Pierre comes to town to break the ice (3 photos)

Icebreakers from the Canadian and US Coast Guards have restored downbound traffic from the Whitefish Bay area towards the Soo Locks and expect to have upbound traffic restored later tonight with the arrival of an additional Canadian icebreaker.

A dozen lake freighters remained trapped in thick ice on eastern Lake Superior as of early this afternoon. Some of them have been stuck for as long as a week.

The Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Samuel Risley completed opening up a connection for the downbound traffic earlier this morning.

One of the eight down bound ships, the Kaye E. Barker, has taken damage and has a hole in the hull, said Mark Gill, director of vessel traffic services for the US Coast Guard.

“We’re going to take their cargo and move it to another ship and we are going to do that in the Whiskey Bay anchorage near Gros Cap,” said Gill on Wednesday.

Gill said the ice at Whitefish Bay is 35 miles wide, 20 miles long and eight feet thick in places.

“Some of the chunks of ice are pickup truck size,” he said.

The operation has been hampered by the damage sustained by the US Coast Guard Mackinaw icebreaker, which is performing in a decreased capacity due to the loss of one of two engines.

“Her ability to turn is diminished a little bit and her power is diminished by about 20 percent,” said Gill.

On Tuesday, members of the Canadian Coast Guard conducted a tactical scouting mission by helicopter, flying about 430 miles in front of the up bound traffic to determine the best route to push through the ice.

Captain David Fowler was captain of the Samuel Risley for 17 years and now assists the Canadian Coast Guard in a support role of ice observation and analysis on the Great Lakes and was present on the aerial reconnaissance mission.

“It’s a public service. You’re helping in many ways. You’re helping the infrastructure. You’re helping the marine industry. You’re helping the cities to bring cargo in to keep the factories going,” said Fowler.

“It’s like the snow plow clearing the road, but you’re the snow plow clearing the river,” he adds.

An additional Canadian icebreaker, the CCGS Pierre Radisson, is expected in Whitefish Bay by mid-afternoon Wednesday.

That ship was approaching the Soo Locks at the time of writing this article.

Much more powerful than the Samuel Risley and the hampered Mackinaw, Gill is confident the Pierre Radisson will restore movement to the 12 waiting up bound vessels in short time.

“We hope to have unbound traffic restored by eight o’clock tonight,” he said.

(PHOTO: CCGS Pierre Radisson seen April 8, 2015 travelling through the St. Mary's river on it's way to the Soo Locks and on to Whitefish Bay to assist in icebreaking. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)

Previous SooToday coverage of this story:

Icebreaking action on Whitefish Bay (11 photos)

Icebreakers working to free 10 ships caught in heavy ice