Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by LT Benjamin Morgan, mobility and ice operations, U.S. Coast Guard Office of Maritime Transportation Systems.
On the Great Lakes
Throughout the Great Lakes region and the St. Lawrence Seaway, icebreaking activities are organized into two task groups:
- Operation Taconite encompasses the waters of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, the St. Mary’s River system, the Straits of Mackinac, and northern Lake Huron. Icebreaking efforts in this region are coordinated from the vessel traffic service at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste Marie, Mich.
- Operation Coal Shovel is responsible for Lake Erie, the Detroit River, lower Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, and the St. Clair River. This operation is jointly managed by U.S. and Canadian forces via USCG Sector Detroit and the Regional Ice Operations Center in Sarnia, Canada.
The Way Ahead
The Coast Guard’s domestic icebreaking mission is at a critical juncture, as many icebreaking assets—specifically the 140- and 65-foot icebreaking tugs—are at or past their designed service life. Additionally, performance analysts are investigating icebreaking resource allocations to ensure that cutters are placed in a position that best meets the needs of our diverse customers.
Another vital component of the continued success of the domestic icebreaking program is sustaining professional relationships with commercial industry stakeholders, such as the Lake Carriers Association, tug/tow operators, commercial fishing fleets, ferry services, and the businesses that rely on year-round maritime transportation.
Close cooperation with commercial icebreaking companies is also important, as there are many demands for icebreaking assistance on the Great Lakes that the Coast Guard simply cannot meet.
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/spring2011/.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment Policy
We welcome your comments on postings at all Coast Guard sites/journals. These are sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard to provide a forum to talk about our work providing maritime safety, security and stewardship for the American people to secure the homeland, save lives and property, protect the environment, and promote economic prosperity.
Please note: Anonymous comments have been disabled for this journal. It is preferred that you use your real name when posting a comment. WE WILL POST THE NAME YOU ENTER WHEN YOU SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT. Also, you are welcome to use Open ID or other user technologies that may be available.
All comments submitted are moderated and will be reviewed before posting. The Coast Guard retains the discretion to determine which comments it will post and which it will not. We expect all contributors to be respectful. We will not post comments that contain personal attacks of any kind; refer to Coast Guard or other employees by name; contain offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups, or contain vulgar language. We will also not post comments that are spam, are clearly off topic or that promote services or products.
We will make our best effort to promptly post those comments that are consistent with the Comment Policy, but given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will usually occur only during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. Comments submitted outside of business hours will be read and posted as quickly as possible.