Question: What's with the red/brown water?

Answer: After heavy rains like the record downfalls of the past weekend, red clay gets washed into the harbors, especially from the Nemadji River.

The clay eventually settles after a few weeks and the water clears up.

ALERT - Major oil refinery fire in Superior now visible on Pier B Cam

Update 14:00 : Harborcam is now adjusted to view fire.
A Major refinery in Superior is on fire and visible on the Pier B Cam.

Boat schedules?

The official boat schedule site that is kept up to date by the Visitor Center staff is harborlookout.com  -- duluthboats.com is still around and has lots of good information and history including longer-range and special boat schedules. 
So keep both bookmarked for your reference.

Note also that this is a "work in progress" with lots of kinks to work out.  timing should get better as time goes on.
Also, I am not the one who operates and manages it, so, I look forward to refinement just like you.

Harbor will wake up this week!

Update: 3/19/2018 - New Schedules

Tuesday 3/20/2018 17:00 - Erie Trader/ Clyde S. VanEnkevort hopes to get underway before noon Tuesday, heading to the CN dock in Two Harbors to load iron ore.

Thursday 3/22/2018 The Edwin H. Gott and Kaye E Barker 
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ice breaking operations will increase this week with the anticipated start of the shipping season this Thursday when the Edwin H Gott and Burns Harbor pull out of their winter layup slips.

Harborcam Update

Superior Entry Cam

• I will be testing the new antenna system when it arrives later this week.
• Wiring upgrades on the Superior Piers should be done in the next few weeks.
• The new camera is ready for installations once the other system wiring and antennas are in place and tested.
• Still hoping for around May 1st.

GLA Cam

• The New camera has been ordered and I should be able to get it in place by later this week.

General 

•  Boat crews are returning to the big boats that have been layed up here for the winter.
• The Alder, along with the larger tugs will begin icebreaking operations this week.
• The Alder will be going out on a press tour Thursday at 9AM.
• Other Great Lakes icebreaking operations are also starting up this week.
• Expect Large boat traffic by March 23rd.
• The Soo Locks open on March 25th.

Boat Schedules!

FYI,
The CGC Alder will be out this week, the tugs next week and the big boats will begin moving the following week.

Youtube requirement now met! Thank You

Thank You - Thank You!

Thanks to you guys,  I have now met the Youtube Channel requirements needed to help fund duluthharbors.com.  Youtube is where all  the boat videos are hosted.  Thank you so much for subscribing to my Youtube Channel and also viewing more videos on the site.

If you would like to still subscribe to the channel, please click the button below  - It's free and easy. 

P.S. besides the live cams, I will keep working to make better and more videos in 2018.

Thanks again -- Den

Your Help is Needed! (again)

Hello cam watchers,

 Thank you for all your support of the duluthharborcam.com website. In addition to an occasional fundraiser for cameras and services, I have relied on the ads that are posted on this website as well as visitors watching the boat videos on Youtube for operating revenue.

As you know, there are ads in the left-hand column that link to Youtube, as well as the videos. This has been a major part of the support for the harborcam operations.

This month, Youtube changed their policies for small-time creators like myself and I will no longer be able to make any revenue from Youtube unless I can hit certain thresholds of subscribers 1000 (currently at 1017) and annual watch hours of 4000 (currently at 2500).

So, I need a big jump in annual watch hours and I have less than a month to get there. If we cannot meet these thresholds by February 20th, my channel will be dropped from the program and I will have to raise the operating funds by some other method. My goal is to cover as many monthly operating expenses with the Google Ads and then to have fundraisers to cover other additional expenses.

 So, I am asking for your support by going to my Youtube Channel and subscribing and then watching as many of the boat videos that you can between now and February 20th, 2018. The Channel is HERE.

As you know, I enjoy watching the cams as much as you do and although I do not take any salary for what I do, I take great joy in knowing that there are thousands of folks out there, like yourself, who also enjoy the live views and boat videos of Duluth and Two Harbors.

Thanks for the help, I will keep you updated as we get closer to the deadline.

Den

Winter Layup Schedule

Boat Nerds is starting to put together a winter layup schedule for 2017-2018

Lake Superior's Northern Route

Many of the boats are now taking the northern route accross Lake Superior to stay protected from the winter winds!

Fireworks tonight!

I have adjusted the Hillside cam to look directly at the tonight's fireworks (starting at 22:10) .  The Bridgecam, and Harborcams should also be able to see at least part of the display.

Happy 4th of July!
Den

Shipping Season gets underway WEDNESDAY in Port of Duluth-Superior

From Duluth Seaway Port Authority Duluth, Minn., USA (March 21, 2017)—

The first U.S.-flag lakers are expected to depart the Port of Duluth-Superior tomorrow, Wed., March 22, signaling the start of the 2017 commercial shipping season at this, the farthest inland port on the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system. Exact times are difficult to pinpoint during start-up (i.e. ‘fit-out,’ in industry terms), but the first departure may very well take place while most folks are still asleep! The Roger Blough is expected to leave its berth at the Clure Public Marine Terminal at first light Wednesday and depart beneath Duluth’s famed Aerial Bridge en route to the CN Docks in Two Harbors to load iron ore. After fueling late afternoon/early evening, another Great Lakes Fleet vessel, the Philip R. Clarke, will also head to Two Harbors to take on its first cargo of the season. Both vessels, with deliveries to make to steel mills on the Lower Lakes, will proceed across Lake Superior toward Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to await the opening of the Soo Locks at 12:01 a.m. on Sat., March 25. The Blough is expected to be the lead ship downbound as she was in 2016. Interlake’s flagship, the 1013.5-ft Paul R. Tregurtha, wintered at the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal and is scheduled to load coal there Wednesday, then move to the Clure Terminal for final preparations before leaving for Silver Bay tomorrow night/early Thursday. After discharge, that vessel will return to Superior to load coal for its first inter-lake delivery to the St. Clair Power Plant in Michigan. Two more Interlake Steamship Co. freighters that wintered in the Twin Ports – the Lee A. Tregurtha and the Herbert C. Jackson – are expected to depart late Wednesday, as well. The Lee A. is in position to leave Fraser Shipyards first, sometime midday. Both vessels will stop to fuel at the Calumet dock in Duluth before heading out to Two Harbors and Silver Bay, respectively, to load iron ore. The Burns Harbor is due to move from its layup berth to the BNSF Railway Dock to load iron ore Wednesday before departing via the Superior Entry. American Century is set to leave Thursday to load in Silver Bay while fleet mate, the American Spirit, is expected to move to the CN Duluth Dock to load iron ore over the weekend before getting underway. NOTE: All vessel departure/arrival times are estimates and are subject to change without notice. With the Soo Locks opening Saturday and virtually ice-free conditions across the Lakes, Port of Duluth-Superior should see its first arrival from the Soo on Sunday, most likely the Stewart J. Cort, the James R. Barker or the Cason J. Callaway, but that’s still too close to call. For updates, check www.duluthboats.com. Watch real-time transits at www.marinetraffic.com or http://ais.boatnerd.com or on mobile devices with Marine Traffic or Ship Finder apps.

Boats to start moving in two weeks.

Information indicates that the Paul R Tregurtha will begin operations on March 22nd.

Recent Site Change

I have had to revert duluthharborcam.com back to the original webhost due to complications with spam blockers. Sorry for the inconvenience. I will keep looking into more simple solutions. Den

Safe Shelter

West winds on Lake Superior in excess of 50MPH have forced ships to take shelter in Whitefish Bay until later today when the winds decrease.

Cornelia News!

The Duluth News this morning had a report on the Cornelia;
http://www3.forumnewspaper.com/olive/Tablet/DNT/SharedArticle.aspx?href=DNT%2F2015%2F11%2F18&id=Ar00703

Tall Ship 2016

More Info

Camera Volume Control - Update

FYI,

The engineers at the camera streaming company are working on a volume control option for the viewer.
Could be ready later today!

Den

UPDATE! HHL Tyne arrival this evening

This will be the FIRST visit to Duluth for the HHL Tyne and also her first into the Great Lakes-Seaway system!

The Tyne will arrive about 18:00 this evening. I will have Buzz up over the inner harbor if things check out.

The Tyne will be loaded with more wind turbine blades destined for North Dakota.

News

I have decided to switch back to the text method of Harbor Watch Alerts
If you got them before, no need to sign up again. If you would like to be included, see the Harbor Alert Info Page - I will no longer be using twitter to send alerts.

Thanks for all the positive support during the camera outages!

Buzz is getting a new brother "Skeeter" for more aerial images.

Den