The M/V Lee A. Tregurtha of the Interlake Steamship Company returned to service last week, departing Fraser Shipyards in Superior, Wisconsin on October 12. The return to service marks a return o 11 permanent crew positions and opening up room for approximately 5 relief positions throughout the Interlake Fleet. 

The 826' self-unloader returned to service after being laid up very early on in the shipping season, and at one point over the summer, Interlake Steamship President Mark Barker announced to employees that the Tregurtha would not sail for the remainder of the 2020 shipping season. The Tregurtha was laid up due to the lack of demand for iron ore at U.S. steel mills in Detroit and Indiana Harbor, the Tregurtha's primary cargo. 

With the Tregurtha returning to service, Interlake Steamship is now operating its entire fleet of U.S. flagged vessels. Of the 19 vessels crewed by USW Local 5000 members, only four remain in temporary layup. This represents a loss of approximately 44 permanent positions and roughly 20 relief crew positions. The S.S. Wilfred Sykes of Central Marine Logistics remains in layup and is expected to remain so until late spring in 2021; and the Edgar B. Speer, Roger Blough, and Philip R. Clarke of Key Lakes, Inc. remain in layup without any indication of returning to service this season. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, steel producers report that while the steel industry is still down from where it was a year ago, the market has been stable for the past several weeks. Steelmakers continue to burn through stockpiles, albeit at a reduced rate, but facing the winter season and the accompanying close of the shipping season, steelmakers are once again rebuilding their stockpiles in preparing for the winter season.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced over the summer that there would be no extension of the shipping season, nor early opening of the Soo Locks citing the larger than normal backlog of required maintenance at the facility. The Soo Locks close on January 15th and reopen on March 25th each year. The Soo Locks separate steelmakers located on the lower lakes from the mines located on the upper lakes. 

Since the closure of the Empire Mine and its loading dock in Escanaba in 2017, there is no way to move ore from the mines to the steelmakers during the winter months.