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Satellite)
This is the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal (SMET) of MERC, which is owned by DTE Electric Company. DTE owns several power companies near Detroit (
Monroe,
River Rouge and
St. Clair & Belle River. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of those plants are closing.
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David Schauer posted
American Steamship Company 1000-footer Belle River (Walter J. McCarthy Jr) loading coal at the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal on October 2, 1978, not long after the facility opened. Built to handle western coal, this dock is facing an uncertain future with Detroit Edison's lease expiring in a few years and western coal being replaced as a fuel source by natural gas. The Belle River and fleetmate St. Clair were built for this business and named after two of DTE's main coal-fired generating stations. Basgen Photography
David Szymanski: In the back ground you can see the old BN yard, what Railroad has the small yard just above & left of the oil tanks?
David Schauer: David Szymanski Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer. Owned by BN (NP/GN), Soo and C&NW.
Al Miller: It's a cleverly designed facility, from the car-dumper to the water treatment plant. I forget the exact numbers but at one point it was shipping more coal with 49 employees than all the Twin Ports coal docks handled in the '20s with a couple thousand employees.
David Schauer: Al Miller Right on, extremely efficient. Over 20 million tons per year in the 2008-10 window before Ontario switched to gas. |
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DTEenergy
[MERC is] the largest mover of coal in the Great Lakes basin.
"For coal reclaim and blending, we use a series of nine variable-speed rotary plowfeeders situated under the coal storage piles. The plowfeeders can traverse the entire length of the storage area. We control plowfeeder coal blending and selective coal reclaim through a sophisticated automated system making possible any blend proportioning for up to three dissimilar qualities of coal during the vessel loading process." |
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Digitally zoomed into the photo below
[The arch bridge in the background is the Blatnick Bridge.] |
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Paul Walsh Photo via MinnPost
I first saw a cropped version of this photo in PulitzerCenter that simply credited Paul Walsh
"Roughly 20 million tons of coal moved through the twin ports at its peak, in 2008, a year in which only 16 million tons of iron ore did....Until the 1970s, the Duluth-Superior port was largely an importer of coal, Stewart said. Anthracite coal mined in places like Pennsylvania and West Virginia was shipped through the Great Lakes to power industry and transportation."
[The article sounded the same. Then I noticed that Walker Orenstein contributed his article for the MinnPost to the PulitzerCenter.] |
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David Schauer posted
A plethora of commodities in this image. Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder unloading salt at Envirotech-Hallett Dock 8 where it appears the dock invested in a new asphalt pad for their salt shipments. Next to the salt is a pile of iron ore chips/fines shipped from Two Harbors by truck (destination unknown), then a pile of sugar stone for beet processing. In the distance is the coal/coke pile for Midwest Energy Resources Corporation with the Paul R. Tregurtha loading and finally the Victory/Maumee loading wheat for Buffalo at the General Mills (BNSF) elevator just beyond MERC. The overgrown dock immediately east of the Dorothy Ann is the pad that C. Reiss plans to relocate their West Duluth facility to sometime in the future. We lucked out with a brief break in the clouds. 10/10/2021
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This facility did not exist in 1973.
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Richard Wicklund posted
From the Skyline Drive in Duluth, overlooking the Missabe ore Docks on June 9, 1973. Three Tin Stackers, left to right: Robert C. Stanley, peaking around the right ore dock, the Leon Fraser, with the Henry H. Rogers at the Hallett Dock unloading across the slip. Notice that the Superior Midwest Energy coal dock across in Superior was not there yet.
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So I checked out some topo maps to see if I could determine when it was built.
By 1983, it was built.
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| 1983 Superior Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
In 1975 they had filled in the end of one of the slips.
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| 1975 Superior Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
1969 has the "before" configuration.
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1969 Superior Quadrangle @ 1:24,000
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Unlike some of the contemporary coal docks that I have documented, this one does not have a stacker/reclaimer. While looking for a satacker/relcaimer with satellite views, I spotted this building at the far end of a conveyor that goes under the pile.
It becomes obvious that they have a high conveyor for unloading trains and building piles and a low conveyor for removing piles and loading ships.
They then have bulldozers, scrapers, front loaders and trucks to help get the coal to the lower conveyor.
Dust management is important. In addition to the two blue cyclones and their pipes in the above photo, I believe the truck in the lower-right corner of this image is a water truck.
The train unloading facility also has a lot of blue, dust-capture equipment.
They have a movable conveyor on the pier that can move along the side of a fixed conveyor to fill the different holds in a ship.
