THUNDER BAY – The heavy lift barges and cranes needed to lift the historic James Whalen Tug were scheduled to arrive in Thunder Bay on Sept. 6, but Cory Halvorsen, manager of parks and open spaces for the city of Thunder Bay, says they were delayed due to conditions on The Great Lakes.
“There were high winds on Lake Huron which have slowed progress for transport, so right now the schedule is looking like the barge will arrive Wednesday evening,” he said. ”So, if it arrives then, we'd be looking at anchoring and positioning the barge and cranes on Thursday with the lift potentially occurring on Friday. So, all dependent on the ability for the barge to arrive.”
Halvorsen says that he believes the contractors had a one to two-day period planned to raise the James Whalen once the barges and cranes finally arrive.
“So, there's anchoring already and rigging already put on the tug right now. So, it's ready basically to receive the cranes,” he said. “Then we'll have a process where they'll lift it to the surface and then use high-capacity pumps to pump out the water from inside, which should re-float the vessel.”
The plan, once the tug is up and floating, is to float it to the Paterson dock on the Kaministiquia River where it will remain for one to two years while the city decides what the next steps are.
“I know there's been interest in the tug,” said Halvorsen. “But, we're going to be looking at our options here at Kam Park. We really haven't had a lot of time focusing on that yet. The focus has been to get the project for raising the tug.”
