Loading Giants: The Massive Task of Iron Ore Ships on Lake Erie

Рет қаралды 8,742

NKY Railfan

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 41

@dalerounds4036 5 ай бұрын

Cleveland and the John G Munson, what a beautiful site.

@jamesarthofer3413 2 ай бұрын

Fantastic video! Beautiful photography with the drone. Love the marine radio chatter in the background. Nice work🎉

@nkyrailfan 2 ай бұрын

Thank you very much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

@rottenroads1982 5 ай бұрын

18:20. This scene where there are lots of smaller boats, that is a testament to how the waters of the Great Lakes are used by everyone and not just the Large LakeBoats.

@scottsmith7051 2 ай бұрын

very very glad to hear you are a responsible drone pilot

@nkyrailfan 2 ай бұрын

@@scottsmith7051 I was trying to find another comment you wrote regarding permission to fly around and over these facilities, but cannot, so I'll answer it here. As far as the drone is concerned, the FAA essentially treats it the same as a helicopter, except we can't fly a drone above 400 ft. The FAA regulates the airspace and makes all the rules regarding it. The rule I was taught from FAA district officers is to stay above the usable airspace above a facility. So, if I'm flying 10-20 feet off the ground or deck of a ship, the company could argue (and rightly so) that's trespassing. The only court case involving flying over people goes back decades but the short version is the U S. Supreme Court ruled a property owner has rights up to about 90 feet. Anything above that is fair game. My simple answer is I do not need to ask permission to fly over and around these areas, but I do try to stay far enough away to not be distracting or worse. Which is why I love the drone I have, it offers a 7 times optical zoom so I can stay far back and still get close to the action. If you watch many drone videos, you will soon see pilots who don't respect the law or boundaries or simple common courtesy.

@LionelPostwarMPC 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for filming these amazing ships of the Great Lakes! I worked onboard several similar ships before on the Lakes, both on deck and in the engine room. Many people forget the Great Lakes are inland seas but freshwater ones. The word "Lakes" throws many people off. Once out on the Lakes you can be far enough to not see land at all on any side. It takes days to navigate across the lakes, not hours. And the U.S. fleet has 13 of the 1,000 foot long Lakers, that is 1,000 foot long bulk carriers made in the 1970s and early 1980s. FUN FACT: Ships don't rust out on the Lakes like they do on the ocean, as such some very old ships, floating museums are still in active commercial use on the Great Lakes. The Wilfred Sykes is an example. Built in 1949, she's still sailing the Lakes. But the engine room is pure steamship and old school as can be. Canada has more ships but they are smaller overall so the US flag fleet on the Lakes has fewer but bigger ships. Right now the weather is perfect for these videos! Hope to see more, especially like how you're focusing on how the rail/water transport connections work and how important these are both to North America and the world.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the fantastic information! I really do appreciate it. I'd love to get on board some of these vessels and look around. It's incredible to me that the ships are able to sail for 50+ years with no issues.

@LionelPostwarMPC 5 ай бұрын

@@nkyrailfan Winter layup also helps. Contact the Great Lakes shipping companies... ask for a boat tour, worst they can say is no. I was surpeised there are long "tunnels" under the cargo hatches, or I should say a long tunnel for the conveyor belt system for offload. The gate operators have to ensure smooth cargo flow from the holds. These ships are quite unique.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

@LionelPostwarMPC I'll check around for sure. Hopefully, one of the companies let's me on board.

@LionelPostwarMPC 5 ай бұрын

@@nkyrailfan A few retired Lakers were saved from the scrapper and today serve as floating museums and education centers.

@ralphaverill2001 5 ай бұрын

As an experienced sailboat racer, I recognize the radio traffic of a race committee setting up buoys for a race.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

I figured it must have been a sailboat race. When I arrived that morning there were quite a lot of sailboats. I figured that that was probably more than usual for a typical Saturday.

@ThomasC-Crazy4NiagaraFalls 5 ай бұрын

Another great video! Lake Erie and the Cleveland skyline look beautiful. Very interesting to see show the ships are loaded and unloaded. I have always thought how great it would be to work on a Great Lakes ship. I loved the shot at 17:45 with the train going over the bridge and then the mad scramble of boats after the bridge lifts. It brought to mind the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. But in this case its ships, boats, trains, automobiles, and even a plane a little earlier in the video. Lol, you caught all modes of transportation. I'm sure there must even be a bicycle somewhere in the background. The first two videos I uploaded on my youtube channel three years ago were of the American Courage, a couple years before that, going down the Cuyahoga. They are super quick videos but I saw the ship as I drove by and jumped out and took video of the hundreds, if not thousands of birds following the ship. Not sure if I'm allowed to post links to my own videos, but here they are if you are interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWSUZ4WMiJaWrJI and kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIivYYumlsmDp5o

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

Thank you. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. It was pretty fun to watch the sped up footage and the mad dash once the bridge was clear. It is very interesting the birds that follow the ships. I've not seen them swoop into the water (I may just be missing it) but I'm curious if it's the fish that could be looking for a meal in the stirred up water the birds are after or if the birds know there are bugs and plant matter also rising to the top. And thanks for sharing the videos. I'll check them out shortly.

