Start Your Engines! First Ships Of The 2026 Season To Hit Lake Superior

By pretty much any measure, it's springtime in the Northland. The calendar says so, the weather is occasionally saying so, and now the start of shipping traffic will be another indicator of the new season in the Twin Ports area and beyond.

The U.S. Coast Guard has been busy with their ice cutter, the Spar, in the last few days, opening channels in the Duluth & Superior Harbor and out on Lake Superior as the first cargo ships of the 2026 shipping season get ready for their first Twin Ports arrivals and departures.

What are the first ships of the season that will depart the Twin Ports? What will be the first ships to arrive for the season? When? Here's what we know.

First ship departures of the 2026-2027 Duluth-Superior Shipping Season

On Sunday, the Interlake Steamship Company shared that one of its ships just fired up its engines and headed from winter layup in Superior to the oredocks in Duluth to pick up a load of iron ore before heading out onto the Great Lakes.

READ MORE: What's It Like Aboard A 1,000-Foot Lake Superior Ship? This Video Gives You A Firsthand Look

The M/V Mesabi Miner is that ship, a 1,004-foot freighter that will be leaving under Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge sometime soon with that load of ore to cross Lake Superior as part of its journey to Cleveland. No specific date has been made public quite yet, but it is bound to be in the next few days.

In addition to the Mesabi Miner lumbering around the Duluth Harbor ahead of its first journey of the new shipping season, the MV Hon. James L. Oberstar has also recently fired up from its winter slumber at Fraser Shipyards in Superior ahead of an upcoming journey to Marquette. There is no publicly known departure date for the Oberstar as of the time of publishing, but it is likely to be soon.

First ship arrivals and expected arrival dates for 2026-2027 Duluth-Superior shipping season

Aside from the aforementioned upcoming departures, there are some ships with plans to arrive in the Twin Ports in the coming days.

The Paul R. Tregurtha is currently on its way to the Twin Ports. As of the time I am writing this, it is on Lake Huron along its journey from Detroit to Duluth. According to a Twin Ports shipping schedule, the Tregurtha is expected to come in through the Duluth entry under the Aerial Lift Bridge on Thursday morning, March 26.

In addition, a pair of ships are scheduled to come in through the Superior entry in the next few days. The Dirk S. Vanenkevort is on its way from Toledo, expected to come in through the Superior entry on Thursday afternoon, March 26. The Canadian ship the Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin is on its way from Montreal to the Superior entry in the Twin Ports, with an expected arrival in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 29.

Some other Northland shipping traffic includes the Edwin H. Gott, on its way from Toledo to Two Harbors, and the Stewart J. Cort heading to Silver Bay from Milwaukee.

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The Gott is expected to arrive in Two Harbors in the late morning hours of Thursday, March 26. The Cort is also expected to arrive at its Silver Bay destination sometime later Thursday morning.