Oberstar Kicks Off the 2026 Season as First Ship Out of Duluth!

Now it’s official! We have our first bridge lift and ship out the door, the 2026 season is in full swing! The 1959 classic is bound for Marquette to load iron ore after changing plans a few times. Originally she was due to load coal and make an in-harbor run to the nearby Greymont dock but for some reason that didn’t play out, needed more time than they had to clear out the ice from those docks perhaps, so they simply set out on their ore run instead. Lee A Tregurtha is also here and capable of making the coal shift, we’ll see if she takes it! Mesabi Miner is at the Duluth ore dock loading already and either Burns or Indiana Harbor are expected to depart this evening as well. Measuring 806ft with a capacity of 31,000 tons, Hon James L Oberstar was built in 1959 as the 714ft steamship Shenango II. One of the largest ships of the day, she operated as a straight decked ore freighter and the flagship of her namesake company in competition with legends like the Edmund Fitzgerald. She was the third and final ship of her design. In 1973 she was sold to the Interlake Steamship Company and renamed Charles M Beeghly, the name she would carry most of her career. In 1972 she was lengthened to her current size and set a very briefly lived freshwater cargo world record of 31,000 tons that lasted only for a few hours before the newly built Stewart J Cort completed her maiden voyage and nearly doubled it with a 58,000 ton load. In 1980 she was rebuilt again, this time adding the self unloading boom seen on her stern and rebuilding the cargoholds. Upon departing the harbor after her conversion and an economic related layup she immediately hit the stone breakwater at Superior Entrance and had to return to the shipyard. It wasn’t her only such incident, with groundings and hull damage sustained in 1978, 1984, and 2025. In 2001 she was the final ship to load iron ore at Taconite Harbor, following what can only be described as a severe management catastrophe that not only shut down the dock but through a series of unfortunate events demolished the entire town (long story). In 2007 her steam engine was replaced with a Rolls Royce diesel, and exhaust scrubbers were added in 2015. Her current name came in 2011 after a congressman from Duluth. She received extensive work through much of 2025 with an estimated 30-50 million dollars put into the vessel, so she sails this year in pristine shape! Hope everyone enjoys!