The St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce and Enbridge recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of the new home for the Enbridge Straits Maritime Operations Center (ESMOC).he ESMOC, which began operations in summer 2020, represents a new, unprecedented level of marine monitoring capability for a commercial company.
Along with Enbridge staff, computers and technology play a pivotal role in protecting the waterways.
“We’ve got seven cameras placed around the Straits of Mackinac that look at the shipping channels,” explains Mike Moeller, Enbridge’s director for the Great Lakes region. “As these very large vessels transit the Straits, we look to see if their anchors are secured, they’re in the pocket, they’re not dragging, and where they could cause damage when they cross over the pipelines. It’s a really unique operation that’s done only one place in the world—right here in the Straits of Mackinac.”