Lake Superior icebreakers free stranded ships
All the ships that were stranded in Lake Superior have been freed, according to Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The Canadian Coast Guard has been working with the United States Coast Guard to ensure a long line up of ships will be able to travel safely through heavy ice conditions in Whitefish Bay on eastern Lake Superior.
The ships had been stranded since Sunday.
As of Wednesday night, US Coast Guard traffic manager Mark Dobson said the ships "all got up into Lake Superior, and are moving west."
He acknowledged "there's ice out there, but it's not really stopping them. It's just taking icebreaker escort now and they're moving along."
Dobson said the ships will be escorted to an area near the end of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan, and will then be able to make the rest of the journey on their own. The ice breakers will turn around, and escort another six ships waiting near the peninsula heading east.
"We're bringing them down this morning. They kinda sat out there, because we didn't want them in the heavy ice until an icebreaker was able to get out in front of them."
Dobson said about 18 ships in total were affected, with 12 caught up in Whitefish Bay area. The other six are coming from the west and are waiting to go east.
The cargo shipping season started last month on the upper Great Lakes.