Lost: Two giant rudders in the Saginaw River
 Wednesday, April 12, 2006
 DEAN BOHN THE SAGINAW NEWS

More than silt has stalled shipping on the Saginaw River. At least one wayward rudder has freighters and small haulers dropping anchor, too.

Captains are waiting as divers look for two rudders, each weighing several tons, in the 29-mile channel from the Saginaw Bay to Saginaw, said William Webber, owner of Sargent Docks & Terminal Inc., 5606 N. Westervelt in Zilwaukee Township.

The parts could pose a substantial hazard to ships but shouldn't threaten recreational watercraft, he said.

The 875-foot Great Lakes Trader snapped off a $70,000 rudder during an April 4 turn in the river and remains docked in Essexville, Webber said.

"The ship has four rudders," he said. "It can navigate with three and maybe not notice one is missing. But if two are missing, it can hardly steer. When they broke one off, they checked their rudders and found two missing.

"They don't know when or where they lost the other one, but until they're found or determined not to be in the river, nobody's doing any shipping."

The rudders are about 15 feet long, 5 feet wide and about 8 inches thick, Webber said.

"The rudders are a minimum of 20 feet deep and sunk into the mud," he predicted.

Divers from Vanenkevort Tug & Barge of Bark River began dragging the river Monday with a magnometer, but as of Tuesday evening they hadn't found either rudder, Webber said.

Meanwhile, two lawsuits stand in the way of plans to dredge, which offers the promise of reopening the river to shipping traffic.

The legal fights -- involving Saginaw County, environmentalists and Zilwaukee and Frankenlust townships -- are over where to put 3.1 million cubic yards of spoils that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to scrape from the navigable channel of the Upper Saginaw River.

Frankenlust Township officials have filed for a temporary injunction to stop Saginaw County from building a 281-acre dump site for dredge spoils spanning the Frankenlust-Zilwaukee township line.

Corps officials reported last week that construction on a disposal site will start in early May despite the threat of an injunction.

The Bay County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of dredging.

Saginaw County also is facing legal challenges from the environmental watchdog group Lone Tree Council and Zilwaukee-based Citizens Against Toxic Substances. Both have cases pending before a state administrative law judge challenging the location and environmental safety of the dredge disposal site.

Township officials, meanwhile, called on the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners' County Services Committee on Tuesday to urge the Corps of Engineers to conduct a full-scale environmental impact study of the dump site and its surroundings.

"We want the river dredged too, but do it right, that's all we're asking," said Township Clerk Patricia A. Bradt.

Bradt claimed dozens of other confined disposal facilities across the state have had environmental impact studies.

"Why don't they do one for this one?" she asked. "What are they hiding?"

The committee took no action on Bradt's plea.

County Public Works Commissioner James A. Koski said the Corps of Engineers determined a full-scale environmental assessment was not needed at the Zilwaukee site because the type of buried material didn't warrant one.

"Believe me, everybody reviewed it," he said. "This was solved several months ago."

Two miles of dikes will protect the site from flooding, he said.

Regulators suspect that dioxin in the Saginaw River came from Dow Chemical Co.'s Midland plant.

"We're not at odds with (the environmental group) or with Dow Chemical," Webber said. "We didn't create this mess, we're just caught in the middle."

If divers find the rudders -- or declare they are not there -- the fate of freight along the Saginaw River still could hinge on whether Lower Lakes Towing vessels can navigate the channel.

Although officials of the Port Dover, Ontario-based shipper refused Tuesday to discuss plans to carry cargo up the Saginaw River, Webber said company officials vowed they would try.

"If we're fortunate, one or two vessels from that company will be able to come up the river," said Webber, who said he has received notice from other companies that they no longer will send ships into Saginaw.

If the vessels run aground, Webber said, shipping could stop completely, sinking a supply line that serves 22 docks with 4 million to 6 million tons of material each year.

Freight traffic accounts for more than 250 ships on the river annually, business owners say. Their cargo would fill at least 106,000 tractor-trailer trucks. v

Dean Bohn and Barrie Barber are staff writers for The Saginaw News. You may reach Bohn at 776-9679, Barber at 776-9725.
 

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