Thunder Bay, ON: Thunder Bay Terminals Coal Dock on McKellar Island

(Satellite)

RusselMetals
This facility was built in 1978 to transload coal from rail to freighters. It is served by both CN and CP. It has a 820'-long berth with the full Seaway draft, and it can routinely load 30,000 tonnes in 6.5 hours. It has ground storage for 2 million tonnes and a annual throughput capacity of 11 million tonnes.

PortOfThunderBay, click #34 on the interactive map
"The coal handling system provides for the unloading of 120 car unit trains using a single barrel rotary dumper at 4,000 tonnes per hour and stacking out to ground storage. Coal can be reclaimed from storage at the rate of 6,000 tonnes per hour and transferred to the 250 metre dock, which can accommodate standard Seaway size vessels. The bridge type shiploader is capable of loading vessels at a rate of up to 8,000 tonnes per hour. TBTL also has a separate and dedicated dry-bulk handling system, which is used for potash and can handle a variety of free-flowing bulk commodities, including urea, grains and agricultural products. Trains of up to 120 bottom dump hopper cars can be handled via a dedicated loop track. The dry bulk shed can accommodate up to 3 hopper cars. Product is then directed via a conveying system to the common dock conveyor and shiploader. Combined with the coal system, TBTL has storage space for up to 300 rail cars."

While looking for the Island Drive Bridge that replaced the road over The Jackknife Bridge, I noticed a stacker/reclaimer in the distance.

Street View

At the north end of the terminal is the facility for loading freighters. Judging from the pile of "tan stuff" (salt? sand? stone?), this terminal can also unload freighters.

Street View

Later that same day I came across these posts. So this topic tripped my "twice in two day" rule.

Michael Hull posted eight photos with the comment: "FEDERAL BARENTS (2015 Marshall Islands) was at Thunder Bay Terminals in the Port of Thunder Bay on August 28, 2022. After loading, Federal Barents departed and headed to The Netherlands."

Michael Hull also posted

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And the next day I found the following.

Shawn Sabbe commented on a post
I have so so many! Really wish people would be more interested in buying prints of some of my stuff cause I have a ton of one of a kind aerials that would look amazing in a office or a home or camp.
[The group does not allow selling, so a link was not included. If a link was provided, I would have copied it here.]

1 of 10 photos posted by Michael Hull
BAIE ST.PAUL (2012 Canada) was loading at Thunder Bay Terminals on July 31, 2022.
[He caught the coal pouring out of the loader into the ship. Note the rear of the stacker/reclaimer in the background. His other photos include drone photos of the storage pile, etc.]

1 of 9 photos posted by Michael Hull
MANDARIN (2003 Cyprus) loaded potash at Thunder Bay Terminals in the Port of Thunder Bay on August 31, 2022. After loading, Mandarin departed for the Port of Algeciras, Spain.
[I wonder what color a pile of potash is.]

It looks like potash is pink.

1 of 10 photos posted by Michael Hull
CUYAHOGA (1943 Canada) was loading potash at Thunder Bay Terminals in the Port of Thunder Bay on December 1, 2022.

1 of 10 photos posted by Michael Hull
CUYAHOGA (1943 Canada) was loading potash at Thunder Bay Terminals in the Port of Thunder Bay on December 1, 2022.
[Because the classic freighters that have the pilothouse on the bow are becoming more rare, I wanted to note this bow shot as well.]

2 of 11 photos posted by Michael Hull with the comment: "JOHN D. LEITCH (1967 Canada) was at Thunder Bay Terminals in the Port of Thunder Bay on September 7, 2022."

Michael Hull also posted

Rich Tulikangas: What do they load there?

Michael Hull: Rich Tulikangas usually either potash or a high burn coal.

a
[This view catches how tall and narrow the pilothouse is on this freighter.]

b

1 of 7 photos posted by Michael Hull
TORRENT (2010 Cyprus) was loading potash at Thunder Bay Terminals in the Port of Thunder Bay on September 11, 2022. After loading, Torrent departed for the United Kingdom.
Dennis DeBruler: I also appreciate the information concerning its cargo and destination.

Thunder Bay is the merger of the cities Fort William and Port Arthur.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, a lot of anthracite coal was shipped to the plains states and Canada to heat homes. Per John's comment below, this dock was on Mission Island.

Mike Delaney posted
In a very rare shot, the photo shows the two Wellman-Seaver-Morgan installed and built hullett coal dock unloaders. Yes, there were Hulletts above the Soo. This shot from a 1920 W-S-M installation brochure of the machines at Fort William, Ontario. How long these lasted until removal is anyone's guess. Never seen another shot of these. I assume these two were the only ones at this dock as they would be more than adequate for unloading coal laden vessels in a timely manner of that time.
Dale Pohto: Because of the low cubic weight of coal, they were rated at only eight tons.
Mike Delaney posted
John Travers: These Huletts were built in 1912 and this dock was in service for the Canadian Pacific road until 1960-61. The present Thunder Bay Terminal is directly to the north of where this Hulett dock once stood. These were the only Huletts that were specifically designed to unload coal, although Huletts were used to unload lots of coal and limestone at steel plant docks at Gary Works and Republic Steel in South Chicago. Why the Huletts never become widely used at the many upper lakes coal unloading docks is a mystery to me.
Mike Delaney: John Travers I suspect the bridge type unloader were cheaper, required less people to operate and were more versatile for stocking in the bins.

Dave Walker commented on Mike's second post
Haven't seen that shot before - the Huletts show up on Fort William postcards from the time.
https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/269227/cpr-coal-dock-fort-william-ontario

Dave commented on his comment
https://www.asme.org/.../lan.../199-hulett-ore-unloaders.pdf