Great Lakes Towing Assists Saltie Calling

The arrival of the M/V DIANA marks the first saltie to arrive at Duluth-Superior for the 2014 Navigating season, and also sets the record for the latest arrival by a saltie at the port in the history of the U.S. Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System. 

The DIANA, operated by Ocean Gate Chartering Inc., Montreal, was assisted by The Great Lakes Towing Company’s tug NORTH DAKOTA inbound Duluth-Superior to the CHS grain elevator in Superior on Wednesday night. 

The Great Lakes Towing Company offers vessel operators services under a Full Service Lakes-Wide Towing Contract. The vast majority of vessel operators calling on the Great Lakes, including Ocean Gate Chartering Inc., recognize the cost benefits available to them by entering into a Lakes-Wide Towing Contract with the Towing Company. 

The Towing Company operates the largest U.S. flag tugboat fleet on the Great Lakes, providing ship assist, cargo transportation and logistics, ice breaking, and emergency assistance to every kind of vessel, barge, and marine structure, with a fleet of more than thirty (30) tugboats strategically positioned in eleven (11) ports across the entire Great Lakes region. 

With an operating area that extends over 8,300 miles of shoreline, encompassing a water surface area of roughly 100,000 square miles, vessel operators understand the advantage that the Towing Company provides with its Lakes-Wide Contract and its expansive reach across the Great Lakes with its sizeable tugboat fleet. 

Many vessel calling at the port of Duluth-Superior, for example, must first discharge cargo at two or three ports before making its way upbound the St. Marys River, through the Soo Locks and finally to Duluth-Superior for loading. The Towing Company provides services in all of these discharge ports, as well as load ports such as Duluth-Superior. Their tugboat fleet is also in position to provide emergency rescue and assistance for vessels experiencing losses of power, groundings or other navigating perils, making The Great Lakes Towing Company the preferred choice of vessel operators. 

This July 7, the Towing Company will have been operating on the Great Lakes, including in Duluth-Superior, for 115 years. Entering its 116th year in continuous business, the Towing Company employs local crewmembers in each of the ports where its tugboats are stationed, many of which families have been employed by the Towing Company for multiple generations.