Wind Towers - A look at the tower sections in the yard
Wind Towers - Three tower sections (which makes one complete tower) already loaded onto the rail cars
Wind Towers - More cars being loaded in the yard
Wind Towers - A look at the way a tower section is fastened to a rail car
Wind Towers - A closer look at the cross bracing and the large bolts through the tower section annd the rail car's bulkhead
Wind Towers - One of the tower sections on the ground with a bulkhead already attached
Wind Towers - One of the larger diameter tower sections also on the ground with the bulkhead attached
Selvick Tugs - The Jimmy L and Jacquelyn Nicole come into the river past Government Pier on May 1
Selvick Tugs - Another look at the tugs which are in town to assist the USS Fort Worth, which will be going out into the bay for acceptance trials early tomorrow morning
Selvick Tugs - The tugs head through the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge heading for KK Integrated Logistics, where they will tie up for the night
Jimmy L - Broadside of the larger tug
Jacquelyn Nicole - The smaller tug follows
Jimmy L - The tug pulls into the KK Integrated Logistics West Dock ahead of the old tug, Snohomish, which has been here for several years now
Jimmy L - Tied up ahead of the Snohomish
Jacquelyn Nicole - Preparing to slide in alongside the Jimmy L, where she will be "rafted" (tied up alongside) to the Jimmy L
Algomarine - Arrived at Marinette Fuel & Dock early in the evening of May 11 with the dock's second load of coal for 2012
Algomarine - The ship begins to turn around out in the bay to enter the Menominee River stern-first
Algomarine - The turn continues (with a stern-mounted self-unloading boom they could not reach the area of the dock where the salt is stored because the location of the craneship, William H. Donner, is such that it blocks the area where the ship would need to be if they came in bow-first)
Algomarine - Almost half-way around
Algomarine - Full broadside view out in the bay
Algomarine - Turned around and backing in past the red inner buoy
Algomarine - Approaching Menominee North Pier Lighthouse
Algomarine - Wide view passing the lighthouse from Tourist Park (the area once known as "Fat Ladies' Beach")
Algomarine - A view from Menekaunee Harbor as the ship continues to slowly back into the river
Algomarine - As dusk settles in, the ship enters the inner harbor (viewed from the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge)
Algomarine - Closer view of the ship
Algomarine - Close-up of the 730-ft.-long ship
Algomarine - Backing in as their stern passes the stern of the William H. Donner
Algomarine - Unloading later that night (note that the stern of the ship overlaps the stern of the Donner - the ship is actually nearly 60-ft. off the dock
Algomarine - Bow-view of the ship unloading at night (from the lighthouse pier)
Algosteel - Arrived Marinette Fuel & Dock early in the afternoon of May 16 with more salt (photos from Government Pier in Marinette)
Algosteel - Bow-view close-up of the newly painted ship
Algosteel - "Bow-on" view
Algosteel - Port-side bow-view (note that the ship is not unloading, but with the small pile under the unloader, it had been unloading. It is not known if there was a malfunction in the unloading system; but, something was not right)
Algosteel - Port-side close-up
Algosteel - Starboard-side close-up at the dock
Algosteel - Bow profile
Algosteel - After leaving Government Pier (with the ship still not unloading), as I rode past Menekaunee Harbor, I noticed that they were unloading. So, it was back out to Government Pier one more time. Wide bow-view of the unloading
Algosteel - Port-side bow-view unloading
Algosteel - The pile of salt grows under the unloader
Algosteel - Close-up of the tip of the unloader dumping salt on the pile
Algosteel - Close-up of the draft marks on the bow showing the ship is drawing 24-ft.!!
Algosteel - Wide view of the ship and the harbor (still from Government Pier)
Algosteel - Wide-stern-view from the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge
Algosteel - Stern close-up of the port-side of the ship
Algosteel - Bow-port-side view unloading 2-1/2 hours later (from the lighthouse pier)
Algosteel - Wide-stern-view unloading from the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge
Algosteel - Stern-view close-up from the bridge
Algosteel - Close-up of the hatch cranes (removes hatch covers during loading and unloading)
Algosteel - Close-up of the stern of the ship
Algosteel - (from the lighthouse pier) Pulling away from Marinette Fuel & Dock after unloading around 8 p.m.
