STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As the ice on the Great Lakes disappears, the shipping season typically begins. The move coincides with the Soo Locks opening on Lake Superior, at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
And in Sturgeon Bay, the Winter Fleet is beginning to leave.
“We’re at Bullhead Point. Just watching the windy conditions, and hoping she’s safe out there,” said Rosann Hollinger, Carlsville.
Even on a very windy Wednesday morning, Rosann and her husband David Hollinger are watching the ships and waiting.
“We’re both retired. We have the time. And we just kind of all of a sudden took to this back in January, for winter layover,” said Rosann.
“Well, it gets us out of the house, for one,” said David Hollinger, Carlsville. “It’s just they’re so big. And it’s just interesting to watch.”
The couple is checking out the Winter Fleet. The big boats gather every year at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay for maintenance and repairs.
“We used to call it breakout. Breakout season. It was when ships would break through the ice, and start the shipping season,” said Kevin Osgood, Door County Maritime Museum Executive Director.
Osgood says because of the mild winter around the Midwest, seasonal work on Lake Superior’s Soo Locks wrapped up early.
“With the shipping companies being urged by the steel companies to get everything sooner, it just all worked out that they’re going to be able to open the locks a few days early. I would expect to see some of the ships that are here, start to get underway in the next couple of days”.
Boat watchers are monitoring the progress, on the web, and when it comes to the Hollingers, from their car.
“We’re definitely boat nerds. We follow each of them in, and our goal is to watch each of them leave,” said Rosann.
Experts say Great Lakes Shipping is an important part of the maritime economy. They say one freighter can carry as much iron ore as 700 rail cars, or 3,000 semi-trucks. That’s enough steel to make 16,000 cars.
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