It’s been almost four decades since a new bulk carrier ship joined the Great Lakes fleet, a hiatus broken last Thursday after workers opened the valves to flood the dry dock at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay to launch the Mark W. Barker. “This is a huge milestone for all of us to be able to put the boat in the water for the first time,” said the vessel’s namesake, Mark Barker, president of Interlake Steamship, which commissioned and owns the ship. The 639-foot-long, 75-foot-wide bulk freighter received full maritime honors Oct. 28, including a large crowd, speeches and …