Algosteel - Port-side close-up
Algosteel - Bow profile
Algosteel - Stern profile with the "Algoma Central Corporation" stack
Algosteel - Stern-port-side view heading out between the piers
Algosteel - Salt piles (the one on the left is what the Algosteel deposited on the dock)
Algosteel - Stern-view midway between the lighthouse and the range light
Algosteel - Approaching Menominee North Pier Lighthouse
Algosteel - Beyond the lighthouse
Algosteel - Passing the inner red buoy (from Tourist Park, or "Fat Ladies' Beach")
Reuben Lasker - Bow-view of the new NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) research vessel at Marinette Marine
Reuben Lasker - Broadside view as the vessel is being "walked out" to the launch area on May 19
Reuben Lasker - A view from slightly astern ... launch date is scheduled for June 16
Catherine Desgagnes - Poking its nose into the inner harbor heading for Marinette Fuel & Dock on May 21 with a load of pig iron
Catherine Desgagnes - Into the inner harbor
Catherine Desgagnes - Broadside close-up
Catherine Desgagnes - Approaching the craneship, William H. Donner, where it will tie up
Catherine Desgagnes - Linehandlers aboard the ship (left) prepare to toss a line to linehandlers on the Donner
Catherine Desgagnes - A light "messenger" line is tosed from the ship to the craneship
Catherine Desgagnes - A heavier line is tied to the end of the messenger line for the final tie-up
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Arrived Marinette Fuel & Dock around 11 p.m. on May 25 with more pig iron (bow-view)
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Wider angle bow-view
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Stern-view from the lighthouse pier
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Arrived back at Marinette Fuel & Dock early morning on May 27 with a load of limestone
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Stern-view from the lighthouse pier during a hazy noon hour
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - A clamshell bucket and a front-end loader feed the limestone into a hopper aboard the barge ...
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - ... the limestone then drops onto a conveyor which drops it onto the dock
Undaunted - Starboard-side stern-view of the tug
Salt - The salt pile at Marinette Fuel & Dock has been leveled off; next a huge tarp will cover it
Undaunted - Port-side stern-view of the tug from Government Pier
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Port-side stern-view of the tug & barge unloading
Undaunted - Stern-view of the tug
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Starboard-side stern-view of the tug & barge
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - A clamshell bucket drops limestone into the hopper
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Stern-view of the tug with 3 piles of limestone visible on the dock
Pleasure craft - Fishermen and two sailboats enjoy the day
Marinette County Sheriff Dept. - Testing out their Zodiac in the Menominee River
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Wide stern-view of the tug & barge as the clamshell drops a load of limestone into the hopper
M/V Sjard - Arrived off Menominee mid-afternoon on May 28 with a load of wind turbine tower sections for KK Integrated Logistics (anchored out in the bay overnight as a bank of thunderstorms moved through the area in the afternoon and early evening hours)
M/V Sjard - Entered port at daybreak on May 29 (shown here unloading later that afternoon)
M/V Sjard - Wider angle bow-view dockside close-up at the KK Integrated Logistics East Dock
M/V Sjard - Broadside view
M/V Sjard - Stern-view close-up
M/V Sjard - One of the trucks (empty) which moves the tower sections from the ship to a storage area in the yard heads toward the ship
M/V Sjard - Two of the ship's cranes lift a tower section from the deck ...
M/V Sjard - ... and maneuver it between the cranes ...
M/V Sjard - ... still maneuvering the section ...
M/V Sjard - ... the section is just about in position to be lowered to a waiting truck ...
M/V Sjard - ... the section begins to be lowered ...
M/V Sjard - ... The truck begins to back into position to receive the tower section ...
M/V Sjard - ... the truck is just about in position ...
M/V Sjard - ... the bottom of the tower section has a "foot" (see inset) attached that will rest on a raised section of the front of the trailer ...
