THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay’s shipping season kicked off on a high note over the weekend, with eight ships expected to be in the harbour by the end of Saturday.
The Tug Sharon M1 and Barge Huron Spirit earned “top hat honours” as the first ship to officially arrive in 2021, coming abeam of the Mission Pier entrance at 11:32 p.m. Friday.
The tug-barge also opened the 2020 navigation season exactly one year ago, the port noted.
The ceremony that usually marks the occasion may have been cancelled due to COVID-19, but the pandemic has hardly had a negative impact on operations, said Port of Thunder Bay CEO Tim Heney.
Far from it, the port experienced a banner year in 2020, with the pandemic helping to drive up demand for Canadian wheat in foreign markets, with wheat shipments through the port reaching their highest levels since the 1990s.
“[COVID-19] hasn’t been an extreme barrier for the port so far,” he said Saturday. “People are adapting.”
Two lake-going cargo vessels followed the Sharon M1 early Saturday morning to load grain, with six more anticipated throughout the remainder of the day. Their arrival followed the opening of the Soo Locks on March 24, a day earlier than usual.
“It’s been a good start, a very quick start – not much ice to break this year, so it’s pretty clear going,” Heney said, with ice in the harbour at only about half of its usual thickness of about three feet.
Two icebreakers cleared the way in the harbour over recent weeks, the USCGC Alder from Duluth, and the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Samuel Risley, which remained in port Saturday.
Two wintering vessels also departed Thunder Bay earlier this week with bulk grain: the MV Blair McKeil and MV Algoma Strongfield.
Heney is optimistic the 2021 season will resemble last year’s, when the city regained the title of largest Canadian Great Lakes port.
In addition to booming grain shipments, Heney credits increased inbound cargo as another factor in the port’s recent success. That includes fertilizer bound for the prairies, steel, and wind turbines.
“The most unusual thing [this year] is the fertilizer we started last December – we’ve never had inbound fertilizer before,” he said. “That’s a perfect match [with] the ocean ships going out with grain. Normally they come into port empty. This’ll be the first time we have full loads both ways, which is certainly something that helps the economics of the seaway.”
The gradual recovery from the economic shocks of the pandemic, such as rebounding coal shipments destined for steelmaking, is also expected to lend a hand, Heney said.
