Lake Superior icebreakers free stranded ships

All the ships that were stranded in Lake Superior have been freed, according toCanada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

• Icebreakers to the rescue: ships still stranded in Lake Superior

The Canadian Coast Guard hasbeenworking with the United States Coast Guard to ensure a long line up of ships will be able to travel safely through heavy ice conditions in Whitefish Bay on eastern Lake Superior.

The ships hadbeen stranded since Sunday.

As of Wednesdaynight, US Coast Guard traffic manager MarkDobson said the ships "all got up into Lake Superior, and are moving west."

He acknowledged"there's ice out there, but it's not really stopping them. It's just taking icebreaker escort now and they're moving along."

Dobson said the ships will be escorted to an area near the end of the KeweenawPeninsula in Michigan, and will then be able to make the rest of the journey on their own. The ice breakers will turn around, and escort another six ships waiting near the peninsula heading east.

"We're bringing them down this morning. They kinda sat out there, because we didn't want them in the heavy ice until an icebreaker was able to get out in front of them."

Dobson said about18 ships in total were affected, with12 caught up in Whitefish Bay area. The othersix are coming from the west and are waiting to go east.

The cargo shipping season started last month on the upper Great Lakes.