M/V Sjard - ... the top of the tower section will rest in a U-shaped cradle at the rear of the trailer ...
M/V Sjard - ... the tower section is just about in place on the trailer ...
M/V Sjard - ... a wider view of the action ...
M/V Sjard - ... dock workers hold a line that will release the crane's "hook" from the tower section ...
M/V Sjard - ... the crane's cable is slacked-off as the dock workers pull the hook free
M/V Sjard - Broadside of the ship with the truck still alongside
M/V Sjard - Broadside close-up of the stern of the ship and the truck
M/V Sjard - The now-loaded truck heads to the storage yard
M/V Sjard - A much-longer truck heads for the ship to pick up the longest tower section (see inset at top)
M/V Sjard - Bow-view from the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - The vessel heads toward Government Pier with a load of pig iron for Marinette Fuel & Dock after coming through the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal and up the bay of Green Bay
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - The fishermen in the small boat aren't paying attention (like this hasn't happened before!!) until the vessel blew its horn several times in succession (known as a "Danger Signal") ... then they moved!!
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Bow-view between the piers (Government Pier and Menominee North Pier Lighthouse pier)
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Passing Menominee North Pier Lighthouse on a gorgeous day
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Broadside view with the lighthouse behind them
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Full broadside view of the tug and barge
Undaunted - Port-side close-up of the tug
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Stern-view making the turn into the inner harbor
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Stern-view close-up making that turn
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Still turning toward its dock behind the craneship, William H. Donner
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Another stern-view close-up as they turn in toward the dock
Undaunted - Stern-view close-up of the tug
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Stern-view of the vessel as the tug pours on the power prior to docking
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - A view down Marinette Fuel & Dock from Government Pier shows a truck waiting to fuel the tug
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Linehandlers get ready to go to work to tie up the vessel
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - They will be using a clamshell bucket to unload today (sometimes they use a grapple)
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - The bucket is poised and ready to grab the first load of pig iron
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - The first load is lowered to the dock
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - Stern-view from Menominee North Pier Lighthouse pier (Note the fuel truck alongside the stern of the tug)
Undaunted - A closer view of the tug and the fuel truck
Pere Marquette 41/Undaunted - A view from the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge a couple hours later
4 Vessels - June 7 ... (L to R) Viking I (old carferry, ex-Ann Arbor No. 7, at KK Integrated Logistics in Menominee, MI), USS Fort Worth and Reuben Lasker (NOAA research vessel on the dock awaiting its June 16 launch), and KK Integrated Logistics' old railroad carfloat, Manitowoc (barge in front of the Reuben Lasker) docked at Marinette as a storage barge
M/V Sjard - Arrived off Menominee on June 20 and went to anchor waiting for the wind to die down; shown here on June 21 (mid-morning) still waiting for the wind to die down
Unloading Wind Turbine Tower Sections From the Sjard on June 23
Sunday June 6 - The Sjard arrived in the bay off Menominee with another load of wind turbine towers for KK Integrated Logistics. This is the ship's second visit this year. There was a fairly strong wind blowing when they arrived on June 20. After anchoring out in the bay of Green Bay for that night and all the next day, the ship finally arrived in port on June 22 with the Selvick tug, Jimmy L, assisting. The tug assisted in turning the ship around out in the bay, passed a towline to the ship, and headed in past Menominee North Pier Lighthouse into the inner harbor and through the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge and on to KK Integrated Logistics' East Dock to unload its cargo of wind turbine towers. The ship departed early in the evening on June 23.
Click Here to view the story and photos. To return to this page from within the slide show - hit the UP-facing arrow (when viewing any individual photo) to go back to the thumbnails page and then click on "Return to 2012 Menominee & Marinette Ships".
