Icebound Ships Moving Again on Lake Superior

Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard crews have cleared a path through the ice on Lake Superior that saw 18 vessel stuck on Wednesday.

Icebreakers are now escorting the vessels, some of which have been stuck since Sunday, out of the Whitefish Bay area and on towards the St. Marys River.

The Canadian Coast Guard has released a video of an ice breaker at work.

The cargo shipping season started last month on the upper Great Lakes.

Canadian Coast Guard vessel Samuel Risley, and the United States Coast Guard cutters Mackinaw, Alder, and Katmai Bay have spent several days creating tracks through the ice. The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, CCGS Pierre Radisson, has also been deployed.

Officials say that warmer air and a sudden change of wind loosened the ice and moved it around in Whitefish Bay, trapping the vessels just northwest of the Soo Locks. The ice packed into the eastern side of Lake Superior has halted movement to the east and west, making it difficult to free the ships. The ice has backed up the shipping of Canadian grain, U.S. iron and steel and other products to one of the most important economic regions in North America.