A plan is currently underway to rescue the MV Roger Blough, an 858-foot U.S.-flagged freighter which is currently grounded in eastern Lake Superior. The ship is carrying iron ore and got stuck May 27 in Whitefish Bay, about 10 miles past Sault Ste. Marie, MI. It is grounded near the Gros Cap Reefs.
Two other Great Lakes freighter ships are coming to the aid of the Roger Blough – the Arthur M. Anderson and Philip R. Clarke. Mitch Koslow, the vice-president of engineering for Keystone Shipping Co. in Philadelphia, told the Dululth News Tribune that the plan is to offload iron ore from the Blough to the other vessels, as much as needed to get the Blough to float again. The Clarke and Anderson arescheduled to arrive at the Blough’s location on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
Though the Canadian National Railway owns the Blough, they have contracts with Keystone to operate its lake freighters. American-flagged vessels are required to be operated by American companies.
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The Blough ran aground on Friday, shortly after noon. Keystone has been conducting an internal investigation into what happened. Reports have surfaced of heavy fog in the area, as well as of the Blough attempting to pass another ship that was under a dead tow. A National Transportation Safety Board rep arrived Monday to aid the U.S. Coast Guard investigators in determining what happened to cause the grounding. However, Keystone has been hesitant to assign blame to captain or crew just yet.
“There’s obviously a lot of lessons to be learned coming out of it,” Koslow said [to the News Tribune], “but hopefully we’ll get down to the root cause of the route taken that resulted in this. Any actions against anybody we’ll deal with in the future.”
To address potential environmental concerns, 6000-foot booming was put in place around the vessel to prevent possible pollution discharge into the lake. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that divers conducted an underwater survey of the Blough on Tuesday to assess the hull and identify any damage to the lake freighter. However, Koslow acknowledged that divers will likely not know the extent of the damage until the ship is fully dislodged and the bottom is visible.
Teams assembled to address the grounding are using computer models from the American Bureau of Shipping to develop the Blough’s refloat plan. Still in its developing stages, the ultimate plan while be submitted to the Coast Guard for review before being enacted.
Currently, the Blough is not impeding the flow of traffic too or from the Soo Locks. GCaptain.com reported that there is a 500 yard safety zone around the vessel, enforced by the Coast Guard cutter Mobile Bay.
To see the full story at Duluth News Tribune, click here.
All photos by the U.S. Coast Guard, via GCaptain.com. To see more, click here.