Heavy-lift vessel from Japan unloads unwieldy cargo at Duluth-Superior
Late in the afternoon of Saturday 5 May, a newly christened oceangoing vessel, the Clipper Gemini, sailed into the Port of Duluth-Superior. It’s not often that Duluth ends up a port of call on a ship’s maiden voyage from Japan!
The 393-foot Bahamian-flag vessel was loaded in and left
Kobe, Japan, on 23 February this year. En route to Duluth, she wound her way around the globe via Xingang, China; Songkhla, Thailand; Singapore; the Suez Canal; Gibraltar; Poole, UK; and Hamburg and Rostok, Germany, before entering the St. Lawrence Seaway on 28 April. She made one last stop in Valleyfield Quebec) before arriving in the Twin Ports. Crews from Lake Superior Warehousing Co. discharged its breakbulk cargo of gas and steam
turbine/generator components for a large electricity generation project (including six heavy-lift units) at the Clure Public Marine Terminal, the port’s only breakbulk terminal. The unloading took place on Sunday and Monday (6–7 May), with the rest of the smaller components unloaded on Tuesday 8 May. From Duluth, the cargo moved its final leg via specialized railcar and truck to the ENMAX Shepard Energy Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
“Delivery of this significant cargo has been painstakingly planned down to the last detail,” said Gianna Manes, ENMAX Corporation President and CEO. “Each of the natural- gas fired turbines weighs about 735,000 pounds and are the equivalent to a four-storey building in length. Once in place and operational, the 800 MW Shepard Energy Centre will be a pivotal facility to Alberta’s growing electricity needs.”
Cargo onboard the Clipper Gemini is one of nearly 20 shipments of heavy machinery and other energy-related equipment expected in the Twin Ports in 2012, most of which will include components for US wind energy projects.