It is 11:47 p.m. ET and I am watching the 1,000 foot freighter American Integrity entering the lock upbound at Sault Ste. Marie, MI. It is 18 deg. F at the Soo and I am happy I am not working outside like the tiny people I can see on deck. Humans look very small on a 1,000 foot boat. The vessel is upbound to pick up iron ore, the source of American steel. The big boats fit snugly into the locks with about 2-1/2 feet to spare on each side. Imagine driving a 1,000 foot vessel into that parking space and stopping it. That's even bigger than your Buicks and Cadillacs.
It's all visible via live streaming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2djzpbW_E1Q
Even people who know nothing about Great Lakes shipping will probably remember Gordon Lightfoot's great song about the Edmund Fitzgerald and the storms of November. The A.I. is entering Lake Superior, where the sinking occurred. And now it s dark, cold, and January.
Chris Campbell