Staying on course was not a worry for Capt. Brad Winchell on this voyage at the helm of Carver Marine Towing’s CMT Otter. The entire trip would happen in buoyed channels, mostly those of the New York State Canal System (NYSCS) — commonly called the Erie Canal — currently in its 200th season.
Winchell has worked on the Erie Canal for more than a decade, first as a deck hand and later in other roles while working his way up to captain. He learned how to work the Erie Canal as well as the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway the time-honored way, from seasoned captains, many of whom are now retired. At Carver Marine, he also works in fleeting at the Port of Coeymans as well as elsewhere on the Hudson River and in New York Harbor.
His familiarity with the route doesn’t mean the voyage was easy or routine. The roughly 370-nautical-mile voyage was expected to take a week and a half, since the canal system generally accommodates only daylight navigation. But the tow comprised of CMT Otter and barges CMT Kelly and CMT Hofmann took 15 days and 5 hours to complete the route.
Brian Moore, general manager and also a captain at Carver Marine, described the voyage as complex in part because of the nature of the Erie Canal. Low bridges are as old as the canal itself. Besides low clearances, which change after rains, other challenges include narrow channel spans and frequent shoaling — a never-ending process in the canalized river waterway fed by creeks and rivers. The CMT barges, each 195 by 35 feet, could be pushed in tandem formation by the 62-foot CMT Otter only in some sections of the canal. Made up in an end-to-end configuration, they could not fit in 34 of the 36 locks along the way, because these locks have a maximum usable length of about 300 feet.
This length necessitates double locking, a labor-intensive and time-consuming process that is routine on some inland river systems. To double lock, the tug eases the barges into the chamber, the crew uncouples them, the tug exits the lock moving astern with one barge still attached, the forward barge is raised by itself and then moved out of the chamber using a capstan built alongside the lock. At that point, the lock gets drained, and lower gates open for the tug and other barge to enter and be raised. When the tug and barge arrive at the same level at the top of the lock, the tug pushes its attached barge out of the chamber, and crew restore the end-to-end configuration with the two barges so that the tow can proceed westward to the next lock, where the process is repeated.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) locks at either end, at Troy and Black Rock near Buffalo, can accommodate the full tow, with chambers measuring 520 and 650 feet long respectively. The 3.5-mile Black Rock Canal parallels the swift waters of the Niagara River to its west and allows safe navigation between Lake Erie and the Erie Canal.
Day one for Capt. Winchell and crew involved transiting through seven locks. The voyage started with the Troy USACE lock north of Albany, N.Y., then five others that form the Waterford Flight that raises or lowers vessels 160 feet in less than a mile and a half. Transiting the Waterford Flight alone took more than six hours, a sweaty job for the deck hands separating the barges, using the capstan and recoupling the barges — especially in 90-degree weather and 85 percent humidity.
By day three, the tow was some 80 miles west of the Waterford Flight at lock 17 in Little Falls, N.Y. East of lock 17, the Erie Canal is basically a canalized Mohawk River. Farther west, the canal alternates straight, narrow land cuts with river bends too sharp for the tow’s 452-foot length to negotiate. During the voyage from Little Falls to lock 35 in Tonawanda, N.Y., where the Erie Canal meets the Niagara River, the tow not only double-locked in some locks but also leapfrogged. Leapfrogging means the barges separate, with one barge left behind tied to a bulkhead while the tug pushes some miles ahead with the other barge, raising it through more locks, then uncoupling it and leaving it tied to a bulkhead before backtracking to move the other barge forward. This practice added about 100 nautical miles to the voyage.
By day six, the tow had crossed the 22-mile open expanse of Oneida Lake. Rainy remnants of Hurricane Beryl had raised the water level, necessitating ballasting the barges to fit under the bridges. Adding to the drama was a rare tornado warning for the area.
Moore attributed the complexity of the tow to the nature of the canal and the oversized cargo: a pedestrian bridge, shipped in four parts ranging between 54 and 77 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 18 to almost 27 feet high. These sections traveled by freighter from a port along the Adriatic Sea in northern Italy to the Port of Coeymans on the Hudson River, where they were transloaded directly into the barges. CMT Kelly had two sections weighing 63 tons each, and CMT Hofmann had another two, each weighing 47 tons. As a spectator at Erie Canal lock 2 observed, “That’s not going by truck.”
According to Moore, canal system personnel have identified areas for dredging by maintenance crews to ensure depths along the route match the reported depths. However, this is not always possible due to heavy rain and weather events. In one section, a tug operated by the canal system accompanied the tow to assist in the case of muddy shoals. In other places, CMT Otter needed to literally plow through the muddy bottom. Frequently, the barges needed to be ballasted to fit under low bridges and then deballasted clear of the shallows and again in Buffalo, to approach the bulkhead for unloading. The successful voyage called upon the efforts of the entire Carver Marine Towing team, including their marine consultants at Martin Ottaway, as well as NYSCS navigation manager and individual lock operators.
The bridge parts will be assembled over Interstate 190 and a CSX railroad to serve as a safe, beautiful gateway between the Lower West Side of Buffalo and a new waterfront park along the Black Rock Canal. The 1930s-era LaSalle Park is being transformed into the new Ralph Wilson Park (RWP) following a very successful community-driven process that weighted public input for the park’s design.
Katie Campos, inaugural executive director of the RWP Conservancy, said the bridge components and the tow attracted attention as they made their way west to Buffalo. “This is huge for the park, for the city of Buffalo, and for the state. It’s historically significant because of its journey up the Erie Canal, and it’s culturally and architecturally significant because the bridge designers leaned into Buffalo’s architectural heritage in this first major new infrastructure since the nearby Peace Bridge in 1925.” In fact, under the bridge, Interstate 190 carries an estimated 90,000 cars/trucks a day, many traveling to and from Canada.
Carver Marine Towing, previously known as Coeymans Marine Towing, has done complex canal work before. In 2017, CMT Otter and two barges moved 12 60-by-20-foot beer brewing tanks manufactured in China from Coeymans to Rochester, N.Y. — a voyage of more than a week. Double locking and leapfrogging were used for that project as well.
“The completion of a trans-Atlantic journey of the new RWP Pedestrian Bridge, including its final leg of 338 miles from Waterford to Buffalo, is proof positive that our historic Erie Canal is still capable of doing exactly what it was designed and built for — moving cargo and doing big things for New York State,” said Brian Stratton, director of the New York State Canal Corp.
“When it opened in Buffalo on October 26, 1825, few residents could even imagine the Erie Canal would become known as the most significant public works project of its day, and today’s residents are witnessing history again,” he continued.
As to the crew of CMT Otter, as soon as the barges were unloaded, they began the voyage back to Coeymans, N.Y., anticipating the same challenges of shoals, narrow channels, low bridges and double locking and leapfrogging. The return trip would likely have fewer spectators than the throngs who greeted them at lock crossings while heading west toward Buffalo. •