Category Archive

After 9/11, Ashlea Sikon sidelined her softball scholarship at a small Junior College in Southeast Kansas to join the Army ROTC Program at Kansas State University. She would commission into the Army as an officer less than four years later in May 2006. “Like many I served with post 9/11, the incident that day and the attack on our country compelled and motivated me to commit my life to serving in our military,” says Sikon, who joined Interlake in 2022 as Executive Assistant to President Mark W. Barker. “At the age of 22, I became one of the first female …

Nearly three years after the first cut of steel for the first Great Lakes freighter in nearly 40 years, the 639-foot M/V Mark W. Barker embarked on her maiden voyage today from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding. “This is a monumental day for our company and the US flag fleet as our much-anticipated freighter departs on her first voyage in what will be a long life of service on the Great Lakes,” says Mark W. Barker, President of The Interlake Steamship Company and namesake of the vessel – the company’s first new build since 1981. “The construction of this vessel, which was made from …

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and The Interlake Steamship Company hosted a launch ceremony today, marking the latest milestone for the new 639-foot M/V Mark W. Barker. The first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes freighter to be built on the Great Lakes in nearly 40 years, the M/V Mark W. Barker – while still under construction – was “launched” or otherwise floated in the water in the large drydock at the Sturgeon Bay shipyard. A formal maritime tradition, a launching ceremony honors the first time a boat is transferred from land to water. The public event is a way of celebrating and blessing the …

Welcome to the first edition of the Interlake Maritime Services LOG, our new company-wide newsletter.  The Interlake LOG was first published in the 1930s, originally as a safety newsletter. It has evolved over the years to include not only notable happenings in our fleet but also stories about those who power our company and the Great Lakes shipping industry.  We hope you enjoy this publication!  The Summer 2021 Interlake LOG

Interlake Holding Company announced today the purchase of the assets of Pere Marquette Shipping Company and Lake Michigan Car Ferry Company in an acquisition that includes two working Great Lakes vessels, the Articulated Tug-Barge Undaunted-Pere Marquette 41 and the S.S. Badger, a historic passenger-and-car ferry. The acquisition signals the creation of a new business entity, Interlake Maritime Services, which will manage the new businesses along with The Interlake Steamship Company and its fleet of nine freighters. “This is an exciting day for us and we are thrilled to be welcoming new employees into our Interlake family, new vessel lines into …

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and The Interlake Steamship Company hosted a ceremonial keel laying Tuesday, celebrating the historic start of assembly on the first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes bulk carrier built in more than 35 years.

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and The Interlake Steamship Company hosted a ceremonial first-cut-of-steel event Wednesday, celebrating the historic start of construction on the first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes bulk carrier built in more than 35 years.

A U.S.-flagged Great Lakes bulk carrier will be built for the first time in more than 35 years thanks to a historic agreement recently signed between The Interlake Steamship Company and Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding.