On Friday, March 25, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will open the Poe Lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and officially open the 2022 Great Lakes shipping season. The area has undergone ice breaking by U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard cutters this week and looks a lot more open than this image from a week ago, taken by the helicopter crew at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City. The MacArthur Lock, the only other active one at the Soo Locks, will remain closed until April 30; it was shut down early as well last year, closing to marine traffic on Dec. 15. “The 800-foot-long MacArthur Lock, built in 1943, is 78 years old; the maintenance period is critical to keeping the lock in operation during the shipping season,” Maintenance Branch Chief LeighAnn Ryckeghem said at the time. Construction continues on the unnamed New Lock, which will match the 1,200-foot Poe Lock’s size. The Poe, opened in 1969, has been the only lock capable of handling larger Great Lakes freighters and handles about 80% of the more than 4,500 vessel traverses through the locks annually. Iron ore, coal, wheat and limestone are the most frequently carried commodities making up the up to 80 million tons of cargo crossing the Lake annually.
2022 Great Lakes shipping season opens Friday | Around the Region
