Coast Guard to begin icebreaking in Twin Ports

Superior Telegram, Wis.
·1 min read

Mar. 3—DULUTH — Icebreaking operations will get underway in the Twin Ports this coming week in anticipation of a new shipping season.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spar is expected to be at work Monday through Thursday, starting at the Duluth harbor entrance and working east to the Superior entrance. And while a warmer winter has limited ice accumulation on Lake Superior and Superior Bay, the effort will help usher in a new era of Duluth-based icebreaking operations.

The

Spar arrived in Duluth on March 30

after a winter in which the Coast Guard was forced to cobble together other assets to clear out the port after the area's previous cutter, the Alder, was sent away for maintenance and reassigned to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Port of Duluth-Superior usually sees its first freighters arrive around late March and ocean-going ships by April. The Soo Locks, which connect Lake Superior to the rest of the Great Lakes, will reopen March 25. The St. Lawrence Seaway, connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, resumes operations March 22.

The Coast Guard urged residents to exercise caution when on the ice and to avoid placing equipment near the shipping channels.