The M/V Hon. James L. Oberstar of the Interlake Steamship Company unloads its load of limestone at Graymont in Superior, Wisconsin after a mid-season layup at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Photo courtesy Michael Konczak. Right: The Oberstar transits the St. Clair River near Port Huron, Michigan. Photo courtesy Logan Vasicek.

The M/V Hon. James L. Oberstar of the Interlake Steamship Company returned to service over the weekend, restoring 11 permanent crew positions and making room for about 5 relief positions within the Interlake Fleet. 

The 806' self-unloading bulk carrier returned to service after being laid up for several weeks due to a lack of demand for iron ore and other bulk cargoes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Oberstar services several ports around the Great Lakes, including steel mills in Indiana Harbor, Detroit, and Cleveland that receive raw materials from northern ports in Marquette and Duluth. 

Steelmakers cite an uptick in the steel market in the "medium-term" as the reason for the slow return to production. Several blast furnaces were idled this spring after economic uncertainty devastated the steel industry, and several mines followed suit, shutting down operations as demand for raw materials slowed. Steelmaking across the Great Lakes region remains slow, but production has been increased in recent weeks. The American Iron and Steel Institute (www.steel.org) reports that for the month of June 2020, U.S. steel mills shipped 6,023,524 net tons of steel, up 10.3% over the 5,461,851 net tons shipped in May 2020. Year to date, shipments totaled 41,218,207 net tons, down 14.5% compared to the six month total of 48,223,245 in 2019. 

Interlake is now operating 8 of its 9 vessels, and as of this writing, no announcements have been made about future layups for the remainder of the 2020 navigation season. Of the 19 vessels where unlicensed crews are represented by USW Local 5000, 5 remain in temporary layup resulting in a loss of 55 permanent crew positions and approximately 25 relief crew positions. It is uncertain at this time if any of the remaining vessels in layup will return to service prior to the close of the 2020 navigation season.