Despite, or perhaps because of her scars and bruises, Atlantic Huron just seems like an absolute monster of a ship to me, feels much larger than her 740ft length, especially when looking up at her bow! The Laker/Saltie hybrid certainly has the history to match as well. On this occasion she sailed in on a very interesting cargo run, it seems she’s doing the Lower Lakes Company’s “Soo Express” run, Michipicoten’s old route. I was wondering if Lower Lakes would ultimately need to bring some outside assistance in, with the incidents this year leaving them with only four active vessels, and one of those is a straight decker which can’t make that run. I was surprised that they turned to CSL for assistance and not Algoma, which has left a couple self unloading ships in storage this year due to this year’s lack of salt demand from the light winter. As it happened, while she sailed in the sailboat races were just finishing up, with the faster boats accompanying her through the Canal, along with the Vista Star. While she came in quiet and no salute, she still put on a show, sailing slow and followed by over a dozen smaller boats! She is also the current home of the Ship to Shore Chef channel, who did a livestream from onboard during this arrival, seen here! www.youtube.co...
Atlantic Huron is fairly common on the Superior side, but is a little more rare in the Canal. This is her second visit through here this season, and the first was under some rather unusual circumstances. Built in 1984, the ship was one of the last vessels to be built before the long 30+ year gap in laker construction. One of 6 “Carribean Class” Laker/Saltie hybrids, she is the last of her design still sailing, the vessels’ lifespans being significantly shorter than the average laker due to their saltwater sailing capabilities. From 1990 to 1997 she acted as an ocean ship, hauling slurry from offshore oil rigs to Canada, but has otherwise operated as a laker. She’s also been heavily modified during her career, originally starting out as a straight decker and being converted to a self unloader in 1989, then she was widened by 5 feet in 2000. In 2009 it was widely reported that she was being scrapped, but ultimately the ship was simply being overhauled and refitted.
Despite her relatively young age by laker standards, Atlantic Huron has also been involved in more serious incidents and collisions than any other laker, many of which occurred in the last 4 years. In 1993 she got caught in the “Storm of the Century”, and while she was damaged, she was luckier than many ships, several of which sank. That storm would go on to shut down the entire Atlantic seaboard from Canada to the Caribbean, killing over 270 people. In 2000 she rammed and nearly sunk the Canadian Coast Guard Cutter Griffon, sending four crewmen to the hospital. In 2020 she suffered a malfunction while entering the Soo Locks, leading to the ship ramming the pier between locks and causing over 2 million dollars worth of damage. She would spend several months in 2023 out of service following an unknown major issue while anchored off Duluth early in the season, then in August of last year she rammed a (fortunately empty) tanker in Quebec City, leaving the massive dent in her bow seen prominently here. Then in late May of this year she came into the Superior ore dock a little too quickly, hitting the dock hard and punching a hole in her hull just below her port anchor. Following a week of repairs in Duluth (her only other trip here this season) the ship returned to the ore dock to finish loading, only to run aground immediately after leaving the dock. It would take several hours for tugs to free her (not that bad, but not exactly the best timing lol). She would spend several more days at anchor as divers inspected and repaired her hull for the second time in a week before finally sailing out. Can only imagine the conversations with the bosses on that one lol. Fortunately her season has gone more smoothly since then!
Hope everyone enjoys!
19 сен 2024
