Taconite freighter safely in port in Thunder Bay after underwater collision on Lake Superior

A Canadian freighter carrying iron ore across Lake Superior was safely anchored Saturday evening in Thunder Bay, Ontario, after reportedly striking an underwater obstacle and taking on water, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

None of the 22 crew members was injured, and 11 were evacuated from the ship by the Coast Guard and a National Park Service boat from Isle Royale National Park, according to a release from Coast Guard Sector Northern Great Lakes.

Once moored in Thunder Bay, the damaged 689-foot Michipicoten will be inspected to learn what happened Saturday morning when the collision occurred and freighter began taking on water shortly before 7 a.m., about 35 miles southwest of Isle Royale in U.S. waters.

Coast Guard officials said on-board pumps drained some of the water and reduced the listing of the ship from 15 degrees to 5 degrees. The freighter was accompanied to Thunder Bay by another bulk carrier, the Edwin H. Gott, with the assistance of Coast Guard, U.S. Border Patrol and Park Service boats.

The Michipicoten left Two Harbors, Minn., bound for Thunder Bay on Friday evening with a load of taconite pellets, according to MarineTraffic.com, a ship information website.

The ship is owned by New Jersey-based Rand Logistics, which operates a fleet of Great Lakes vessels. Ten of Rand’s vessels are U.S.-flagged; another six, including the Michipicoten, sail under the Canadian flag.

The ship is carrying iron-rich taconite, a low-grade iron ore mined on the Mesabi Iron Range. Ships ferry the pellets, which are the primary ingredient in steelmaking, from Duluth, Two Harbors and Superior, Wis., to ports in Indiana and Ohio, as well as in Canada.

None of the taconite carried by the Michipicoten was believed to have spilled in the incident.

The Michipicoten was built in 1952 as the coal-fired steamer Elton Hoyt II. It was converted to diesel propulsion and rechristened the Michipicoten in 2003 when it was bought by a company that is now a subsidiary of Rand Logistics.

Rand filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 and was purchased by the New York-based private equity firm American Industrial Partners.

Serious ship accidents involving Great Lakes freighters have been rare in recent decades. The last major shipwreck was the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald north of Whitefish Point, Mich., in 1975. The 729-foot Fitzgerald was carrying taconite pellets across Lake Superior when it sunk during a storm, killing all 29 of its crew.