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Ice on St. Marys River idles freighters

Coast Guard News
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Flickr

PORT HURON, MI (AP)--   The calendar says May, but the Great Lakes still are showing signs of winter.

More than a dozen freighters at times have been parked in lower Lake Huron because ice in Lake Superior and the St. Marys River is limiting travel. The U.S. Coast Guard says 40 percent of Lake Superior remains covered by ice.

Glenn Nekvasil of the Lake Carriers' Association tells the Port Huron Times Herald "this is extreme." The big ships haul coal and iron ore.

Jeannette Zells counted 14 freighters in Lake Huron as she ate lunch Thursday at a Port Huron park.

Ice-breaking was finished by April 20th last year. Ten vessels are breaking ice, including eight from the Coast Guard.