John G. Munson - See Both Thrusters in Action at Two Harbors

Описание: Here is the John G. Munson arriving in Two Harbors, Minnesota just around noon on August 10, 2025. She had previously delivered limestone to the C. Reiss dock in Superior and then departed empty through the Duluth shipping canal (as seen in an earlier video on this channel). She then made the two hour trip along the Lake Superior shoreline to Two Harbors. The Munson took up a spot at the gravity loading dock, opposite the dock with the shiploader booms... as the Algoma Conveyor was currently in the process of loading. The Munson would later take the Algoma Conveyor's place to load taconite pellets for delivery to Gary, Indiana.

It's not often that I'm fortunate to capture many classic lakers visiting Two Harbors, so this was a nice opportunity to catch a classic... despite the fact I had just seen the Munson in Duluth two hours earlier. A good-sized crowd was on hand at the end of the breakwater to welcome the Munson into port. The Munson rewarded them with a captain's salute as she passed by the breakwater light.

One thing noticeable about this arrival is the use of both the bow and stern thrusters on the Munson. While I can often catch some bow thruster action on the 1000-footers from time to time, I almost never capture the stern thruster in action. The thrusters were put to good use on this arrival, helping the Munson position herself in the relatively narrow space between the two docks. If you need help identifying when the thrusters are in use, you can see the bow thruster wake at 1:12 and 2:31. The stern thruster can be seen in action at 6:55. The wake appears near the circular symbols painted on the ship's hull indicating the position of each thruster.

The John G. Munson was built in 1952 and was originally 666 feet in length. Unlike a lot of lakers that were converted to self-unloaders later in their careers, the Munson was originally built as a self-unloader... allowing her to serve a variety of ports where shoreside unloading equipment wasn't available. She originally sailed for the Bradley Transportation Line from Rogers City, Michigan and was primarily used to haul stone before being acquired by the U.S. Steel Fleet (now operated as the Great Lakes Fleet), where her role was expanded to also carry iron ore. Today, she tends to alternate between hauling limestone and iron ore, often bringing limestone to Duluth and then departing with iron ore. The Munson was lengthened to 768 feet in 1976, giving her a cargo carrying capacity of 25,550 tons held in 7 cargo holds. Her original steam turbine was replaced by two 6-cylinder MAK diesel engines in 2016, producing a combined 7,000 bhp.
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