Algoma Compass - A Very Sticky Situation in Duluth! (See Description)

Here is the Algoma Compass arriving in Duluth, Minnesota at noon on September 7, 2025, loaded with salt that she picked up at Goderich, Ontario. Goderich is home to the world's largest underground salt mine. The salt was to be discharged at the Compass Minerals dock, just inside the harbor entrance. (I guess it's somewhat fitting that a ship named Compass would visit the Compass dock!) On her way in through the shipping canal, the Compass blew a captain's salute, which the Aerial Lift Bridge answered in return.

This turned out to be a very difficult visit for the Algoma Compass. Normally, the salt should gravity-flow out of gates in the bottom of the V-shaped cargo hold onto the conveyor belt that carries it to the self-unloading boom. This load of salt turned out to sticky... clumping together to the point that it could not flow out of the cargo hold. (Moisture in the salt may have caused it to fuse together.) The crew had to employ various equipment, including an excavator lowered into the cargo hold to try to break up the salt. What should have been a 24-hour unload turned into a frustrating 6 days of breaking up salt before the boat was finally cleared. The added expense of several extra days in port, combined with the lost time (and revenue) the Compass could have spent hauling another cargo made this a very costly run for Algoma Central. Let’s hope the Compass and her crew have smoother sailing (and unloading) for the rest of her season!

The 680-foot Algoma Compass was built in 1973 by the American Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio. She originally sailed for the American Steamship Company under the names Roger M. Kyes (1973-1989) and Adam E. Cornelius (1989-2018) before being acquired by Algoma Central in 2018. She has a combined cargo capacity of 29,200 tons in her four holds, which are accessed by 20 hatches. A single belt gravity system feeding a stern-mounted incline belt elevator supplies a 260-foot self-unloading boom. She has a discharge rate of 5,900 metric tons per hour. The Compass is powered by two 20-cylinder General Motors EMD diesel engines which produce a combined 7,200 bhp.
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