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Great Lakes Observing System and Marine Operations

Edison Boat Club – June 21st, 2011

An ISO 9001:2008 Company

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Topics:

Who am I? Jayson Toth – Operations Department

Cleveland native & Licensed Mariner, 1st Mate experience

The Interlake Steamship Company Great Lakes shipping company

Interacting with GLOS GLOS Mission Weather Water Level and Current Operating season / Ice

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History of The Interlake Steamship Company 1913 - The Interlake Steamship Company incorporates on April

25th to consolidate the Pickands Mather & Co. shipping interests.

The original Interlake Fleet totals 39 vessels – 37 steel steamers and two barges.

1987 - The Interlake Steamship Company becomes privately held under the direction of James R. Barker. Pickands Mather & Company is purchased by Cleveland Cliffs Inc. Headquarters in Richfield, OH

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Current Interlake Fleet 9 self-unloading vessels

4 modern 1,000 ft. diesel vessels 4 medium size vessels (Traditional Lakers)

Re-powered two of our medium sized vessels to a highly automated heavy fuel diesel plant

1 modern self-unloading ATB (1998) 8 vessels owned; 1 managed Total fleet trip capacity 368,000 long tons 1 vessel in Lay-Up, John Sherwin available for

conversion

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M/V Paul R. Tregurtha

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M/V James R. Barker

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M/V Lee A. Tregurtha

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M/V Hon. James L. Oberstar

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Str. Herbert C Jackson

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Tug Dorothy Ann / Barge Pathfinder

Carrying Cargo

The Interlake Steamship Company exclusively transports bulk commodities

Taconite, Coal, Stone, Grain and Salt

An Interlake vessel can carry anywhere from 21,000 to 68,000 tons of cargo in one trip That’s equivalent to almost 3,000 semi trucks

or 7 trains!

On an annual basis, Interlake carries approximately 20 million tons of cargo

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Loading Cargo

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Discharging Cargo

Our vessels have a series of gates underneath the cargo which open up to an unloading tunnel containing a large conveyor belt

This belt carries the cargo to an angled conveyor transferring it to an unloading boom which in turn carries the cargo off the boat

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Discharging Cargo (cont)

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Discharging Cargo (cont.)

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Where we go

The Interlake Steamship Company operates solely on the Great Lakes (the largest fresh water system in the world) – Primarily upper 4

This creates many challenges including: Proximity to land Unique weather patterns Shallow water Locks and river systems Ice

The Great Lakes System

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The Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS)

GLOS and Commercial Industry Improve the safety and efficiency of maritime operations

A complete inventory of federal, state/provincial and municipal observation and monitoring activities

Critical, real-time and historical information about the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and interconnecting waterways

Uniform monitoring protocols

Broad availability of information on Great Lakes conditions and trends for managers and other stakeholders.

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Unique Weather Patterns

Vessel Masters depend on accurate and updated information regarding weather they will encounter for: Voyage planning and anchoring decisions

Weather Stations Monitoring Buoy's Forecasts from the NWS Vessel Reporting

Water Levels

What are the issues Low Lake Levels USACE Dredging

Funding is low

Water Level Stations USGS Water Gage

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River Systems

With limited room to maneuver, vessel Masters need to know what direction and speed the water is going

Current Direction of flow Surface water speed

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Ice Operations Vessel Masters

need to know where they will encounter ice and how thick it will be

Ice reports and observations

USCG Recon22

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Thank You