Towns and Nature: Port of Johnstown, ON: Masterfeeds Grain Elevator on St. Lawrence River and OCEAN EXPLORER

Greg Morrison, Jan 2019

2 of 14 photos posted by Kevin Fetter with the comment: "Back in June 2017, when the port of Johnstown had a open house." [The bridge in the background of some of the photos is the Seaway Skyway Bridge.]

Note the Seaway Skyway in the right background.

Nick Fletcher, Dec 2018

PortOfJohnstown-grain

Port of Johnstown posted
Welcome to the Evans Spirit arriving last night to take out a load of soybeans today.
McKeil Marine Limited
Janey Adnerson shared

This McKeil Marine beauty - Evans Spirit stopped by for a visit at the Port of Johnstown to pick up a load of soybeans.

A lot of people comment on this ship when she is fully loaded that she appears very low to the water - the reason is because the Evans Spirit is a modern, shallow-draft vessel with two cargo holds, which combine for 15,000 mt deadweight capacity.

The ship is fitted with efficient pass-pass loading and discharge gear for breakbulk cargo. It is fully capable of carrying a wide variety of bulk cargoes into shallow draft ports.

The Port of Johnstown was built in approximately 1930, the Port has gone through many changes and growths throughout the years to now become one of Eastern Ontario's Premier Ports for Truck, Vessel and Rail shipping and receiving of grains, salt, aggregate, and other project cargo. In October 2000 the Township of Edwardsburgh Cardinal purchased the Port from Ports Canada. In 2014, the name was changed from the Port of Prescott to the Port of Johnstown.

Venna Thomason-Kelliker: Fill that thing up before it tips over...the Bulbous Bow is almost completely out of the water...

Port of Johnstown posted
Welcome to the Baie Comeau arriving last night to load out soybeans this weekend. CSL Group
Evelyn Hazzard shared
Dennis DeBruler shared

I'm sharing a share so that you can access the answer by Paul Ingram to the question by Don Smith concerning how the ship is cleaned out between loads.

Edit: it didn't work as expected. Paul Ingram's comment:

When unloading, the last of the cargo is cleaned up with scoop shovels by the longshoremen followed by sweeping with brooms by the deckhands. Once underway the deckhands use fire hoses to clean the I-beams, etc. around the hatch coamings. Then the deckhands use fire hoses in the holds to clean the tank tops working from the fwd end to the back of the last hold (pumps). The bulk of the debris is lifted out by a bucket and hoist ( usually attached to the deck crane [gantry crane]) as they work their way aft. If loading grain the cargo holds must be dry for inspection so the deckhands, again working from fwd to aft, sweep back the water puddles followed by sweeping with an absorbent material (e.g. grain dust ) to soak up the remaining water.

Janey Anderson posted three photos with the comment:

Here's McKeil Marine's - Evans Spirit all loaded with soybeans&, just before she departed for Quebec City.
Thanks for these great shots from your view at Port of Johnstown Dave Yager !
20.04.22

3, cropped

Carl Brukett commented on Janey's post
What a difference a day makes. Those new spouts really do the job.

STORAGE CAPACITY	170,000 tonnes / 6,500,000 bushels
LAND AND SIDE ACCESS	Track shed capacity of two rail cars, two trucks or one of each. Parking capacity for 42 rail cars. Working capacity for 30 rail cars. Shipping rate of 1,000 tonnes per hour. Trucks Loading/Unloading, 120/day.
MARINE GRAIN RECEIVING	Dock 398m +- / 1,309ft +-, Capacity to handle self-unloading ships at a rate of 1,200 tonnes per hour
MARINE GRAIN SHIPPING	Dock 282m +- / 925ft +-, 11 loading spouts, loading rate of 1,800 tonnes per hour
GRAIN CLEANER	Carter Day, screenerator with asperator, rate of 100 mt tonnes/hr.
GRAIN DRYER	2 burner natural gas fired generating 11,000,000 BTU's per hour, drying capacity of 100 tonnes per hour
BAGGER	Model 800 Fischbein automatic bagging machine

(1 tonne = 38.235294 bushels, 1 ton = 34.6865 bushels)

Janey Anderson posted
Port of Johnstown (and no ships at the grain elevator)

Cathrine Maskell posted
What’s up Doc? This blue beauty - Algoma Niagara - at the Port of Johnstown.

