A 1,000-foot ship Presque Isle, loaded with iron ore pellets, scrapes the stone base of Duluth Ship Canal, reports the Duluth News Tribune.
What happened?
1,000-foot Presque Isle, loaded with iron ore pellets ran aground on the base of the Duluth Ship Canal’s north pier Monday morning.
At about 7:13 a.m., the Presque Isle, an integrated barge and tug and one of the longest ships on the Great Lakes, passed under the Aerial Lift Bridge.
But did not center itself between the piers and appeared to scrape up against the north pier until it came to a stop, video by bystanders and Duluth Harbor Cam webcams show.
According to the reports, there was no damage to the pier, although initial eyewitness reports described the ship as “scrapping” or “colliding” with the north pier.
Inspection findings
Steven Brossart, Duluth area engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said an initial inspection shows no damage to the pier’s structure.
The inspection did show the ship likely ran aground on the scour stone that runs along the base of the pier where the steel pilings meet the canal bottom. The rocks are placed there to prevent material from washing out from under the structure, Brossart said.
Damages to pier
Brossart said that the initial survey assessments done there indicate that the vessel did not impact the pier.
The grinding noise I think you heard was the bottom of the vessel impacting the scour stone near the bottom of our structure.
Brossart added that as of now, no repairs were needed as the stone was just “squashed and removed a little bit” and should not impact the navigation channel.
Damages to vessel
Damage to the ship remains unknown. The standard procedure is, the U.S. Coast Guard and if needed, also the American Bureau of Shipping, will inspect a ship after an incident before it can return to service.
The Coast Guard did not immediately return the News Tribune’s request for comment.
Reason for grounding
The cause of the grounding is not yet known. Presque Isle owner Key Lakes, which operates the Great Lakes Fleet for Canadian National Railway, declined to comment immediately.
She made it through the canal
Presque Isle, after sitting aground near the pier for a few minutes, was put into reverse, centered in the canal and continued out to Lake Superior. There she sat off the shore of Park Point for several hours.
Just before 2:30 p.m. Monday, the ship passed back through the canal and into the harbor without incident. It is now in the slip between Lake Superior Warehousing and the Clure Terminal Expansion on Rice’s point.
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Source: Duluth News Tribune
