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On Monday morning, Jan. 12, the Algowood arrived at Marinette Fuel & Dock with the eighth, and final, load of salt for the 2008 - 2009 shipping season. The ship was assisted into port by Basic Marine's icebreaking tug, Erika Kobasic. Before entering port, the 740-ft. ship had to turn around out in the bay of Green Bay, as that is the only way they can unload at Marinette Fuel & Dock because the ship has a stern-mounted unloading boom. (Because the craneship, William H. Donner, is a permanent fixture at the dock, ships with a stern-mounted unloading rig cannot get to the area of the dock where the salt is stockpiled if they come in bow-first). The tug moved quickly through the ice, having broken it up just 3 days previously for the Algosteel; and, the ship had no trouble turning around and backing into port. They arrived at the dock and began unloading around 9:15 a.m. and finished unloading about 2:20 p.m. The Algowood then passed Menominee North Pier Lighthouse shortly after 3 p.m. on its way back to Goderich, Ontario (Canada) for another load of (much-needed) salt for some other city. The eight shiploads of salt, totaling more than 130,000 tons, is by far the most salt ever delivered to Marinette in one year (at least in recent memory).

The tug goes out to assist the Algowood around 7:20 AM	About 15 min. later it comes in to break ice at the dock	Erika Kobasic breaking ice at Marinette Fuel & Dock
	The tug & ship approach the area of ice broken for turning	The Algowood begins to turn around
		The tug assists by keeping ice freshly broken
	The tug leads the turned-around ship stern-first into port	The ship approaches Menominee North Pier Lighthouse
	The tug heads back toward the ship after breaking more ice
... tug and ship inside the piers
The ship draws about 22-ft. at the stern	... backing toward Marinette Fuel & Dock	The tug prepares to go between ship and dock to flush ice
	Unloading shortly after 11 AM	... 15 minutes later
The tug stayed until the ship departed in the afternoon	Dockside view unloading	2:30 PM - Boom is brought back aboard & ship is empty
The Erika Kobasic goes back to work	... pushing up a good size bow-wave of ice	The ship gets underway around 2:45 PM

		Our final ship of the 2008 - 2009 shipping season departs
Heading over the horizon back to Goderich, Ontario Canada	That is a lot of salt!