DULUTH — The first saltie of 2024 made its way beneath the Aerial Lift Bridge to the Port of Duluth-Superior just before noon Monday — the mark used every year to designate the start of a new shipping season.

The M/V Barbro G, under the flag of Portugal, was met by dozens of ship-watchers along the north pier in Canal Park, including a volunteer from the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center who waved an oversized red foam hand at the vessel as it easily cruised through swells in the canal. The 623-foot bulk carrier docked at the Ceres/Riverland Ag terminal at Rice's Point to load 22,000 short tons of durum wheat that will go to Algeria.

"Despite our recent snowstorm, arrival of the season's first full Seaway transit is a true sign of spring and a reminder of the economic impact these great ships help deliver to our region," Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said in a news release. "We're excited to welcome Barbro G and share our Midwestern wheat cargo with the world via the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System."

The Barbro spent the weekend offshore of Duluth before it eased in at 11:44 a.m. On Tuesday, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority and Visit Duluth will name the winner of the First Ship competition — the competitor who most closely guessed the time of arrival for the first saltie. About 8,000 people entered the contest in its 41st year.

The Barbro made the more-than-monthlong trip to Duluth from Egypt, according to officials at the maritime center who broadcast stats on vessels as they pass through the canal.

The interlake season has been active since the Poe Lock opened March 22. This is the second time in history that the first saltie arrived on April Fools' Day. The Argosy was the port's earliest-arriving vessel ever when it pulled in April 1, 1995, according to the Port Authority.