@ThomasC-Crazy4NiagaraFalls 5 ай бұрын

Yes, I've also wondered why the birds follow the ship. Doesn't seem like there would be that many fish for the amount of birds there are.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

@ThomasC-Crazy4NiagaraFalls it never fails though, any time I see a large ship moving, there are birds in hot pursuit.

@kens.3729 5 ай бұрын

Americas Waterways are used for Transporting so many Different Products both within U.S. and around the World. Products have so many different uses. 🤔

@jasonbaker2126 4 ай бұрын

Really cool video. I work in the area where you were filming and take photos of the lakers from the Coast Guard station and the bridges along the Cuyahoga. If you ever come back to Cleveland and you can get FAA clearance, you should try to get some drone video of the Cargill Salt mine dock. It's right on the other side of the railroad tracks south of the bulk terminal. The Mark W. Baker, Algoma Buffalo, and Dorothy Ann visit pretty frequently during shipping season.

@nkyrailfan 4 ай бұрын

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I plan to head back to Cleveland a few times. I'll definitely try and catch a ship in the salt dock.

@chuckg6039 4 ай бұрын

What an excellent video!

@ianblackman2144 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for a very interesting video 👍

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

Thank you, Ian. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

@kevinzeh3559 5 ай бұрын

Rail cars are still loaded there. They use rail transport mostly in the winter during the shipping off season when the locks are down for maintenance.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the great info, Kevin. I do appreciate it. Maybe I'll see about trying to catch a train loading here during the cold months.

@brandonreeves5979 5 ай бұрын

Awesome video man! Loved the narration!!!

@markjonscher5188 3 ай бұрын

I saw you mention the huelett ore loaders in this video , they did save one and are currently raising funds to set it back up in its entirety in the Canton area I believe it was , there are articles on the internet about the project , thanks

@nkyrailfan 3 ай бұрын

I hope they were able to. I would love to see one in person.

@260bill260 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the very interesting video. I always like enjoy watching your videos of the different ports and loading of coal that goes on and the trains very interesting. Thank you. I grew up at Curtis Bay, Maryland close to where the Key bridge collapsed. as a kid always used to go down in the area and check it out one time my father was able to weasel us on to some of the bulker coal ships and actually one time we had dinner with a captain on his ship,which was kind of cool, but growing up in industrial area always keeps me interested in the type of operations that go on thanks again for your video. Very nice.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it and am glad you're able to enjoy the videos. That's really neat your father was able to get you on some of the boats. I'd imagine dinner on board was quite a thrill! I'm actually planning a trip to Curtis Bay to check out the coal docks there. I'm hoping to get there by the end of the summer.

@260bill260 5 ай бұрын

I will certainly look forward to your video of the coal loading operation at Curtis Bay. As matter fact today, there are two ships in there loading coal since the reopening of the channel under the collapse Key bridge take care thanks a lot.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

@260bill260 I'm glad to hear the channel and bay are fully reopened. I'll try to let you know when I head up there and when the video should be out.

@260bill260 5 ай бұрын

Ok. Sounds good. FYI the coast guard’s only ship yard is also on Curtis creek and another coal loading facility is at the north end of the harbor tunnel (895). And of course there’s ft mc henry incase you want additional subjects.

@ShiftSouthern1110 5 ай бұрын

Used to all be loaded on rail out of rockport yard right there in Cleveland about 6 rail miles up from where you were at right there. NS didnt want their work anymore though. Every now and then will we get an ore train out of there but believe it used to be 3 a day. The biggest switcher in cleveland is the cargill salt plant from the cargill mine that is up under lake erie right there. That yard is right across from this ore site. They still switch 100+ cars a day over there

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the great info! You wonder why NS wouldn't want to hold onto steady work like that. I would have loved to see all these places in their hey day.

@princeofdeath7696 5 ай бұрын

Seeing as your from NKY do you ever run into Jawtooth while out filming? Also its crazy that I used to live in NKY for almost 25yrs and had never seen anyone out filming trains.

@nkyrailfan 5 ай бұрын

I see his videos but never ran into him. I actually never run into anyone when I'm out recording. I'm not sure if it's me or folks don't like the areas I go to.