DULUTH — The Soo Locks, a gateway on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes, will open on the evening of March 22 — kicking off the 2024 shipping season three days earlier than originally planned.
The shipping industry was nudged by major steel producers to jump-start the kickoff. Even a day can make a difference in keeping blast furnaces operating at full capacity, according to Jayson Hron of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
“At this time of year, Great Lakes steelmaking facilities are especially hungry for iron ore,” he said. “That demand, along with a lack of ice cover, was the catalyst for the industry’s request to open the Soo Locks early.”
The Soo Locks initially were scheduled to open March 25. The St. Lawrence Seaway announced in mid-February that it would open on March 22 and the Lake Carriers’ Association president asked to follow suit on the Soo.
Its president, James Weakley, noted that the 2023 season was stalled by a more than weeklong strike when 350 workers walked off the job. Extreme winds at the end of the operating season also left the fleet with undelivered cargo, he said in a news release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District.
The winter shutdown included critical repairs to the Poe Lock and the lesser used MacArthur Lock, the two locks that are operational at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there were structural inspections and maintenance, work on the miter gates that serve as dams and the systems that control the drift of the ships as they pass through.
Maintenance branch chief Nicholas Pettit said crews worked extended hours and were helped along by mild weather.
“We’ve been able to accomplish all required work ahead of schedule,” he said.
