1 Great Lakes Observing System and Marine Operations Edison Boat Club – June 21 st, 2011 An ISO 9001:2008 Company

2 Topics: Who am I? Jayson Toth – Operations Department Cleveland native & Licensed Mariner, 1 st Mate experience The Interlake Steamship Company Great Lakes shipping company Interacting with GLOS GLOS Mission Weather Water Level and Current Operating season / Ice

3 History of The Interlake Steamship Company The Interlake Steamship Company incorporates on April 25th to consolidate the Pickands Mather & Co. shipping interests. The original Interlake Fleet totals 39 vessels – 37 steel steamers and two barges The Interlake Steamship Company becomes privately held under the direction of James R. Barker. Pickands Mather & Company is purchased by Cleveland Cliffs Inc. Headquarters in Richfield, OH

4 Current Interlake Fleet 9 self-unloading vessels 4 modern 1,000 ft. diesel vessels 4 medium size vessels (Traditional Lakers) Re-powered two of our medium sized vessels to a highly automated heavy fuel diesel plant 1 modern self-unloading ATB (1998) 8 vessels owned; 1 managed Total fleet trip capacity 368,000 long tons 1 vessel in Lay-Up, John Sherwin available for conversion

5 M/V Paul R. Tregurtha

6 M/V James R. Barker

7 M/V Lee A. Tregurtha

8 M/V Hon. James L. Oberstar

9 Str. Herbert C Jackson

10 Tug Dorothy Ann / Barge Pathfinder

Carrying Cargo The Interlake Steamship Company exclusively transports bulk commodities Taconite, Coal, Stone, Grain and Salt An Interlake vessel can carry anywhere from 21,000 to 68,000 tons of cargo in one trip That’s equivalent to almost 3,000 semi trucks or 7 trains! On an annual basis, Interlake carries approximately 20 million tons of cargo 11

Loading Cargo 12

Discharging Cargo Our vessels have a series of gates underneath the cargo which open up to an unloading tunnel containing a large conveyor belt This belt carries the cargo to an angled conveyor transferring it to an unloading boom which in turn carries the cargo off the boat 13

Discharging Cargo (cont) 14

Discharging Cargo (cont.) 15

16 Where we go The Interlake Steamship Company operates solely on the Great Lakes (the largest fresh water system in the world) – Primarily upper 4 This creates many challenges including: Proximity to land Unique weather patterns Shallow water Locks and river systems Ice

The Great Lakes System 17

18 The Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) GLOS and Commercial Industry Improve the safety and efficiency of maritime operations A complete inventory of federal, state/provincial and municipal observation and monitoring activities Critical, real-time and historical information about the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and interconnecting waterways Uniform monitoring protocols Broad availability of information on Great Lakes conditions and trends for managers and other stakeholders.

19 Unique Weather Patterns Vessel Masters depend on accurate and updated information regarding weather they will encounter for: Voyage planning and anchoring decisions Weather Stations Monitoring Buoy's Forecasts from the NWS Vessel Reporting

Water Levels What are the issues Low Lake Levels USACE Dredging Funding is low Water Level Stations USGS Water Gage 20

River Systems With limited room to maneuver, vessel Masters need to know what direction and speed the water is going Current Direction of flow Surface water speed 21

Ice Operations Vessel Masters need to know where they will encounter ice and how thick it will be Ice reports and observations USCG Recon 22

23 Thank You