Ferries serving three remote islands in the eastern Upper Peninsula were back on normal schedules Monday after heavy, thick ice in the St. Marys River crippled vessels over the weekend.
Since the Soo Locks opened March 25, the official start of the Great Lakes shipping season, dozens of carriers have moved up and down the St. Marys River delivering iron ore, cement and other raw materials across the Midwest. Many have been escorted by cutters from the U.S. and Canadian coast guards to forge paths through the ice, resulting in large sheets of ice building up in the shipping channel and drifting to ferry docks along the river’s islands.
“This is not uncommon,” said Pete Paramski, director of the Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority, which manages ferries for Sugar, Neebish and Drummond islands.
According to U.S. Census data, the islands have a combined population of fewer than 2,000 year-round residents who rely on ferries for everyday travel to the mainland.
“The thickness and hardness of the ice is definitely greater this year than in previous years,” said Doug Derhammer, captain of the Neebish ferry.
Derhammer has worked on the waters of the eastern Upper Peninsula for 26 years. Over the weekend, he said ice sheets in the St. Marys River ranged from 20 to 80 feet long and “8 inches to 2 feet thick.” He said the ferry schedule is subject to change due to conditions and that crews are operating trips between Neebish Island and Barbeau hour by hour.
“There’s nowhere for the ice to go,” Paramski said. “The icebreaker just goes through the ice and doesn’t really move it.”
The U.S. Coast Guard has been operating with fewer resources than normal this icebreaking season. Two small icebreaking tugs are out of service due to mechanical issues and are not expected to return until after the season ends. Additionally, the Coast Guard’s only heavy icebreaker is unable to pass through the Soo Locks into Lake Superior because of a mechanical issue.
Officials said ice conditions have been challenging but manageable, and colder-than-average temperatures have led to refreezing and buildup across the upper Great Lakes.
Federal data shows 7% of the Great Lakes are covered in ice, with some of the highest concentrations in Whitefish Bay in southern Lake Superior and northern Lake Huron near the Straits of Mackinac. The 52-year average ice cover for this time of year is 13%.
“They [the U.S. Coast Guard] can only do so much,” Paramski said. “And even if they had unlimited resources, sometimes conditions are such that we have to shut down because all the icebreakers in the world can’t get the ice to move.”
In a news release, the Coast Guard said icy conditions are expected to continue for up to two weeks in the upper Great Lakes due to unfavorable winds, above-average cold temperatures, snowfall and a backlog of ice that is not “naturally flushing out of the river system.”
“There’s not much any vessel, or combination of vessels, can do until favorable weather enables the ice to flush from the channel,” said Capt. Jim Bendle, sector commander for the Northern Great Lakes, in the release.
In the first 10 days of the shipping season, from March 25 through April 3, the Coast Guard said it assisted 43 carriers through icy conditions that left some vessels beset and stranded for up to two days.
The Lake Carriers’ Association, which represents the commercial shipping industry, has issued harsh criticism of the Coast Guard’s icebreaking operations this season, calling the Great Lakes navigation system “broken” and a “logistical nightmare.”
A spokesperson for the association told WCMU it is compiling data on vessel delays and lost revenue for shipping companies and their clients, which it projects will total in the millions.
In a statement, a spokesperson for U.S. Steel told WCMU that deliveries of iron ore pellets have been behind schedule, but the company has been able to meet customer needs.
One economic report said the Great Lakes shipping industry moved more than $26 billion in cargo in 2022, supporting more than 240,000 jobs across the region.