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DRE Designs - Great Lakes Marine Products posted
Here's a cool shot from Captain Bob and the Paul R Tregurtha! This was when they were loading in Superior the other day... they are actually almost back here now.. they left yesterday morning and are due to arrive here in the Soo this afternoon.. I'm hoping to catch them out at Pointe Louise so hopefully I'll be able to! The PRT is on her way to St Clair with another load of coal and probably Monroe to deliver the second half of their load then they'll return here again A big thank you to Captain for these great perspectives! We'll see you soon! |
This photo shows that the movable conveyor along the pier is almost at the bow end of the ship. |
David Schauer posted
Edgar B. Speer departing Duluth with ore on November 30, 2021. Walter J. McCarthy Jr. loading coal in the distance.
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Zooming in even further in David's photo at the top, we can see that the movable loader conveyor is about midship. We also get a good view of how they swing the
self-unloading boom to the side while they load.
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| Cropped from David Schauer's post |
A closeup of the mobile coal-loading conveyor.
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Lisa Nickila Menor posted
The Paul R. Tregurtha loading at MERC. If all goes well it should be on its way around 5:00 am [Apr 3, 2022]. Fingers crossed for the first load of the season. |
David Schauer
posted three photos with the comment: "A few more of the Sam Laud from today. Not only is its visit to MERC/SMET rare (I don't know when it loaded here last - if ever), but the captain chose to spin the short river class laker around immediately west of the
Blatnik Bridge versus the normal turning basin east of the bridge. This decision might have been ice related, but regardless, that was a first for me. The Laud is loading 16,000 tons of petroleum coke (a byproduct of oil refining) from the
Koch Pine Bend refinery near St. Paul and I'm guessing destined for a cement plant at either Charlevoix or Alpena, Michigan. 12/26/2021"
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So are these black piles coal or petcoke a some of each?
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David Schauer posted
The James R. Barker has been at the SMET/MERC coal dock in Superior for an extended period with its bow raised, similar to its status when at the port terminal a few days ago. This was from yesterday and when I drove past this morning her bow was still riding high but the shiploader was in a lowered position but not loading. Gus image. 1/2/2022
John West: Bow thruster issues.
[They are in a race to fix the thruster because the Soo Locks close Jan 15.
This is a nice view of the Bong Bridge in the background.]
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Andy Brunfelt
posted two photos with the comment: "James R Barker backing into MERC/SMET 1/1/22."
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Mary Jackson
posted three photos with the comment: "On a tour of the Midwest Energy Resources coal loading facility on the Duluth-Superior harbor, I pushed the button twice to tip and unload rail cars with 120 tons of petroleum coke inbound from the refinery south of St. Paul. We just missed a thousand-footer coming in to load coal."
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According to some other posts, this was the 1000-footer that Mary just missed.
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Rich Pdersen posted
Paul R Tregurtha on one of her many trips into the Duluth/Superior Port to take on coal. 8/28/22 (son Dylan pressing the shutter button on this trip over the Blatnik) |
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Interlake Steamship Company posted
We love this image taken from our M/V Paul R. Tregurtha this weekend just after she finished loading coal in Superior, Wisconsin. The more than 60,000 tons of cargo will be split to feed two Michigan power plants. She arrives in St. Clair to unload today and will deliver the rest of her cargo tomorrow in Monroe.
📸 : Bill Chrysler |
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David Schauer posted
Winding Down...
American Integrity takes on the last load of coal from Midwest Energy for the 2022-23 shipping season while corporate (Rand) cousin H. Lee White loads the last wheat cargo of the season at General Mills yesterday. Superior, WI - 1/12/2023
Rich Tulikangas: How many elevators are still in operation in Duluth/Superior?
David Schauer: Rich Tulikangas Six active facilities with a varying number of physical elevators. Hansen-Mueller in Duluth and Superior, Riverland in Duluth, CHS plus General Mills and Viterra in Superior.
Renee Passal: Hi David, may I use the photo for shipping story today?
David Schauer: Renee Passal You bet Renee. This was yesterday. The White went to Buffalo and the American Integrity to St. Clair, Michigan, north of Detroit.
Tom Rothe: Excellent photo angle encompassing the conveyor system on far right and the loading conveyor feeding the holds. Thanks David |
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| Comments on David's post |
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Michael Murray posted
This is the machine that loaded coal on the Paul R. Tregurtha in Duluth, MN. [Actually, in Superior, WI.]
Tim Smith: This video is a little dated, but decent overview.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5x4EqD-jd5A [24:54 video]
Diane Bostow: How can i find the backstory on this contraption?
Jessica Scott Burns: Diane Bostow designed and built in the late 70s to load low sulfur coal brought in by train from the western coal fields. Most loads destined for St. Clair Michigan. The rig was run from that compartment above but was later run remotely by a person stationed on the ship's deck. The primary movers were originally the Belle River and the St. Clair. Interlake became involved in the early 80s with making the shuttles as well. This rig will be seeing less traffic going forward due to the government's phasing out the coal fired power plants. St. Clair is drawing down to just a backup these days.
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StormySky Rail Productions posted
BNSF coal train at Midwest Energy Resources Superior, WI. Photo taken in 2018 |
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