Four United States Coast Guard icebreakers are working diligently today to ease conditions that have slowed Great Lakes shipping in the Whitefish Bay area.
According to Mark Gill, director of ice breaking operations with the Coast Guard in the Michigan Soo, changing winds last night aggravated the situation.
“Whitefish Bay has been the big challenge,” Gill told SooToday.com. “Overnight, major winds coming from the north shifted to the northwest.
He said fast-drifting ice from along the bay’s shorelines fractured and moved into established shipping lanes.
Nine vessels - six downbound and three upbound - had to come to a halt when darkness fell.
Gill said shore ice usually rots in place under the effects of rising temperatures and rainfall.
Coast Guard crews have encountered ice over 30 inches thick in some places.
Gill added that one sheet measured two miles wide by 20 miles long.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had ice in April,” he added.
Gill expects that progress made by day's end today will allow ships to continue their journeys without interruption tonight.
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