns Harbor, Indiana headed for Superior, Wisconsin for winter lay-up. The ship completed locking through early this morning, Wednesday, January 15th at 6:44 am. That last vessel through the locks marks the end of a busy season and the beginning of yearly maintenance.
More than 4,500 vessels, carrying up to 80 million tons of cargo, maneuver through the locks annually. Iron ore, coal, wheat and limestone are among the most frequently carried commodities. Opened in 1969, the Poe Lock is 1,200 feet long. The MacArthur Lock was opened in 1943 and is 800 feet long.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, maintains a navigation system of 95 harbors, including the Great Lakes Connecting Channels that join lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie.
The photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market, depicting a freighter arriving at the local harbor is courtesy of award-winning Berrien Springs photographer Molly Pate.
