News
The latest events, presentations, and functions involving GLMRI.
Summer 2012 K-12 Maritime Teachers Workshop
The registration deadline for the Summer 2012 K-12 Maritime Teachers Workshop has been extended to June 1st. This year's program is held in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Participants will tour Cleveland Cliff's Tilden Iron Ore Mine in Ishpeming, visit the Marquette Harbor, enjoy the Pictured Rocks National Park Boat Tour in Munising, visit the Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard's Vessel Traffic Service, the Soo Locks & Valley Freighter Museum in Sault Ste Marie, Port Inland limestone quarry on L. Michigan, Seul Choix lighthouse and Fayette State Park's historic iron smelting site. Participants gain new knowledge and skills, classroom activities and resources that can be integrated into social studies, science, language arts, and math classes. The institute explores the many facets of the shipping industry within the context of intermodal transportation, port safety, Great Lake shipping routes and global destinations. The institute provides teachers with a foundation in maritime transportation history, current operations, and future career opportunities. (download the form). Download brochure for more information
Conversion To Natural Gas Would Be A First On The Lakes
GLMRI has received a five year cooperative agreement with the United States Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration (MARAD), to address environmental issues that face shipping and marine transportation.
GLMRI is working with the Lake Michigan Carferry Service and marine engineering experts in exploring the feasibility of converting the S.S. Badger to run its engines on natural gas. The team will be modeling the vessel’s fuel consumption, routes, shore fueling station(s) and engineering to look at the viability of using natural gas. The demonstration project will also consider training needs and shipyard implications of the power conversions. The S.S. Badger is the only coal-fired steamship in operation in the United States. The 410' ferry entered service in 1953, designed specifically to handle the rough conditions that it would likely encounter during year 'round sailing on Lake Michigan. The S.S. Badger sails daily between Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Ludington, Michigan from mid-May through mid-October. Converting the vessel to natural gas as a primary fuel could have the potential to make the S.S. Badger one of the greenest vessels operating on the Great Lakes.
For a decade, Norway has operated natural gas powered ferries and is building natural gas powered Coast Guard vessels. The European Union (EU) has embarked on an approximately $14 million study on converting vessels operating in the Baltic and other Emission Control Areas to using natural gas as a primary fuel. GLMRI through the U.S. government will be engaged in cooperative exchange with the EU research team. GLMRI, working with MARAD, will explore potential collaboration with Canadian researchers in using natural gas as a maritime fuel. GLMRI and the Great Lakes and Rivers Section of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers will co-host a multi-day education and information transfer session in Cleveland, Ohio in February 2012 that will bring in academics, industry and government agencies from the U.S., Europe and Canada.
Results of the National Cooperative Freight Research Program Study Now Available: titled Multimodal Freight Transportation within the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Basin (NCFRP 35) sponsored by Transportation Research Board and funded by the National Academy of Science. The research team was led by CPCS Transcom Limited in association with: GLMRI affiliate - University of Toledo, Economic Development Research Group, Prime Focus LLC, Sustainable Ports and Dr. Richard Stewart of the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute. The study covered the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Basin (GLSLB), a bi-national region (United States, Canada) comprising 8 states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York), two provinces (Ontario, Quebec) and hundreds of municipalities, large (e.g. Chicago, Toronto) and small. The GLSLB region generates 30% of U.S and Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) and is home to 31% of the two countries’ population.
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