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Great Lakes Observing System and Marine Operations Edison Boat Club – June 21 st , 2011. An ISO 9001:2008 Company. Topics:. Who am I? Jayson Toth – Operations Department Cleveland native & Licensed Mariner, 1 st Mate experience The Interlake Steamship Company
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Great Lakes Observing System and Marine Operations Edison Boat Club – June 21st, 2011 An ISO 9001:2008 Company
Topics: • Who am I? • Jayson Toth – Operations Department • Cleveland native & Licensed Mariner, 1st Mate experience • The Interlake Steamship Company • Great Lakes shipping company • Interacting with GLOS • GLOS Mission • Weather • Water Level and Current • Operating season / Ice
History of TheInterlake Steamship Company • 1913 - The Interlake Steamship Company incorporates on April 25th to consolidate the Pickands Mather & Co. shipping interests. • The original Interlake Fleet totals 39 vessels – 37 steel steamers and two barges. • 1987 - The Interlake Steamship Company becomes privately held under the direction of James R. Barker. Pickands Mather & Company is purchased by Cleveland Cliffs Inc. • Headquarters in Richfield, OH
Current Interlake Fleet • 9 self-unloading vessels • 4 modern 1,000 ft. diesel vessels • 4 medium size vessels (Traditional Lakers) • Re-powered two of our medium sized vessels to a highly automated heavy fuel diesel plant • 1 modern self-unloading ATB (1998) • 8 vessels owned; 1 managed • Total fleet trip capacity 368,000 long tons • 1 vessel in Lay-Up, John Sherwin available for conversion
Carrying Cargo • The Interlake Steamship Company exclusively transports bulk commodities • Taconite, Coal, Stone, Grain and Salt • An Interlake vessel can carry anywhere from 21,000 to 68,000 tons of cargo in one trip • That’s equivalent to almost 3,000 semi trucks or 7 trains! • On an annual basis, Interlake carries approximately 20 million tons of cargo
Discharging Cargo • Our vessels have a series of gates underneath the cargo which open up to an unloading tunnel containing a large conveyor belt • This belt carries the cargo to an angled conveyor transferring it to an unloading boom which in turn carries the cargo off the boat
Where we go • The Interlake Steamship Company operates solely on the Great Lakes (the largest fresh water system in the world) – Primarily upper 4 • This creates many challenges including: • Proximity to land • Unique weather patterns • Shallow water • Locks and river systems • Ice
The Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) • GLOS and Commercial Industry • Improve the safety and efficiency of maritime operations • A complete inventory of federal, state/provincial and municipal observation and monitoring activities • Critical, real-time and historical information about the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and interconnecting waterways • Uniform monitoring protocols • Broad availability of information on Great Lakes conditions and trends for managers and other stakeholders.
Unique Weather Patterns • Vessel Masters depend on accurate and updated information regarding weather they will encounter for: • Voyage planning and anchoring decisions • Weather Stations • Monitoring Buoy's • Forecasts from the NWS • Vessel Reporting
Water Levels • What are the issues • Low Lake Levels • USACE Dredging • Funding is low • Water Level Stations • USGS Water Gage
River Systems • With limited room to maneuver, vessel Masters need to know what direction and speed the water is going • Current • Direction of flow • Surface water speed
Ice Operations • Vessel Masters need to know where they will encounter ice and how thick it will be • Ice reports and observations • USCG Recon