Soo Lock Closure Shows Need for Second Large Lock, Great Lakes Carriers Say

U.S.-flag Great Lake carriers are utilizing a latest 20-day nearer of a lock on the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to spotlight the necessity for a second lock massive sufficient to accommodate the most important ships servicing the Great Lakes area.

According to the Lake Carriers’ Association, representing the 16 American corporations that function 56 U.S.-flag vessels on the Great Lakes, the MacArthur Lock was closed from July twenty ninth till August 17 as a result of a misalignment of the miter gates that pressured the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take the Lock out of service.

The 20-day closure ended up costing Great Lakes vessel operators practically $250,000 and impacted a complete of 77 voyages, inflicting the delay of 1.8 million tons of cargo, based on the Lake Carriers’ Association.

The MacArthur Lock is certainly one of 4 locks connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron on the Soo Locks. While the MacArthur lock is massive sufficient to deal with smaller ocean-going vessels, the Poe Lock is the one one one of many Soo Locks that’s large enough to deal with the most important lake freighters of 1,000 ft or extra.

“The lengthy failure of the MacArthur Lock adds more urgency to our efforts to build a second Poe-sized lock,” mentioned James H.I. Weakley, president of Lake Carriers’ Association. “The MacArthur Lock is 72 years old and the Poe Lock is 46 years old. We must renew this vital infrastructure. Most of the iron ore that feeds our steel mills transits the Soo Locks. Likewise for the low-sulfur coal that generates electricity at many Great Lakes powerplants. Without shipping through the Soo Locks, industrial America will be brought to its knees.”

According to the Lake Carriers’ Association, seventy % of U.S.-flag carrying capability on the Lakes is restricted to the Poe Lock by the size or beam of the vessel, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acknowledges the Soo Locks are the only level of failure for the Great Lakes Navigation System. Congress has even licensed constructing a second Poe-sized lock, however the challenge has not moved ahead as a result of a flawed examine places its profit/value ratio beneath 1.0, the Association mentioned.

“Everyone knows the assumption that the railroads could absorb the 60 million tons of cargo the Poe Lock handles each year is off base,” added Weakley. “Furthermore, many steel mills lack rail access, so without Great Lakes shipping, that industry and others would all but cease to exist.”

Weakley pressured the answer could be very easy. “A new, better-focused study must be conducted so this vital infrastructure project can move forward. At the behest of Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the Corps revisited the assumptions included in its original economic analysis of the project, and its findings should prompt a full re-evaluation of replacing the MacArthur Lock with a Poe-sized lock.”