Loading Wind Turbine Tower Sections Onto Rail Cars At KK Integrated Logistics On July 4
On the Fourth of July, the last of three rail shipments of wind turbine towers were loaded onto special flat cars. That sounds pretty straight-forward; however, the switch engine based here in Menominee broke down leaving KKIL to scramble. They have a front-end loader specially equipped to move the cars around their yard; but now they had to use it to move strings of cars from one end of the rail yard all the way down to their yard. Another engine was sent up from Green Bay, but it too malfunctioned shortly after arrival! Well, KKIL has been known to be innovative, and they made do with what they had. Then on July 6, the train departed their yard. I had hoped to be up on the Interstate Bridge to get an overhead photo of them as they came under the bridge. As it turned out, I was under the weather, and wasn't able to get to the bridge for the photo; but, I did get photos of them coming over the train bridge from Riverside Drive (right alongside the train tracks). I then followed them up to Cleveland Avenue to get more photos of them as they dropped of the last 5 cars before the Mary Street crossing, and then the bulk of the cars on the siding north of Cleveland Avenue (south of Mary Street). (Normally I would have put these photos in a slideshow; but these photos are in a much larger format, so I decided to do them individually I hope you enjoy the photos!.
Front-end Loader - The specially designed loader moves a string of flat cars into position
Front-end Loader - Broadside close-up moving along the railroad tracks inside KKIL's yard
Front-end Loader - A look at the special attachment that attaches to the coupler on the rail cars
Yard - Wide view of what is left to be loaded onto the rail cars, plus a few already on the cars
Mobile cranes - 2 large cranes prepare to lift a tower section
Hook - Close-up of the lifting hook attached to the top of a tower section
Lift-off - The two cranes lift the section from the ground
Lift-off - The tower section begins to be turned so that it can fit between the rather closely spaced cranes
Coming around - The tower section continues to be rotated
Still coming around - The rotation continues
Still turning - The rotation is nearly complete
Approaching the rail car - I have moved to a location nearer the flat car to catch the action
Lining up - The tower section is being brought into position to be lowered to the rail car
Just about there - Just a little further to go
Lining up - As the section is lowered to the rail car, final alignment is critical. The person in the pink hardhat taking a photo of the action is Cynthia Kuber Feller, Sales Manager for KKIL.
Tower section - A look at the far end of the section being lowered to the rail car
Final adjustment - A worker helps make the final alignment. I always had thought that there were at least a couple inches of "play" between the bulkhead on the car and the tower section. Not so!! The tower section fits securely between the car's two vertical bulkheads with virtually no clearance!
Still aligning - Another worker joins the first to line up the tower section
Final alignment - The bolt holes on the tower section must be perfectly aligned with similar holes in the bulkhead of the car so that massive bolts can be mounted to secure the section to the car!
In place! - Now that is some tremendous coordination between the two crane operators!
Securing the load - Notice the three bolt holes outlined in white paint on the car's bulkhead; those must perfectly line up with the bolt holes in the tower section
Placing the bolts - Two workers look to place the bolts from the inside edge of the tower section through the bulkhead on the car after which large nuts will secure the load
Loaded cars - Looking west from KK Integrated Logistics' yard you can see a partial string of loaded cars
More cars - Looking east, there are more loaded cars
I now jump forward two days to July 6 to catch the train pulling the cars loaded with wind turbine tower sections. I will start at the railroad crossing on Riverside Drive in Marinette, WI.
E&LS Engine - The venerable switcher rumbles onto the north end of the train bridge
E&LS Engine - Wider view of the Escanaba & Lake Superior switch engine
Rail car - Close-up of a tower section loaded onto the special rail car; if you look closely around the edgs of the tower section, you can see the nuts on the ends of the bolts holding the section to the lead edge of the bulkhead
Last car - Looking south from Riverside Avenue, the final car crosses the road
Spruce Street Rail Yard - Looking southwest, the train has rumbled through the rail yard
Spruce Street - Close-up of the rear end of the train with the tower sections
Cleveland Avenue Rail Yard - The train has stopped on a siding to drop off the rail cars. The train is too long to clear the Mary Street crossing, so some of the cars need to be split off
Cleveland Ave. - Another look at the train as it pulls forward after cutting loose a few cars back at Mary Street
Wider view - If you look back along the train, you can see where the rear cars were uncoupled from the train
Close-up - Looking back to where the cars were split off at Mary Street
Mary Street crossing - Looking north, the switch engine drifts behind the 5 cars that were split off from the main group
Mary Street crossing - Looking south at the other 10 cars loaded with wind turbine tower sections
5 cars - A different view of the 5 cars to the north of the crossing; engine just visible at middle right of photo
SJARD Arrives on June 5 With Wind Turbine Towers For KK Integrated Logistics
In between loading the rail cars (above) and hauling them out by train, the SJARD made its third appearance of the year with more wind turbine towers. They entered port around 6 a.m. on July 5. These towers are of a totally different design than the ones hauled out by rail.