Linda Noseworthy Bell posted

Sailing with the Green  

Tufty at the Port of Johnstown 

Oct 17 2021

1 of 4 posted by Helen Mott
More action at Port of Johnstown! That graceful old lady, Cuyahoga, is loading soybean and CCGS Martha L. Black is just across the way from her, presumably to fuel up and/or take on more summer buoys for placement. It was drizzling rain on my way there and on my return home, oddly enough not where I got out to take these pictures. For once my timing was good.

Helen Mott also posted
Going back to my post yesterday about the beauty classic wheel-house upfront laker, the Lower Lakes Towing ship Cuyahoga, I did some research to confirm she was indeed of 1943 vintage and therefore 79 years old. Cuyahoga is now the oldest Canadian registered laker still in active service. In terms of her life-span, she was preceeded only by her fleet mate Mississagi by about a month. Sadly, Mississagi has recently met the fate of so many of these grand old ships. Cuyahoga was built in the U.S. during WWII to carry ore to the steel mills who were mass producing tanks, artillery, aircraft and other supplies for the war effort. Her name was originally J. Burton Ayers. After many ups and downs over the years she was sold to Lower Lakes Towing in 1995, registered Canadian and renamed Cuyahoga, her first name change in 52 years. Let's just hope we get to celebrate this grand old lady's 80th birthday, still in service.

Passenger ships on the Great Lakes are rare enough that they bring out the ship fans when they arrive at a port. I noticed that the Viking Octantis had a bow that slants away from the ship as it descends to the water line. This post explains that the comfort of the passengers is more important than efficiently cutting through the water.

1 of 4 photos and a video posted by Carl Burkett
With her patented Ulstein inverted X-BOW, OCEAN EXPLORER will cleave the waves in such a way that internal noise and vibration is reduced and the hull's shape reduces slamming against the vessel with little spray on its deck.
[The bridge in the background is the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge.]

This screenshot catches the reverse slant of the bow and three of the marine unloading towers.

Carl Burkett's 1:18 video @ 1:13

1 of 4 photos and a video posted by Carl Burkett

Since the grain elevator is across the river from the ship's dock, photos of the ship also provide views of the elevator.

Helen Mott posted
Vantage cruise ship Ocean Explorer docked at the Port of Johnstown while passengers went on a short day trip to the Aquatarium in Brockville. Quite appropriate that the ship is docked at Johnstown - the Aquatarium tells the story of the Seaway and the Locks and dams and other scenic and vital infrastructure along the waterway. What better way to showcase the St. Lawrence Seaway to visitors! This picture taken looking across the revamped fish habitat created after the expansion of the Port.

1 of 4 photos posted by Port of Johnstown
The Ocean Explorer has arrived, welcome to all the passengers onboard. Busses are ready to take them for a short day trip Brockville. Scheduled to return for 3 more visits, June 18, Sept 6 & 20th.
Janey Anderson shared

1 of 2 photos posted by Mike Downey
The Ocean Explorer at the Port of Johnstown waits for the passengers to finish their bus trip to town.

Port of Johnstown posted
Welcome to the Bogdan which arrived yesterday evening. Once the rain stops we will start to load soybeans for export. First load of 2022 soybean harvest to go out. Watch for more vessels loading out over the next 2 months.
Brian R. Wroblewski: Odd that this ship doesn't have the typical salty's "clipper" bow.
Janey Anderson shared
Brian R. Wroblewski: Odd that this ship doesn't have the typical salty's "clipper" bow.
[He got eight replies in this group.]
Barbara Kepler: Thank you for sharing!!! What happens if it was unloaded before the rain stopped? What about snow falling does that affect it too??
Janey Anderson: Barbara Kepler they are loading soybeans and yes, they do not want the load to get wet. Soybeans can be challenging. Holds need to be cleaned. Hatches need to be inspected so as to ensure no water ingress. Any cargo moisture could destroy the entire load - cause mould/mildew growth.

This port can also do general cargo.

1 of 3 photos posted by Carl Burkett
While Toronto bound 🚙 this afternoon we made a quick stop at Johnstown see what salties SUNDA, FEDERAL MONTREAL and BBC SONG were up to at the port.
[Carl's post includes a 20-sec video of the Federal Montreal unloading steel pipes.]
Carl Burkett shared

Update

In addition to the big port elevator, this complex also has a big feed mill. I wonder if they also export animal feed. It makes sense to me that a third-world company would rather buy feed instead of all of the different ingredients plus the grain necessary to make animal feed. Or does this feed mill serve local farmers and it is located here to take advantage of the grain transport infrastructure?