text: The biggest ice cover on North America’s Great Lakes in decades is backing up important shipping deliveries with 18 freighters currently wedged in the ice, unable to move. Extraordinary aerial photographs taken above Whitefish Bay on eastern Lake Superior, Ontario, show some of the freighters lined up across a frozen expanse. They are carrying a variety of goods from Canadian grain to US iron and steel but are being hampered by slabs of ice as big as pick-up trucks, it’s been reported. Scroll down for video . Stuck in the middle with you: Freighters trapped in ice are shown in this photo on Tuesday near Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario . The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Samuel Risley is shown in this aerial photo near Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior. The icebreaker was participating in an effort to free eight freighters from heavy ice . The biggest ice cover on North America’s Great Lakes in decades is backing up important shipping deliveries with 18 freighters currently wedged in the ice, unable to move . Nowhere to go: The James R Barker Lake Freighter is shown trapped in ice in this aerial photo near Whitefish Bay . Mark Gill, director of vessel traffic services for the U.S. Coast Guard, told the Duluth News Tribune: ‘This is just crazy how much ice we have out there, we’ve had 35 square miles of ice descend upon and affix itself [to existing ice].’ The ships desperately need a path cut through the lake by Canadian and US ice breakers, which have been hampered by the extreme conditions. Gill added: ‘The ice is very mobile. There’s a lot of water in it. Hit with the icebreakers, it moves and doesn’t take the break. It’s been very slow to say the least.’ The ice breakers on the scene include the US Coast Guard cutter Alder – the largest US icebreaker, according to the Tribune. Breaking point: The ships’ ability to manoeuvre is extremely limited because the ice is able to penetrate their hulls . The ships desperately need a path cut through the lake by Canadian and US ice breakers, which have themselves been hampered by the extreme weather conditions . The US Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw (right) works in thick ice to break out the freighter Edwin Gott in Whitefish Bay . The Samuel Risley makes slow progress through the frozen expanse, which contains slabs of ice the size of pick-up trucks . Mark Gill, director of vessel traffic services for the U.S. Coast Guard, said 'this is just crazy how much ice we have out there' The ships’ ability to manoeuvre is extremely limited because the ice is able to penetrate their hulls. One ship, the Kaye E. Barker, tried to make some headway but the ice put a hole in her side, meaning she had to dock in Waiska Bay and transfer her cargo to another ship. In California, meanwhile, it’s the heat that’s the problem. The state is experiencing its fourth year of severe drought and pictures have emerged of workmen demolishing swimming pools, their owners opting to have them removed in the face of mandatory reductions in water use.
target: Aerial photographs taken above eastern Lake Superior show the freighters lined up across a frozen expanse .
  The ships, carrying raw materials, are being hampered by slabs of ice as big as pick-up trucks, it’s been reported .
  Their ability to manoeuvre is extremely limited because the ice is able to penetrate their hulls .