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SPEAKER 1: The 2019 Great Lakes shipping season is underway, last week's start made possible by the hard work of a couple of Coast Guard ice-cutting vessels. It's a sure sign of spring every year in the Duluth harbor, when the cutters break open paths through the lake ice.

Last week, two vessels carved a track from the Soo Locks, on the Eastern edge of Lake Superior, to Duluth. The Mackinaw then cut a path up the North Shore. As Dan Kraker reports, the Alder stayed behind to break up ice in the Duluth Superior harbor.

DAN KRAKER: Springtime in Duluth isn't signaled by birds, or butterflies, or flowers.

[HORN HONKS LOUDLY]

No, Duluthians know it's spring when the Coast Guard icebreakers arrive, announcing the start of another Great Lakes shipping season.

DANIEL CUBASCH: Good morning from the United States Coast Guard cutter Alder.

DAN KRAKER: Last Friday, I joined more than 30 crew members for a day of icebreaking.

DANIEL CUBASCH: I'm Lieutenant Daniel Cubasch, executive officer on board, and happy to have you aboard.

DAN KRAKER: Her mission for the day, says Cubasch, to clear a highway through the ice inside the Duluth Superior harbor.

DANIEL CUBASCH: Taking all the bigger pieces of ice that we find, making them a little bit smaller, and just grooming a path, just like your cross-country ski path.

DAN KRAKER: So the giant ships, some 1,000 feet long, can load their cargos, and then head across Lake Superior, through the Soo Locks, and down to the lower Great Lakes. Despite the balmy spring weather lately, there's still a lot of ice on Lake Superior. A few weeks ago, the lake was more than 90% covered in ice, the most it's had in the past five years. That's dwindled now to less than 40%. But there's still at least a foot of ice encasing the Duluth harbor.

The Alder is cleaving through the ice here. You can see these huge sheets of ice peel up. The Alder slows when it hits solid ice, and it gets louder. The Alder's pointed bow actually rides up on top of the ice. And it's the weight of the ship, more than 2,100 tons, that crushes it. You can see fissures and cracks extending from the ship, and then the ice breaks apart into these huge plates.

DANIEL CUBASCH: We're using our weight to ride up on it, and then our bow to compress it, and then our speed through the water to push it away.

DAN KRAKER: This is Lieutenant Dan Cubasch again. After cutting a wide highway through the ice, the length of the harbor, the Alder then travels in circles, breaking up big areas in the ice so the ships can maneuver.

DANIEL CUBASCH: So when we're moving 1,000-foot ships, they need lots of room to turn, just like if you're driving your Geo Metro versus your Astro van.

DAN KRAKER: If they don't have enough open water to turn, Cubasch says they can get pinned between two pieces of ice.

SPEAKER 3: Left turn rudder.

SPEAKER 4: Left turn rudder, aye.

Crew members operate the ship from the bridge. It's lined with windows perched about four stories above the deck, offering a commanding view of the lake ahead.

SPEAKER 3: Left turn rudder.

SPEAKER 4: Left turn rudder, aye.

DAN KRAKER: The deck watch officer peers through the window at the ice ahead and barks out commands to the helmsman.

MIKE TORGERSEN: So she's the one that's actually got her hands on the controls for the rudder.

DAN KRAKER: This is ensign Mike Torgersen.

MIKE TORGERSEN: He's passing commands to her on where he wants the rudder to be, to get the ship to do what you want. And then she's just repeating back that she's actually doing what he's asking for.

DAN KRAKER: After the Alder's successful day of breaking up ice, Friday, three ships left the Duluth harbor over the weekend. But they got stuck in the ice outside Knife River, so the Alder made an unexpected trip up the shore, Sunday morning, to free them.

There's still more than 15 miles of ice extending off shore from Duluth before ships hit open water. The Alder and another Coast Guard ship, the Mackinaw, cut lanes through the ice last week. But if ice breaks off the shore, Cubasch explains, it can clog up those paths they created.

DANIEL CUBASCH: Now the name of the game is don't break the shore ice. Keep the ice on the shore as long as you can. Keep the paths that we're opening, nice blue water for as long as we can. And hopefully, the rest of the ice just melts in place.

DAN KRAKER: Two more ships are scheduled to navigate through the ice, into the harbor today, including the 1,000-foot long Paul Tregurtha, to pick up a load of coal. Dan Kraker, MPR News, Duluth.