Hanging Out With the Honorable James L. Oberstar

I have alot of time to make up for boatwatching.  Because of my stint as a guest at St. Joes and Redies, I missed the end of the shipping season last year.  Now that I'm better, I don't want to miss the beginning of the shipping season this year.  I managed to catch a couple of ships last week and I saw that there were a couple out and about yesterday.

 I didn't catch the first ship of the morning.  I missed her by about five minutes or so.  But I did manage to catch the second ship.

 The Honorable James L. Oberstar had just delivered her load of taconite to the Rouge Steel Plant in Dearborn.  I seem to remember saying how many cars could be produced from one load of taconite.

 She can carry 31,000 tons of cargo.  It takes roughly 1.2 tons of taconite to create one ton of steel.  This means that one of load of taconite creates 26,000 tons of steel.

 An average car requires about 1.2 tons of steel (and other material), which means that the Oberstar carries the material for 21,500 cars.

 It takes roughly four days for the Oberstar to complete this cycle.  She is joined by her sisters.

 I guess what I'm trying to say is that people don't realize the impact of the Great Lakes on the United States economy.  Which is why I don't understand why the building of the new lock is being held up.

 A bit of water kicks up in the wind.

And she heads up to Marquette, where she will pick up the equivalent of another 21,500 cars.