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Page 67 GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS • Jan 10 ...The LEF Corp. of Grand Rapids, MI announced they plan to bring the 108 ft catamaran VOYAGER III from New York City to St. Joseph, MI this spring. They will use her to run a passenger only ferry service across Lake Michigan to Waukegon, IL. From there it will run down to Chicago and then back to St. Joseph. She has a capacity of 300 passengers and will make it to Waukegon in under two hours. The trip to Chicago will take less than an hour and then under two for the trip back to St. Joseph. The VOYAGER III was built in 1999 as a whale watching boat and is currently used as a ferry in New York. Negotiations are currently underway with The Gladding & Hearn Shipbuilding Co. of Massachusetts to build a ferry to carry vehicles in the 2004 season. A hovercraft service is planned for sometime in the future, they are hoping for it to begin in the 2005 season. Jan 13 ... Cleveland Cliffs announced they have entered into an agreement with Ispat Inland Steel, a subsidiary of Ispat International N.V. effective December 31, 2002 that restructured ownership of the Empire Mine. The mine has been operating under an interim agreement between Cliffs and Ispat Inland since LTV Corp. ceased operations and gave up its 25% ownership in the mine in early 2002. Under the agreement, Cliffs has acquired the 25% LTV owned and 19% from Ispat Inland to increase their total to 79%, Ispat inland will control the other 21% ownership. Separately, Cliffs entered into a 12 year sale agreement with Ispat Inland that will make Cliffs the sole supplier of Ispat Inland taconite requirements in excess of the taconite provided from their remaining interest in the Empire Mine and their wholly owned Minorla Mine. Sales to Ispat Inland are expected to be about 1.3 million tons in 2003. ... Oglebay Norton announced it had completed the previously announced acquisition of Erie Sand & Gravel Co., included in the deal are the RICHARD REISS and J. S. ST. JOHN. Jan 14 ... The last upbound vessel through the Soo Locks was Great Lakes Fleet's EDWIN H. GOTT, she locked through just before midnight. ... The tug OLIVE L. MOORE towed the VIKING I away from the Sassafras Street Pier in Erie, PA shortly after 11:00 A.M.. The VIKING I was recently purchased by K & K Warehousing and is being towed to their dock in Menominee, MI where she is to be converted into a pulp wood carrier. Specialty Restaurants plan to move the LANSDOWNE into the space vacated by the VIKING I within the next month and continue her restoration into a restaurant. Jan 15 ... The final passage of the 2002 season through the Soo Locks was made by the downbound Purvis Marine tug/barge RELIANCE/ PML 9000. ... The OLIVE L. MOORE/VIKING I tow ran into heavy ice shortly after passing South East Shoal in the early morning hours. The JOYCE L. VAN ENKEVORT/GREAT LAKES TRADER met the tow and took the lead to help them through the ice. The Malcolm Marine tug MANITOU met the tow near Detroit River Light to assist up the Detroit & St. Clair Rivers. The tow passed Detroit upbound around 3:30 P.M.. Jan 18 ... The OLIVE L. MOORE/VIKING I tow arrived in Menominee just before dawn. The tug JOYCE L. VAN ENKEVORT assisted the tow into port. The VIKING I was tied up at the K & K Warehouse Dock behind the WILLIAM H. DONNER. Jan 21 ... Seven hundred union workers went on strike at Marinette Marine at midnight. A strike was authorized in a vote held on January 11. Jan 25 ... The salty NOGAT departed the drydock at the Halifax Shipyard after completing repairs. She headed up the St. Lawrence River bound for Sorel to reload her cargo of grain. ... In the early morning hours a fire destroyed the replica tall ship LA GRANDE HERMINE in Jordan Harbor. Members may remember seeing her resting against the shore in the harbor right next to the Q.E.W. Expressway between Hamilton and St. Catherines. Originally built in 1914 at the Davie Shipyard in Lauzon, Quebec as a ferry named LE PROGRESS. She was renamed LA VERENDRYE in 1930. During the winter of 1956-57 she was rebuilt and repowered with a diesel engine. At the same time she was renamed LA MARJOLAINE. She was retired from service in 1981 and her engine was removed, a conversion into a restaurant and bar followed. In 1991 she was again rebuilt, this time as a replica tall ship restaurant. This proved unsuccessful and after sitting idle she sank at her dock in January 1995. She was raised and after sitting idle again was towed