Are the Great Lakes the new transport lane for Alberta crude oil?

Financial Post ^ | Dec. 12, 2013 | Yadullah Hussain

[rickmichaels]

The small town of Superior, Wisconsin may emerge as an unlikely American maritime hub for Canadian crude if plans to transport Alberta oil sands oil across the Great Lakes come to pass.

There are many hurdles to cross. The first is a proposal to repair a shipping dock on Lake Superior that would set the stage for the construction of an oil terminal feeding refineries in and around the Great Lakes.

Superior-based Elkhorn Industries has applied for a permit to reconstruct 700 feet of dockwall with the Wisconsin Natural Resources Department, and the move has pricked the ears of those who believe it is the first step towards mass transportation of Canadian crude across the lakes that separate Ontario and several U.S. states.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks rickmichaels.

[madison10]

I have no problem with them shipping crude on the salt-water oceans, but the fresh-water Great Lakes is another issue. Still prefer pipelines.

[Alberta's Child]

Interesting news. The biggest constraint is the lock systems throughout the Great Lakes. Under the political pressure from the North American railroad industry, they were never built to accommodate ships that are commonly used in international shipping today. Crude oil from the center of North America must be trading at a huge discount in order to make up for these major inefficiencies in transportation costs.

[KarlInOhio]

Real plan or just a case of grabbing a hostage and shouting “Give us the pipeline or the lake gets it”?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The locks had and have little to do with the lack of international size ships transiting the lakes. 28 foot draft might be more of a reason. Plus the Welland Canal limits lake shipping to about 75 feet width.

[Maine Mariner]

Excellent Observations about the locks at the Welland Canal and Sault Saint Marie, Michigan. There is one further problem. Depth of the lakes and channels. Ships using the Great Lakes whether lake ore boats carrying iron ore or other bulk products and ocean going ships can load to a draft of about 25 feet. About half the draft for ships that call on ocean ports.

[cripplecreek]

It would explain why Karl Lenin and Debbie Stupid cow have suddenly become interested in the pipeline under the straits.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Crude oil was transported by lakes-going tankers from Superior to refineries in the US and Canada up till the early 1950s when the Interprovincial pipe was laid east of Superior. If there was a spill during the early years, it went unreported.
My old time tanker captain remembered the tankers at anchor, waiting their turn in Superior Harbor. I bought heavy oil several times a year in 50,000 bbl tankers from Sarnia, up to my tanks at Superior and Taconite Harbor to fuel steamships.

[UB355]

vs hauling it halfway around the world?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I don't know if you saw this development but Algoma Company of Canada has built a new fleet of lakers that are just narrow enough to transit the Welland, yet can call in Duluth-Superior for iron ore. They boats WERE BUILT IN CHINA and have stack scrubbers, allowing the use of heavy bunker. Algoma claims they're 35 percent more efficient than the 1,000 footers now in use on the American side.
Look up “Algoma Equinox.”

[cripplecreek]

We’re protective of our lakes. However the state and feds have a responsibility to ease the flow while encouraging safety.

People are still squealing about the Embridge spill but few mention the fact that the state hadn’t been doing the required inspections for years. Oil producers have to pay for state and federal inspectors in which case the states and feds have a bad habit of collecting the money and doing nothing.

Its kind of like the $20 billion we’ve paid the DOE to dispose of nuclear waste but they haven’t moved an ounce.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Sounds OK to me until...

the winds of November come early.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A

[mountn man]

BP’s Whiting refinery is just finishing their modernization project, originally called Operation Canadian Crude. For the past few years, it was the largest construction project going in the US. Whiting refinery is in northern Indiana, ON the shores at the southern end of Lake Michigan. It is the fourth largest refinery in the US.

[knarf]

The Edmond Fitzgerald

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Another development mostly overlooked in the Great lakes trade is the effective gutting of the Jones Act by the Canadian National Railroad.

CN bought US Steel’s Great lakes Fleet (eight or nine ore carriers) and now operates them out of Duluth.

[Sacajaweau]

the great lakes have locks?

[jjotto]

The links do not work for me.

Duluth-Superior is already one of the nation’s biggest ports and the area population is 300,000. Not really the sleepy small town indicated.

[DManA]

They used to have to get up a big head of steam and jump Niagara Falls.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Alberta oil sands oil via the Great Lakes

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.