It may not feel like spring, but certain things happening in the Northland remind us that the season has truly arrived.

The Duluth Seaway Port Authority has announced that the first ‘saltie’ of the 2018 commercial navigation season, the Federal Weser, is on its way to the Port of Duluth-Superior and is expected to arrive tonight by 10 p.m.  Its official arrival time will be recorded when the ship passes beneath Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge.

According to their press release:

Built in 2002, the 656-foot bulk carrier is named after a major river in western Germany and flies the flag of the Marshall Islands. Part of the Fednav fleet, the Federal Weser last visited the Twin Ports in 2015. On this year’s transit, it stopped along the way to deliver a load of steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Once the ship arrives, the 22 crew members on board will prepare for Monday morning, when they start loading at the CHS terminal on the Superior side of the harbor.  They'll be loading 21,400 metric tons of durum wheat bound for Algeria.

The Federal Weser is expected to depart late Tuesday or early Wednesday, assuming everything stays on schedule.

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