Federal Dart is the first saltie of the season and sets record for earliest arrival

Ship lovers lined the pier on Tuesday afternoon to watch the Federal Dart sail under the lift bridge. She arrived around 3:30 p.m., carrying a load of cement from Turkey. People from all over the state of Minnesota actually came out today to see the saltie.

“My girls are on spring break, so we came up to do something,” says David Mcsherry a boat fan all the way from St. Paul.

“So we went to the Water Park Hotel. Yeah, I think it’s very impressive to see those big, beautiful ships out there with my girls. We read about them in books, but it is majestic to see them in person,” continues Mcsherry.

The Port Authority said she has set a record for earliest arrival of an ocean-going vessel. That used to be held by the Federal Hunter, which sailed in on March 30th, 2013.

According to the Marine Vessel Traffic website, the Federal Dart is a cargo ship sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands. The ships length is 200 meters and a beam of 24 meters. The Federal Dart was built in 2018 in Japan.

We’ll have reaction, on WDIO News at 10pm.