Towns and Nature: Cleveland, OH: Water Transport on the Cuyahoga River Overview

Unlike Chicago's Chicago River, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River is still used by ships.

(Update: just two days later I found the notes I thought I already had concerning ships on the Cuyahoga.)

Mark Hinsdale posted
Have managed to take a few ship pictures in amongst all those trains...
Here's the "David Z. Norton" in the Cuyahoga River Turning Basin at Cleveland OH. Hard working Cleveland has always been a favorite city of mine.

Rare History Photos posted
An aerial photo from 1967 shows plumes of industrial waste flowing in the Cuyahoga River and emptying into Lake Erie. Cleveland, Ohio.
[As you can probably imagine, there are a lot of comments about the EPA.]

Bev Shaw posted
Cleveland Ohio circa 1924
[Ships were a lot smaller back then so a lot more were needed on the Great Lakes. Fortunately, their smaller size allowed them to fit into all sorts of nooks and crannies along the shore for winter layup. As a size comparison from 1955, let alone 1924: "In 1955 Sandusky loaded 1123 lake freighters with 8.1 million tons of coal. It would only take 270 of today’s much larger freighters to haul the same amount." [History]]

Bill Kloss posted
Iowa assisting Stephen B. Roman to her berth at Lehigh Cement in Cleveland. 5/23/2017
She started life as a package freighter for Canada Steamship Lines then was eventually converted to a cement carrier [in 1983]. She only runs in the Great Lakes.

Bill Kloss commented on his posting
English River is the only other one of this class still sailing. She also carries cement, but for LaFarge.

About a year later, the Stephen B. Roman was headed overseas to be scrapped.

PictonGazette
The Stephen B. Roman bulk cement freighter (McKeil Marine photo)
[It has been replaced by a ship that has nearly twice the capacity.]

Screenshot (source)
[Notice that the boom is still going down and the hatch crane is moving as it gets underway.]
Dan Meyers shared
Darren MacCallum: That’s insane, are you tugged in and out, or is this all on self-navigation? Do you need a Pilot on board for this transit?
Aidan Hall: Darren MacCallum All the mates and captains on the Great Lakes have their pilotage licenses. So, yeah you do have to have a pilot on board, we just don't have to pay for external pilots.
Rarely do great lakes freighters use tugs. Generally they only use bow/stern thrusters.
James Lee: Why would they build the mills so far upriver?
Mark Oviatt: Because when they built the mills the boats were much smaller.
Dennis DeBruler: There was at least one mill built close to the lake (Otis Iron and Steel in the 1870s), but when it was time for it to expand it had to go upriver to find enough cheap land. And I presume that once you channelize the river to support that mill, other mills could take advantage of it. At one time, USS, Republic and Jones & Laughlin all had mills along the river. Today's mill is the result of LTV's merger of Republic and J&L.

June 2025. I had always thought in terms of the difficulty of the tight curves of the river. But river's can also have a current. I added a red line as to where I think the freighter got wedged. I presume he was trying to get to the Lafarge Plant on the Old River (reference).

Satellite plus Paint

Lance Aerial Media posted 14 photos with the comment:

Pictures from During and after Recovery of the Sunnanvik Cement carrier after it became stuck across Cuyahoga River on Friday morning. The river flow rate was at its highest in the last year over 10k cubic feet per second. Still waiting to hear final report but the @uscg @uscggreatlakes was able to coordinate with @greatlakesgroup a quick and safe recovery, freeing up the channel in only a few hours. Ships are now navigating again on the river.
From Channel 5
A Coast Guard spokesperson said the ship’s captain told investigators it was only his second time on the Cuyahoga River and that as he attempted to back the freighter into a section of what’s called “Old River,” he encountered stronger currents than he expected, running the ship aground and sending it into the boardwalk.
The MV Sunnanvik is operated by Canada Steamship Lines.
In a statement, the company thanked the agencies that responded to the incident and said none of the cargo was damaged or discharged into the river.
No injuries were reported either.
The Coast Guard estimated damage to the ship and boardwalk at more than $250,000, classifying the incident as a “serious marine incident.”

Roger LeLievre shared