See the Soo Locks open live on Facebook as shipping season starts

The Great Lakes shipping season is kicking off this week as the the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie reopen early, marking the start of the 2025 season.

The Poe Lock will open at 8 a.m. Friday, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, announced March 13 in a news release.

The locks have been closed since Jan 16. During the shutdown the army Corps conducted winter maintenance and repairs, and began work on a new lock.

“Opening the Soo Locks on March 21 will provide relief to the increased pressure that the Great Lakes Navigation System will face with the influx of foreign vessels, including the Canadian domestic fleet on March 22 when the Seaway opens,” said Lake Carriers’ Association President James Weakley.

“We welcome visitors into the park for the 2025 Soo Locks season opening,” Chief Park Ranger Michelle Briggs said. “The park and viewing platform will open at 7:30 a.m. to allow visitors to welcome the first ship from the viewing platform. The Visitor Center will also host its annual open house for the public from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.”

Eveyrone entering the park is subject to a security search at the Soo Locks entry checkpoint. Firearms, weapons, drugs, pets (except service animals) and bicycles are prohibited.

For those unable to attend in person, the Detroit District will host a Facebook live of the event starting at 7:55 a.m. Friday.

The locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, consist of two canals and four locks that allow vessels of many types/sizes to traverse the 21-foot drop in elevation of the St. Marys River between Lake Superior, and lakes Michigan and Huron.

Upbound ships enter the locks from lower end and massive doors are closed. Water flows in through pipes from the Lake Superior side to fill the locks and raise ships to the lake level. Ships heading toward Lake Huron enter from Lake Superior and, once the doors are closed, water drains out through pipes and drops the ship to the lower lake level.

From viewing decks alongside the locks, you can watch "lakers" and "salties" (ocean-going vessels) as they travel the seaway between ports and navigate the rise/drop of the water levels.

Most ships utilize the Poe Lock, which was rebuilt in 1968 to accommodate larger and more modern ships.

The MacArthur Lock, which is closest to Sault Ste. Marie, is also still in operation and was named after General Douglas MacArthur.

The Davis and Sabin Locks were built in 1914 and 1919 respectively, but currently, only the Poe and MacArthur Locks are operational.

Construction of a new Soo Lock is currently underway, which will be the same size as the Poe Lock.

Maintenance crews performed a varietytasks on the Poe Lock, the Corps said, including fabricating and replacing anchorages on gate 3, commissioning the temporary dewatering system, filling in nonoperational ship arrestor recesses on the downstream end, flushing and cleaning the hydraulic systems for the rehabilitated ship arrestor systems, navigation button rehabilitation, removing underground storage tanks and repairing the winter work bridge recesses.

During the 10-week-long shutdown, contractors completed the Poe Lock upstream stop log recess repairs. Kokosing Industrial Inc., of Cheboygan, was awarded the contract for $2.7 million. They performed a full rehabilitation and repair of the upstream stop log recesses, including removal of unsound concrete, repairs, installation of new concrete, steel corner protection and steel wall armor section, the Corps said.

There are 13 1,000-footers on the Great Lakes. The largest ship that passes through the Soo Locks is the Paul R. Tregurtha at 1,013 feet, 6 inches, which is larger than three football fields.

More than 4,500 vessels, carrying up to 80 million tons of cargo, maneuver through the Soo Locks annually. Iron ore, coal, wheat and limestone are the most frequently carried commodities, the Army Corps of Engineers said.

The first step to shipwatching is using a ship traffic website. This ensures you know what ships are close and where to get the best view.

To check freighter travel in Michigan, go to the MarineTraffic website. The website uses the automatic identification system ships have to track ships globally and tells you where ships are coming from, where they're going and at what speed.