M/V Sjard - Approaches Menominee North Pier Lighthouse being towed stern-first by the Selvick tug, Jimmy L
M/V Sjard - Midway between the lighthouse and the range light
M/V Sjard - Close-up of the tug leading the ship in between the piers
M/V Sjard - Bow-view heading into the inner harbor
M/V Sjard - A view from KK Integrated Logistics as the tug & ship head through the Ogden Street (Menekaunee) Bridge
M/V Sjard - Super close-up of the tug and ship coming through the bridge
Menominee Up-River - NOAA Reuben Lasker and USS Fort Worth at Marinette Marine with the tug, Snohomish, at KKIL
M/V Sjard - Stern-view as the Jimmmy L begins to move the stern of the ship in toward the dock
M/V Sjard - Bow-view as the "tow" heads up-river
M/V Sjard - The SJARD uses its bow-thruster to move the bow in toward the dock
M/V Sjard - Bow-view of the ship as it nears the dock
M/V Sjard - The first lines from the ship are lowered to the dock
M/V Sjard - Dockworkers tie up the ship
M/V Sjard - Bow/broadside view as the ship continues to ne tied up
M/V Sjard - Stern view as the Jimmy L nudges the stern of the ship in toward the dock
M/V Sjard - On June 7, the ship is empty and a large pallette is lowered to the dock
M/V Sjard - Close-up of the large pallette
M/V Sjard - Broadside view at the dock
Tyco Abatement Project
Dredging of the Menominee River will begin soon to remove contaminated sediment from the river's bed. Friday July 6 saw a large barge brought in to KK Integrated Logistics' West Dock (by the Luedtke tug, Ann Marie) where the staging for the project began. On Sunday, the tug, Chris E. Luedtke had taken over, and was seen hauling containment booms over to the Marinette side of the Menominee River. The booms extend from the corner of the old Ansul Dock down-river for quite a stretch. The Sixth Street Boat Launch is the preparation area for the main part of the project; unfortunately the area is off-limits to the general public, so no photos of that area are available. The dredged sediment will be brought ashore where it will be de-watered, placed in trucks which will be washed down before heading to a secure dump area (under escort)!
Lower buoys - Buoys are placed in the Menominee River on July 7 to delineate the area that will be affected by the project
Lower buoys - Close-up of the buoys just west of Waupaca Foundry's property
More buoys - Up-river near the Sixth Avenue Boat Launch west entrance
More buoys - These buoys are near Marinette Marine; but I am not sure if the area to be dredged will go that far up-river
Barge - Looking east at part of the large barge docked at KK Integrated Logistics which is being used as a staging area
Small tug - This is used as a small work boat
KKIL Staging Area - Looking west as containment booms are being prepared for deployment
Staging Area - Another look at the containment booms being prepared, the tug is the Jimmy L waiting to assist the SJARD out of port tomorrow morning
Containment Booms - A closer look at the preparation of the booms
Containment Booms - Stacked on the dock and the barge
Chris E. Luedtke - The larger tug heads up-river towing a string of containment booms on July 8
Moving the containment buoys - The smaller work boat assists in moving the buoys up-river
Work boat - Close-up of the small tug/work boat
East end of project - Later that afternoon, the work boat has the containment booms on the Marinette side of the river down near Waupaca Foundry
West end of the boom - The boom lies just off the east end of the old Ansul Dock
Containment area - Hopefully you can follow the boom from the right side of the photo (the old Ansul Dock) down-river to the small white "dot" (which is the work boat) near the building with the two smokestacks. That is the total containment area (at least for now)
