Too few U.S. and Canadian icebreakers and reliance on a single Poe-sized lock to attach Lake Superior to the Lower Lakes and Seaway are among the many high points at present threatening the way forward for delivery on the Great Lakes, the U.S.-based Great Lakes Maritime Task Force warned in its 2015 annual report launched Wednesday.

“Another near arctic winter significantly impacted navigation, and then a 20-day closure of the MacArthur Lock in late summer gave us an uninviting preview of the delays and disruptions that will come should a mechanical or structural issue incapacitate the Poe Lock for a lengthy period of time. If unaddressed, neither augers well for the future of Lakes/Seaway shipping,” wrote GLMTF President Thomas Curelli within the report’s opening letter.

In the letter, Curelli known as the February 2015 incident involving the U.S.-flagged Arthur M. Anderson the “poster child” for the necessity for extra icebreakers. The 767-foot-long laker turned beset in ice on the southern shore of Lake Erie and remained caught for five days earlier than it was finally freed by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.

Curtelli additionally famous that in March, simply days after the opening of the Soo Locks, the USCG Mackinaw, the U.S. Coast Guard’s strongest heavy icebreaker within the Great Lakes, suffered a casualty to its propulsion system and was unable to function at full power for the rest of the spring breakout.

In the report, GLMTF, hailed the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015, signed by President Obama this month, and the availability authored by Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI) that authorizes development of a brand new heavy icebreaker for the Lakes. GLMTF says it’s going to now focus its consideration on having Congress acceptable the funds to construct the vessel, which is estimated roughly $200 million.

GLMTF additionally warned that final summer time’s 20-day closure of the MacArthur Lock highlights the necessity to create redundancy on the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, by twinning the Poe Lock.

“The MacArthur Lock is 73 years old, the Poe Lock, 47. At least in this instance, vessels that normally transit the MacArthur Lock can use the Poe Lock, so cargo was delayed rather than cancelled. Poe-class vessels are too big to go through the MacArthur Lock, and they represent 70 percent of U.S.-flag carrying capacity on the Lakes. A lengthy closure of the Poe Lock would slow trade to a trickle at best,” GLMTF stated within the report.

GLMTF stated that though approved by Congress at full Federal expense, a second Poe-sized lock has been stalled by a flawed evaluation of the profit/price ratio “Fortunately, that flawed analysis is going to be reviewed, in part because a Department of Homeland Security report forecasts catastrophic and nationwide impacts if the Poe Lock is incapacitated. The Corps has reprogrammed $1.35 million for the re-evaluation and allotted 24 months for completion. We urge the Corps to complete the new analysis in not more than 18 months.”

The Task Force report did verify some main progress on the dredging disaster: “The Corps was able to dredge 21 ports and waterways and remove 3.1 million cubic yards of sediment. The Corps’ workplan for 2016 calls for dredging 25 projects and removing 3.4 million cubic yards,” the report stated.

GLMTF says it is usually persevering with to help S. 373, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, as it could set up a uniform, federal ballast water normal.

The Task Force concluded its report by calling for truthful commerce in metal imports: “We believe in ‘May the best man win,’ but dumping steel into the U.S. market has cost the Lakes jobs and cargo. Trade in any commodity must be free but fair.”