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The Lake Superior shipping season is about to close for the winter. The 1,000-footer Burns Harbor cleared the Soo Locks upbound yesterday morning.
With that passage, the Soo Locks officially shut down until spring.
The Burns Harbor and the American Spirit are headed to Superior, Wisconsin for winter layup.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will use the time to perform maintenance and repairs on the locks.
Work has already begun on the smaller MacArthur Lock.
The larger Poe Lock will be dewatered for the winter.
Among the items to be addressed is a permanent repair for a concrete gate sill that failed last August. The Poe had to be shut down for nearly 12 hours as a temporary fix was completed.
The target date for reopening the locks this spring is March 25th.
