The Federal Caribou

 Apparently the next ship is one that I haven't caught before.

The Federal Caribou is the ship that was stopped in the Belle Isle anchorage and I wasn't sure I was going to catch her.

And then I saw her moving after the Puna passed by.

It turns out that she is also heading to Montreal.

I think she was in Thunderbay.  I'm not sure why she was stopped.  I'm guessing she was waiting for her new pilot.

It was nice to catch her.

She was moving slow enough that I could get more shots with my drone that I was planning.

I was able to go higher than I normally do.

Although I've been liking lower shot.

But I'll have to admit, this as pretty cool.

And Then There Was the Federal Bering

 It turns out that I have a new visitor to my blog.

The Federal Bering was built in 2015 for the Federal Navigation Company which is headquartered in Montreal.

She is like her Federal Navigation cousins in that she is 656 feet long and 77 feet wide.  She can carry 34,564 tons of cargo.

It seems like these ships normally look better but then again, they go through quite a bit in the season.

She was on her way to Chicago.

I'll have to say she looked pretty cool.

She continues on her way.

One more shot.

Catching a Salty

Usually I see more salties when I'm up in the Soo, especially when I'm staying there a few days.  It seems like this time many of the salties passed in the night.  That's kind of a shame because the salties give a different look to things.

 I was happy to catch the Federal Margaree as she was making her way to Duluth.

 She's one of several ships that are owned by Federal Navigation.  They are all very similar in size and carrying capacity.

 Many of these ships will bring cargo over from Europe or Asia (depending on origin).  I have seen a few that were carrying windmill parts.

 It seems like they will sometimes deliver loads between Great Lakes ports but that is pretty rare.

 I think she will head to Duluth where she will pick up grain.

 A shot of her pilot house.

And she continues.  And like the rest of the Federal Navigation ships, she is not registered in Canada.

And Wrapping Up with the Federal Kivalina

The next ship is new to this blog.

 The Federal Kivalina would the last ship that I would see today.  She was heading down from Thunder Bay (I assume) with a load of grain.  She would be taking that grain to Montreal.  If I remember correctly, this is about a 4 day journey.  It is probably the longest journey a ship will make and still be on the Lakes.

 I was able to get my picture of the train with the ship.  Sadly, no planes flew by, so I wasn't able to get my trifecta shot.

 I was just taking multiple angles.

 I think I like this one the best.

 The Federal Kivalina was built in 2000.  She is 656 feet long and can carry a little over 36,000 tons of cargo.

 She is named after the Kivalina River which is located in the northwest part of Alaska.  There is also a city named Kivalina which apparently is fighting a losing battle against the ocean.  The city tried to sue Exxon Mobil over greenhouse gases.  It sounds like that was passed on to Congress.

 At any rate, she's a pretty nice looking ship.

 I kind of liked the reflections in the water as she passed.

 One more shot before heading home.

Burns Harbor in Burns Harbor

On Saturday I decided to head over to O'Hare to try my hand a planewatching there.  I found a couple of places where I might get some good views of the planes.  As I was heading over there, I saw that there was a ship in Burns Harbor and I found a spot where I think I could get pictures of her.

 Nearby the spot where I decided to stop, there is a dock that is owned by Great Lakes Towing and there were a pair of tugs docked there.  First up is the tugboat Arizona.  She was built in 1931 by the Great Lakes Towing Company in Cleveland.  Her steam power was replaced with 1,230 horsepower EMD diesel engine.

 The Kansas was also built in Cleveland by the Great Lakes Towing Company in 1927.  She was converted to diesel in 1958.  Her and her sister services the Burns Harbor area (including Chicago).

 Another angle of her.

 And probably my favorite angle of her.  I kind of like the blue color of the water.

 The Burns Harbor was servicing the AccelorMittal Plant in Burns Harbor.  Burns Harbor itself was formed in 1966 and named after Randall Burns who promoted the harbor.

 The AccelorMitall steel mill in Burns Harbor is the second largest steel mill in their group.  It was built in 1964 and covers 950 acres of land.  It can produce approximately 5 million tons of steel per year.

 The Burns Harbor unloading steel at it's namesake.  And I think that is kind of cool.

 The best shot I could get of her pilothouse.

 Another shot of the Arizona.

 It was close enough to get a hazy shot of the Chicago skyline.

 Another view of the steel mill.  It is amazing just how much goes into the production of steel.

 An old tug.

The Federal Yukon unloading what appear to be brewing vessels.  The Federal Yukon is owned by Federal Navigation and has appeared on this blog before.

The Federal Rhine Appears Again

I think a sign that I've been doing this for a while is when I start having multiple entries of the salties.  I'm sure that there are a few that frequently call on the Great Lakes and I'm not sure if this is one of them.

 The Federal Rhine has appeared on this blog before.

 And then she came back for a return engagement.

 This time, she is heading up to Thunder Bay and as I type this post, she is sitting outside the harbor.  I hear that the weather is pretty rough that way, so she may be waiting for a clearing in the weather.

 The salties are starting to grow on me.  Mainly because they generally have nicer color schemes than some of the lakers.

 Pretty much all of the Federal boats look the same with some slight variations but other salties are fairly unique.

 Framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

 Another shot of the Blue Water Bridge.

 Occasionally, I get to see pilot transfers.

 She heads out to Lake Huron.

 I think the weather was a little rough though.

One more shot.