The shipping season at the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin, is scheduled to start this weekend.
Workers at Superior's Midwest Energy Resources are scheduled to begin loading the Mesabi Miner with coal at 8 a.m. Saturday. It's bound for Marquette, Michigan.
Fred Shusterich is president of Midwest Energy. He says last year the Mesabi Miner opened the season on March 16, departing with 58,000 tons of coal.
In preparation for the shipping season, on Tuesday the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alder began punching channels through 18 to 36 inches of ice in the harbor.
The Coast Guard says it will soon be joined in the mission by the 140-foot cutter Biscayne Bay out of Michigan.
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The first few ships will have to go around the scenic Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge, which is undergoing a $2 million renovation. It will be operational by March 23.
