Open for business: First ships pass through the Soo Locks

What's happening: The Clyde S. Vanenkevort and Erie Trader — a tugboat and barge combination, respectively — passed through the Soo Locks, officially opening the 2025 Great Lakes shipping season on Friday, March 21. The pair successfully entered Lake Superior on their way to Duluth, Minnesota, before a slew of U.S. Coast Guard ships, necessary for additional ice breaking endeavors. The locks are a crucial piece of national infrastructure, allowing shipping and trade across the Great Lakes region.

A chance for maintenance: Despite the shorter-than-usual winter closure, work crews were able to complete multiple necessary maintenance projects on the Poe Lock, such as fabricating and replacing anchorages on Gate 3, commissioning a temporary dewatering system and filling nonoperational ship arrestor recesses downstream. They also flushed and cleaned hydraulic systems, rehabilitated navigation buttons, removed underground storage tanks and repaired the winter work bridge recesses. All of this was completed while the Poe Lock did not have water removed for the scheduled maintenance.    
 
What they're saying: "Our winter maintenance period is a critical time for us to execute strategic asset renewal investments in our aging locks,” Soo Locks Operations Manager LeighAnn Ryckeghem said. “This year, a number of factors worked in our favor that allowed us to safely deliver this critical maintenance and also open to navigation traffic a few days early.”

What's next: The MacArthur Lock, the smaller of the Soo Locks, will remain closed for maintenance until April. However, the observation park is fully operational, allowing plenty of viewpoints for those wishing to watch the engineering marvel of the locks.