STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Every year ice crowding Green Bay waters has to be broken up to clear the way for Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding’s Winter Fleet.
The problem…
“Last winter alone we lost a billion dollars in economic impact in the Great Lakes region.” said Jim Weakly.
Is making it through that ice.
Weakly is the president of the Lake Carriers Association.
He hopes the Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act will improve ice breaking practices by providing safer and more efficient commercial lanes, leading to more trade across the waters.
But the bill is more than economic impact and adding jobs. Weakly told us about a particular scary situation, concerning the safety of sailors.
“Last winter on the St. Mary’s River we had two casualties that were a direct result of inadequate icebreaking,” said Weakly. “The Mesabi Miner was forced out of the channel because there weren’t ice breakers there to assist it.”
Congressman Mike Gallagher, who co opted the bill with democrats in Michigan and Ohio, says the act would clearly define the Coast Guard’s icebreaking responsibilities, improving businesses’ ability to buy, ship and sell through the winter months.
“Make sure that commercial shipbuilding is open at least 90 percent of the time and then hopefully the third part of that will be to enhance pressure to do things like build another ice breaker,” the lawmaker said.
Building another ice breaker could mean more jobs for construction and manning the ship.
Both Weakly and Gallagher say it’s the first step in building a better economy.
“What we do here in the Great Lakes matters in the world and what Fincantieri does in the Great Lakes building ships is important,” said Weakly.
“We want to be able to ship all of that all over the world and put our manufacturers and our farmers and our producers on a level playing field with the rest of the world and it starts in places like this in Bay Shipbuilding,” said Gallagher.
If passed, Gallagher says this would be the first time a law defines ice breaking as a Coast Guard responsibility.
