The winter storm that closed schools and made travel hazardous also forced the U.S. Coast Guard to postpone ice cutting operations to Green Bay.  The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw successfully cleared the channel for the vessel Algo Soo and its load of rock salt to the Fox River Terminal in Green Bay over the weekend.  As the storm moved through the area Monday,  Mark Gill, Director of  Vessel Traffic Services for the U.S. Coast Guard in Sault Ste Marie, says conditions forced a delay in escorting the vessel Algo Canada and its cargo of diesel and gasoline to Green Bay until Tuesday morning.

Gill says plans were canceled to escort fuel shipments via the vessel Algo Nova when the ship became delayed in Lake Erie.  Once the Algo Canada leaves Green Bay commercial shipping to Northeast Wisconsin will be closed until March.